Frequently Asked Questions
What is the age range of the travelers?
What is the age range of the chaperones and how are they screened?
What is the ratio of students to staff?
Is there a curfew, and if so, what time is it?
What is your policy on alcohol and drugs?
Does someone account for all the students upon returning to the hotels at night?
How much time are the students chaperoned and how much time is spent on their own?
Where are the night events held?
Is anyone traveling with students on the buses to and from the mountain resorts?
What are the rooming arrangements?
What is your cancellation policy?
If there is an injury on the trip, what’s the protocol?
Is food provided in the trip price?
Why am I not getting emails from SWAT?
• What is the age range of the travelers?
This trip is for students age 13-18. Students over the age of 18 are not allowed on this trip.
• What is the age range of the chaperones and how are they screened?
The minimum age of our chaperones is 21 years old, with an average age of 25. Weuse staff that has had previous experience with students (e.g., teachers, coaches, youth counselors, city recreation leaders, off-duty police and fire department employees, etc.) All of our staff members must apply with our company, submit references, and are required to attend a mandatory training seminar. In addition to our customer service and operations staff, we also have a professional uniformed security team and EMTs on-site 24 hours of every day our trip is in operation.
• What is the ratio of students to staff?
We have a 20:1 student to staff ratio – the highest in the industry.
• Is there a curfew, and if so, what time is it?
Curfew will begin as soon as the night event is over – usually between 11:30PM and 12:00AM.
• What is your policy on alcohol and drugs?
This is a ZERO TOLERANCE trip. All students must sign a behavior code prior to the trip where they agree to adhere to the zero tolerance policy. Students found using alcohol and/or drugs are disciplined by SWAT Staff, may have their skiing, snowboarding, or night event privileges revoked, and may be sent home at their expense without subsequent refund. Parents will be consulted and/or held responsible for their student in serious cases.
• Does someone account for all the students upon returning to the hotels at night?
All students will be accompanied back to the hotels by staff and security. No later than 12:30AM, our staff will begin to conduct room checks where all students are accounted for and informed of the following day’s events. Once students have returned to their assigned rooms they are not allowed to leave. Security guards are stationed on all hotel floors throughout the night to ensure the students’ cooperation with this policy.
• How much time are the students chaperoned and how much time is spent on their own?
The only time students are on their own is while skiing/snowboarding. Our staff is on the mountain and rides the buses to and from the resort with the students, with the exception of security teams and 24-hour room staff.
• Where are the night events held?
Both night events are held at a local venue that SWAT rents out for our private event. It is located less than two miles from all hotels.
• Is anyone traveling with students on the buses to and from the mountain resorts?
Yes. A minimum of two chaperones will be on each bus that travels between the mountain and hotels.
•Where will buses depart from?
Within five days prior to your students trip, you will recieve departure infromation via email. Schools with 45 or more participants will have their bus(es) leaving directly from the school. Schools with less than 45 participants will leave from a nearby location between two or more schools. In some instances, you will be asked to travel outside of your area to your departure location, however we will do our best to limit the travel distance to under 30 miles. Buses will depart for Utah on December 27th, 2011 between 5:00AM and 10:00AM.
•What are the rooming arrangements?
All room pricing is based on a four person occupancy room (2 people per queen-sized bed). SWAT does not allow co-ed rooming of any kind – there are no exceptions. Lower occupancy rooms are available at an upgraded price. Once final payments are received, our student representatives will begin formulating room lists. Please inform your rep of your rooming preferences as early as possible to guarentee you room with your desired roommates. Roommate requests may also be emailed to info@swatup.com.
• Do you offer trip insurance?
Trip insurance is offered for $49 through a third party and is automatically added to your account. We HIGHLY recommend you maintain the insurance option to protect your travel investment. Should you choose to decline the insurance option, you understand and accept that no refund of any amount will be issued should you need to cancel your reservation. Trip insurance will provide you a refund for the purchase price of your trip for any reason which prevents your student from traveling. In the event of a verified cancelation (e.g. death in the family, illness, injury, etc.,) 100% of your trip price will be refunded (less the $49 insurance premium.) In the event of an unverified reason for cancelation (e.g. poor grades, student being grounded, other travel plans, etc.,) 75% of your trip price will be refunded. A copy of the insurance policy will be mailed to you after your trip application is processed and is also available at www.swatup.com/tools for immediate review.
• What is your cancellation policy?
Due to the fact that SWAT must commitments with its suppliers long before the trip actually begins, all monies paid towards a trip are non-refundable if you cancel for any reason. We HIGHLY recommend you purchase the trip insurance in the event a cancellation is necessary.
• If there is an injury on the trip, what’s the protocol?
In addition to the Ski Patrol at the mountain, we bring our own team of medical personnel to care for students. If there is an injury, parents will be contacted before any treatment is administered unless the injury is life threatening. We recommend that your student bring a copy of his or her medical insurance card just in case.
• Is food provided in the trip price?
While meals are not included in our trip, there are several restaurants nearby all hotels and mountains. Popular options include Subway, McDonalds, Olive Garden, and Romano’s Macaroni Grill, in addition to many others. For late-night meals, a wide variety of restaurants will deliver directly to students’ rooms until approximately 2:00AM. The appetite and need for souvenirs varies with each student, but we recommend $30 per day as a safe amount for spending money. Students are welcome to bring snacks for the bus ride and to have in their rooms at night.
• What about equipment rentals?
SWAT is now offering special pricing for equipment rentals in Salt Lake City. if a student chooses to take advantage of these discounts, they may add a rental package on to their trip package when signing up online or on a paper application. Rental prices are $30 per day for the basic package and $40 per day for the upgraded demo package. Rentals will be needed for 2 days total.
• Why am I not getting emails from SWAT?
If you are having trouble receiving emails from SWAT, please first check your Spam/Junk folder. Please be sure to add @swatup.com to your 'safe senders list' to ensure you receive our email communications. For unknown reasons, we have found that this happens more frequently with yahoo.com and comcast.com subscribers. We recommend using an alternate email address for swatup.co. If you are unsure if you have received the latest email from SWAT, please check our News section of the website for the latest updates.
