We are career travel professionals who have worked in the industry for many years.

Our team of private travel designers has more than 50 years of experience planning, operating and leading trips all around the world. We believe our clients are entitled to experienced guidance, thoughtful planning and unwavering attention to detail.  Planning extraordinary journeys takes time, focus, personal experience and skill.  We understand that this may be a once-in-a-lifetime trip for you, and we take that responsibility to heart.

We plan and operate trips customized to your needs. Our expertise is working closely with you and matching your desires with our world-wide network of fellow travel pros to provide you with the best travel experiences. We like to think of On The Map Travel as the difference between fast food and gourmet. We collect the best ingredients for you, just to your taste, and prepare something to be savored and remembered

We can arrange any kind of travel you desire from custom trips to ocean voyages to river cruises to safaris because we have long-standing relationships with most cruise lines and tour operators.

We like to be candid about what we will do for you and how we work and ask that you sign a copy of our policies so that we can get started planning your journey. 

TRIP PLANNING FEE

Our planning fee is $300 - $1,000 depending on the complexity and booking timeline of your trip. The minimum fee is $500 for trips departing within six weeks of your request. This fee is non-refundable even if you cancel and is charged to your credit card at the initial stages of work.  The fee is per trip, not per person. 

Planning is the key. Our trips are personally crafted just for you.

For custom, private trips, our minimum booking is 5 days including all hotels and activities.  Depending on your specific needs and budget, this can be slightly adjusted.

Minimum bookings for resorts, cruises and package tours depend on the trip booked and may be different from above.

The trip planning fee includes the following services:

We will discuss with you (via phone or email) your expectations/requirements to determine what dates, destinations, properties and services would best suit you. You will then receive:

• A proposed program for your entire trip, including a preliminary daily itinerary with specific daily activities – both included and optional - subject to your approval. We also provide suggestions for what to do in your free time.
• We will research air travel to match your itinerary. We review the best combination of fares, flight times, and number of stops to give you the best value, comfort and convenience and the best way to employ your frequent flyer miles and credit card points. If we book your air tickets, you will have 24-hour access to assistance with flight delays, cancellations or changes. For airline tickets our booking fee is $100 per person for international tickets and $50 per person for domestic tickets. Please note that, unless otherwise requested, air tickets are non-refundable. A change to your ticket will incur a fee imposed by the airline plus the additional cost of any changes in the airfare. Cancellations will also incur a fee imposed by the airline, but the remainder of the funds can often be used toward another ticket up to one year from the date the ticket was issued.
• In certain destinations, we will put the entire program together; including transfers, hotels, tours and other services. In others, we will provide a comprehensive list of hotels and tour options picked specifically for you.
• Once we have agreed on all the services for your program, we will give you pricing and, on approval, make all arrangements. You will be given the information regarding necessary deposits, final payments and cancellation policies.
• About 3-4 weeks prior to your departure, you will receive a complete set of pre-departure documents electronically.

These documents include:

Interesting information about your destinations, a complete day-by-day itinerary, contact numbers for local service providers and hotel and other confirmations. You will also receive packing lists, restaurant lists and a few other fun things we throw in according to where you are staying.

We are also happy to book your train tickets and restaurant reservations, bike rental, concert tickets and spa reservations and any other special requests you have. The fee for booking these services vary from $20 -$50 each, depending on difficulty/amount of time needed.  Restaurant reservations are complimentary.

We are happy to help arrange any special requests you may have.

Each trip we do is completely customized and takes many hours of work and thought; the planning fee covers only a small part of our time and effort. For this reason, we ask that, if you find something online that we have not discussed, please bring it to our attention and do not contact the hotel/service provider directly. Most hotel rates are the same if booked through us (and sometimes lower); the same is true for other services. If a client makes contact directly, things get very confused and can lead to double booking or cancellation of reservations. Should this happen, any charges incurred will be assessed to the client.  In addition, if clients choose a property or service/tour that does not pay our normal commission (12%) client will be invoiced a booking fee by On The Map Travel. Redeeming hotel rewards points often complicates a booking, and we request you advise us at the beginning of the process if you wish to use points and this may incur a service fee from On The Map Travel.

We are happy to make changes to your itinerary. We provide two sets of revisions at no additional cost. Additional changes to your itinerary will be charged at our standard hourly rate of $75.

Once services have been confirmed, any changes you make (travel dates, route, hotels, etc.) will incur a $75 per person fee plus costs for the new/revised services.

 Cancellation Policy:

In the event we book and confirm any services for your trip, and you cancel for any reason, we charge you a cancellation fee of up to 20% of the cost of the services that were confirmed plus any out-of-pocket costs (i.e. document shipping, copying, long-distance calls etc.) directly associated with that booking.

In addition, you may incur cancellation fees from other service providers (including, but not limited to, airline tickets, hotels, tours, transfers, train tickets and car rentals).  These fees vary by provider and service booked.

Travel Insurance

On The Map Travel recommends that you purchase a travel protection plan to help protect you and your travel investment against the unexpected, including coverage for Trip Cancellation, Trip Interruption, Emergency Medical and Emergency Evacuation/Repatriation, Trip Delay, Baggage Delay and more.

Why take a chance? Call us or obtain a quote or visit our website.

We require you to sign a “Accept or Decline” travel insurance declaration waiver form which we will provide in electronic or hard copy form.

Payments

Payments to On The Map Travel, LLC can be made by credit card (American Express, MasterCard or Visa) or by check. Please note that there is a 4% merchant service fee for use of a credit card. Any expenses involved in overseas payments on your behalf including wire fees and currency adjustments will be invoiced to you.

IN ADDITION:

It is difficult for us to assist you with services we have not booked, but we can try.  If something should occur for which you would like our help, we charge $75 per hour with a one-hour minimum.

In certain destinations, we are unable to break out prices because of agreements with our partners who can offer us proprietary rates.

Clients often send pictures and short videos of their traveling companions. You agree any such pictures, videos or images taken while you are traveling with On The Map Travel, may be used in our marketing and promotional materials without any obligation or compensation to you unless you notify us otherwise in writing

We look forward to working with you!