Trip ideas being tested: what "Gauging interest" means for you

Updated 4 Oct 2026

"Gauging interest" means a host has an idea for a trip and wants to know if people would come before they commit to it. You can say you're interested and tell the host what would make you book. Nothing is booked, nothing is paid, and you'll hear back only if the trip goes ahead.

What a trip idea is

Running a hosted trip means committing early: a venue, rooms, guides, sometimes a ship. Before a host does that, it helps to know whether anyone wants to come. So hosts can post an idea on our Gauging interest page and test it for up to 90 days.

An idea might be fully planned or still rough. It might have a place and a month, or just a theme and a feeling. Either way, it isn't a trip you can book yet. It's a host asking, "Would you come to this?"

What you do

If an idea appeals to you, open it and tell the host you're interested. You'll give:

• Your first name
• Your email
• What would make you book (optional)

That last one is the useful bit. Maybe you'd come if it were in spring instead of autumn. Maybe the price would need to be lower, or the trip a day shorter, or the rooms private. The host sees what you write, without your name, while they decide. It's a direct line to the person planning the trip, at the moment they're still shaping it.

Saying you're interested is not a booking and not a promise. You don't pay anything, and you're not committing to go.

What happens to your details

hosted/trips keeps your first name and email. While the idea is being tested, the host doesn't get them.

If the host decides to run the trip and it's listed on hosted/trips, two things happen:

1. You get one email telling you it's going ahead, with a link to the trip.
2. Your first name and email go to the host, so they can tell you more.

That's the only email you'll get from hosted/trips about that idea. If the trip doesn't go ahead, you won't hear anything. No news means it didn't happen.

If it goes ahead

Once the idea becomes a real trip, it's listed like any other trip on hosted/trips, with a named host and a booking status. You book directly with the host, on their own site. hosted/trips takes no bookings or payments, and no cut of what you pay the host.

Being interested early doesn't hold you a place or guarantee a price. Read the trip page when it arrives, check the dates and the host's terms, and decide then. You can still say no.

Why it's worth doing

Hosts make better trips when they know what travellers want. If you've ever thought "I'd go to that, if only," a trip idea is where you can say so. A few honest notes about timing, price or who the trip is for can change the trip that gets made.

Be honest rather than polite. "I'd come if it were under a week" is more use to a host than a vague yes. If nothing about the idea would make you book, there's no need to say anything at all.

It's also a low-effort way to keep an eye on a trip that doesn't exist yet. A name and an email, one message if it happens, nothing if it doesn't.

Find a trip

See the trip ideas hosts are testing now on the Gauging interest page, or browse trips you can book today: retreats · group trips · workshops · every trip.