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A guide for TrovaTrip Hosts to setting a trip price that’s within budget for Travelers and meets your earnings goals
There’s the perfect trip…and then there’s the perfect trip *that folks will actually book.* Once you’ve surveyed and know your community’s top destinations and activities, you’re in a great place to deliver the exact travel experience they’re looking for. But, as with most things in life, actually signing up for it comes down to the cost. Even though travel is seen as more of an essential than a pure luxury these days, sticker shock is real and can stop a Traveler from saying “yes” even when everything else is exactly what they’re looking for. Fortunately, with pricing data from your survey and a little Trova insider knowledge, we’ll help you calculate a trip price and make sure your hard work pays off!
Key takeaways
- Trust your audience data and try to stay at, or slightly below, their median budget when pricing your trip.
- If your audience demographic’s median age is between 18 and early 20s, seek out itineraries significantly lower than the stated budget.
- Incentivize Travelers to book ASAP so they can take advantage of an early bird discount. They save $$$ and you get closer to confirming your trip. It's a win-win! #earlybirdgetstheworm
- When setting your margin consider your experience as a Host, audience enthusiasm (gauged via total survey responses), and if you’ll be teaching any courses or workshops. Sharing your expertise can be a huge value-add for Travelers!
- Trova makes payment easy for Travelers with only 25% due at the time of booking or pay-over-time options of 6, 12, or 18 months through Affirm.*
Do it by the numbers
Sometimes in life you have to go with your gut. This is not one of those times. When it comes to setting a trip price, it’s best to let your survey data be the guide. Your community has told you what they’re willing to spend so trust them. There’s no need to galaxy brain it and bump the cost too high or too low…it’s best to price your trip at or slightly below your audience’s median budget.
💡 Trova Tip: If the median age of your respondents is between 18 and early 20s, chances are they’re overstating (or overestimating) what they’re willing to pay. We recommend looking at less costly itineraries to help balance this out. For example, if their median budget is $2,500 then it’s a good idea to look in the $2,000 range instead.
You might also worry that making price the deciding factor means ignoring your audience in other important areas, but there’s actually a lot of leeway when it comes to things like choosing a destination. If your audience’s top choice is out of budget, save it for later and look at other options that were runners-up in the ‘Popular Destinations’ section of your survey data. Trova’s itinerary library has over 150 options so you’re sure to find something that fits both their travel dreams and financial reality.
Make your margin
You’ve checked the data and picked an itinerary, now it’s time to decide how much you’ll earn. Figuring that out can sound overwhelming at first but, not to worry, Trova’s Earnings Calculator is here to help. Using the calculator in the portal, you can take the guesswork out of the process and arrive at a final number that makes sense for both you and your Travelers. Some things you may want to consider when setting the price are:
- Your experience as a Host – If it’s your very 1st trip, you may want to consider starting out with a more modest margin. Then, as you build this part of your brand, increase the margin for future trips.
- Audience enthusiasm – There’s a direct correlation between survey responses and confirmation rate. For example, if you qualified with 500+ responses you’re over 300% more likely to confirm than if you qualified with 50-99 responses.
- Leading workshops – Workshops, courses, or events that you offer to Travelers in addition to the set activities create value. Whether you’re leading a blogging workshop or a yoga flow, sharing your expertise and catering to your community’s interests can be worthy of a greater cost.
Under the Pricing tab, you’ll be able to play with different margins to see how they break down at various group sizes. This is also where you’ll be able to figure out the final piece of the budget, the savings cherry on top if you will, early bird pricing. In a nutshell, this is a way to incentivize the number of sign-ups needed to confirm a trip by offering them a discount. For example, if your trip requires 8 bookings to confirm, offer the first 8 to book $100 off! Using the Earnings Calculator in the portal, you can plug in different early bird price points and see how they’ll affect your earnings as you calculate cost of a trip.
Let’s talk money
Even with the survey data and trip cost planner guiding you to a fair price, discussing money can still be a stumbling block for Hosts. After all, it’s a lot more fun and authentic to talk to your community about making connections or seeing sights. Fortunately, with Trova, there are still ways to make the conversation around payments a lot less scary even once the budget has been set.
For starters, you can remind the community – whether answering questions in DMs or as part of a larger promotion push – that only 25% of the total cost is needed at booking. The rest isn’t due until 90 days before the trip starts. And if folks need an even larger payment window, Trova offers a pay-over-time option through Affirm* which is a travel rarity. The details are here but essentially this gives Travelers the chance to spread cost over 6, 12, or 18 months. For example: A $2,000 trip might cost $180.68/mo over 12 months at 15% APR. With this option, down payment may or may not be required.
The price is right
At the end of the day, no matter how much travel means to them, people usually think with their wallets. A trip that’s priced too high seems out of reach, but a trip priced at or just below your community's median budget tends to be the sweet spot for success. There’s no need to second guess yourself or feel funny when asking folks to pay for a spot on the trip—you’re putting in the work to plan, promote, be there in person, and maybe even teach them some new skills via workshops! You’ve totally earned this, and as long as you use your audience’s budget as your North Star, you’ll be able to price your trip so it gets you the income you deserve, and keep it within reason for your community.
*Affirm’s Universal Disclosure: Your rate will be 10–30% APR based on credit, and is subject to an eligibility check. Payment options through Affirm are provided by these lending partners: affirm.com/lenders. Options depend on your purchase amount, and a down payment may be required.