More Options, Better Values for 2009

Our cycling and hiking tours are now available at prices even lower than last year. We have completed a transition in our new offices in France that allows us to cut certain operating costs and we have studied every single tour we offer to find a way to make them less expensive but still of the same high quality! Sounds like some marketing pitch for a new mobile phone!

We have actually 'engineered' our tours in detail this winter and found ways to save for all our travelers:

1. cut down on taxi transfers

2. find alternate hotels that don't impose both breakfast and dinner

3. negotiate better taxi costs for transfers

4. group transfers more efficiently

5. offer telephone orientations in some outlying regions where local guides charge exhorbitant rates

6. work with different shipping companies for better rates on bike delivery

7. offer MORE hotel choices!

This last one is a big one as we now price 2 star hotel versions for many trips. In recent years we have seen a lot of hotels renovate but resist the upgrade to a new category because of certain silly demands that don't seem logical to hotel owners. For example, moving from 3 star to 4 star may require an elevator; or a larger reception area. Moving from 2 star to 3 star may mean having staff on the front desk 24 hours a day. None of these criteria have anything to do with quality of the lodging that many travelers care about: room size, amenities, bed quality, cleanliness, charming/welcoming staff, food quality, general ambiance.

We continue to push QUALITY and VALUE. Now when times are hard it seems people are coming back to these marks in their products or services. How many times do I now hear Home Depot saying "quality, value, best price" in their ads??? Its not a fashion statement for us, we've been on these themes for ever. The good news is that we offer a price point of high quality in 2 stars, 3 stars, and even in 4 star lodging.

Sample: Provence Classic 5 Night Cycling Tour - one of our most popular:


695 euros/person in double occupancy using 2 star hotels
895 euros/person in double occupancy using 3 star hotels
1075 euros for upgraded and 4 star deluxe hotels

If you are 3 persons, the triple rate per person is less in each case. The tour includes all the same things: lodging, buffet breakfast daily, 2 dinners, all luggage transfers, orientation on arrival day with bike delivery and set up, bike return, route book with maps and cue sheets and tourist information and restaurant suggestions, on call emergency support from our local office.

After 15 years of doing this, at these rates we are almost back to where we were 5 or 6 years ago in price! The Euro is high against most currencies, but way down now from where it was just 4 months ago dropping almost 20% in 4 months!

So, with a little planning on the airfare side of it; a nice European vacation can be had for a surprising good rate still!

L