FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions)
This FAQ answers our most Frequently Asked Spring Break Questions.
If our office does not receive these – your arrival information will not be emailed to you.
Note: A credit card authorization to bill form is only required if you used a credit card to pay off your trip balance. If you are traveling internationally with airfare, you MUST have a valid US Passport to travel.
Credit Card Authorization to Bill Form
Terms & Conditions of the Tour Operator Participant Contract (TPA)
Parental Authorization & Consent form to travel for minors under 18 years of age
For South Padre Island, we need some additional forms that you BRING WITH YOU (the Group Leader will be emailed these as well as receive them in the mail).
At time of check, you must have two credit cards (Debit cards not accepted) per condo to insure us against excessive damages. Must have cards in hand, front & back copies of the credit cards, and copies of everyone’s State Issued ID, (not your fake –we don’t card for age this is for safety reasons). In lieu of credit cards, we will accept a $500 PER PERSON damage deposit which is refundable. Why is it so high? It’s a hassle to collect & return.
We use credit cards just like a hotel. If no damages, your carbon is destroyed.
If you have more than 4 people in an efficiency/1 bedroom condo, 6 people in a two bedroom condo, or 8 people in a three bedroom condo, then an over occupancy form is also required.
For International Travelers needing Express Passport Service (as quick as a 7 day turnaround is possible) – call our office
What this means is, you get 2 dine-around restaurant meals per day(not at the hotel) on a pre-set menu at certain times. When you go through your welcome briefing/orientation at all of our destinations, you receive meal plan vouchers. You will be given ticket vouchers to turn in at each restaurant or venue for your meal.
It is important to note, that all meal plan meals do not include the $2 tip & tax due at the time of service per meal per person. The meals we offer are not prime rib with a nice merlot. Don’t be a jackball. It isn’t “at any restaurant” (this is a dumb thing to even think) There are things like grilled chicken sandwich with fries. Teriyaki Chicken with fried rice. Cheeeburger & chips. Etc etc. Adequate & suited to student’s taste as specific restaurants at specific times. You can get by with eating just the meal plan – but probably not.
The meals are located at various restaurants around the destination you chose, and are not at your hotel. A special student menu of 1-4 choices will be offered (no, it’s not order anything you want off the menu, but fun comfort food – you will enjoy). Remember, not all inclusions are created equal! We do NOT offer a “free” meal plan (which sucks), and a “for purchase” so-called “premium” meal plan that is actually what you can stomach.
We only offer one, premium meal plan, and it is free of charge. This is easy to double check if you are shopping around travel agencies. Require that your travel provider email you the EXACT (not what they “think,” or “last years”) meal program – the exact restaurants with the exact menu. Chances are, they either will not, or they cannot. This should raise a real red flag of warning.
Book with Inertia, we will gladly send you one.
Remember, some nominal tipping is still required even if you choose all inclusive. In our opinion, in some of the more expensive international destinations like Cancun, all inclusive can make one heck of a lot of sense. The additional upfront outlay of money before you travel can save you a ton of money onsite. Plus, it definitely makes your trip more luxurious by you just plunking down poolside, ordering whatever you want, and having it all included — it’s a super nice option, particularly if you are booking a large student travel group that might have “cheapskates” that you don’t want to hear complaining about how much money they are spending the whole time.
Our domestic trips like South Padre Island & Panama City Beach do not offer all inclusive (mostly because it’s illegal to give away unlimited booze, particularly in Texas) mostly due to the fact that these destinations offer huge condos with full kitchen that allow you to bring in your own liquor — the best of both worlds! South Padre Island’s beaches are BYOB and open container legal.
What this means is, you get 2 dine-around restaurant meals per day(not at the hotel) on a pre-set menu at certain times. When you go through your welcome briefing/orientation at all of our destinations, you receive meal plan vouchers. You will be given ticket vouchers to turn in at each restaurant or venue for your meal.
It is important to note, that all meal plan meals do not include the $2 tip & tax due at the time of service per meal per person. The meals we offer are not prime rib with a nice merlot. Don’t be a jackball. It isn’t “at any restaurant” (this is a dumb thing to even think) There are things like grilled chicken sandwich with fries. Teriyaki Chicken with fried rice. Cheeeburger & chips. Etc etc. Adequate & suited to student’s taste as specific restaurants at specific times. You can get by with eating just the meal plan – but probably not.
The meals are located at various restaurants around the destination you chose, and are not at your hotel. A special student menu of 1-4 choices will be offered (no, it’s not order anything you want off the menu, but fun comfort food – you will enjoy). Remember, not all inclusions are created equal! We do NOT offer a “free” meal plan (which sucks), and a “for purchase” so-called “premium” meal plan that is actually what you can stomach.
We only offer one, premium meal plan, and it is free of charge. This is easy to double check if you are shopping around travel agencies. Require that your travel provider email you the EXACT (not what they “think,” or “last years”) meal program – the exact restaurants with the exact menu. Chances are, they either will not, or they cannot. This should raise a real red flag of warning.
Book with Inertia, we will gladly send you one.
Inertia Tours reserves the right to price its trips subjectively, based on a number of factors such as market demand, availability, and trip component costs. We can change the price of our trips at anytime; however, it is important for you to understand as our client that once you have booked your trip by placing down your initial deposit, we will not and may not raise the cost of your trip provided you’ve made your trip payments on time.
Airport Departure Taxes
If you are traveling internationally, we pre-collect for all of our destinations the US & Foreign Departure taxes on your behalf. These taxes and fees vary depending on your departure city and destination, and may change if the government changing the fees between the time you book and the time you travel. (Typically about for foreign destinations, and about for US domestic destination)
Passengers are responsible for any changes in taxes and fees. Our trips also may include a Processing Fee or Tax/Service Fee that varies in price. Typically, our trips carry a processing fee for beach vacations, and a tax/service fee for college ski trips. When you price your trip, all airport fees, processing fees, and any tax/service will be on your final price as indicated in the pricing engine within our reservation system.
Hotel Fees/Damage Deposits/Security Deposits
At our International destinations, hotels typically charge a refundable damage/security deposit that is collected at check in and returned if there is no damage to your room. This will range from $25 to $100 per person. Be prepared to pay cash, as not all hotels will accept credit cards for this refundable deposit. Usually, they will simply open up a credit card for incidentals or damages.
For our college ski trips, we do not charge a refundable damage deposit; however, if there are damages we use the credit cards on file to take care of the damages.
Change Fees & Lower Occupancy Fees
Inertia allows name changes on reservations for a fee if it is a domestic vacation. Remember, you will need to call or email us to find out if this is possible. Last minute changes, or changes to international vacations are not possible. Changing names when there is a flight involved is not possible. Adding more people to an existing reservation is NOT considered a change, and no fee applies – however these new clients generally will be expected to pay the current, market price on a per person basis for their vacation whatever that may be.
Should you need to change from a higher occupancy to a lower one, you will be charged on a per person basis the difference in price for the lower occupancy (for example, if you had 4 people when you booked your package, but now have 3, a per person charge of X per person for the lower occupancy will apply). Put another way, the less people you have in room or condo, the more money it is per person since less people are now paying for that accommodation.
If you received a guaranteed group rate, this will not apply.
Payments & Cancellation Fees
At Inertia Tours, we make this very easy. All payments & deposits to Spring Break Mafia are 100% non-refundable for any reason. Travel is NOT a refundable type of purchase, as we use your deposit & payment information to pre-pay our suppliers like airlines & hotels. Think of it this way, if you owned a hotel, you also could not rent rooms in big blocks and not require guaranteed payment – or you’d go out of business. Our vendors require these non-refundable payments by us on your behalf to reserve your vacation. Therefore, it is non-refundable to you.
Also, since hotel rooms & condos are rented by occupancy, if you do cancel your trip, your roommates will have to pay the lower occupancy difference in price. We might suggest that you find someone to take your place if you can and it’s not last minute. Yes, you will lose your deposit.
If you have purchased our optional Travelers Insurance Policy at the time you booked the trip, and have a medically excused reason to not travel, you will be able to obtain a refund from our insurance provider up to $500.00 USD. Be fully prepared to have your Doctor issue you this reason in writing. Remember, you’ll only qualify for this refund if you have purchased this coverage upfront, and it is not going to provide a refund for cancelling because you felt like it.
All charter airlines are subject to the same maintenance rules and inspections put forth by the FAA. In some cases you will be flown on a scheduled airline not shown above
Please be aware that if you are booking your own flight, or using frequent flyer miles to add onto a group that does have airfare included with us, and are just purchasing a hotel only package from Inertia, that you need to consider this fact that the rest of your group might not be arriving if you messed up and bought the wrong day.
There are two alternatives to paying the extra fee for guaranteed trip dates as well. #1: Pay a non-refundable initial down payment deposit of $500 instead of the standard $300 if you have flight included at the time you book your trip (this money of course comes off the trip prices listed in our system, and is not an additional fee). #2: Pay in full at the time you book the trip (selecting this option not only guarantees you specific dates of departure, it guarantees you specific departure/arrival times as well).
All South Padre condo only/hotel only land packages check in on Saturdays, excepting our 4 night packages which check in on Saturday, Sunday or Wednesday. Depending. South Padre air-inclusive vacations flight terms like international trips also
Also, you will need to check, double check, & reconfirm your departure flight – many times missing your initial departure city flight, your ticket is automatically cancelled for the trip home— they can get it reissued, but there can be a fee. Make it easy on yourself and plan ahead. Get to the airport on international flights a minimum of three hours prior to your scheduled departure time. For domestic flights, allow two hours.
If you miss your return flight, you must go to the airport immediately and contact the carrier to find the next available flight and try to fly standby (usually no charge). They can officially charge you full fare – which can run hundreds if not thousands of extra dollars at your own cost.
What is very important, you remain calm, crack open a book, stay hydrated, and get some food. Do not leave the flight, purchase another one at your own expense (unless you’ve struck it rich), or make about 99 calls to our office – believe us, we do not want you delayed! Remember, inconveniences or “your time” are not something you will be compensated for. In plain English, don’t travel if you can’t handle flight delays – because they happen on a daily basis on hundreds upon hundreds of flights.
As a result of recent changes in US D.O.T. regulations, air carriers/tour companies are no longer required to provide any compensation (i.e. meals, accommodations, missed vacation time, your time, and travel component features) unless a delay is more than 48 hours. If you have purchased the optional travelers insurance policy, which has limited provisions for flight delays, & potentially some available compensation (minimal) Contact us after you get home (save ALL receipts for food & hotel) or our insurance provider directly.
Once all members of the group traveling are paid in full, and all required travel documents are in, we will email you your travel documents (login to our website is required to obtain your electronic tickets & check in information). We do not mail tickets!
Inertia Tours NEVER uses paper tickets! NOTHING WILL BE MAILED TO YOU. If you have provided us with an email address, email notification will be sent to your Group Leader or your Travel Agent when your tickets are ready, usually 7-14 days prior to departure. Inertia Tours is not responsible for incorrect email addresses entered into our reservation system.
Remember, final payment on all spring break beach vacations is (60) days prior to the trip taking place, unless you are making your initial booking within that time period. Contact our office for details if this is the case.
For all of our high school senior grad trips in the summer, final payments are due by April 1st of the travel year. For winter break ski vacations, contact our office as there are different final payment deadlines based on your specific itinerary.
Domestic US Destinations: 21 years of age, although on our South Padre Island, Texas & Panama City Beach, Florida vacation packages, you only need to be 18 years of age to enter the clubs at night. A valid State-issued ID is required to enter any clubs domestically. On our Colorado ski trips, you MUST be 21 years of age to enter any bar or nightclub with a liquor license.
If you are smart, you will make extra copies of your ID in color, as well as bring a separate picture ID in case you lose yours for domestic trips – or risk not going out at night.
In the event that one parent is no longer alive, you will need a notarized letter from your living parent along with a copy of the death certificate for your deceased parent that you will present at the airport for check in. DO NOT SEND THIS LETTER to Spring Break Mafia – bring it to the airport with you.
Remember, if you don’t have this with you at the airport you won’t be allowed to board the plane and you will lose your trip with no refund!
If you don’t bring the right documentation to the airport you won’t be allowed to board the plane and you will not receive a refund of any kind, which sucks!
Inertia Tours
PO Box 40095
South Padre Island, Texas 78597
YOU MUST SEND THEM via a tractable method! Mail service in Texas sucks. The cheapest way is go to the post office and send it priority mail WITH a delivery confirmation ($5.00)
If you want to send checks via DHL, Fed Ex or UPS, use our street address:
Inertia Tours
1515 Padre Blvd
South Padre Island, TX 78597.
DO NOT SEND US Mail here!
Should you desire to use PayPal to pay us, you can send money to chad@inertiatours.com via the PayPal system (Chad is the President of our Company). Please first send us an email inquiry before you do this or call us, so that we will know upfront what the payment is for, and from whom.
You can also wire money to our US Bank account, or do an instant transfer using Wells Fargo to our corporate account. We also take gold bars & wampum (kidding).
For our International destinations, we are small enough that we are able to combine with several other travel companies, all on different nights. This is a HUGE benefit to you as our traveler – as you won’t be locked into seeing the same exact people every night at our events, but lots of fresh faces. In South Padre Island, Texas, we are the ONLY party each night that is organized. Don’t be fooled by anyone that tells you otherwise. Find someone, anyone (Bueller?) that went on spring break to South Padre last year and ask them who they partied with!
We offer an iron-clad guarantee about this fact. We set up the newest, hottest clubs, couple them with the best DJ’s and most fresh MTV celebrity appearance entertainers possible. You couple this with the hottest spring break people we book, drink specials, and wild contests…and you have an Inertia Travel Event party.
For the true hookup, pre-purchase an Spring Break Mafia Red Carpet VIP Party Package that is available for all of our spring break destinations. What is so very nice about this package is, you will have the peace-of-mind knowing that you will be “at” the right place each & every night, at fully packed venues. Plus, it ends people bickering about where to go and makes budgeting easier.
Another nice thing our company provides is an on-location Welcome Briefing & Orientation. While you’ll be tired from all the traveling, you’ll learn important information at this time that will maximize your vacation experience, save you money, and keep your butt out of trouble on your spring break. We’ll tell you what to do in case of emergency, how to find our staff, and other important information so you’re both safe & sound, and having a blast.
#1 – The Old Skool Method – Call Us
Simply call toll free 877-633-2386 & listen to the options depending on what trip you’d like to take, and our VoIP phone system will connect you to the next available trip specialist.
We always, and we mean always – will provide you with a Texas-friendly hello, free advice (sometimes you will book with us, sometimes that fit won’t be perfect, no worries), and we will walk you through the process. Our phone specialists are non-judgmental and bluntly honest, so feel free to talk freely when you do call about your real questions.
It is always helpful if you are in front of a computer with internet access – even if you don’t know how to use the internet or websites well, our Reps will walk you through it to view hotel & condo pictures, read reviews, and see destination maps so you can see where things are located.
It is helpful when you call that you have some idea to answer at least a portion of these questions below as it will help our Reps pair you with the ideal spring break or winter break vacation:
• Per person trip cost you have in mind (your budget)
•Your preferred week of travel
•The approximate number of people that might want to go
•Your preferred destination choice (or, at least tell us what is most important for you & your friends for destinations – having more than one choice is a smart move as a consumer)
• The closest airport if you plan on getting a flight
Sometimes, the oldest way is the best way to book a trip with us, as our Reps can ask lots of pertinent, effective questions to really mine from you your specific wants & needs. We want to get you the best possible trip.
Our veteran Reps can take your credit card information right over the phone, and have your trip booked in less than five minutes.
#2 – The Writers Way – Email Us
Our General Email should you want to contact us is tripinfo@springbreakmafia.com. Don’t worry about it going to the right person or department, we’ll direct it internally within our Company from this General Email.
It is helpful in your email if you can answer these questions right away as well, as we’ll undoubtedly email you back to inquire with this list if you do not:
• Per person trip cost you have in mind (your budget)
• Your preferred week of travel
• The approximate number of people that might want to go
• Your preferred destination choice (or, at least tell us what is most important for you & your friends for destinations – having more than one choice is a smart move as a consumer)
• The closest airport if you plan on getting a flight
If you just have a quick question about something specific, shoot away. You’ll get a super quick response with a specific contact person at our Company that you can email, or do a follow up call with. You won’t get handed off nor transferred to India or the Philippines. Our Reps sit in our office on South Padre Island, Texas.
It is totally possible to book your entire vacation via email with one of our Reps and never actually speak to a live person, if you so desire. We’re here to help. 877-633-2386
#3 – Self Service – Our Website
Did you know that travel is the 3rd most common way the internet is utilized as a means of conducting business? It is. At Spring Break Mafia, we’ve tried to design & develop a very well organized, insightful, and helpful website possible.
To book or price at trip on our website, click the Price a Trip link on the top tool bar of this page.
This option is what we would call the traditional travel model to book your student vacation package. When you click price a trip, you will enter in by selecting via the drop down boxes the destination you’d like to go to, the week of travel, the number of people you have, and your desired transportation method (air, bus, or hotel/condo only).
The system will then “pull” you through so you can view different hotel options, read general descriptions & view photos, and finally, click on your desired hotel choice.
Finally, the system will ask you to place down your initial down payment deposit. Our reservation system will generate a Booking Number, coupled with a login password that you and your friends can utilize to view your account, make payments on your account, and more.
It is important to know that our system allows you to use one, two, or multiple credit cards to make payments on your trip (i.e..each person can use their own credit card to make their own payments on their own account).
The flaw to using the traditional travel model is that you do need to either investigate or dig around our site to figure out where you want to travel to as far as a destination. Remember, whichever method you choose, our system is fully capable of booking your trip entirely online and never speaking to a real person if you so desire.
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