Seven questions that separate an operator from a booking desk, including the licence number you can verify yourself in about a minute and the one answer that tells you whether anybody has actually booked anything.
Every travel company's website says the same six things. Trusted. Experienced. Customised. Best price. Twenty-four seven support. Happy customers. None of it is checkable, which is why none of it should move you.
These seven questions are checkable. They are worth asking of anyone, including us.
1. Are they licensed, and what is the number?
Singapore requires travel businesses to hold a licence from the Singapore Tourism Board, and the register is public. An operator should give you the number without hesitating — ours is TA03365N — and you can look it up yourself in about a minute. A company that answers this with reassurance instead of a number has told you the answer.
Planning this trip yourself?
Send us your dates and how many are travelling. We will come back with an itinerary and a price, usually within one working day.
2. Who meets you at Changi, and do they work for the company you paid?
The common arrangement in this market is that the company you pay is in India and the people who meet you are a local supplier contracted for the day, at whatever rate was left after everyone took a margin. It usually works. When it does not, nobody you have a contract with is in the country.
Ask whether there is a Singapore operation, whether the coordinators are employed or hired per trip, and who specifically will meet your flight. An operator who cannot answer the third question has not booked anything yet.
3. Will they put the exclusions in writing before the deposit?
Not after — before. What is not in the price, what the cancellation ladder looks like in days rather than dates, and what happens if the airline moves your flight. Any competent operator can produce this on one page. If it only arrives with the confirmation, that was a decision somebody made.
4. Do they name the hotel, or only the category?
"4-star Singapore hotel" is not a commitment. It covers a property beside an MRT station in Bugis and one in an industrial estate forty minutes from anything you came to see. In a city this compact, location beats an extra star almost every time. A quote that will not name the hotel is a quote that intends to choose it later, cheaply.
5. Are the attraction entries listed by name?
"Sightseeing included" can mean four ticketed entries or a coach driving past while somebody narrates. Ask for the list. Then ask when the tickets are bought — in advance costs less and costs no time, on the day means queuing while the vehicle waits. We publish every ticket price on the attractions pages precisely so you can price somebody else's sightseeing line, including ours.
6. What happens when the numbers or dates change?
They will. Someone drops out, or a flight moves. A good operator tells you in advance which size bands the price sits between, so you know whether losing two people changes anything. A poor one recalculates in silence and sends a revised invoice you cannot audit. Ask for the bands before you pay.
7. Who answers the phone at eleven at night, Singapore time?
"Twenty-four seven support" usually means an inbox. Ask for the name and number of the person who picks up when the hotel has lost a booking at midnight. Ours is one published number, +91 7838007208, and it is the same number on every page of this site — which is a small thing, but a company with a different number on each page has more than one story.
What not to weigh too heavily
Two things persuade people more than they should. The first is a five-star review count, which is trivially purchasable and tells you nothing; we cover what a review is actually worth in reading reviews before you book. The second is the lowest number. A quote that is twenty per cent under everyone else has usually made a decision about your hotel's location, your transfer's sharing, or your attraction entries that you have not been told about yet. Find out which before you celebrate.
The one question that reveals the most
Ask them what is not worth doing on your trip. An operator who sells you everything you suggested has not thought about your holiday. One who tells you that four ticketed attractions in three days will exhaust your children, or that the second theme park can wait for a future visit, is a person planning a trip rather than filling a basket. That answer costs them money, which is exactly why it is worth hearing.
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