Groups & Series · B2B Only
Group tours that run the same every time
Series departures, ad-hoc groups and special-interest tours - stable routing, licensed guides in English, German or Spanish, coach permits and dietary handling, with FOC allocation of one per 20 paying adults.
What the numbers look like before you ask
1 per 20, 2 per 40
Complimentary places on land arrangements, stated on the quotation rather than negotiated after you have already priced the tour. Tour leader arrangements are confirmed at every pax tier, so a small group is not quietly penalised for being small.
24 hours, held 4 days
Net and non-commissionable, itemised by service. The first quotation is complimentary. Four days of validity is enough to put it in front of your client before Japanese rates move underneath you.
17, 25 and 45 seats
Coaster, mid-size and full-size coaches, plus Hiace for split movements where a coach cannot physically reach the pickup. Specced on passengers and cases - see ground handling for the full fleet.
Published, not bespoke
Deposit and cancellation terms are published in full on payment & settlement, so you can tell your client what happens if the group shrinks without waiting on an email from us.
The date check most quotes skip
Japan has sixteen national holidays, and several of them do far more damage to a group programme than their single-day appearance suggests. Golden Week, Obon and the New Year period are the obvious ones. The subtler risk is a standalone national holiday landing mid-itinerary - Sports Day, Marine Day, Culture Day - on a date that reads as an ordinary Monday from Zurich or Mumbai.
When that happens, three things move at once: coach and guide day rates rise, domestic leisure demand fills the exact attractions your group was going to visit, and hotel availability in the destination contracts. A group of 25 that was comfortable on a Tuesday becomes a different cost base and a materially worse client experience on the holiday.
We check group dates against the Japanese holiday calendar before issuing a quote, and if there is a collision we say so and propose the shift - while the itinerary is still moveable, rather than after your client has signed. It costs us nothing to check and it is routinely missed by operators quoting Japan from outside Japan.
A programme you can print and sell all season
A series departure only works commercially if it is genuinely the same product on every date. That means the routing is fixed, the hotel set is contracted rather than searched for each time, the guide pool is briefed on the same programme, and the coach specification does not change between April and November because someone quoted a different supplier.
We build series with named hotels wherever we can commit to them, and clearly marked or-similar alternatives where seasonal allocation makes a firm name dishonest. Peak windows - cherry blossom, autumn foliage, the ski allocation calendar and Lunar New Year - need to be blocked far earlier than the rest of the season, and those are the dates where the difference between a contracted allocation and an optimistic quotation shows up.
Specified at quotation, not on arrival
In most destinations a dietary requirement changes a plate. In Japan it changes the restaurant list. Dashi is in almost everything, including dishes that look plainly vegetarian, and halal-certified kitchens capable of seating a full coach are concentrated in a handful of cities.
So we ask at quotation stage rather than at final rooming list, and we route the itinerary around what the group can actually eat. The operational detail is set out in our halal operations guide and our vegetarian, vegan and Jain dining guide, both written for agents rather than travellers.
What to send in the brief
Travel dates, pax band, case count, guide language, budget positioning and whether the group has a tour leader travelling with it. If you have a routing in mind, send it. If you do not, send the client profile and the number of nights and we will propose one.
Client expectations differ sharply by source market - pacing, meal timing, how much free time a group actually wants, and how much commentary they will tolerate on a coach. Those are set out market by market on the market pages, and it is worth checking yours before you brief anyone, us included.
Groups: operator FAQs
What is the FOC policy for groups?
One complimentary place per 20 paying adults, two per 40, on land arrangements. The allocation is stated on every quotation rather than negotiated afterwards, so you can build it into your selling price from the first costing.
Do you run fixed-departure series?
Yes - repeatable series departures with stable routing, licensed guides and consistent hotel sets, built for operators who need a programme they can print in a brochure and sell all season.
How do coach logistics work in Japan?
We hold permits and vetted coach suppliers for all major routes, including the central-ward restrictions in Tokyo and the narrow eastern-hills streets of Kyoto that catch out unfamiliar operators. Vehicles run from 17-seat Coasters to 45-seat full-size coaches, and we spec them against passengers plus cases rather than seat count.
What languages can the group be guided in?
English, German and Spanish. English is available nationwide. German and Spanish come from a much smaller pool of nationally licensed guides in Japan, so request the language with the quote rather than after the group confirms.
Do you check group dates against Japanese public holidays?
Yes, before quoting. Golden Week, Obon, New Year and the single-day national holidays compress coach, guide and hotel availability sharply, and a date that looks ordinary from abroad can be the most expensive week of the quarter. We flag the collision and propose the shift while the itinerary is still moveable.
Can you handle dietary requirements across a whole group?
Yes - halal, vegetarian, vegan and Jain are specified at quotation stage because in Japan they determine which restaurants can take the group at all, not merely what comes out of the kitchen. Retro-fitting them after the restaurants are booked is the single most common cause of a group programme having to be rebuilt.