Insurance, not an afterthought
Coverage through Travel Insured International: trip cancellation, medical, baggage, evacuation and 24/7 assistance, with optional cancel-for-any-reason cover.
See what’s coveredGlobal Educational Tours planning desk, Boston · Updated August 2026
Comparing operatorsThirty days to recruit. Zero dollars committed.
That’s the whole difference, and it’s written into our terms rather than into a brochure. You get a costed proposal with the per-student price at every group size, thirty days to find out whether the students are actually there, and no deposit from any family until you accept.
- $0 to plan and share
- 30 days risk-free window
- 24/7 on-tour support
The risk-free window
Day one
You hold a costed proposal: the per-student price at every group size.
42 students$933
37 students$957
32 students$987
The worked example in our Terms
Day thirty
You have committed $0.
Not from you, not from a single family. Vendors are held on a preliminary basis for the whole window.
Read the risk-free clause
If the numbers don’t work, the proposal expires, the holds release, and nothing is charged.
Ground trips · 30-day window With airfare · 12-day airfare depositTier pricing shown is the worked example published in our Terms & Conditions. Your proposal shows your own numbers.
Operating since 2009
1,400+ students traveled
8 destinations open now
19 itineraries you can book
98% group-leader rebooking
24/7 on-tour support
$0 to plan and share
The side-by-side
Ten things a superintendent actually asks.
It is how school travel is usually sold. Read the right-hand column against whatever you’re using now. The last row is the one most brochures leave out.
| What you’re weighing | The usual way | With Global Educational Tours |
|---|---|---|
| Getting a real, costed quote | A call, a meeting, then a wait. Pricing lands as one number, for one group size. | A written proposal showing the per-student price at each passenger tier. The published example runs 42, 37 and 32 students, so a thin sign-up has a number attached before you promise anything. |
| What it costs to explore | Usually nothing, but the quote arrives attached to a salesperson you now owe a reply to. | $0. Browse, customize, share the itinerary and run a free interest page. An account manager isn’t attached, and nobody calls unless you ask. |
| When money is actually committed | A deposit typically secures the dates. Money moves before you know your numbers. | The 30-day proposal window collects $0. Vendors are held on a preliminary basis. Deposits ($50 ground, $150 with airfare) are only requested after you accept. |
| If not enough students sign up | Renegotiate, absorb the difference, or explain the cancellation to families. | Request a revised proposal at the next pricing tier, or decline with no penalty. Deposits weren’t collected during the window, so there’s nothing to refund and no fee. |
| Changing dates or the itinerary | Change requests go back through your rep and return re-quoted, days later. | Edit freely during the proposal window and request revised pricing as often as you like. After booking, changes follow the terms, and the 60-day lock is firm. We’d rather say so now. |
| Who collects the money | Usually you. Cheques, envelopes, a spreadsheet, and a reconciliation you do twice. | Each family gets their own account and their own interest-free monthly plan, with automatic reminders at 70, 65 and 61 days out. Group leaders never handle a check. |
| Who chaperones reach at 2am | An after-hours number, often an outsourced call center reading from a script. | One number, answered by our own operations team. Every departure has a named contact and a local backup operator, plus a documented plan for missed connections, illness and weather. |
| What parents can see | A printed itinerary at a parent night, and whatever gets forwarded afterwards. | Their own account with a live balance, the daily itinerary, and check-in updates through the on-tour app, which works offline. One price, with tips and taxes already in it. |
| The file your board asks for | Requested, then assembled over a few weeks, usually after your approval deadline. | Risk assessments, insurance certificates, supplier vetting, emergency protocols and a live traveler manifest, available from the day you start planning. |
| What is genuinely locked Read this one | Varies by contract. Ask directly, and ask for it in writing. | At 60 days out the passenger manifest, motorcoach itinerary, rooming list and meal selections lock, and final payment is due. Enrollment deposits are non-refundable once submitted. That’s the trade for holding your price. |
Every claim in the right-hand column is written down. Read the risk-free clause
Before you commit
What does it cost to plan a school trip? Nothing.
It costs nothing to plan. Here is exactly what happens during the window where you’re still deciding, and exactly what ends it.
Read the binding version-
No deposit, from anyone
Not from you, not from a single family. For the full thirty days, no financial obligation exists on either side.
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Change anything, re-price free
Swap a museum, move to a quieter week, resize the group. Request revised pricing as many times as you need.
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The recruitment tool is free
Share one link and watch genuine interest arrive, so you decide with a list rather than a show of hands in homeroom.
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Walking away costs $0
Don’t accept, and the proposal simply expires. Every vendor hold releases automatically. No fee is charged and no one calls to ask why.
The window closes the moment you formally accept. From that point the trip is an active booking and the cancellation policy applies, which is why we put it in front of you here rather than in a footnote.
Eight steps, and you can see all of them.
Four of them cost nothing. The fifth is where you commit. We’ve marked the exact moment the money becomes real, and the exact moment the details stop moving.
Decide Step 1 of 8: Select your trip
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Phase 1: Decide
This phase costs $0 and binds nobody. You can stop here at no cost.
Select your trip
Browse the itineraries and pick the one that matches your learning objectives, your calendar and the nights you can get approved. You get immediate access to your Trip Organizer Dashboard.
Costs you: nothing
Review your proposal
Destination, dates, itinerary components and pricing, shown in passenger increments so you can see precisely how the per-student cost moves with group size, before you promise a number to a parent.
Ground trips · 30-day window With airfare · 12-day airfare depositCosts you: nothing
Recruit while you’re still deciding
Use the free recruitment tool to gauge genuine interest. Your School Trip Toolbox opens at the same time: digital permission forms, administrative approval templates, medical and emergency forms, and fundraising resources, completable from any device.
Costs you: nothing
Accept your proposal
Acceptance confirms the itinerary, the dates and the pricing structure, and it converts the preliminary vendor holds into confirmed ones. This is the line: after it, the cancellation policy applies.
The risk-free window ends here
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Phase 2: Commit
Families pay us directly, on their own schedule. You never touch the money.
Book your trip
Booking triggers the invitation emails: every interested passenger is asked to create an account and submit their enrollment deposit. You send nothing and chase nobody.
Ground / motorcoach$50per participant · non-refundableWith airfare included$150per participant · non-refundablePayment schedule & prep
Families receive monthly payment invitations. At 120 days out personal information is confirmed; at 90 days, dietary needs; and reminders go out at 70, 65 and 61 days if a balance is still outstanding.
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Phase 3: Depart
Details stop moving so that nothing can go wrong quietly.
The 60-day milestone
Hard lockFinal payment is due for all trips. The passenger manifest, motorcoach itinerary, rooming list and meal selections are locked, and no changes to those elements are possible afterwards. It is the least flexible day in the whole process, and we schedule everything backwards from it.
Final preparations & departure
Thirty days out, you meet your trip team. The final itinerary is distributed at 21 days. The day before, you get the driver’s phone number alongside your tour leader, manager and guide contacts, plus a Bon Voyage call from your travel coordinator.
The plan for the bad day, written before the good one.
A delayed flight, a sick student, a closed road. None of these are unusual, and none of them should be the first time anyone thinks about what happens next.
Vetted operators in every city
Licensed local guides and inspected coaches only. Every departure carries a local backup operator, so a supplier problem is our problem, not yours.
The board file, pre-built
Per-itinerary risk assessments, insurance certificates, supplier vetting records, emergency protocols and a live traveler manifest. Downloadable. Board-ready.
If we cancel, you’re covered
Should we cancel a tour, you’re offered an alternative at no additional charge. Decline it in writing within seven days and every dollar paid to us is refunded in full.
Read clause 6B
Who picks up
Someone answers at 2am.
A member of our own operations team is on call for every departure, not a ticket queue and not an outsourced call center. Average response time is around ninety seconds.
- A named contact for your specific departure
- A local backup operator in every city you visit
- Documented plans for missed connections, illness and weather
- Driver, tour leader, manager and guide numbers the day before you fly
The hesitations
Six reasons people don’t switch.
These are the objections we actually hear in staff rooms. Answered plainly, including the two where the honest answer is "that’s a fair concern".
Not on this list?
The FAQ page answers the rest, sorted by who’s asking.
Read the full FAQs
Then you have something most schools don’t: a benchmark. Run one proposal alongside your usual quote. It costs nothing, it takes one prep period, and it either confirms you already have the better deal or it doesn’t. Nobody has to switch anything to find out. The proposal expires on its own if you leave it.
Our proposal is written, itemised and priced at multiple passenger tiers, so it drops straight into a procurement comparison without you rewriting it. The accompanying risk assessment, insurance certificate and supplier vetting record are generated at the same time, which is usually the part that delays approval, not the price.
You decline the proposal and nobody is charged. You gather non-binding interest first, adjust the price or the dates while changing costs nothing, and confirm only once the group is viable. If enrollment lands below the minimum tier, you can request a revised proposal at the next tier up, or decline without penalty. Deposits won’t have been collected, so there’s nothing to unwind and nothing to explain to families.
Liability is set out in Section 14 of our Terms, and the participant release in Section 15. We work only with licensed, vetted local operators, every departure has 24/7 emergency contact with our own team, and travel insurance (including medical and evacuation cover) is available on every trip. Bring the clauses to your board; they are written to be read by one.
Each family gets their own account and their own interest-free monthly plan, with automated reminders, so the cost is spread from the day you book to sixty days before departure. Fundraising resources sit in the School Trip Toolbox from day one. And because every family pays us directly, a household that falls behind is a conversation with us, not with the teacher who has to see them at parents' evening.
Fair concern, so here is the honest version: there’s a dashboard, and you’ll have to look at it. What it replaces is roughly forty hours of admin per trip: the quote chasing, the money collection, the rooming lists, the reminders. If you’d rather not touch it at all, choose an assisted booking and a travel specialist runs the itinerary, proposal and coordination for you. Same terms, same deadlines, same price.
“Use me as a reference any time.”
Words truly cannot express how grateful I am for everything you did to make this trip a fantastic experience. You went above and beyond in every way, even giving up your room for one of our passengers. You can personally use me as a reference any time.
I cannot thank you enough for arranging all the activities for the Canada trip. It has been amazing. Robert has been a godsend; his English is impeccable and we experienced so much more than previous years.
He has a unique gift for handling both the expected and the unexpected. He leads with care and thoughtfulness, and his depth of historical knowledge adds such value. Highly recommended.
- 2009 Operating since
- 1,400+ Students traveled
- 8 Destinations open now
- 19 Itineraries you can book
- 98% Group-leader rebooking
- 24/7 On-tour support
Rebooking measured across 2019–2026 departures. All figures are our own operating records.
The next move
Get one proposal. Compare it to whatever you have.
Tell us the grade, the city and a week. A planner replies with a costed outline, usually within one business day. No sales call unless you ask for one.