Topic Tour Society - The New Way to Vacation: FAQ

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Frequently Asked Questions

Our mission is to provide you the best vacation experiences you've ever had, so that you will go with us year after year. Delivering the best requires us to know your particular interests and passions, the places you love, the way you like to travel, and how you like to socialize and have fun. We depend on you to share your ideas for new topics and destinations with us, and to invite the people you most enjoy to join the Topic Tour Society. As a member, you have more influence over what we offer and who you are likely to meet on your next vacation.

What types of Topic Tour Society membership are available?

Four levels of membership are available, and any membership covers all household family members. With a Free Membership, you'll have an important voice in suggesting new tours and topics, learn about all kinds of fabulous vacations from the TTS ezine, and maintain a listing in the TTS membership directory. You can also invite your friends to consider joining, thus opening the door to a richer social life.

With a Premier Membership at $79 per year for the whole family, you'll be able to reserve your place on tours and other TTS events, find other members with similar interests, and participate in discussion forums.

A Premier Plus Membership (also $79 per year) is available to those who enroll promptly after receiving an invitation. It entitles you and all household family members to all the benefits of a Premier Membership, plus valuable discounts on every tour and a guaranteed low renewal rate for life.

The Lifetime Membership, at $299 one time for the whole family, includes all the benefits of a Premier Plus Membership, and not only ensures that you will never have to pay a renewal fee, but also gives you advance notice and reservation opportunities on tours and other events.

Is membership required to go on a Topic Tour?

Yes. Topic Tour participants must have either a Premier, Premier Plus, or a Lifetime membership. Free members must upgrade in order to book tours. In most cases, members receive discounts on tour bookings that equal or exceed the price of membership. In fact, the price of a family membership can be returned many times in the form of tour discounts.

Who can access my personal membership information?

Your personal membership information is accessible only to someone logging on with your Family Membership ID and Password, and to authorized TTS Staff. We do not share your information with anyone else, ever.

Do I receive any reward if I refer friends to Topic Tours?

You benefit from the pleasure of their company for TTS events and tours, but do not receive any financial compensation. However, when you invite your friends and extended family to join, your invitation is worth at least $30 to them in discounted membership dues, and can entitle them to additional discounts on tours. So, although anyone can come to the TTS website at any time and join without an invitation, you could save the people you know at least $30 by going to your Member Activities Menu and sending them an invitation.

Tours

Why are all your itineraries similar in design?

For a vacation to be truly fabulous, it must satisfy most of your needs, including escaping, getting pampered, exploring different places, having fun with friends both old and new, going on exciting adventures, learning to see yourself and the world in a new way, and coming home fully refreshed. We believe you can get several times the usual benefit from your investment of time and money, if your whole experience is expertly planned and executed to satisfy ALL your reasons for leisure travel. Most ordinary vacations meet only a few of your needs and do not provide the powerful cumulative benefit of a Topic Tour. Our itineraries are designed around maximizing your enjoyment rather than exploring a destination.

Where can I go on a Topic Tour?

You tell us where you'd love to go. We are always developing new tours to the world's best destinations, based on what you and other members tell us.

How many people will be in my tour group?

Most tour groups have 20 to 40 participants, plus a full-time professional Tour Conductor. Group tours that are custom-developed for professional, trade, special interest, or church organizations could be smaller or larger, depending on the preferences of the group members.

If I am traveling alone, can you arrange for a roommate?

No. You would choose a single occupancy room if you do not have a roommate.

What about tipping?

Gratuities for group luggage handling, maid service, meals, and the motorcoach driver are included in your tour price. Your Topic Presenter does not expect a tip. However, if you are pleased with your Tour Conductor's services, he or she will appreciate a gratuity. We recommend $5 to $7 daily per person.

Topics

Why does each tour have a topic?

A tour that features one of your favorite subjects is more entertaining and informative. The Topic Presenter, a recognized expert in the field, travels with your group. You'll enjoy several scheduled presentations and group activities throughout the week, as well as lots of fascinating conversation at all hours. Your fellow participants have selected the tour because they, too, share your interest and passion for this topic. Many of them will benefit from your questions about or experience with the subject, just as you will have opportunities to learn from other, more experienced, participants.

What if I am traveling with family members who are less interested in the topic?

Tour participants are always welcome to attend or skip a presentation or activity according to personal preference. All kinds of fun-filled alternate activities are available for children or a spouse less interested in the topic.

You have a broad range of topics, but I don't see the particular one I want. How likely are you to offer it later?

Please give us your suggestions, and tell us what especially appeals to you about the topic. We really want to know your interests, and depend on your input to develop just the right topics for your vacations. Whatever your passion is, there are many other people who share it in common. Wouldn't you like to meet some of them on your next vacation?

Reservations

How much in advance should I reserve my tour?

Our tours can fill up many months before departure. We recommend that you reserve your place as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

Can my name be added to a waiting list if the tour I requested is sold out?

Yes. We will notify you by email and/or telephone as soon as space becomes available, even when you have reserved another Topic Tour as your second choice. You will have 24 hours to accept confirmation.

Can I reserve my tour by telephone instead of online?

Yes. If you have questions that are not addressed on our website, or prefer to reserve your tour by telephone, please call our toll-free number, (888) 399-2580. Our reservations staff will be happy to help you.

Once I have reserved my tour, what payments am I required to make?

Unless otherwise stated on your Confirmation Invoice, a deposit of 10% of the total price is due within 5 days of confirmation, and final payment is due 60 days prior to departure. For complete information, please review our Terms of Service.

Should I purchase travel insurance when I reserve my tour?

Yes. We strongly encourage you to purchase travel insurance as soon as your reservation is confirmed. TTS offers a Travel Guard policy that protects you from trip cancellation fees, lost luggage expenses, and certain medical expenses. For complete information, please review our Travel Insurance section.

What if I must cancel my trip?

Cancellations must be received in writing (email is OK). Unless you have purchased our Travel Guard policy, a $75 per person cancellation fee will be assessed, and cancellations within 60 days of departure may incur additional fees. For complete information, please review our Terms of Service.

Does TTS arrange for transportation between my home and the city where the tour departs?

No. Your air or ground transportation to the hotel at the beginning of the tour, and your return transportation from the hotel to home after the tour are your responsibility. Almost all Topic Tours begin and end at a fine hotel in a major airline hub city, to which flights are convenient and inexpensive.

I belong to an organization that sometimes travels as a group. Can Topic Tours arrange a custom tour for my group?

Yes. TTS can develop a tour program just for your organization, to a destination of your choice, that includes a full-time professional tour conductor and just the right Topic Presenter. Call or write our Membership Director to get started. This is a great way to provide additional valuable benefits for your organization's members. Your custom program can include free tours for you and/or other organization members based on a certain number of paid participants, and can even serve as a fund-raising mechanism.

Does TTS offer gift certificates?

Yes. You may purchase a gift certificate in any amount for birthdays, graduation, retirement or any occasion. Just write or call our Reservations Director at 1-888-399-2580 so we can prepare your certificate with the proper wording.

Group Dynamics

What is so special about the design of Topic Tours -- how is it done, what are they like?

How an individual personality is satisfied by the experience of travelling varies according to the nature of personality, and the events, interactions, settings, and flow of travel experience with which they must deal. At TTS we have identified the needs and fulfillments that motivate different personalities to seek the experience of travel, and have tailored the travel experiences we provide to address these in the most complete and maximal ways possible. Our topic tours and group tour experience, combined with the destinations and amenities we offer, create the most memorable and satisfying vacation experiences on the market. We do this because our focus is on fulfilling the traveler's experience first and foremost, versus designing tours around standard commercial constraints, event packages, and destination parameters.

A person on vacation tends to move through several distinct phases of experience during their travel. Our group dynamics technology identifies these phases, and the needs and desires that tend to accompany them. Tours are designed to accommodate these phases and their changes in a natural flow of events, that both supports the satisfactions of each phase and encourages movement through to even more fulfilling experiences. From escaping to orienting, having fun, exploring, and ultimately to integrating the whole travel experience, we create the best opportunities for everyone to reap maximal satisfaction from their tour, from start to finish. We consider surroundings, activities, pacing, and interactions with other tour members, our Tour Conductors, and Topic Presenters, and design tour experiences to suit the psychological states that naturally occur when travelling in this way.

Our technology also revolves around several core features for each tour that we feel are crucial for maximal enjoyment. These include getting people connected with nature, pampering our tour participants, and engendering positive interactions in the tour group. At TTS we recognize the restorative, inspiring effects of beautiful natural surroundings, and the tendency in modern society to have become cut off from these in daily life. Nature is not only rejuvenating, it can be healing, and not only for our bodies, but also for our minds and hearts. We aim to give our tour members a rich experience of natural surroundings as part of every tour.

The nurturing feeling of being pampered offers more than delight to the senses. More deeply, it conveys a natural sense of esteem that supports feeling good about ourselves. Many people have become so busy that self-nurturing has become an afterthought. On Topic Tours, it is one of our forethoughts! We want you to feel special, honored, and nurtured, and we choose lodgings, amenities, and design tours with this in mind. Your pleasure is one of our purposes.

We utilize our group dynamics technology to construct tour experiences that support rich, positive social interactions. One of our proprietary business practices is to require that Tour Conductors be trained in the art and practice of effective group facilitation. We hire only seasoned and experienced Tour Conductors to take our training and become Topic Tour Society staff. We support the style of adult-to-adult interactions between Tour Conductors and tour participants, versus parent-to-child styles.

We also recognize that a group of people tends to behave as if it has a personality, the nature of which is as variable as are individual personalities. Therefore, to further assist each Tour Conductor, we provide them with particular guidelines for every tour and group to review prior to departure and during the tour, that take into account group makeup, tour topic, destination, and individuals' personal interest factors. This enables our tours to be as effective as possible in maximizing enjoyment for the particular travelers on each tour.

In choosing tour events and design, our technology addresses the way in which group interactions are handled to make our tours comfortable and supportive for everyone from the shy to the outgoing. One of the principal reasons for integrating a topic with a tour was that it would create a tour group who already shared a major compatibility, i.e. interest in a particular topic. From there, we realize that travelling offers the possibility for building friendships through common experiences together, and we feel most people are fulfilled when their interactions are more rewarding. Our tours are designed to support making positive new connections, as well as provide freedom to engage the travel experience in whatever personal style is most comfortable. On tour the group meetings are fun, comfortable, and not obtrusive on your time. They will help you enjoy the group with whom you are traveling.

Overall, our group dynamics technology helps us to integrate topics, destinations, Presenters, Tour Conductors, and time of year, with the desires and experience of the traveler, to create a uniquely designed tour experience that is as wholly rich as possible. This state-of-the-art approach enables us to provide unparalleled service to the vacationer, addressing needs, desires, and enjoyment possibilities the depth and scope of which are not available in the commercial travel industry. We maintain the highest level of professional relationship with the vendors and suppliers with whom we contract, but never forget that it is our members who always come first. We would love to have you on one of our tours, so that you may see for yourself!

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