Frequently asked questions

Product page titles
60% of traffic to Responsible Travel comes from people searching for a holiday on the web, primarily Google. We aim to generate traffic to the most relevant pages on the site and page titles play an important role in this. All page titles are written with SEO in mind and we rarely use the names of holidays given by you. The majority of our site traffic goes directly to product pages rather than via our home page.
 
Where your product can be found
Your Account Manager will associate a product with different tags which will enable your product to be found in different places on the site. A tag could be a region, e.g. Africa, country e.g. Kenya, location, e.g. Masai Mara, type of holiday, e.g. Safari, or an activity, e.g. small group safari. Our aim is to associate a product with the most relevant tags. We do not divulge which tags a given product is associated with.
 
Promotions
The order of promotions across the site are automatically selected according to the conversion rate of that product. The better the conversion rate, the higher the promotion.
 
Enquiries
When you log on to the Console, click on ‘Enquiries’ to see a list of all your enquiries, the most recent first. To see the details of a particular enquiry just click on the blue enquiry date/time. You can download a spreadsheet containing your enquiries by using the 'Export' button on the left hand side of the 'Enquiries' tab.
  • What can I do if a traveller has given an incorrect email address?
    Our Customer Services team respond to travellers' enquiries, and you can contact them if you have a non-responded-to email or email addresses that bounce at rosy@responsibletravel.com
Vouchers
If you receive an enquiry where the traveller has a Responsible Travel voucher you'll need to check the voucher is valid, charge the customer the total amount minus the voucher amount, then enter the voucher details when you declare the full booking amount so we can refund you. Please read our full voucher information for members.

Declaring bookings
When you have signed in to the Console, click on 'Enquiries' to find a list of all the enquiries you have received so far. Please check these against your reservations list. To declare a booking click on the relevant enquiry date/time to open it. Click on the 'Booking details' section and fill in the relevant details then save.
 
Declaring bookings improves your conversion rate, which means that we can increase the visibility of your products on the site and in our newsletters. In addition, we send an email requesting a review for your page to all travellers who find their holiday through our site but we can only do this if their holiday is declared BEFORE they return.
 
Cancellations
Please let us know if you have a cancellation - log into the console, find the relevant lead / booking and change the lead status to ‘open’. It would be helpful if you could add the reason and cancellation date in the notes field. Our accountant Lyn will then contact you if neccessary (e.g. if you've already been invoiced for this booking). It is essential that you let us know before your client was due to travel as this will prevent them from recieving our automated 'welcome back' email requesting a review.
 
Reviews
Having a positive review on a page increases the number of enquiries that you're likely to receive. For a review to be generated, the booking must be declared on the console prior to the person going on holiday. If you declare late, the automatic email asking the traveller to leave a review will not be sent. We do not send review emails manually.
 
Late availability and special offers
You are able to create these yourself via the console; see how in our availability and offers wizard
 

Invoicing and payments

  • When will I be invoiced?
    You will be invoiced for your first membership fee once your pages have gone live on Responsible Travel. Subsequent annual fees will be invoiced on the anniversary of this date.

    Booking commission will be invoiced depending on your membership type:

    a) Accommodation owners’ invoices are usually raised after the traveller has departed (not when the booking is declared, unless this is after they have travelled).
    b) Tour operators - invoices are usually raised in the same month of travel (not when the booking is declared, unless this is after they have travelled).

    If the amount of commission due is very small we may wait until more commission has accrued before invoicing to save on admin. However, the commission is still valid and will be invoiced.

    Our invoices are always in GBP (British pounds sterling) and are always sent as a PDF attachment via email. We do not send paper invoices unless you specifically request them. If you believe you should have received an invoice but haven't, please contact lyn@responsibletravel.com.

    You can see your bookings and invoiced bookings in the console by clicking on the 'Enquiries' tab and searching using the 'Status' dropdown for either 'booked' or 'invoiced'. You can also download your enquiries and bookings using the 'Export' button and choosing the criteria for the enquiries/bookings you want to view.


  • What methods of payment do you accept?
    Our preferred method of payment is bank transfer in GB Pounds (please note that we cannot accept responsibility for any bank charges incurred). We can also accept cheques / drafts in GB Pounds. If neither of these methods of payment is possible, please discuss your situation with our Accountant, Lyn, by emailing lyn@responsibletravel.com.

    We can also accept payment over the phone by bank card and online card payments upon request, although there will be an administration fee charged for these options.


  • What are your payment terms?
    Our payment terms are immediate.

    Please note that we only invoice once the client has travelled / in the month of travel if you are a tour operator so you will probably have collected funds from your client by the time our commission is due.


  • When is my membership renewal due?
    Your membership period is shown in your monthly stats email.

 

Updating pages
 
To update your product pages you must log in to the Console

  • How do I add a map from my website?
    Go to the page on your own website with the map you want to display. Right click on the map then choose 'copy image address'. In the console, open the product you want to update, scroll to the 'Where & what we are' section and paste the image address into the map box. Save and preview your page to see the map. (Note: this is for map images, not Google/interactive maps.)



  • When will my page be live on the site?
    After you have submitted your page to us - use the red submit button - we will review it.
    We look at every page – our main concern is to ensure that you meet our criteria for responsible tourism so please make sure you fill out this section thoroughly. You will be notified when your page is live on the site.


  • How do I save my page if I am not yet ready to submit it?
    Simply log out and your page will automatically be saved, when you log back in it will be as you left it.


  • Is there anything I need to know when adding dates?
    You won’t be able to preview the dates you have added instantly as this updates overnight, as long as you have added the correct departure dates for the coming year you can submit the page - we check all pages before they go live. If you would like to add a sentence with departure information rather than publish all your dates on the page, for example: 'This trip departs every Sunday and Wednesday throughout the year, please contact us for more details', then please do mail your account handler to request this.


  • Are there any restrictions on uploading videos?
    The video needs to promote the specific trip on the page. We do not allow company branding to be shown anywhere in your video and you must not link to other videos. Only one video per product page is permitted. If your company name, branding or logos are found in a video, then the video will be removed. Read our full video guidelines.


  • Can I have portrait images?
    No, due to the design of the website it is not possible to display images in portrait. Read our full photo guidelines and tips.


  • Is there a size limit on the images?
    Yes, please make sure you are using web quality rather than print quality images; they should be no larger than 4MB. Read our full photo guidelines and tips.


  • My image is below 4MB but still won’t upload?
    Check that the file name does not contain any spaces or characters (-&% etc), and that the photo is wider than it is tall and at least 600 x 450 pixels. Read our full photo guidelines and tips.


  • Can I change the order of my photos?
    No, you need to delete and re-upload photos to change the order of images.


  • How can I get another page on Responsible Travel for my new holiday?
    Your Account Manager can help you decide which of your products are suitable for Responsible Travel, and tell you how many pages we will create for you. If you would like a new page, please discuss this with your Account Manager in the first instance. Please note that all products on Responsible Travel must have a Make A Difference paragraph tailored to that specific trip or accommodation, even if you have other products on the site.

 


Have we answered your question? You can always contact your Account Manager about any aspect of Responsible Travel not covered here.  
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