The price is the price
We take no commission from anyone we book. If a lodge offers us twelve per cent, it comes off your bill. Here is where the £14,900 on Snow Country actually goes.
Most travel agencies are paid twice: once by you, and once, quietly, by the hotels they send you to. The industry calls the second payment “commission” or “override”, and it is normally between ten and twenty per cent. It is not a scandal. It is simply why so many itineraries contain the same eight hotels.
We stopped taking it in 2017. When a lodge offers us a commission, we ask for the net rate instead and pass it on. Some lodges find this confusing. A few have refused to deal with us.
How we are paid instead
Two ways, and both are on the invoice.
- A planning fee of £1,900 per party, paid on the enquiry call and credited in full against the journey if you travel. If you do not, we keep it — it pays for the eleven months.
- A house margin of eighteen per cent on the cost of the journey, which covers five salaries, the planners’ repeat visits, and the desk that answers at three in the morning.
Snow Country, per person
Rounded to the nearest fifty pounds, for a party of eight on the January departure.
| Line | Per person |
|---|---|
| Ten nights’ rooms and most meals | £4,850 |
| Kenji Abe, eleven days plus planning | £2,300 |
| Miru’s four days on the ground | £1,250 |
| Rail, luggage forwarding, kit | £1,100 |
| Miru’s re-sleep of the route, shared across both departures | £650 |
| Insurance, payment fees, contingency | £2,450 |
| House margin at eighteen per cent | £2,300 |
| Total | £14,900 |
What this means when you compare quotes
It means our price will sometimes look high next to an agency that marks up the same journey by less but collects from every hotel on the route. Ask them for their net rates. If they tell you, you will have a fair comparison. If they will not, you have learned something else.