If you’ve ever worked with Explorica you know we’re obsessed with feedback, and we ask every one of our trip leaders to complete an evaluation as soon as they return home from their tour. The multi-page evaluation asks teachers to objectively rate all aspects of their tour; it’s information we use to ensure quality (and to immediately correct anything that doesn’t meet our high standards), and to continually improve and expand upon our services (like the ability to prepay tips, which we offer thanks to the suggestion of an Explorica teacher).
These evaluations also ask trip leaders to rate the rest of our services—everything we do before the tour, the helpfulness of our staff, the quality of our materials and more. It’s a comprehensive look at how well we did, from start to finish.
Reviewing the evaluations following our peak spring travel season, we were thrilled to see that our rating had nudged up another digit. We are proud to say that we have scored a 97% satisfaction rating from our trip leaders.
In our new fall catalog, hitting mailboxes this week, Explorica CEO Matt Wertz provides some insight into what it takes to earn this kind of customer satisfaction:
Explorica operates thousands of trips every year, but we never lose sight of the fact that each tour we produce is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for your students. We know that most students only take one educational tour, so we have to do whatever it takes to ensure an incredible experience.
And yet, the average tour is just 10 days long. All the exciting new experiences and the memories that last a lifetime happen in the blink of an eye.
By comparison, the average tour lifecycle for a group leader—from the first phone call through your safe return home—is more than a year.
So while delivering an excellent tour is required, we know that educational travel is much more than that. We know it’s the way we treat you before, during and after your trip. We know it’s listening to you when you have a special request, and being flexible with our itineraries, payment plans and anything else you might need some help with. We know it’s being relatable, not rigid, and always doing the right thing. We know it’s pre-empting problems and providing solutions before you ever knew there was a problem. And based on your evaluations, it looks like you agree: When asked to assess all aspects of the Explorica experience, considering everything from the initial planning stages through the tour itself, our group leaders gave us a glowing 97% satisfaction rating.
We thank you for the commendation, and we are honored to have earned your trust.
For students, educational travel is a great trip. For leaders, it’s a relationship. And at Explorica, we simply try harder than anyone else to guarantee that it’s a great one.
To our many satisfied tour leaders, we are honored to have earned your trust. To our future tour leaders, we look forward to earning yours.
Let us help you plan your next trip of a lifetime today.