Lesley

As the starter of the thread my answer is probably obvious, but yes - I would be more than happy to pay a bit extra to limit the group size.

Glad to hear this thread has got people talking.

Sally

This is a really interesting thread, thanks for your contributions.

Obviously, the downside of a smaller group is higher prices (because for example a $10,000 bus divided by 20 people rather than 35 people is a going to be a lot more).

So if it were to add £100 on to your holiday price for example, would everyone be happy to pay that? or would you rather pay the same price and accept that there may be up to 35-40 on your trip?

Hi Will

Re paying an extra £100 for smaller groups. What happens now if you hire a bus for 35 people but you only get say, 20-25 people book the holiday, we don't get asked to pay an extra £100 to cover the cost of the empty seats. Would the holiday be cancelled or is an occurrence like that happening already accounted for in the cost of the holiday? There must be a few holidays that fall short of capacity and it's a sure bet JY aren't losing out.

Speaking for myself, I wouldn't book a holiday if I knew there was a chance of there being 35-40 people on it, just looking at those numbers puts me off, as someone who usually does long haul I would save a lot more than £100, I'd be saving a couple of thousand or more. All for example!

Kind regards

Avocet

It has put me off your USA tours.

So yes , I would pay £100 if I knew there was a more reasonable maximum.

Personally I would not like to pay to have a smaller group. I also think that the costs overall would be much higher than just paying an additional extra amount for the coach and on average as a single traveller I am already paying more for my holiday than most.

I do however think that for large groups JY should use only coaches with two exits. To have 40 on a coach with only one exit can be a nightmare.

Kerry

This is a really interesting thread, thanks for your contributions.

Obviously, the downside of a smaller group is higher prices (because for example a $10,000 bus divided by 20 people rather than 35 people is a going to be a lot more).

So if it were to add £100 on to your holiday price for example, would everyone be happy to pay that? or would you rather pay the same price and accept that there may be up to 35-40 on your trip?

Hi Will

Re paying an extra £100 for smaller groups. What happens now if you hire a bus for 35 people but you only get say, 20-25 people book the holiday, we don't get asked to pay an extra £100 to cover the cost of the empty seats. Would the holiday be cancelled or is an occurrence like that happening already accounted for in the cost of the holiday? There must be a few holidays that fall short of capacity and it's a sure bet JY aren't losing out.

Speaking for myself, I wouldn't book a holiday if I knew there was a chance of there being 35-40 people on it, just looking at those numbers puts me off, as someone who usually does long haul I would save a lot more than £100, I'd be saving a couple of thousand or more. All for example!

Kind regards

Avocet

Hi Avocet,

we do indeed lose out in that kind of situation

Cheers

Bob

Think as customers we have to accept JY are a business and need to make a profit. I would imagine each holiday there is a break even unwritten number (suspect around 18-20 people on a touring holiday) and if the holiday looks like it wont make this mark JY cut their losses and cancel.

We have to remember on top of the coach we are splitting the cost of a tour manager and also paying towards the running of the head office and all other overheads.

Of course they only try to organise holidays they think will pass the break even point as cancelling is a big decision and wont do their reputation any good, suspect it is likely to put some people off hence lose customers.

Now i believe if the group reaches the 25-30 mark that will be considered a reasonable profit level that JY will aim at and in my opinion the ideal number on a coach trip.

Now I've been on trips with up to 45 people and i believe this is a big profit margin for JY. Now i suspect that JY would say these big profit hols counter the ones with a small margin but to me it just makes everything run slower (getting on/off coach, hotel keys, luggage to room, etc) which does impact the holiday.

I may get shot down for this but it would be a nice jesture from JY in the case of these big profit holidays to give the customers a discount voucher for their next holiday (they used to do this on all holidays up to a couple of years ago).

Mick

Having also done the Venice, Florence, Rome trip a few years ago with a larger group, can't remember exactly how many but over 30 certainly, we had a bus with 2 exits which I took for granted at the time - this was obviously a bonus, but I do remember it being a real nightmare at some of the rest stops.

My other trips have all been staying in the same place (in Europe) for the whole holiday - all with very large groups. There have been duos/groups of friends on some of the holidays (although mostly I remember them interacting with the rest) only on one holiday did some cliques form which led to some irritating behaviour but there were enough others to join up with so you could ignore it.

Next holiday is Jordan in November which is a relatively small group, less than 20 I think, which I'm sure will be fine and am now really looking forward to it.

RM.

Ann

In my opinion, much nicer than being in a very large group.

When my husband was alive we travelled together often lookinat the groups saying 'nope not for us' now I find I am looking at doing one... Arghh.

So for my two penneth worth. I think a group over 30 is too many, for many logistical and practical reasons already detailed. I would like between 20-30 as it would give a chance to mingle without being overwhelming.

So another question... Do group sizes get advertised on holiday details?

I have just returned from China and the group was 34 - far too big for the guide to cope with over the first few days,

loo queues a good example of hold-up and wasted time

Went to USA last year -25 in group - seemed ideal number.

The trip to China was fantastic, despite my comment about numbers

Di

I am going to be really nosey here. Reading through various posts on the forum I noticed one for Hawaii where the holiday for 8th January had been cleared with just 6 people. I was just wondering how many places had been made available for this holiday?

Whilst the number seems very low I'm really pleased for everyone that JY has agreed to clear it and I hope they all have a great time. I'm keeping an eye on the numbers for my holiday next year which seem a bit low at the moment but there is still time for people to book, its nice to know that there's a chance that all is not lost with low bookings, even if Will says JY do lose out.

Avocet

To answer a couple of questions....

DonnaSmith,

The group numbers aren't advertised however, if you speak to one of our holiday advisors, or post a message in the "Ask your editor" section here on the community, we will happily provide the details for you.

Avocet64

Good morning to you too, for Hawaii there are 40 places available on this tour. The usual line applies in that it is possible that more travellers will book this tour before it departs in January.

The team are very conscious of the disappointment that travellers feel when we are unable to operate a holiday and as such they work very closely with our overseas suppliers to renegotiate contracts and make sure that we can operate as many holidays as possible. Sadly, sometimes we aren't always successful but we really do try.

Kindest regards,

Julia

I've just returned from the 29th September Canada and New England in the Fall trip where there were 19 of us, there had been one late cancellation. I felt this was a perfect size, we were all able to have a double seat to ourselves on the coach and got to speak to all in the group. Some groups did always stay together but I don't think that they were cliques as such, just like-minded people who had got to know each other at the departing airport.

In my opinion, much nicer than being in a very large group.

I have to disagree with your the comment regarding cliques. Most of the groups that formed were happy to mix, but one group became very exclusive, never even spoke to 'outsiders". Just plain bad manners. Otherwise everyone got on well.