| Why Support | Supporter Benefits | Join Here |
We have created five different tiers of supporting membership, and you can choose where on which tier you’re most comfortable. We’d like to claim that the more you give, the (much) more you’ll get in return, but our business model has a big ‘flaw’ in it – we give away, fully for free, almost all of our most valuable content, the weekly newsletter and associated articles.
So your decision to help support is primarily based on the honor system. Please help us as you feel is appropriate, and conveniently affordable for you.
You are welcome to contribute as much as you wish, or as little as you conveniently can, to help continue and develop The Travel Insider website and newsletter.
No-one should feel obliged to contribute anything, and absolutely, please don’t cause yourself any hardship or inconvenience if you do choose to contribute. But if you can conveniently help, of course please do.
In choosing to do so, you are helping The Travel Insider to continue to operate and to continue to grow, to continue to release valuable and helpful reviews, content and commentary, into the future, just the same as we’ve been doing continually since 2001.
Bronze ($10-24 one-time or annual)
People who wish to provide a moderate amount of support are of course the life-blood of our site. If everyone sent in just $10 or $20, life would be very different.
In return for your kindness, we’d like to offer you whichever of our assorted Special Member Reports you would like. Just tell us the one you want and we’ll send a PDF straight to you. There’s every chance this special report won’t just be an interesting read – it could well help you save way more than your kind contribution (why not become a Silver Member and get access to them all!).
We also turn off the advertising that appears on all our pages to non-Supporters. It costs us a little in lost advertising to do that, but we expect you’d prefer to skip the ads as much as possible!
We ask you to participate to at least a level of $10; anything less than that and the credit card fees and processing overhead really starts to interfere. You can choose to do so once, or on an ongoing annual basis. And if you are willing to offer $25 or more, please consider instead our Silver and other levels of supporting membership.
Silver ($25-49 one-time or annual, or $10-14 quarterly)
If you choose to become a Silver supporter, you’ll get the following while your membership remains current :
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No Advertising : We switch off the ads that otherwise appear on the pages. Hopefully they were never too big a hassle, and hopefully also, you’re pleased to see the end of them.
- Access to Most Special Reports : Even one of these special reports might save you money or save you from the expense of a wrong choice; some might add greatly to the comfort and convenience of your travels, and of your at-home life, too.
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Access to Most Supplemental Content in Our Articles : Occasionally in our articles we’ll have a snippet of information or advice that we feel to be extra special, and as long as the article is still high quality without it, we might hold that back for our kind supporting members. As an example, check out our article reviewing four different travel blankets. We have an extra section of analysis on more travel blankets that is given exclusively to our supporters.
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5% Discount on certain river cruises in Europe and Asia : Applies to you and everyone traveling with you, on up to two cruises a year.
You could get many times your support back on this benefit alone. Full details including the name of the river cruise line provided upon receipt of your support. -
3% Discount on Travel Insider tours : Get 3% off any Travel Insider tours you choose to go on, up to a maximum of one half the amount you have sent in during the 12 months prior to making final payment for each tour.
You can get back the entire amount of your support from this benefit, even more if you go on three or more tours. Full details provided upon receipt of your support.
If you’d like to be a Silver Supporter, then you can choose where in the range from $25 – $49 best suits you, and you can either send this in as a one-off contribution, or make it ongoing, every 12 months. We also have an automatic quarterly option, ranging from $10 – $14 every three months if that is easier for you.
Gold ($50-99 one-time or annual, or $15-24 quarterly)
Our Gold level is our most popular membership. If you choose Gold, you of course get all the benefits of Silver membership, plus (while membership remains current) :
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Occasional (infrequent) Member-only mailings calling your attention to items of special importance or interest, advising when additional or updated member-only information is added to the member only website, and so on.
- Access to All Our Special Reports : Help yourself to our entire collection of special reports. You deserve them. We hope there are things of value contained within them to partially reciprocate for your very generous kindness.
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Access to All Supplemental Content in Our Articles : No more ‘FOMO’ (Fear Of Missing Out). All the content in all our articles is available to you.
- 5% Discount on Travel Insider tours : Get 5% off any Travel Insider tours you choose to go on, up to a maximum of one half the amount you have sent in during the 12 months prior to making final payment for each tour.
You can get back the entire amount of your support from this benefit, even more if you go on three or more tours. Full details provided upon receipt of your support.
You qualify as a Gold level Supporter by contributing between $50 – $99, either as a one-off payment, or if you prefer, it can be an ongoing annual automatic event. If you’d prefer to have your support automatically sent in quarterly, then you can choose anywhere between $15 – $19 per quarter.
Diamond ($100-199 one-time or annual, or $25-49 quarterly)
Our Gold supporters are most numerous, but with personal support now in the three figures, our Diamond Supporters unsurprisingly do the ‘heavy lifting’ of helping keep The Travel Insider up and running. Formerly known as our ‘Super Supporters’ – and still absolutely super by every measure, these people – and possibly you too – are key members of The Travel Insider community.
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Personal Christmas Card each December from me, David Rowell, The Travel Insider
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Priority and Early Access to any limited or special deals – very occasionally, we have special offers with a limited number of opportunities for people to take advantage of them. You’ll be given a heads-up prior to everyone else, so if it is something you want, you’re more likely to have a better chance of getting it
If you’d like to become one of our special Diamond level Supporters, please contribute between $100 – $199 – as a single item, or on an ongoing annual basis. If you’d prefer, then you could also have quarterly transfers of support, in amounts between $25 and $49.
Platinum ($200+ one-time or annual, or $50+ quarterly)
Our Platinum Supporters are, well, as rare and as precious as real platinum (currently approximately 40 very special people). For our ultimate tier for our ultimate elite supporters, here is our Platinum Membership.
In addition to all the other benefits, we are pleased to offer you bespoke assistance to fairly reciprocate your support. What is ‘bespoke assistance’, you might ask? Well, yes, that’s the whole point. If you think there is something we could help you with, please do ask, and if it is something we can fairly and realistically help you with, we will.
$200 and up – either one-time, or on an ongoing annual basis, gets you into the rarefied realms of Platinum Membership. If you prefer, you can choose the option for quarterly transfers, anywhere from $50 and up.
Oh – what’s that? How high is up? Well, that’s a question we invite you to explore the answer to yourself!
And now, are you ready to choose a membership type and level of support? Please click on now to choose your membership type.
