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Years of travel, research and experience have prepared us to offer our clients the very best in travel planning services. While we love to share our vast knowledge of travel secrets, our goal is to ensure that you have the ultimate experience, specially created just for you.  To do this, it is important that we develop a close partnership with our clients from the outset.

 

STEPS TO CREATING THE PERFECT EXPERIENCE TOGETHER

 

1. Our first conversation:  We have an initial discussion about your plans and determine exactly what sort of experience you are after.  This essential conversation allows us to start our work for you effectively and ask questions that may trigger other questions, new thoughts, and so on!  We are always happy to talk to you about anything that would make your experience special. After our conversation we will draft an itinerary as soon as possible for you to review on your own. We will have another conversation after this stage so we can refine and make changes based on your feedback.

 

1. Committing to planning your trip:   Upon review of our suggestions, further discussion and collaboration, you commit to having us plan your itinerary and instruct us to start making the arrangements. This will entail booking and confirming all the components and accommodations, giving you a price and a more detailed itinerary for your approval.  During this process, we value your feedback to create exactly the experience that you want, and at this point, we will request a Travel Engagement Fee.

 

1. What is the Travel Engagement Fee? This fee covers our research and relationship costs, because building a custom trip tailored to you, demands considerable time and effort. There are nuances and complexities to consider with personalizing an itinerary for you. The complex bookings we make on your behalf involve many people, both from Gaskin Travel and from our partners around the world. This fee confirms our commitment to you, and your commitment to us, to work together in crafting the very best possible travel experience. The Travel Engagement Fee is per family or couple, not per person, and is non-refundable. At the appropriate time, you may make payment of the Travel Engagement Fee by e-transfer to Gaskin Travel directly. We have two different Travel Engagement Fees.

 

 

Travel Engagement Fee #1 – $500.00 per trip
This fee is charged when a full, detailed, day to day itinerary is not necessary for your trip. Most common trips of this nature only require one or two hotels, resort or lodge booking, perhaps transfers with or without airfare but without guides and other ‘land’  experiences.

Travel Engagement Fee #2 - $1,000.00 per trip
This fee is charged when your trip is more detailed - requiring a detailed written itinerary. In this case you most likely will be travelling to more than two destinations often with guides and transportation details, highlights and places to enjoy day to day and experiences such as winery visits, guided walks and tours, generally requiring tickets and advance bookings, all of which will ultimately give you a highly personalized and special experience.

1. Deposit Payment:  A deposit payment is required after we present you with a complete itinerary and trip cost. Please note that the majority of this deposit payment is used to pay suppliers such as hotels, airlines and event planners in order to confirm your rooms or reservations.  This is usually 30% of the trip cost and can be non-refundable depending on circumstances, for example a gorilla tracking permit is non-refundable, or we may have purchased non-refundable airline tickets on your behalf, etc.  We will clearly state in the itinerary what our payment & deposit terms are and how much, if any, of the funds are non-refundable as well as the applicable cancellation terms and fees.

 

1. Confirmation Package: After your deposit payment has been processed, we will send you a confirmation package that includes a comprehensive itinerary, flight details, names and description of all your hotels, as well as the particulars of other services we have booked on your behalf.

 

1. Final Payment: Balance of payment is due 60 days prior to the trip start date, unless otherwise agreed at the time of deposit payment. In some circumstances (such as yacht or plane charter) a larger non-refundable deposit may be required. If final payment is not received on the date agreed to at time of deposit payment, Gaskin Travel reserves the right to release your reservations and assumes that the trip has been cancelled by you. In this instance, our cancellation policy outlined below, would apply.

 

1. Final Package:  As soon as the trip is finalized and deposit paid for your trip, we will send you a Final Itinerary with all of your confirmations, hotels, various phone numbers as well as helpful hints on eating, shopping and places of interest.

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FAQs:

 

What does the average trip cost?

Costs are dependent on the choice of accommodations, mode of travel, cost of events, guides, and any other specialized services. We are able to get you the best pricing  because of our long established relationships with hotel owners, tour operators and other local travel specialists across the globe.

 

How do I make payment?

Payment can be made through credit cards, wire transfers or cheques.

 

Do you recommend cancellation insurance?

We strongly recommend that you purchase trip cancellation and interruption insurance.  We can assist you with this and provide you with a quote once we have created your itinerary and have a firm trip price.  Should you decide not to take cancellation insurance, we will require confirmation in writing.

 

What is your trip cancellation policy?

If your trip has to be cancelled, we will refund everything possible, but we cannot be held responsible for losses you may incur with third parties, such as airlines or hotels you may have booked yourselves. In addition, Gaskin Travel retains the right to make changes to your trip and/or may cancel your trip in certain exigent circumstances, for example if your safety or the quality of the trip is deemed to be compromised.

 

What happens if I want to make changes to my trip?

Travelers may make minor changes to the itinerary within reason and with sufficient advance notice. We will do our best to accommodate your requests. However, major changes (such as destination, country or region, or the choice of destination and hotels) will incur additional charges and/or non-refundable deposit penalties in addition to the amount initially quoted.

 

How does Gaskin Travel deal with currency fluctuations?

As we deal with payments in various currencies, we reserve the right to adjust the trip price after deposit payment, but before final payment to account for major currency fluctuations (more than 5% fluctuation).  However, we frequently price our trips in the currency of the country where you will be travelling, to try to help you benefit from changes in currency values.

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How detailed is the price breakdown?

At Gaskin Travel for simple itineraries where hotels and airfare are concerned we provide a full breakdown.  We do not however provide an itemized bill detailing every individual cost of the trip for more complex full itineraries including guides, transfers, experiences etc.. This is because we work with many different ground operators in many different countries who often bundle their costs and services. The final trip cost is comprised of many separate items accounting for exchange rates, taxes, and reservation details.  We do always provide you with the full cost of the trip and as detailed a breakdown as we can. We are always happy to answer any questions along the way.

 

Can you book our international flights?

Gaskin Travel would be pleased to coordinate all of your international air bookings.  We work directly with the airlines and have many platforms that allow us to research the best schedules and options available for you.

 

Your responsibilities:

Gaskin Travel is committed to making your trip as rewarding and enjoyable, but we have to work as a team with you to do so. We ask that you respond to our questions in a timely manner so as not to delay the planning process and to give us your most honest and constructive feedback and ideas.  This will help us immensely.

 

Our Responsibilities:

Gaskin Travel recognizes the faith and trust you put in us to plan your travel experience. We will do our utmost to create and deliver the perfect trip for you, always seeking to provide you with outstanding personalized service. We will respond to your messages promptly and will keep you informed as your itinerary evolves. If at any time you have questions or concerns, we ask that you let us know immediately.

 

 

Gaskin Travel Inc.

(Gaskin Travel Inc. is an affiliate of TravelEdge)

2 Queen Street East, Suite #600, Toronto, Ontario M5C 3G7 Canada

Direct: 416-804-0225 | maryann.gaskin@traveledge.com

Website  www.gaskintravelinc.com

Instagram gaskintravel Facebook

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