Why Sonas
Licensed and Bonded
Sonas Travel is a licensed and bonded travel agency, licensed by the Commission for Aviation Regulation in Ireland.
Being licensed means that we are subject to regulatory oversight from CAR (who regulate the travel trade in Ireland), as well as being authorised to book flights on your behalf.
Being bonded means that something major goes wrong with foreign travel (think COVID!), your money is protected. A small but important point.
Price
The bottom line for most schools!
The easiest promise to make is that on a like-for-like basis, we will beat any other school tour company’s price by at least €15 per student. Still not sure? Then let us look at any quote you have received and we’ll break it down for you so you can make an informed decision on price.
But “like-for-like” is an important phrase; we will add elements of quality and value to your tour where we think it’s advisable.
Our pricing is transparent too. We book flights at cost price and let you know what that price is, and we add or remove elements to your tour to suit your requests and let you know how much extra or less that is. No blanket pricing, that’s another promise.
Direct Payment System
Our DPS is definitely unique – designed with the tour organiser and the students in mind. It’s a bespoke system that is simple to use for the students and parents and it allows the tour organiser to see exactly who has paid – how much and when. The school doesn’t have to handle any money; we remove that major headache from the equation for you.
Industry-leading teacher to pupil ratio
All our tours are quoted on an 8:1 basis as standard – nobody does better than that. If you don’t need that many teachers aboard, we will apply any savings made to your final price.
Teacher Incentive Scheme
For any tour booked by the end of 2022, we will give the organising teacher €1000 to spend as they see fit! Rather than offering trips away that you probably won’t be able to use, we keep it simple so that the hard work you do in prganising a school tour is acknowledged EVERY time.
There are a couple of conditions but nothing much – a minimum group size of 40 students and a minimum stay of 2 nights – but even if you have a smaller group we will stil do something for you!
Travel Insurance
Travel insurance can never be a panacea for all woes, but things can go wrong and you need to be as well protected as possible when they do.
With all our school tours, we book a Premier Plus Policy as standard through Blue Insurance, Ireland’s largest travel insurance provider.
Premier plus is their highest level of cover and includes benefits such as zero excess clause and an industry-leading level of COVID cover.
Guiding the tour organiser through the process
Whether you’re an old pro or you’re thinking of booking your very first school tour, worry not. We will guide you through every step of the booking process – and be available throughout to assist you whenever you have a question.
Our experience is in seeing the school tour from the school’s point of view – this helps to make your booking experience as seamless as possible.
