How Booking With Us Works Lloyd Langford Expedition Training

We understand the responsibility and pressure that comes with being asked to arrange an international ski trip for your school or college, we really do. The paperwork, deadlines, the indecisiveness, potential lack of support and lack of hours in the day, dare we say beaurcarcy too? All the whilst maintaining your professional teaching duties alongside the task. We get it.

What you need most from an international travel provider is a professional service, clear communication and clarity of product, on the other side of a phone line whenever needed with no hidden bumps in the road.

The pressing question to be asked before kicking off your trip is......is your Establishment Ready?

There may potentially be a push from above, however we believe any organiser of an international ski trip needs to think about a few questions before hand.

Do you have a reasonable and workable timeframe before the trip?

Generally, we believe contact with a provider needs to be made at least 1 year in advance with a little wiggle room either way to allow for a smooth process, everything from the how, when, where, who conversations to the confirmatory of bookings. In our case, all bookings must be confirmed by May 30 the previous year to be valid and arranged for the following winter season. So, do you have enough time, is there too many unknown answers to commit to a realistic booking?

Do you already have approximate dates and numbers in mind?

Dates are important, and the overall price you're quoted will directly be effected by the dates and student numbers you provide. December, January, February, half term holidays, Easter etc....Before requesting an initial quote, can you answer.....

Are the dates you have in mind flexible at all?
Is the trip bound to term time or half term holidays?
Do any proposed dates fit around examination periods?
How many students is 'too many'?

How much preparatory work has been completed prior to getting in touch?

So the idea has been kicked around a little, senior members of staff have given the idea a provisional green light, but there may still be a long way to go.

Has the idea been signed off by senior leadership teams, headteachers or school boards, is it going to require a presentation or 'sales pitch' to get off the ground?
Have you gauged student interest, mentioned the subject in assemblies or sent letters home?
Is your establishment capable of meeting staff / student ratios?
Is the trip feasible, or do you predict the financing of such a trip to be a problem?
Are there any foreseeable and significant needs and requirements within your group?

Is this trip likely to be feasible for all students?

International ski trips aren't a small financial endeavour. Although we pride ourselves ourselves on being incredible value for money, and can provide resorts, accommodation and logistic arrangements and options to suit all budgets, is the trip feasible in the first place?

Will the school or group need to fundraise with sponsored events over the course of the year, bag packing, cake sales, non uniform days?
Will you need to use specific school funds to subsidise pupil premium students?
Is it possible to ask the PTA to organise events or make a contribution?

If you think you're on solid ground, great, drop us a call or email and we'll get back in touch to discuss your query. Where possible we can discuss how our services can reflect the immediate needs and requirements of your group and those going forward.

Our Booking Process

To simplify the booking process we have streamlined everything into a '3 phase' model. Regardless of the school, college or educational insitution its pretty uniform and ensures the individual(s) responsible for reaching out, getting in touch and organising an international ski trip understands the booking process thoroughly.

Phase 1, Establishing Contact

The first step is the simplest, you just have to reach out and get in touch with us. There are a number of ways you can do this, however email, our online contact form or simply giving us a phone are the easiest.

Once you've gotten in touch a member of our team will take a few initial details from yourself to open an account for you, however at this moment the information is limited to the name of your establishment, your name and an email address to catch you on. Any further information you provide can only help, however this is the minimum required.

Arranging Meeting 1:

From here we'll arrange a meeting, fondly referred to as ‘meeting 1’. This meeting can be either virtual or physical and is primarily decided upon at your discretion. It is recommended that two members of staff from your establishment participate in the meeting, however it is no problem for just the one member. If the meeting is online then it will be done on a reputable platform such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Once the meeting is concluded should both parties have originally agreed to record the meeting, a copy will be sent over.

Meeting 1 Contents:

Pleasantries and introductions aside this meeting has a number of different aims; these include but aren’t limited to:

Answering questions / discussing group requirements
Providing an initial quote / discussing group flexibility and feasibility
Discussing the preparatory phases and their deadlines
Producing a roadmap for going forward for phase 2
Resources available to booking parties to help plan
Establish future communications framework and individual assigned roles
Set a provisional ‘meeting 2’ date

Follow Up:

After the meeting has concluded and within 2 working days of meeting 1, we'll provide either yourself or alternatively your now nominated trip leader with a courtesy follow up email covering the following points:

A completed initial quote
Initial deposit payment plan
PDF Phase Deadline Roadmap
A guide to relevant resources available
Online eBrochure link (where relevant)
Confirmation of provisional meeting 2 date

Should the resources and documents provided be agreeable then a small initial non refundable deposit payment will be requested 30 days after the meeting. Although referred to as a 'deposit payment' for ease, it technically isn't. Alternatively it stands as a goodwill guarantee for the work to be proceeded behind the scenes. No formal or further payments considered part of your intended payment plan will be requested before the initial booking is signed. Should you make a successful booking upon signing at a later date, then the fee payment mentioned above will be deducted from the overall total.

Phase 2, Planning

The planning phase can take many forms and largely depends on the booking party progressing to a provisional booking internally with regular check ins from the appointed trip manager to ensure that they are on schedule. To help with this phase your trip manager will be on hand to answer any quires and provide resources to ease this stage, these include but aren’t limited to documentation, information and presentation templates.

The duration of this phase relies entirely on the booking parties pace, every establishment is different and so will your position when you first get in contact. During meeting 1 the phase deadlines will be discussed, so before getting into phase 2 the enquiring party will have an idea of what is reasonably expected of them and to what deadline.

For example, according to the phase deadline roadmap the ideal time to conduct everything within phase 2 is 3-4 months from start to finish. In some cases an establishment may only need a singular month, as a lot of the preparatory work has already been completed behind the scenes unofficially, in others, 3-4 months may not be enough. With deadlines for having a provisional booking created at May 1st, if the booking party first has their ‘meeting 1’ during March and doesn’t think they’ll make the deadline, they may be encouraged to pursue a trip for the following winter season giving them the time they need.

During this time your trip manager may begin to build and book certain aspects of the trip such as transport and accommodation at the companies own discretion once reasonably guaranteed approximate numbers have been established.

As the provisional ‘meeting 2’ date approaches we'll seek confirmation that the date is still suited to both parties.

During the meeting the provisional booking will be discussed at length and in full to ensure that everything is correct and all parties are happy going forward.

Meeting 2 Contents:

Pleasantries and introductions aside this meeting has a number of different aims; these include but aren’t limited to:

Answering questions / discussing the initial booking document
Discussing the initial booking deadline
Secondary deposit payment plan
Produce a roadmap for going forward for phase 4
Discuss current relationship between the booking party and the trip manager / company
Set a provisional ‘presentation evening’ date
Set a provisional ‘meeting 3’ date

Phase 3, Completing Initial Booking

Introductions:

Phase 3 launches almost immediately after winding up ‘meeting 2’ where you should receive your initial booking document via email. The document goes into advanced detail about their trip, the logistics, travel and on mountain arrangements along with a detailed payment plan and deadlines. Phase 3 as standard lasts only 30 days, the first 7 of which are for you to examine the document to ensure everything is correct and in order, and where necessary and reasonable request alterations to the document.

After these initial 7 days the remainder of the original 30 days is for the document to pass through the appropriate channels to be signed and returned by you, the trip leader. Once returned and confirmation provided the booking becomes live and is subject to the terms and conditions laid out.

In some cases and where certain locations and resorts in question are chosen the deadline for reaching phase 3 and bookings going live may be brought forward, however in other cases goodwill extensions may be provided where certain criteria has been met.