PLANNING POLICY
How your personalised journey comes together.
A journey designed around you.
Rather than starting with a pre-made itinerary and modifying it, we begin by understanding how you want to experience Japan — your dates, interests, pace, preferences and the kind of journey you want to have.
From there, Beyond Tokyo researches, designs and prices a journey specifically around you. That process takes time, experience and careful logistical planning, which is why we work through a planning retainer before beginning the design of a Private & Personalised Journey.
The retainer isn't intended to be another cost of travelling with us. If you go on to book your proposed journey with Beyond Tokyo, the original planning retainer is adjusted in full against your journey investment. Its purpose is to allow us to invest meaningful time in travellers who are genuinely considering travelling with us, while protecting the planning and original work that goes into every personalised journey.
We also believe the planning process should be clear and fair on both sides. This policy is designed to protect your interests as much as ours — so you know what you're paying for, what you'll receive, how revisions work, how your proposal and pricing are handled, and what happens if you decide to proceed.
Ultimately, the idea is simple: you should know exactly what to expect from us, and we should be able to put our best work into designing a journey for you.
Before you begin: The planning retainer is non-refundable once paid. It is for a journey designed and subsequently arranged by Beyond Tokyo, not an itinerary-only consultation. If you book your proposed journey with us, the original retainer is credited in full against your journey investment.
The Planning Retainer
Private & Personalised Journeys require a ₹7,999 planning retainer per family or planning unit before Beyond Tokyo begins designing your bespoke journey.
The planning retainer is for Beyond Tokyo to design and present a journey that we can subsequently arrange for you. It is not an itinerary-only consultation or a fee for the preparation of a journey plan to be booked independently.
The planning retainer covers the consultation, research, time and expertise involved in:
- Understanding your travel dates, preferences, interests, pace and requirements.
- Designing the overall route and structure of your journey.
- Evaluating logistics and feasibility.
- Selecting the key places and experiences that best fit your journey.
- Preparing and presenting your personalised journey proposal.
- Up to 2 hours of consultation time in total, primarily used before the proposal is prepared to understand your requirements, with the remaining time available after the proposal is presented to discuss it and clarify any questions.
What “₹7,999 per family” means
The planning retainer is charged per family or planning unit, rather than separately for every individual traveller.
For the purpose of the planning retainer, a family means one immediate or multi-generational family travelling together as a single unit, with the family relationship documented or reasonably evidenced through the travellers' passports. This may include grandparents, parents, spouses and children travelling together on the same journey.
For example, grandparents, parents and children travelling together may constitute one family unit. A married adult child travelling with their spouse and parents may also form part of the same family unit where the family relationship can reasonably be established from the travellers' documentation.
Being related does not, however, automatically make multiple independent households one family unit for the purpose of the planning retainer. Adult siblings, cousins or other relatives travelling together as separate family units will ordinarily be treated as separate planning units.
Where friends are travelling together, up to two friends are treated as one planning unit. Three or more friends may be divided into additional planning units, with a separate planning retainer applying to each unit.
As a general guide:
We recognise that families and travelling groups come in many forms, so not every situation will fit neatly into the examples above. Where there is any uncertainty, Beyond Tokyo will confirm what constitutes a family or planning unit, and the applicable planning retainer, before payment is made.
Retainer, Credit & Refunds
The planning retainer is non-refundable once paid, including if you subsequently decide not to proceed with the proposed journey.
- The retainer is payment for the consultation, research, planning and proposal work undertaken by Beyond Tokyo.
- If, following the initial consultation but before the proposal is prepared, you decide that the proposed planning approach, journey direction or scope does not meet your expectations and choose not to continue, the planning retainer remains non-refundable.
- It is your responsibility to review the scope of the Private & Personalised Journey planning service, this Planning Policy and Beyond Tokyo's Terms of Service before paying the planning retainer. Payment of the retainer confirms your acceptance of the applicable scope and terms.
- The planning retainer is not a booking deposit and does not reserve accommodation, transportation, experiences, admissions or any other travel service.
- If you subsequently book the proposed journey with Beyond Tokyo, the original planning retainer will be adjusted in full against your final journey investment.
- Any additional planning retainer required for a major revision or substantial change is separate from the original planning retainer. Whether an additional retainer will be adjusted against the final journey investment will be communicated before the additional planning work begins.
What You'll Receive
Your personalised journey proposal will ordinarily include:
The proposal is designed to give you a clear understanding of what your journey could look like and the overall investment required before you decide whether to proceed.
The proposal is intentionally high-level. It establishes the route, pace, key experiences and overall shape of your journey. It is not the final operating itinerary for your trip.
At the proposal stage, we do not provide detailed day-by-day or hour-by-hour schedules, exact train or bus services and departure times, specific transport connections, station-by-station instructions, detailed transfer logistics, reservation timings, ticketing instructions or other operational information required to independently execute the journey.
These details form part of the final journey planning and operations and are prepared and shared once you have accepted the proposal, confirmed your journey with Beyond Tokyo and the relevant arrangements are being secured.
This allows us to build the operational details around actual availability and the most appropriate transport, accommodation and reservation options for your confirmed travel dates, rather than preparing detailed logistics against arrangements that have not yet been booked.
Nothing shown in a proposal should be treated as reserved, held or guaranteed until the applicable booking payment has been received and the relevant arrangement has been confirmed by Beyond Tokyo.
Revisions & Changes
Your planning retainer includes one initial journey proposal and one minor revision.
Minor revision
A minor revision is a limited adjustment that does not require the journey to be substantially redesigned or repriced. This may include:
- Replacing or removing an individual experience.
- Making a small adjustment to the pace or sequence of the journey.
- Adjusting a preference that can be accommodated within the existing dates, route and overall journey structure.
Major revision
A major revision is a change that requires substantial additional research, redesign, logistical evaluation or repricing. This may include:
- Changing the travel dates.
- Changing the number of travellers where this materially affects the journey or pricing.
- Changing the overall duration.
- Adding, removing or replacing destinations.
- Substantially changing the route, pace or style of the journey.
- Requesting a substantially different journey after the original proposal has been prepared.
Major revisions are not included in the original planning retainer and may require a new planning retainer before further planning begins.
Where travel dates or the number of travellers change after the proposal has been prepared, the existing proposal and quoted price may no longer be valid. If the change requires material reworking or repricing of the journey, a new planning retainer may apply.
Hotels & Accommodation
Your proposal will indicate the intended standard and style of accommodation.
Sample or indicative hotel options can be shared on request. These are provided to demonstrate the type, standard and location of accommodation being considered and do not constitute confirmed accommodation.
Final hotels are subject to availability and are confirmed once the journey has been booked and the relevant arrangements have been secured.
Journey Pricing
Beyond Tokyo provides an overall journey price per traveller rather than an itemised breakdown by accommodation, transportation, meals, experiences, planning, operations or other individual components.
The total journey price and its validity period will be stated in your proposal. Pricing is based on the travel dates, number of travellers, requirements and assumptions used when preparing it and remains subject to availability until the applicable booking payment has been received.
If the proposal is not accepted within its stated validity period, pricing and availability may need to be reviewed.
Intellectual Property & Confidentiality
Your personalised journey proposal is prepared specifically for you and represents Beyond Tokyo's original planning, research, route design, experience selection and logistical work.
The proposal and its contents remain the intellectual property of Beyond Tokyo. Providing the proposal to you does not transfer ownership of, or any intellectual property rights in, the proposal or the underlying journey design.
Unless Beyond Tokyo has provided prior written consent, the proposal may not be:
- Shared, forwarded, published or distributed to any third party.
- Reproduced, copied or commercially exploited, whether in whole or in substantial part.
- Provided to another travel company, travel agent, planner or service provider for the purpose of reproducing, pricing, arranging or booking the proposed journey.
You may share the proposal privately with members of your travelling party where reasonably necessary for the purpose of deciding whether to proceed with the journey.
The purpose of this section is not to restrict ordinary discussion of your travel plans. It is intended to protect the time and original work invested in creating a personalised journey and to prevent a proposal prepared by Beyond Tokyo from being used to obtain or recreate the same journey through another provider.
If the proposal is shared, reproduced, used or commercially exploited in breach of this section, Beyond Tokyo reserves the right to seek appropriate relief, including reasonable compensation for any loss arising from the unauthorised sharing, reproduction or use of the proposal, together with any other remedies available under applicable law.
Nothing in this section limits Beyond Tokyo's right to seek any other remedy available under applicable law, including injunctive relief where appropriate.
After You Accept Your Journey
Once you accept the proposal and make the applicable booking payment, Beyond Tokyo begins securing the arrangements for your journey.
Your detailed itinerary, confirmed accommodation, transportation arrangements, experiences, reservations and other travel-specific information are then shared progressively as the journey is finalised.
From this point, your journey is also subject to the applicable booking, payment, cancellation and other provisions contained in Beyond Tokyo's Terms of Service and Booking & Cancellation Policy.
Written Communication
For the purposes of this Planning Policy, where something is required to be communicated, approved or agreed in writing, written communication includes communication by email or through Beyond Tokyo's official WhatsApp number.
How This Policy Works With Our Terms
This Planning Policy applies specifically to the planning and design of Private & Personalised Journeys and forms part of Beyond Tokyo's Terms of Service for those journeys.
The Terms of Service continue to apply to your relationship and booking with Beyond Tokyo.
Where there is any inconsistency between this Planning Policy and the Terms of Service specifically in relation to the planning and design process, this Planning Policy will apply. In all other respects, the Terms of Service will continue to apply.
Governing Law & Jurisdiction
This Planning Policy is governed by the laws of India.
Any dispute arising from or relating to this Planning Policy, the planning retainer, the personalised journey planning process or your journey proposal will fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in Panipat, Haryana, India.
We’re here to help.
If you’d like to understand how personalised planning works before getting started, get in touch with us.
Read alongside our Terms of Service and Booking & Cancellation Policy.