Confirm what is included.
Ask for the number of travelers and nights, the accommodation or category, meals, experiences, and transfers. Establish whether airfare, taxes, fees, or gratuities are included. Do not fill gaps in a description with assumptions.
A destination image illustrates an idea; it does not confirm a specific property. Use the supplier’s approved package information for the final listing.
Understand when and how it can be used.
Request the booking deadline, travel window, blackout dates, availability process, and rules for substitutions or cancellations. Distinguish the deadline to book from the deadline to travel. Ask whether the winning bidder can transfer the experience to someone else.
- How many guests are included?
- Which dates or seasons are excluded?
- What additional costs might the winner pay?
- Who issues the voucher and handles booking?
- What happens if the preferred dates are unavailable?
Prepare the winner’s handover.
Before the event, agree who provides the redemption instructions and support contact. Keep the current written terms attached to the lot record. If a question cannot be answered, resolve it before bidding rather than promising flexibility that has not been confirmed.
OFG can discuss current terms for its proposed collection. Conditions vary by package and should not be generalized across destinations.
Separate four different kinds of date.
A package may have several deadlines that sound similar but mean different things. Copy the exact terms into the lot record and use plain language in the guest-facing description.
| Date or period | What to establish |
|---|---|
| Booking deadline | The last date by which the winner must make the required reservation or request. |
| Travel window | The period during which the actual trip must take place. |
| Blackout dates | Dates or seasons excluded from the offer, including any restrictions on particular components. |
| Request lead time | How far in advance dates must be requested and how availability is confirmed. |
Use a complete package questionnaire.
Request answers for the specific package. Do not assume that two trips from the same provider have identical conditions.
- How many travelers and nights are included, and what is the accommodation arrangement?
- Which meals, activities, admission tickets, transfers, or other elements are included?
- Which costs, including airfare and any local or accommodation charges, are excluded?
- Are preferred dates guaranteed, requested subject to availability, or selected from fixed options?
- What happens if the first requested dates are unavailable?
- Can the winner transfer the package, add guests, extend the stay, or make substitutions?
- What cancellation, rescheduling, or event-change terms apply?
- Who provides the voucher, manages booking, and answers questions after the sale?
Read the package as if you were the winner.
Imagine winning a stay with friends. Before bidding, you would need to know whether the accommodation suits your group, how everyone agrees on dates, and what happens if the desired week is unavailable. A beautiful destination does not answer those questions. The current written offer should.
For a trip linked to a concert or sporting event, check how the dates of the different components fit together. Admission, accommodation, and transport may have separate arrangements. Resolve any uncertainty before promoting the lot, rather than asking the winner to coordinate an offer that was never clearly defined.
Turn restrictions into readable information.
Important terms should not be hidden in a paragraph so dense that guests overlook them. Put the guest count, booking process, key dates, and major exclusions in a concise summary, with the complete conditions available before bidding. Use the same wording in the catalog, display, and auctioneer brief.
Do not soften “subject to availability” into a suggestion that every date is open. Equally, do not generalize a restriction from one historical package to a current alternative. Each offer should stand on its own terms so a guest can make an informed choice.
Close the loop after the purchase.
Confirm that the winner has received the correct instructions and knows whom to contact. The charity can track the handover without taking on a booking role it has not agreed to perform. If a question comes back to the committee, route it to the designated fulfillment contact and record the follow-up until it is resolved.
Bring your questions. We’ll start there.
Tell us what you have in place, what you are still deciding, and where your team needs support.
Ask about current travel terms