Mar 03, 2007
Shiranai Travel Land arrangement
So... You’d like to participate in one of our holidays or think the package is cool, but you don’t want to travel in groups or can’t join us on the date we’re travelling at.
We’re here to solve that problem for you. If you want to follow our program but for some reason can’t or won’t join us, we are now offering to book your hotels and Japan railpass for you in your name. You’ll get a PDF version of the holiday guide and can use our forum to ask us all the questions you may have. In our guides, we sometimes have dates mentioned. They may not be applicable to your situation. Please make sure to watch the dates carefully.
Will we be offering this service for free?
No. Because it takes us quite some time, we have invested time and money in our programs and we do not get to join you and share the fun, we will be asking you for some money in return for our services.
The way other travel agencies work:
- They make you pay your hotels and apartments in advance and charge an average of 20% surcharge over the official price.
- They will have a booking fee for the trip you are booking with them over that price.
- There is no experience, firsthand, whether or not the apartments or hotel rooms you stay in are acceptable.
- You are often placed in a “quaint” Ryokan or dormitory which is of course a nice way to meet new people, but not at all good for your piece of mind, general hygiene and rest and relaxation you may be looking for after a long daytrip. Aside from that, there are often curfews in those nice and friendly dormitories.
- Once the apartments and hotels are booked, you might get a local leaflet about the town and that’s about it for service.
- Average hotels booked cost you about €60 a person per night.
At the end, you won’t know it, but you’ve probably paid up to €200 a person too much for B or C grade accommodation and still don’t know what to do in Japan with the time you have on your hands.
The way we work:
- We request you to pay us €100 per arrangement per person.
- We book your hotels and apartments in your name. You pay the actual fee on the spot.
- We never book youth hostels, B or C grade Ryokan or Minshuku.
- We’ve actually been to the apartments and or hotels in question and know they are up to standard.
- We’ll always make sure you have your own amenities in your room or apartment and need not share them with the rest of the building.
- Your accommodation will at least have a shower/bath, toilet, airco, room to store your stuff as opposed to hotel rooms where the door opens halfway and then gets stuck to your bed (A lot of travel agencies book hotel New Koyo which has this problem) and 9 out of 10 times, a free internet connection in your room.
- You’ll receive a big PDF file with over 45 pages of stuff for you to enjoy or do around the places you want to visit.
What do we offer for this money?
- Hotels or apartments at an affordable rate, near a subway or train station. 9 out of 10 times, the main train station (About € 30-35 per person per night, based on double rooms).
- Average hotel class of about 3 stars, measured by European standards.
- A guidebook with 40-50 pages of interesting stuff to do.
- We can book your Japan Railpass for you at no additional cost (JAL charges €10 a Railpass to us, we charge you this fee as well but will not charge you any extra).
- We do not arrange your flight(s) for you, but will be happy to point you in the right direction.
What do we do with the money paid to us?
- Pay for hosting costs and for blogs for our travellers.
- Pay for pre-press and press of our guidebooks so we do not need to charge folks that come with us on our holidays.
- Keep some in reserve for unforeseen circumstances.
- If there is any money left, the guides of the next journey we undertake, will be given a free can of ice coffee, depending on the amount left, on the last day of our stay in Japan.
What we will not do with the money you pay us…
- Use it for ourselves.
- Use it to get fancy apartments or other advantages for our guides.
- Go on a drinking binge in Japan with all your money!
The table below shows you some things we can offer you and that some of our competitors will probably offer you.
|
Service |
THEM™ |
Shiranai Travel |
|
Add Unknown fee per hotel reservation. |
Yes |
No |
|
Tell you what our services cost |
No |
Yes |
|
Book your flight |
Yes |
No |
|
Book you into places not checked out before |
Yes |
No |
|
Give you a bunch of ideas on what to do in Japan |
Some |
Yes |
|
Make you stay at youth hostels or moldy inns |
Some |
No |
|
Book expensive hotels |
Some |
No |
|
Offer you a guided tour with a touringcar! |
Some |
No |
|
Offer you free to do what you want holidays |
Some |
Yes |
|
Give you loads of destinations with Japan Railpass in mind |
No |
Yes |
|
Give you support by electronic means even when you are on your holiday |
No |
Yes, through our forum or e-mail. Reply within 24 hours |
|
Know what to do and not to do in Japan. |
Some |
Yes |
Shiranai Individual Needs (SIN) Packages
If you’ve thought of your own perfect holiday route and just want us to book your hotels and apartments and Japan Railpass to accommodate your needs, we can do that as well. We will also offer you the guidebook that has the most useful information for your planned holiday. The fee remains the same.
Guidebooks we have on offer are:
- Hanami no Hanabi – Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hakata, Miyazaki
- Summer in the City – Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka
- Winter Wonderland V2 – Osaka and Kyuushuu
The
information on the Winter Wonderland V2 package is nolonger on our
website. It is, however, comparable to our current Winter
Wonderland V3.1 package.
Please note that, should you join us on one of our group packages,
flight booking will be
included in your package. We only book flights for people joining us on
our organised group holidays, not for induviduals or special needs
packages.
Testimonial by Erik van der Kuilen about our service (In Dutch)
Ha Niels, ik wilde je alleen even wat zeggen wat je vast leuk vind om te horen: wat had jij gelijk zeg! Djoser is echt zwaar kut! Hotels zijn kut, met de bus naar Matsumoto is ook geen feest en ik zit met allemaal 40 plussers. De hotels die jij geregeld hebt zijn ook nog eens een stuk makkelijker bereikbaar, beter qua faciliteiten en vooral goedkoper. Die hotels waar ik nu in zit hebben geeneens wasgelegenheid, gratis internet of ontbijt! Het enige wat ik nu met Djoser doe is overnachten en meereizen, voor de rest dump ik ze elke keer. Heb echt geen zin om met hun over straat te lopen. Dus: je had gelijk ;) Bedankt dat je me overal in die hotels heb gestopt want dat vind ik een goed hotel voor een goede prijs. Beter dan die overbodige luxe hotels waar ik nu in zit. Groeten Erik
For more information about Land arrangement please email travel at shiranai dot com.
Posted by niels