Why Do I Need a Music Travel Company For My Band Trips?

By the very nature of the job, a band director is often quite good at problem solving, multitasking, working under pressure, making decisions and organizing, but when it comes to booking a band trip you should enlist the services of a music travel company. I’ve heard a few directors boast about how they booked their band trip and did it much cheaper than if they would have used the services of a music travel company.

Yes, you may be able to save some money and planning a trip with a music travel company will take some time and energy, but going it alone can be detrimental to your career. Consider the following:

• Do you have the resources and expertise to contract all the services and vendors required for a trip?
• Do you have the same buying power a music travel company can provide?
• Can you deal with legal issues that might develop with service providers and vendors on a trip?
• Can you provide adequate liability protection for your participants, school district and yourself?
• What would you do if your group was scheduled to come home but a snowstorm forced you to stay?
• How would you find enough available hotel rooms and pay for the extra meals and night?

Why I Need a Music Travel Company For My Band Trips?

A music travel company has the means and resources to handle all of these issues. If you go it alone, you may be subjected to questions from your administration or band parents regarding the trip finances and your accounting procedures. What would you do if they accuse you of shady dealings or creative bookkeeping? Protect yourself; do what’s best for you and your students, and hire an established music travel company.

A Music Travel Company’s Knowledge and Expertise

Aside from providing an expert to personally advise and guide you in planning your trip, a music travel company will provide liability protection, years of knowledge and expertise in working with the many services and vendors a trip requires i.e. transportation, housing, meals, sightseeing, venues and admissions. They can recommend things they know will work well for your group and caution you about things that won’t. If you encounter a problem with transportation, housing, meals, admissions, lost tickets, cancellations, or poor service on your trip, it’s their responsibility to handle the situation for you.

You can’t predict what might go wrong on a trip, but having the satisfaction of knowing you have someone on hand that can deal with the unforeseen is quite comforting.

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Thanks to our guest blogger, former band director Andrew M. Yaracs!Yaracs is the Author of “Travel 101: A Band Director’s Guide for Planning Student Travel.” Stay tuned for his guest blog series featuring excerpts from his book!

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