Eleven months is not a marketing number
Why our books close 240 days before a departure, what we do with the time, and the one journey where we have tried to shorten it.
People assume the eleven-month lead time is a scarcity trick: make it hard to get in, and people want in more. I run the money and the contracts here, so let me show you the calendar instead, because it is mostly a calendar problem.
What the months are for
Here is the shape of an ordinary departure, counted backwards from the day the party lands.
| Months out | What happens |
|---|---|
| 11 | Enquiry call, planning fee paid, dates held |
| 10 | Rooms contracted. The small places want deposits this early or they give the rooms away. |
| 9 | Fixer confirmed for every day, in writing, with a named second |
| 8 | Books close — 240 days out. Party list fixed. |
| 6 | Planner sleeps the route again if it has been more than twenty months |
| 3 | Balance due. Insurance policies checked, line by line. |
| 1 | Kit call, weather call, and the paper pack posted |
The hard constraint is the ten-month line. The six-room house on Senja and the eleven-room ryokan at Ginzan both take their bookings for the following season in a single week, and they do not hold rooms for anybody who cannot tell them how many people are coming.
Why books close at 240 days
Because that is when the deposits stop being refundable to us. Before that date, if a party changes shape, we can usually unwind a room. After it, we are paying for it whether you come or not. Closing the books then means we never have to choose between charging a traveller for an empty bed and eating the cost ourselves.
What it means for you
It means you are booking a journey for next year’s calendar, not this one’s. It means that when something changes — a lodge closes, a road washes out — there is time to fix it properly. And it means, bluntly, that if you are reading this in September hoping to travel in February, the answer is probably the February after.