In the summer of 2014, many travel agencies closed, while not meeting their obligations to their customers. The prospect of getting stuck abroad without help from its tour operator, to put it mildly, frightens.
But if the money for a vacation abroad was found, then no fears will force you instead of the sea coast to choose a holiday in a neighboring village for a vacation, right? Hence, we must choose the right tour operator, and take into account different parameters.
What makes the reliability of the tour operator
In fact, there are many parameters by which you need to evaluate the company, before buying a voucher from her. Here are some of them.
Number of tourist destinations with which the tour operator works
In any tourist direction, a crisis can occur – an unstable political situation, a military conflict, natural disasters. The more directions a tour operator can offer in exchange for the inaccessible, the less he risks.
Where can I find out? This information can be found on the website of the tour operator or consult his consultants by phone.
The presence of their host companies in different areas
The host party is a travel company in the country where you go on a tour. It is this company that is booked and paid for by the hotel, provides a transfer from the airport to the place of settlement and arranges excursions.
If the tour operator has its own host company in the country of destination, the chances of getting quality services on the spot are greatly increasing. In addition, such a company is less risky to go broke, as it can earn on tourists from other countries.
Where can I find out? On the official website of the tour operator or by contacting him by phone.
Arrangement with airlines
Often, most of the cost of the tour is air travel. If the tour operator cooperates with several airlines, has blocks of seats in different directions or its charter flight, it will be able to offer more flight options.
Where can I find out? As a rule, tour operators publish information on cooperation with airlines on their website. Check the sections of the site related to the partners of the company.
Reliability rating of the insurance company
If the tour operator cooperates with a reliable insurance company, in case of bankruptcy, it will not revoke the license and you will get compensation for the damage.
Where can I find out? You can find the company on the website of “RIA Rating”.
This is not all the parameters by which you can evaluate the tour operator, but you can hardly find them all yourself. In addition, you will agree, this is a rather long and dreary affair. You can make it easier – use the already ready ratings of the reliability of tour operators.
For example, such a rating provides a hypermarket of Travelata.ru tours. It can be used by everyone, regardless of the desire to buy a tour or authorization on the site.
Let’s see what this rating of reliability of tour operators is based on, what are the criteria for evaluating tour operators and what degree of objectivity can be hoped for.
What is the rating of Travelata.ru
So, each tour operator, whose offers are posted on the site, is estimated by 10 indicators. The list of indicators includes the tourist destinations mentioned above, its host companies, partner airlines and reliable insurance companies. But the list of additional indicators (and screenshots of the current rating of tour operators):
Availability of hotels guaranteed
The travel agency can conclude a contract with the hotel, having redeemed the rooms in advance. In this case, booking on the website of the tour operator is confirmed instantly, and the hotel prices are slightly reduced.
Secondhand dealer or not
If there is one more link between the service provider and the client, the services become more expensive, and reliability, on the contrary, decreases.
Amount of financial guarantees
This paragraph deals with protection from bankruptcy: the higher the financial guarantees of the tour operator, the better the situation in the company.
Number of travel agencies under the brand of the tour operator
The more travel agencies, the larger and more reliable the tour operator.
Belonging to a large international holding company
If the tour operator enters a large holding company, it risks less to stay without customers, and as a rule, tourist directions are more.
Dissatisfied customers
This is one of the easiest points on which you can evaluate the tour operator. If bad reviews are just there, this is normal: after all, you can not please everyone. But if they become more, then the tour operator gradually lost confidence.
For each category, an evaluation is given from 0 to 10 and a rating is made of the largest tour operators. But where does the information on the number of host companies, bought-out places in hotels and the reliability of the insurance company come from?
Sources of information for the rating
Firstly, the loyal clients of Travelata are helping to draw the rating, which already accumulated more than 150 thousand, and secondly – more than 120 partners-tour operators.
But it would not be very correct to use only this information, so data for the rating are taken from other sources.
Information from the sites of airlines, where you can find out about cooperation with tour operators, the Single Federal Register of Tour Operators, where any user can find a company and find out the amount of its financial security.
In addition, we use the data of the agency “RIA Rating”, which allow you to assess the reliability of insurance companies, and information from the professional tourist portal Tourdom.ru.
As a result, a very diverse set of sources is obtained, according to which the tour operator can be fairly assessed.
The choice is for the client
If the rating of reliability of the tour operator really drops sharply – many destinations are removed, the number of partners among airlines decreases, the number of negative reviews grows – it becomes clear that the tour operator’s work is nearing the end. In such cases, the company-loser disappears from the hypermarket of tours.
But if things are not going so bad so far, the company remains on the site, and then each user decides for himself: to trust a not-so-reliable tour operator and buy a ticket for a lower cost or spend a little more, but to secure a reliability above 90 points.
For example, in 2014 the highest score was awarded to Coral Travel: the tour operator scored 98 points out of 100 possible. A little lower TUI Russia – 96 points, and the third place went to TezTour with 94 points.
Further, companies with results below 90 points are already following: Pegas Touristik, which, unlike the first three, does not belong to a large international holding company, Biblio Globus and others.
You can remember the reliable tour operators, see their official sites and add them to the browser bookmarks for the future. But if you do not go on tour in the near future, it’s better to just remember where you can see this rating.
View the rating of tour operators on Travelata.ru
