A Pre-Season Checklist for Italian Ground Partners

An advisor signed a season with a partner who looked solid on paper, then discovered in week two that shore excursions were subcontracted to a company nobody had vetted. The checklist below is what we would want asked of us before a contract, and it is the one we run on ourselves each autumn.

Booking: The Service Layer

Start with what the partner actually operates and what gets passed on. The answer shapes the whole season, and it is rarely clear from a website.

1. Tailor-made journeys for independent travellers, drawn around pace and preferences rather than sold from a shelf.
2. Small group programs with a single point of control, from heritage routes to special interest departures.
3. Experiences and activities that slot into a route: private cultural visits, food and wine tastings, cooking sessions with a chef.
4. Shore excursions for cruise calls, with guides and vehicles timed to the ship rather than the brochure.
5. Nationwide coverage from one base, so a route that crosses three regions keeps one contract.

Ask which of those five lines the partner runs with its own staff and which it buys in. A company that is honest about the split is usually the one that manages the subcontractors properly, and the answer tells an advisor where to look during a site inspection.

Documents: White-Label and Client Protection

This is the section that decides who is exposed when something goes wrong.

1. Confirm the partner works business to business only, with no direct selling to the client.
2. Ask who holds the contract with the traveller and who carries the liability cover.
3. Get the cancellation terms in writing, including force majeure and weather cancellations on boat days.
4. Check that documents go out under the advisor's brand, with no other logo in sight.
5. Keep the emergency contact sheet updated for every departure, not once per season.

White-label is more than a logo swap. It means the itinerary, the vouchers and the emergency number all speak with one voice, and that a client never receives two versions of the same booking.

Money: Rates, Deposits and What Sits Outside

Net rates are only comparable when the exclusions are identical.

1. Ask for net rates per service line, not a single blended figure.
2. Agree deposit and balance dates that fit the advisor's own cash cycle.
3. List city taxes, gratuities, single supplements and drinks separately.
4. Confirm what a last-minute change costs, since that is where margins vanish.

A partner that quotes a single number for a week usually has a comfortable margin inside it. Itemised rates look less tidy and are far easier to defend when a client asks why a transfer costs what it does.

Gear: Kit for the Experiences on the Menu

Each signature experience depends on equipment someone has to supply, and the answer is rarely written in the offer.

• Boat days on the lakes: who provides the vessel, the captain and the safety equipment.
• Cooking sessions: kitchen access, aprons and dietary arrangements confirmed ahead.
• Wine visits: transport that keeps a group off the road after a tasting.
• City walks: audio sets for groups over fifteen, and a plan for the rain.
• Villa stays: whether the property supplies cots, drivers and a night porter.

Day-of: The First Morning

Arrival is the only moment where the partner's operation is fully visible to the client.

1. Meet and greet at the airport, station or cruise terminal, with a name board and a working phone.
2. A project manager named in advance, reachable during the trip rather than at office hours.
3. On-site supervision for group movements, not a phone number and good wishes.
4. Transfer times built from experience, with the first day left light.

Run the list in the late autumn, before the next season's allocations are signed, and again in spring when timetables change. A partner that answers all of it in writing, with names and dates, is usually the one that answers the phone in August as well. Pikefield Dispatch keeps the same document on file for every season, marked with what changed.