A hard truth that reshaped how I run trips: my best clients don't read. Not because they can't, because they're depleted. The women I serve are high-powered and overworked; the trip is the one thing they refuse to manage. Many haven't really read the itinerary they paid five figures for, and that's not a client flaw. It's the product working. You have to drag them along the journey, lovingly, by design.
“You have to drag them along the journey.”
Designing for zero reading
- Make "included" date-bound and explicit: transfers are included on the official arrival day, arrive off-schedule and the private transfer is yours to fund. Say it at booking, or eat the dispute later. Ambiguity always invoices the host.
- The tour-leader rule, every single time: boarding any vehicle, announce where we're going, what we're doing, and what time we return. Repetition isn't condescension; it's hospitality for the mentally elsewhere.
- Send photos of exact meeting points, to guests AND drivers, and have drivers confirm from the spot. "By the fountain" is a treasure hunt; a photo is an instruction.
- Curate every hour, even at an all-inclusive, unscheduled guests don't self-organize, they scatter, and scattered guests experience a worse trip and remember it as yours.
The reframe that makes this joyful instead of annoying: their not-reading is the highest compliment a service business can receive. They trusted you with the thinking. Take it graciously, and build systems that never make trust the thing that fails them.
Claire's own numbers
The framework, step by step
- 1
Make "included" date-bound and explicit
transfers are included on the official arrival day — arrive off-schedule and the private transfer is yours to fund. Say it at booking, or eat the disp
- 2
The tour-leader rule
every single time: boarding any vehicle, announce where we're going, what we're doing, and what time we return. Repetition isn't condescension; it's h
- 3
Send photos of exact meeting points — to guests AND
drivers — and have drivers confirm from the spot. "By the fountain" is a treasure hunt; a photo is an instruction
- 4
Curate every hour
even at an all-inclusive — unscheduled guests don't self-organize, they scatter, and scattered guests experience a worse trip and remember it as yours
Claire's own framework from this essay, in the order she teaches it.
Source: Claire B. Soares, from her own travel business and live trainings.
Common Questions
Why do clients not read their itineraries?
Because the high-performing clients who pay the most are depleted, and the trip is the one thing they refuse to manage. Design assuming zero reading.
How do you prevent inclusion disputes?
Make inclusions date-bound and explicit. Transfers included on the official arrival day, stated at booking, prevents the argument that otherwise arrives as an invoice.
What should a tour leader repeat on a group trip?
Where you are going, what you are doing, and what time you return, every single time the group boards a vehicle. Repetition is hospitality for the mentally elsewhere.
Written By
Claire B. Soares
6× Condé Nast Top Travel Specialist, Certified AI Consultant, and founder of Travel AI University. $3.4B+ in enterprise travel software sold to Google, IBM, Boeing, the federal government, and the DoD; $16M+ in luxury travel sales with Up in the Air Life.
About Claire
