Call us in the UK : +44-20-7193 4211 / US : +1-646-5832 621 / Australia : +61-8-6102 5090 / India (Toll Free) : 1800-102-28-82
At Indian Frontiers ideally we have a common cost inclusion and exclusion policy, where all our tours include certain cost heads, while some are not included. We do not surprise our guests with extra costs or premiums, unless it becomes impossible to absorb abrupt changes in the cost due to change in the itinerary or service inclusions or may be some abrupt change in costs by intermediaries, such as airlines, hotels, transport etc. In all our tours we try and give some free time and own meals to our guests to experience the local flavour, except in some special kind of tours that take our guests into remote areas with little or no access to proper outside meals, transport etc., apart from our special arrangements. Such circumstances arise when one stays in remote areas, the higher reaches of mountains or wildlife parks etc.
First Class hotels with breakfast, or as mentioned in the programme
We have very carefully hand-picked the hotels for our tours. Primarily our chosen hotel will have character and style. It could be an experience in itself at times to stay in the properties chosen by us, after an extensive experience and experiment, yet sometimes in some areas, the options are limited to bare minimum and in those cases too we ensure a ‘cover-up’. ‘Cover-up’ in our parlance means, providing intelligent inclusions and amenities from our end and not trusting the hotel too much on comfort or hygiene levels. This sometimes becomes inevitable, when we have to use the best at a destination, though it may not be good according to our stringent rating systems.
All internal (within India) economy class flights
There are many airlines in India and we regularly do a flight status checks and in consultation with our local offices, past experiences and guest feed-backs, we try and use the airline that has the best on-time performance. The flights within India are not that long, so services do take a second position, giving way to on-time performance that is paramount. In all our costs we include economy class (no-premium seat) fares, yet we are happy to take requests for seat preferences or extra baggage pre-payments.
Air-conditioned top class train fares
On trains we use air-conditioned class of travel. When we say, ‘top class’, we mean the highest available on that particular train and route. For day journey we prefer sitting chair-car coaches, while for the overnight journeys we offer sleeper compartments, giving preference to 1st class, if available on the train. It is always recommended, that you refer to the tour dossier of your particular tour to understand this part, as often this is an area of concern for many first time travelers to India, specially when traveling on an overnight journey.
All road travel as per the itinerary by air-conditioned exclusive transport
Our preferred car is Toyota Innova and we consider this as the best for Indian roads, both in terms of comfort and safety. This is what is included in most of our tours when we travel by road, yet there are some areas where either by local laws or by virtue of taxi union restrictions, it may not be possible to provide these, and it is here that we regret our inability to equate standards all through the tour.
Assisted transfers on arrival and departures & assistance of Indian Frontiers’ local offices
For all arrivals and departures by air or rail, using an exclusive private chauffeur-driven car we will provide a representative to assist you. Some resorts or hotels may provide a courtesy transfer. For courtesy transfers and arrivals/departures by raod, assistance may not be available. In some places we may not have our representatives or in some remote areas we may not be able to provide assistance, but the same is clearly mentioned in the tour dossier, when a tour is bought.
City tours and excursions as and when mentioned in the itinerary
All our city tours are exclusive. Our guests will have a private vehicle and a guide to themselves for their trip. Entrances to the places of interest are ideally included in all our city tours, unless this exception is mentioned in the tour dossier. Our city tours too are hand-picked to suit the theme of the tour and make the overall programme interesting, yet we have city tours quite open, where our guests are free to add or subtract places to suit their personal requirements.
English Speaking Guides at all destinations unless local guides are not available in a particular destination
The guides at each place are locals, so as to provide with the best local inputs to our guests. Often we use specialist guides, who relate well to the theme of the tour. There are places in India that may not have tourist guides, this usually happens in places that are non-touristy and we inform about this exception in our tour dossier when selling the tour.
Services of experienced Indian Frontiers’ tour manager for all groups above 6 persons
In case you come with a group of above 6 persons, you will get an experienced Indian Frontiers Tour Manager to accompany you on the tour throughout India. This puts you at ease to enjoy your holiday, while all the management part of the tour and coordination is handled by our tour manager. Having a tour manager comes in very handy when one travels with a group (family, friends or colleagues), not that the things are not well managed at the back end, but because we want our guests to enjoy their holiday and not to worry about, what time they should leave for the city tour or when to assemble for departure or to take a luggage count when leaving the hotel for airport.
All applicable taxes and levies as on date within India
At Indian Frontiers we quote an all inclusive cost. So no small shocks of : ‘taxes here and levies there’. What you are quoted you pay. None of our rates are excluding taxes, a hotel that we quote for £ 219 will have the tax included in the cost, or for that matter the overall cost of a tour if quoted is £ 1500 will have all Indian taxes included. If we under-quote, we take care of the extra burden.
(We recommend you see the Tour Dossier to know exactly what all will be included or not included in your chosen programme. Tour Dossier is supplied along with cost quotation.)