“Transparency”, or being forthright about a situation, has become an increasingly popular goal in our society.
We would like to contribute to this goal by revealing to you, our travelers and potential travelers, what our travelers told us about the tours they took in 2019 – not a few handpicked quotes but the actual survey numbers, from a purposefully-difficult five-point scale in which 1=needs improvement, 2=fair, 3=good, 4=very good, and 5=outstanding.
Our 2019 Ratings
- The average tour rating over all was 4.82
- 83% of attendees rated their tour as Outstanding and 98% rated their tour as Very Good or Outstanding
- Private Tours rated even higher, at 4.89
- Pre-Tour Support was rated at 4.86
- Guides were rated 4.89 overall (not our highest, which was 4.91 back in 2017, but close)
- Lodging was rated at 4.32 and Meals were rated at 4.27
What This Means
Here is my take as the owner of Zephyr Adventures. First off, you should expect to have a great experience if you hire a company for your next vacation. But that doesn’t always happen; these results should give you confidence in our ability to deliver.
A lot of hard work goes into ensuring ratings like this. Keep in mind things out of our control like bad weather, a missed flight, or a pulled muscle can easily turn an outstanding tour into one that is just good. Keeping our ratings high is not just good luck. In our business, we have personally dedicated one person (Kris, who has worked at Zephyr for over 20 years) to tour operations. While it is tempting for us to drag her into marketing or other aspects of our small business, we have kept Kris focused on tour operations and our travelers are reaping the benefits of that.
We as a company have prioritized certain aspects of our tours, such as locations, activities, support, and guides. These aspects are what matter to our travelers. We purposefully do not seek to get all “outstanding” ratings on accommodations and meals because, frankly, that would require a lot more cost that is not worth passing on to you. Somewhere in between “very good” to “outstanding” accommodations and meals, rather than seeking out the top luxury, fits with our style and yours.
So what does all this tell you as a potential traveler with us? You will very likely have an outstanding vacation if you trust us with your time and dollars. Combine this with 23 years of experience and we think you are making a good decision to travel with Zephyr Adventures.
(Check out the popularity of the word “transparency” in Google’s Ngram, which shows it has skyrocketed in use in recent years. Then compare it to the popularity of the word “trust”.