How to choose a travel agency + What would you tell your pre-solo travel self
Published 3 months ago • 15 min read
Hi Reader,
How are you doing?
I am in Ecuador and today is the start of our first tour in the country - yay!
I am sure excited to see old friends who have traveled with us before and others who have but I have not yet met in real life, plus all the first-time guests who are about to be new friends.
Did you know 40% of our guests have traveled with us before?
On each tour I have the fantastic opportunity of meeting curious, fun and likeminded women who I always learn something from and this is definitively the best part of my role at Solo Female Travelers.
And our podcast has more than 1,000 downloads already in less than a month which is super cool! If you are not following us yet, go find us on your favorite platform under Solo Female Travelers.
A question for all of you:
I have been thinking about a Menopause retreat for some time. Entering that stage in my life, I realise there is little and often contradicting information available, and a whole lot of value in community and commiseration with other women in the same stage in life. I wonder, would it be appealing to organize a health, wellness and information retreat that would bring an expert doctor to talk about what to expect, and the wanders of a clinic & spa resort (I found one in the Dolomites that looks gorgeous), plus some activities and discovery? What do you think?
📩 On this week's email
How to choose a travel agency / tour operator. A good reminder now that the peak summer holiday time is approaching and you may be looking to hire a travel agent, advisor or tour operator.
This week's episode of our podcast is all about Ecuador, and is going live at the time when I am actually in the country on our first group trip there. Our 2027 Ecuador + Galapagos tour is also live and has very few spots left, book your spot if you want to join us! And Go follow in stories to see what the tour is like, as you listen to this week's episode. Pst! Leave us a review on your favorite platform so we can start reaching out to more women 🎙️
How to choose a travel agency / tour company
As summer holidays start to come closer, many of you will get started on the planning phase and may decide to book a group tour or use the services of a travel agency, so I wanted to bring back the tips shared last year with regards to choosing one, because this is a common and very legitimate question travelers ask in the group and we get.
With the proliferation of influencer-led trips and new travel agencies launching all the time, you may have found a trip offered by someone you aren’t familiar with and would like to know how to find out if they are legitimate, have the right experience and set-up in place, the right financial backing and the right legal paperwork.
Anyone can launch a website or an Instagram page and start offering tours, but should you trust them with your precious vacation time and money?
What can go wrong with an illegitimate travel agency / tour operator
The agency owner disappears with your money. This happens way more than you think and if you ask around, you will hear stories from friends
When something bad and significant happens (car breaks down, road blocks, demonstrations, natural disaster, power outage, guide gets sick, driver gets sick, etc.), you are left stranded without any help and there is no company insurance either
The operator may not follow the law, have the registration or licenses in place or hire official guides, which are a mandatory requirement in many countries like Italy, Spain or the UK. The police could stop the guide and fine them plus ban them from continuing hosting leaving you stranded. This is happening a lot in Italy where the Gov is cracking down on illegal tour hosts
When smaller but still relevant inconveniences happen, there is no plan B and no resources to help you overcome them
If a guest gets sick, there is no support team to help the rest of the group or the guest who is left alone in the hospital of a foreign country
If the company goes bankrupt, there is no recourse to get compensation, you just lose your money
Lack of experience can lead to a subpar experience, or to services provided being less than what was promised, or the guide not sharing any information or to the organization being inefficient, having you waiting around, or wasting precious time
What to ask a potential travel agency / tour company
Here is what you should be looking for or asking about from a potential travel agency / tour company before booking solo or with others.
Independent reviews
Media coverage
Legal paperwork in place
Fit with your travel style
Liability insurance and financial backing / processes
Experience Pre-tour support and customer service
Let's take a look at each. I will use our company as an example to illustrate, and refer to other situations too.
1. Independent reviews
This is the most obvious and easiest way to check if a company has experience in the field AND with a specific destination / tour.
The emphasis with reviews is on the word independent.
You should be skeptical of reviews that are pasted on the website only and cannot be verified with third party services like Google Reviews, Trust Pilot, TripAdvisor, etc.
I want to be able to read independent reviews posted publicly on any channel that is not the company’s website. Those could be faked too, but it is much harder and obvious.
What to look for:
Does the company have third party reviews? I would not trust a company that only has reviews on their website.
Does it have enough reviews? A company that has been in business for a couple of years should at least have reviews from 10-20% of their guests. If you see only a handful, that is not a good sign. If a company claims to have thousand of guests every year and only have 1,000 reviews, something is weird.
Do reviews have photos? These are hard to fake so give a lot of credibility. If none of the reviews have photos, I would question their veracity.
Do reviews go into detail? Eg “Guide A was amazing and I really loved that we did X and connected with Y to do B”, rather than generic reviews like “I had a great time with X in Y”.
Are reviews left by expert reviewers or by someone who has no other review? That is a red flag.
Do reviews mention repeat customers? Do reviewers mention they have booked more tours, or that a tour was their second or third? Repeat business is a great sign.
Do reviews have answers from the owners? Are they generic or personalised?
What is not a red flag:
Having reviews in only one platform. Companies choose where to request reviews based on their business model. We used to ask for them on Facebook, because this is where our community lives, but the amount of spam and zero support from Facebook in removing fake reviews made us move to Google because many potential guests find us there and most people have Google accounts. We don’t like TripAdvisor because it is heavily manipulated, so we never created a profile there.
Having only positive reviews. I often hear that if a company does not have any reviews that are less than 5* they must be fake. In our case, we have a couple of 4* reviews and the rest are all 5*. They aren’t fake, we just do a very good job and attract the right kind of guest who shares our mission. We are also a small company, so we know our guests well, we care. Reviews also reflect the response and measures a company puts in place when things don’t go according to plan. Even when we make a mistake, we rectify it straightaway so it does not lead to a negative review. Think about the last time you left a negative review, was it also because the way it was handled made you extra upset?
2. Media coverage
Editorial media coverage of a company is extremely hard to get, and a good sign the company is legitimate.
Has the company been featured online by any outlets?
Are those respected and legitimate outlets?
Can you read the coverage and see what they highlight?
The lack of media coverage, especially if the company is new, is not necessary a red flag, but the existence of it should make you feel good about your choice.
And read the media coverage. Companies often include a long list of media pieces but perhaps they aren't quoted or presented as experts but rather as sources, which lends less credibility.
3. Legal paperwork in place
I cannot stress this enough.
It is so easy to start offering tours, that many people just don’t have the minimum legal paperwork in place to call themselves travel agency / tour operator, they simply launch a website or IG account and start offering tours.
This is extremely dangerous for you, and you should stay clear of ANY company that cannot provide you with the legal proof that they are set up as a travel company in their country.
I see so many individuals hosting trips without any legal entity or guarantees behind.
Are they paying taxes?
Are you protected at all if they go bankrupt or simply disappear? This is a MUST and you should never book with a travel agency whose company registration details aren’t listed on their website as that is a legal requirement in almost every countries (look at the footer or the Privacy Policy).
Do they have a travel agency license. This changes country to country. For example, you can’t get one in Catalunya, where we are based, because they are no longer needed, but you will absolutely need it to operate in the UK and many other countries. Just ask them about it.
Are they part of a professional association? This also varies by country. In the UK anyone selling packages that include flights need to register with ATOL. This would protect you in case the company goes bankrupt and you lose your money or are stranded overseas. You should never buy a package from a UK company that is not registered with ATOL. Other associations for travel agencies include IATA (a must if the agency sells flights), ABTA in the UK for travel companies, ASTA for travel advisors in the US, etc. While these associations are not a must, their membership helps build credibility.
Do they hire only licensed guides? Almost every country will require guides to have a license, sometimes licenses are needed to tour official monuments like in Greece or Bali, sometimes they are needed to escort any kind of group around the country like in Italy, sometimes they are not needed at all, like in Germany. If the guide who will be hosting your tour is not a licensed one, that brings not only legal questions (it wouldn’t be the first time I see a group of tourists in Italy being stopped by the police because they were being escorted by a foreigner without a local license) but also liability concerns. If something happened to you, you wouldn’t be backed by any professional association or insurance company. The guide could also simply disappear and leave you there. Let that sink in. If an accident happens and you were in a group trip with a guide that wasn't a licensed guide, your travel insurance may not cover you because you engaged services of unlicensed professionals. Most of the influencers who host trips do not have guiding licenses or experience. It is not enough to have a following, you also need to follow the law and respect the job that others who have obtained licenses do.
The guides and hosts are experienced. To me, tours led by someone without any experience leading tours raise serious questions around the ability of that person to handle challenges, know what to do in case something goes wrong and keep you safe in case of an accident or illness. Guides go through lengthy and detailed training. In some counties, they need university-level degrees. They know how to manage personalities, they know what to do in case something goes wrong and they need to troubleshoot, they have contacts, and they are trained to take care of you. Not everyone is suited for this job and a guide can make or break a tour. Knowing a tour is hosted by an experienced guide is paramount.
4. Good fit for you
When assessing a travel agency or trip, you should carefully look at the details to make sure it is a good fit for you.
Just because a company was perfect for your friend, it does not mean it will be the best fit for your travel style or personality.
My biggest worry is getting a booking from a guest who has not understood what we stand for or how our tours are.
For example, someone who cannot meet the physical requirement of a tour, or who is not a group tour person but rather prefers independent travel, or who likes to splurge on hotels and books a budget tour, or who wants comfort and needs things to go according to plan, and has selected a tour to a destination where flexibility is a must, or who loves cleanliness and sterile environments and has booked to spend time in nature, or who does not care to support small, women-owned businesses and likes the predictability of international brands, etc.
Choosing the company that best fits your needs is your responsibility.
You need to ensure that the company you selected aligns with your travel style and your values and the type of tour and destination is what you are looking for at the moment.
A company could be very legitimate for budget tours and be completely the wrong one for you if you prefer luxury.
Pay attention to the imagery, the people shown, the activities, the adjectives used, the company values and what previous guests highlighted about a tour to see if it’s for you.
5. Liability insurance and financial backing / processes
A legitimate company will meet its financial obligations and have insurance in place to safeguard your money in case of bankruptcy.
This should be your biggest worry and COVID brought out a lot of these issues to the front when companies that did not have all the legal paperwork in place left guests stranded.
Travel companies go bankrupt all the time. Spirit just did.
German FTI Touristik, the 3rd largest travel company in Europe went bankrupt in 2024, British Great Little Escapes lost its license in 2025. Alaska Dream Cruises just ceased operations. During COVID, popular agencies like Flashpack had to file for bankruptcy too.
Travel agencies collect money well in advance of a trip and need to make partial payments to hotels, activity providers, transport companies, airlines, etc. as the trip approaches. The biggest worry for a traveler should be whether that money is protected.
The UK, which has suffered major bankruptcies such as the one of 178-year old Thomas Cook, has a mandatory system in place whereby any UK-registered travel agencies need to place all monies collected in escrow and can only access this money to pay for trip related costs. This guarantees that the travel agency won’t run away with your money or use your payment to finance another trip.
Unfortunately, no other country has this requirement, so you can only ask the travel agency if they have any way to guarantee your pre-payments won’t be used to pay for other trips or for company expenses.
For example, we keep payments for every tour separate in its own bank account and only use the money to pay for each trip’s expenses.
To make it clear, the risk is that a company uses your payment towards Trip A to pay for expenses for Trip B or to pay for salaries, and when the time comes to pay for Trip A expenses, it uses the money collected from Trip C. At one point, the money runs out and the company goes bankrupt.
In countries where escrow accounts aren't mandatory, insurance policies can fill this gap by facing financial obligations of a tour company towards customers in case they go bankrupt.
These kinds of insurance policies are mandatory in many countries like Spain. But if you are not registered as a travel agency or at last have a legal entity, you won’t be able to obtain it.
You can typically not purchase this insurance until your company is profitable either, because no insurance company will guarantee financial viability of a company that is not profitable yet.
Having this insurance policy tells you the travel agency is profitable and your money is protected in case of bankruptcy.
Lastly, you should also ask about liability insurance which would cover you in case of negligence.
6. Experience
Needless to say, experience speaks volumes for a company, even though it cannot replace the legal requirements and financial safeguards.
I am not saying new companies are bad, we started only 6 years ago ourselves, but lack of experience is a risk factor you need to account for.
If a company is new, all the rest of the elements above are extremely important, as is the CV of the team and founders, and making sure the legal aspect and financial backing are in place is key.
How long have they been in business?
How many tours have they run?
How many guests have traveled with them?
What is the rate of repeat, that is, what % of guests have traveled with them more than once?
Do their tours typically sell out?
Do they have to cancel tours because of lack of interest?
You can ask all the above directly to the company, but you can also verify what they said is true:
Do you see stock images on their website and social media channels or photos from previous tours?
When group tour photos are published, are the sizes of the groups small or are they showing tours being sold out with groups at maximum numbers?
Can you find videos of previous tours with guests in them?
Do their social media channels show a variety of guests or are they stock images or photos of the same people?
Does the website show tours sold out or with few spots available or are they always largely available even last minute?
7. Pre-tour support and customer service
Back office team making things happen
Your interactions with the company can tell you a lot about the kind of service you should expect.
Are they responsive? Are they helpful? Or they take days to respond?
When they respond, do they show they know the destination, the tour what they are doing?
Are they experts on the destination?
Can you reach out to them within business hours, and speak to a member of the team?
Is there a working phone number you can see clearly online or can you only reach out to them via Instagram or email?
What is the after-hours support in case of emergency?
If you can't find answers to these questions, ask.
Ecuador's magic is ready to surprise you
Wow! Our podcast has over 1,000 downloads in just a month and 4 episodes, this is so exciting!
Thanks a lot to all those following along 🫶
This week's episode is all about Ecuador, a country that very much surprised me last year, mostly because I had little knowledge of it before my visit and it completely blew my expectations.
Listen to me and Ana, our trip host and a very experienced Amazon naturalist, sustainability champion, photographer and just an all round wonderful person.
I guarantee you that you will want to visit the country after hearing us talk about the country's wildlife diversity, indigenous culture, landscapes and traditions.
In her own words, she would like visitors to leave with surprises and not missed expectations, and that is exactly how I left.
We are also publishing the episode while I am in the country with her, which makes it all the more fitting. I am sharing stories live on Instagram as usual, so you can see the animals, the food and the people in real life as we travel across the country, from the high-altitude capital to the heart of the indigenous culture and onwards to the Amazon rainforest and the Galapagos Islands.
Our 2027 dates are live and almost sold out, so if you are interested in joining us, go book the last spots.
Listen to this week's episode while checking out photos and videos life for the full 360 experience of what Ecuador is like. We are currently in the Amazon Rainforest!
Check out all the details of the podcast here, listen to the episode and start following us [Solo Female Travelers Podcast] on your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss an episode:
