Having booked their student group trip months ago, many teachers view the time period between 90 days and departure as dead time. Hardly. While a surge of reservations have come in early, there are still many kids and parents on the fence. Continue promoting the trip in your newsletters, on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. If you’re socially illiterate, solicit a committee of students already signed up for the trip to create a Facebook page, Tweet about interesting things you’re going to see along the way or Pin photos of the sights you’re going to see. This helps keep interest alive with your prospective travelers and with those already signed up. Another note, make personal contact with parents who have shown interest but not committed their kids to the trip to answer specific questions they may have.
This is also the time when payments start becoming due, based on how you secured your reservations. Airlines and tour companies can be stringent on final payment deadlines, so mark these on the calendar and make sure your students/parents are aware so there’s no last minute fire drills. Your hotel rooming lists will also be due in the next 30 days, so now’s a good time to have students choose roomates for hotels.
Finally, if you’re flying to your destination, contact local bus companies for rates on airport transfers. From experience, you don’t want everyone responsible for getting themselves to the airport, bad things are bound to happen and a missed flight by one or more of your students will set the entire trip on a downward spiral.
Momentum is a tricky thing and you don’t want to lose it. Spend this time wisely and your next student trip will get off on the right foot.
For more advice on planning your next student trip, download a free copy of Student Travel Planning Guide.
