How booking actually works
No online checkout, no hold-your-place timers. A short conversation, a written plan you can take apart, and a deposit only once you are satisfied.
The six steps
- You write. Dates or an approximate month, how many people, roughly what you want to spend per day, and anything non-negotiable. Three lines is plenty. Use the form at the bottom of any page or email us directly.
- We reply within one working day with a route, a per-person price at your group size, and the reasoning - including the parts of your request we think are a mistake, said plainly.
- We revise it. As many times as it takes, at no cost. Most trips go through two or three rounds. If the answer turns out to be that you should book with someone else, we will say so.
- You pay 25 per cent by bank transfer or card. That holds rooms, guides, boats and any domestic flights. Until this point nothing is reserved and nothing is owed.
- The balance is due 21 days before your first service, or on the day you arrive if you book inside 21 days.
- You get the travel pack about a week out: every hotel with an address and phone number, every driver and guide by name, pick-up times, and a 24-hour number that is answered by a person in Laos rather than a call centre.
What to put in the first email
The five things that let us quote properly rather than send you a brochure.
| Tell us | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Dates, or the month | Season changes both the price and whether the route is a good idea at all |
| How many of you, and ages if children are travelling | Group size drives the price more than anything else, and children change which boats and vehicles we can use |
| A budget per person per day, land only | It is the fastest way to a useful answer, and we will tell you honestly if the number does not fit the request |
| What you would be sorry to miss | One or two things. It tells us which of the eight routes to start from |
| How you are arriving and leaving | Whether you enter overland from Thailand or fly into Luang Prabang changes the first three days completely |
What we do not need in the first email: passport numbers, insurance details, or a day-by-day plan you have already built. Those come later, and building the plan is our job.
What the quote looks like
A quote from us is between two and four pages and always contains the same five things. If any of them is missing from a quote you receive - from us or anyone - ask why.
- A day-by-day plan with drive times, walking distances and where you sleep each night, by hotel name, not by star rating.
- A per-person price at your group size, with the group size stated on the page.
- A list of what is not included, with rough figures next to each line.
- The name of the guide, or the date by which we will confirm one.
- One paragraph on what we think is wrong with your original request. There is almost always something, and it is usually the pace.
Deposit, balance and what your money is doing
The deposit is 25 per cent. It is not a fee for our time - it is the money that goes out to hotels and guides on the day it arrives, which is what turns a plan into reservations. That is also why it stops being fully refundable once it has been committed to suppliers, and our booking terms state exactly when that happens.
Between deposit and balance you can still change things. Changing dates, hotels or the order of the route costs nothing beyond any supplier charge, which we pass through at cost with the supplier's own message attached.
Confirm bank details by voice, on a number you found yourself rather than one in an email. Payment-detail fraud in this industry works by intercepting an invoice and changing the account number. Our account details never change, and we will never email you to say they have. The how to pay page has the full checklist.
While you are travelling
One number, answered around the clock in Lao and English by someone who can actually change a booking rather than take a message. In practice it is used for three things: a delayed international flight, illness, and weather.
- Delayed arrival. Tell us as early as you can and we move the first day rather than lose it. Hotels in Laos are almost always flexible about this if told in advance.
- Illness. We know which clinics and hospitals to use in each town, and which to avoid. For anything serious the answer is usually a flight to Bangkok or Vientiane, and we will organise it.
- Weather. Road closures in the wet season and river levels on the Nam Ou both change plans. We rebuild the day and tell you what it costs, if anything.
What we will not do is leave you to discover a problem on your own. If a hotel has oversold or a boat cannot run, you will hear it from us before you hear it from them.
What we do when we get it wrong
It happens. A vehicle breaks down, a guide falls ill, a hotel puts you in the wrong room. Our rule is that the fix happens first and the accounting happens afterwards - the guide is authorised to spend money to solve a problem without calling the office.
If the trip was materially worse than what you bought, we refund the difference, calculated from the supplier costs rather than from the headline price. We would rather send you a smaller bill than an apology.
Start the conversation
Dates, headcount, rough daily budget. A reply with a route and a price inside one working day.
Questions travellers ask most
How far ahead should I book?
For November to February, three to five months ahead. It is not that Laos sells out but that the twenty or so good small hotels do, and they are what makes the difference between a fine trip and a good one.
For the rest of the year, four to six weeks is comfortable, and we have put together perfectly good trips in eight days.
Can I book only part of a trip, like a guide for two days?
Yes. A guide and vehicle for a day or two, a slow boat booking, or airport transfers on their own are all things we sell.
Below about three days of services the admin costs more than we make, so we charge a small handling fee and tell you what it is up front.
Do I need to sign anything?
You confirm by email that you accept the itinerary and the booking terms. There is no separate contract to print and sign.
The itinerary document you accept is the contract, which is why it names hotels and guide days rather than describing them in general terms.
What happens if I have to cancel?
The sliding scale is in the booking terms and starts at more than 30 days before your first service, when you get everything back except supplier costs already committed, itemised so you can see them.
If you cancel because of something we did or failed to do, you get all of it back, including the committed costs. We absorb those.
Read next
Tell us what you want out of Laos
Dates, party size and the places you care about are enough to start. You get a draft route and an indicative price, not a brochure.