Sarapamela

We are considering a Collette tour of the Swiss Alps and Northern Italian lakes for May or June 2022. I am concerned about their cancellation policy. It sounds like you have to buy their pricy insurance policy ($399 each) in order to avoid losing your non-refundable airline tickets ... and you lose at least 30% of tour, too, if you change or cancel.

Wondering if anyone has traveled on a Collette tour and also how they handled COVID-19 cancellations. Are they reputable? I know many of you say to avoid tours, but the four of us are looking for an escorted tour to reduce stress, and their itinerary sounds really good (lots of trains in Switzerland and Northern Italy lake region.). Thanks, in advance, for any information about this company in general and their cancellation policies in particular!

janisj

They are a long established/well regarded company. BUT they are pretty clear in their published terms/conditions that they require the Travel Protection Plan - which provides cancel for any reason coverage. $399 is a lot of money -- but it is probably cheaper, or no more expensive anyway, than other cancel for any reason policies. You could of course book your own flights and then deal directly with the airlines.

Some other tour companies are currently allowing for canceling or re-scheduling with no fees - mostly temporary offers to encourage bookings. But whether that will still be in effect next year who knows.

Christina

I think it is unrealistic to expect to be able to book a tour plus "nonrefundable" airfare (which isn't necessary, most any regular airline fare you can cancel and get credit back for use on another trip with a change fee). and get everything back if you just decide not to go, which is what it sounds like becauuse you are asking about getting money back if YOU decide to cancel

Yes, that is expensive insurance as you can easily buy travel insurance policies (not cancel for any reason, but cancel for serious illness, etc.) for maybe 10 pct of what you want to insure. Of course I have no idea what the cost of that tour is. But typically those "cancel for any reason policies" only give you back maybe 75 pct of what you paid, I think. So that's a pretty expensive premium also but some people buy them.

If this trip costs $4000, that price isn't bad at all. If this is the "Peaks of Europe trip", it does seem to cost about $4000 per person. And that is without airfare. Also, you are given a choice of whether to buy nonrefundable airfare or refundable airfare, so that's on you.

So I think that 30 pct loss is normal. I suggest you don't buy nonrefundable airline tickets, if you are using that term to mean you don't even get a credit if you cancel. Also, you can compare insurance prices to see what another "cancel for any reason" insurance would cost, I presume that's what the Collette quote is. Also, don't buy your airfare through them if that's an issue. I buy insurance and it costs 10 pct for regular policies, so I know the cancel for any reason policies cost more.

I travel enough that I would just buy my own airfare and if I did cancel, wouldn't care all that much about a couple hundred dollar change fee to use it again, as I would have had a good reason to cancel.