The exclusions list is the most under-used sales tool in a travel proposal, and on a festival week it is the one that decides whether the client comes back. Our Chiang Mai Songkran 2027 programme is explicit about what sits outside it — airfares, visas, insurance, and every drink except the wine pairing at one named dinner. This guide from a Thailand DMC for travel agents argues that saying so early sells better than saying nothing, and sets out exactly which lines to put in front of a client before they book.
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What sits outside the programme
| Excluded | Why clients assume otherwise | The line to use |
|---|---|---|
| International airfares | Package language implies flights to some markets | "Land arrangements only — flights are yours or ours to book separately" |
| Visas | Entry rules change and clients stop tracking them | "Entry requirements are the traveller's responsibility; we will tell you what we know" |
| Travel insurance | They saw insurance mentioned against the balloon | "Accident cover on the flight is not travel insurance — buy both" |
| Beverages with meals | Two dinners are included, so drinks feel included | "The wine pairing at the second dinner is in; every other drink is not" |
| Anything not listed | Optimism, mostly | "If it is not on the inclusions list, assume it is not in" |
Why early beats quiet
A client who learns about an exclusion in the proposal treats it as information. The same client learning it at a restaurant table treats it as something you hid. Nothing about the commercial position changed; only when they heard it did. That is the whole argument, and it is worth more to an agency than any discount it could offer.
There is a second, less obvious benefit. Exclusions stated plainly make the inclusions credible. A list that appears to contain everything reads like marketing; a list that says "these things, and not those" reads like an operator who has actually run the trip. On a festival week, where the client is already slightly nervous about what they have booked, that credibility does real work.
The drinks line, which causes more trouble than the rest combined
The programme includes two dinners. At the second, a wine is matched to each of five courses and that pairing is included. At the first, and at every other meal of the week, beverages are not. That is entirely normal and entirely invisible to a client who has read the words "two dinners included".
Put it in one sentence next to the inclusions rather than in the terms at the bottom. It costs you a line and it removes the single most common source of end-of-trip friction on food-forward programmes. If your client is the sort who will order a bottle on the arrival night, tell them twice.
The insurance distinction worth spelling out
The balloon flight carries travel accident insurance as part of that inclusion. That is not travel insurance, and a client who reads "insurance" in an inclusions list may reasonably conclude they are covered for the trip. They are not. Trip cancellation, medical cover and baggage all sit outside the programme.
Say both halves: the flight carries its own accident cover, and separate travel insurance is required and excluded. On a week that involves a hot-air balloon, a twelve-hour road day and a festival where people slip on wet pavements, that is not a formality worth glossing.
What is in, stated as plainly
Four nights at a four-star riverside property in Chiang Mai on room and breakfast. Private arrival and departure transfers for the pair. Two full free festival days with guides and vehicles on call through the 24/7 desk. A dawn hot-air balloon with transfers, refreshments, a flight certificate and accident cover. A full northern touring day by van with an English-speaking guide, including the Golden Triangle boat and the Baan Dam museum entry. Two dinners, one of them with a wine matched to every course.
Read the two lists together and the shape of the product is obvious, which is exactly the point. Our Thailand DMC services for travel agents pages set out what sits behind each of those lines, and anything on the excluded list can usually be added to the file if the client wants it.
How to write it into a proposal
- Put exclusions on the same page as inclusions — not in terms, not on page four.
- Give the drinks line its own sentence — the pairing is in, everything else is not.
- Separate accident cover from travel insurance — they are different products and clients conflate them.
- Say "land arrangements" — it answers the airfare question before it is asked.
- Offer the additions — most excluded items can go into the file; an exclusion is not a refusal.
- Repeat the two that cost money — flights and insurance, once in the proposal and once at confirmation.
What the ground partner carries here
A position that does not move between the page and the invoice. The inclusions and exclusions on this programme are the same standing commercial position that appears on every quotation the company issues, which is why they are held centrally rather than rewritten per package — copy them per product and one of them drifts the day the terms change.
That consistency is worth something to an agency: what you read on the page is what appears on the file, and a Thailand DMC that publishes its exclusions is one you can quote from without checking. Anything a client wants added — extra meals, more touring on the free days, insurance arranged locally — goes into the file through tours and activities, restaurants and banquets or travel insurance rather than being fudged into the package. The programme is on the packages shelf.
Frequently asked questions
What is not included in the Songkran programme?
Airfares, visas, travel insurance, anything not listed in the inclusions, and all beverages with meals other than the wine pairing specified at the second dinner. Those five lines belong in the proposal next to the inclusions rather than in the terms at the bottom.
Are drinks included with the two dinners?
A wine is matched to each of the five courses at the second dinner and that pairing is included. Drinks at the first dinner, and at every other meal, are not. It is the single most common misunderstanding on food-forward programmes, so state it in its own sentence.
The balloon mentions insurance — is the trip insured?
No. The balloon flight carries travel accident cover as part of that inclusion, which is a different product from travel insurance. Trip cancellation, medical and baggage cover all sit outside the programme and are the traveller's responsibility.
Can excluded items be added?
Usually, yes — an exclusion is a scope statement, not a refusal. Extra meals, additional touring on the free festival days, and locally arranged cover can all go into the file. Ask before travel rather than on the ground, where festival week makes everything harder to secure.
Why publish exclusions so prominently?
Because a client who hears an exclusion in the proposal treats it as information and a client who hears it at a table treats it as something that was hidden. The commercial position is identical; only the timing changed. Stating it early also makes the inclusions read as credible rather than as marketing.
How do we get a full written breakdown?
Send dates and pax to b2b@explera.co.th and the quote comes back with inclusions and exclusions set out together, against your brief rather than against a generic sheet.
Quoting Songkran 2027 and want the scope watertight? Talk to our trade desk and we will come back with the routing and a tailored quote.
