Trekking Booking Mistakes and a Pre-Departure Checklist

Trekking problems rarely start on the trail. They start in the office, with a booking nobody confirmed, a guide promised to two groups or a balance nobody chased. This article lists the mistakes we see most often in record keeping and gives you a checklist to run before every departure.

The common mistakes

Taking a deposit without a written confirmation

A client pays through a bank or wallet and hears "thank you". Weeks later they believe the deposit was fully refundable and you believe it was not. Always send a written confirmation that states what was paid, what it secures and your cancellation terms in your own words.

Not setting a go or no-go date

If your minimum group size is four and you have two bookings a week before departure, you may already have paid for transport. Set a decision date at the start and tell clients about it.

Double-booking guides and porters

Staff are promised verbally, and two coordinators assign the same guide to different groups. A single roster by date, visible to everyone, ends the problem.

Recording income without costs

If you only log deposits, you cannot know profit. Record estimated and actual costs for each trip and review the margin.

Foreign payments without a rate

When a client pays in dollars you must note the rate you used. Otherwise your NPR total differs from the bank, and the gap is mysterious at year end.

Leaving documents until the last week

Passport details, insurance notes and emergency contacts arrive late, and you scramble. Collect them at booking and chase weekly.

No settlement record for staff

Advances, wages and tips are paid from cash and memory. Disputes follow. Record each payment and ask for acknowledgement.

A pre-departure checklist

Area	Question to answer	Done
Clients	Is every booking confirmed in writing with payment status known?	Tick
Documents	Do we hold passport, emergency contact and insurance note for each client?	Tick
Paperwork	Are all required permits and registrations arranged and recorded as such?	Tick
Staff	Are leader, assistants and porters confirmed with no clashes?	Tick
Money	Are balances received and advances for staff paid?	Tick
Transport	Are pickup times reconfirmed with drivers?	Tick
Equipment	Is gear issued, counted and recorded?	Tick
Briefing	Has the client briefing happened and emergency contacts been shared?	Tick

A short walkthrough

Picture a group of six for an autumn trek. Three weeks out, you see on the departure screen that two clients have not paid the balance and one has no emergency contact. You send a reminder text to the three. A week out, you see that the assistant guide is also listed on a smaller departure; you reassign. Three days out, you issue equipment and mark it against each client. On departure morning the leader carries a one-page sheet of names, numbers and the day plan. After the return, you enter actual costs, settle wages and discover the lodge bill ran above budget because of one extra night. Next season, you price accordingly. Nothing here is dramatic; it is a chain of small checks that nothing was allowed to fall through.

Using software for the checks

The checks above become saved lists in our trekking agency software: unpaid balances, missing documents, staff clashes, pending paperwork, gear out. Each morning the lists show who needs a call. For group travel outside the mountains, our travel agency software follows the same pattern.

Mistakes in communication with the team on the ground

Another frequent failure is assuming that guides, porters and drivers have received the plan. A message sent to a group chat may be read by some and missed by others, especially when people move through low-coverage areas. Send each key person a short individual confirmation with date, place, time and what to bring, and ask them to reply. Record the confirmation. If someone does not answer, call before the day, not on it.

Similarly, avoid verbal changes to the itinerary. If the lodge changes, the transport time moves or an acclimatisation day is added, update the record and tell everyone affected. A client who hears one thing from the office and another from the leader loses confidence quickly, and that experience often appears in reviews.

Weather, delays and contingency notes

Flights to mountain airstrips and roads in the monsoon can be delayed or cancelled. Add a contingency field to each departure: what you will do if the first day is lost, who authorises extra nights, who pays for them under your terms and how clients are told. Write these decisions before the season. Making them under pressure, with ten anxious clients and a delayed flight, produces expensive and inconsistent choices.

Record every delay and its cost on the trip. Over a few seasons you will see which routes and months carry the most risk and can price a buffer into the quote, instead of absorbing losses quietly.

After the trip

Close the departure formally. Reconcile costs, return equipment, send a thank-you message with a feedback request and ask satisfied clients for a review. Keep a short note of lessons learned on the departure record, so next season's coordinator inherits them.

Next step

Run the checklist on your next departure and count the unticked rows. Each one is a risk you were carrying silently. Message WebsNP on WhatsApp at +977 9846280400 to see how a system turns them into daily lists.

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