Let's Talk Price

 Many people ask how do we do it?  We've even heard of some that have been doubtful that we could do it and have booked trips with someone else whose prices may be higher.

 Well, first, let's look at our policies.

1. All of our trips utilize at least three or four star hotels.  In some cases our hotels are even five stars. All rooms with private bath. Referring to a hotel directory can easily check that. The only exceptions are backcountry trips that use cabannes or smaller hotels.

2. We go to the best places.  We stay in villages like Zermatt , Pontresina, Chamonix, Verbier, and many more superb destinations.  We do not select unknown backwater villages where scenery and ambience is not first rate.

3. We've been running these trips as volunteers for over 25 years for the Appalachian Mountain club and commercially under the name of Mountain Tours for fifteen years.  We have hundreds of repeat clients and we would be very happy to supply you with names and telephone numbers so that you can verify our tour quality.

4. We only employ the most experienced guides.  Most of our guides have extensive experience leading with organizations like the Appalachian Mountain, Colorado Mountain, and Sierra clubs.  All are well educated, have a long history of love of the out doors, and have been leading tours for us for many years.

5. Our prices include rooms, 2 meals daily, daily guiding, and all ground transportation. Private rooms are available at an extra fee of $200 per week.

Then, how do we do it?

 Probably, the most important factor in our cost-cutting is that we do not publish a glossy catalog.  While our literature is rather homegrown, we value the savings for you rather than a nice catalog to look at. 

The next important point is that we do little advertising.  Friends of friends and word-of-mouth has produced the largest number of our new clients. We enjoy a more than 50% repeat rate of our clients.

We are also finding that the internet has becoming increasingly important to us in reaching prospective clients.  As you know, the internet and email is not costly.

 Just Compare the Prices

When you compare our prices with those of any of our competitors you will be astonished. Sometimes we're not just hundreds of dollars less, but half the price or more of other trips offered. We like that and know that you do too.

We are very proud of our low costs and high service. We will to continue to offer you top-quality trips to the best locations, staying at the best hotels, with the best trained guides, so you can enjoy a truly wonderful hiking vacation at the most reasonable prices. And we love our work.

 Let us show you how much fun a Mountain Tours trip can be.

 PRICE COMPARISONS   (SCROLL DOWN FOR PRICE COMPARISONS)

Here's a current example of some of the major tour companies in our field. Costs are for similar trips on a cost per day basis.  I picked randomly several major companies and a few tours from each.

Below are 2005 prices for comparison. Savings will be even more when we see their 2006 pricesS

Your saving per day is substantial and yet our tours are first class. Most companies use the same hotels that we use.

Interesting, isn't it? Why pay those high prices? It just isn't necessary.