Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Bikat Adventures - Guide for Trekking, Cycling, Climbing, Summer Camp

W.E.F 4th Nov 2024

Bikat Adventures has always believed in growing as a community of adventure enthusiasts and takes pride in the people who have been on expeditions with us. We believe in establishing a personal connect with all our participants and our secretly famous ‘After trek or expedition parties’ are a testimony to our Endeavour in this area. With Bikat Adventures growing by the day into a larger organization, we feel grateful towards this “Bikat Community” who has been a significant reason behind our success and growth. Here’s launching the Membership and Loyalty program targeted at the Bikat Community…

The purpose of this membership plan is not to lure you into something but just as a gesture of Thanks. Here are the questions that you need answers for:

Who is eligible for the memberships?

If you booked at least 3 expeditions days* with us, then consider yourself eligible!

When you say days on expedition, Are all your events called expedition or is there any criteria for that?

An expedition would be defined as any trekking, cycling, rock climbing, or mountaineering trip with a minimum duration of 3 days

How would the expedition days be counted? Would the travel time also be included?

Expedition days would be counted from the standard itinerary published by Bikat Adventures’ website. In case there is additional travel involved to reach the starting point, then that would not be counted.

How many types of memberships do you have?

The membership would be offered at 3 levels
1. Basic (2 year) – With at least 3 expedition days under your belt, you get a free membership for a period of 2 years from the date of invitation
2. Summiter (5 year) – A Basic level member with 12 more expedition days with us, can upgrade to a ‘Summiter’ level membership. Or if you have completed 15 expedition days with us and forgot to become Basic member, then also you can become a Summiter directly by applying afresh. As a Summiter, you get a free membership for a period of 5 years from the date of invitation.
3. Leader (Lifetime) – A Summiter who completes 20 more expedition days with us, would be given a free lifetime membership.

What are the various benefits attached to memberships?

The various benefits involve Inaugural Voucher, Regular Discounts, Power to Refer & win Vouchers, The benefits applicable to all the membership plans are similar but the validity/quantum may be different.

What is an Inaugural Voucher?

With every new invitation for membership, we give you a discount voucher worth INR 2000 (Inaugural Voucher) that can be redeemed in any of our expeditions within a period of 6 months from the date of completion of most recent expedition. The idea is to help more and more people in using this voucher without damaging parity between prompt and occasional users. So, the validity shall be extended whenever it expires with a deduction of 10% for another 6 months. Like this, the voucher actually never expires but incentivizes those who are frequent explorers.

The deduction would be 10% for every elapsed period of 6 months from last date of the most recently completed trek. For eg. In case your inaugural voucher worth INR 2000/- is expiring on 4th July 2016 and last time you completed a trek with us was from 1st January till 3rd January 2016, then the voucher would be extended with a deduction of 20% of the present value of the voucher i.e. INR 400/- and a new voucher worth INR 1600, valid till 3rd January 2017.

Please note that this extension policy is valid only for Inaugural vouchers and not for any other voucher whatsoever.

How do I Accumulate Discounts each time I trek?

Every active member would get Bikat Vouchers worth certain %age of the expedition fee, every time he/she books an expedition with us. The vouchers are like cash back and we call them Booking Vouchers

Basic Member (5%) || Summiter Member (7%) || Leader Member (10%)

Please note that the booking vouchers, as explained above are, are generated on the amount paid by a member for him/herself. In case you are making a group booking from your ID, then you would get the booking voucher only for your own amount and not the others who are part of the booking.

Can I also gift or transfer a voucher to one of my friends?

The vouchers can be redeemed by anyone having the voucher code. So, you can gift your vouchers to your friends or relatives who can use them for any of our expeditions. Just use the “Gift a voucher” tab on your dashboard.

How do I earn more using Referrals?

You can refer friends or anyone for that matter. Use the “Refer a friend” tab on your dashboard to refer for any of our expeditions and get additional vouchers worth 10% of the Expedition fees.

Is there any condition for referrals?

The only condition is that the people they are referring should not already be a member of Bikat Adventures community and the expedition that you are referring for should of minimum 3 days.

When would any voucher become active for me? At the time of booking or after the expedition?

Except for Inaugural voucher, all other vouchers are activated immediately at the time of generation i.e. booking an expedition. However, Inaugural voucher would be activated only after the expedition is complete and the participant has finally been part of the team attempting the expedition.

How is longer validity at different levels of Membership a benefit?

The longer the validity, the more vouchers you can accumulate to redeem on Bikat Expeditions.

I need to know more about Bikat Vouchers. What should I do?

Refer to the FAQs for Bikat Vouchers for all your queries regarding the same.

What should I do if I am facing other issues related to membership?

In case of any difficulty in, you can write to us at [email protected]

What is the Process to apply for membership?

Well not much complication in the process. It’s simple 3 steps:
Log on to bikatadventures.com
If you already have an account,
1. Login to your account & get relevant links on your dashboard
2. Complete your profile information
3. Apply for membership in case you are eligible under the above mentioned categories. We would review and approve your membership within 4 working days.
If you don’t have an existing account on our website,
1. Create a new account and follow steps as mentioned above.

Although we have foolproof processes to upgrade your membership plans but in case you feel we missed you, do write to us a strong mail at [email protected] with details listed above (Name, email, etc.) along with details of the expeditions that you have done with us. We assure you to reply within 2 working days.

What Purpose do the vouchers solve?

Facilitate your trek plans

“I am student and want to go to Pin Parvati pass but the cost ranges between 20 – 30 grand and I don’t have that kind of money at hand” said Kusum Sharma, a student from IIT Delhi. The problem of lack of cash is not something that only students face. This is a situation faced by many of us on a regular basis when planning for long expeditions. Now either you use a credit card and make EMIs after the expedition is over or you plan for the expedition in advance and accumulate savings. If you want to choose the 2nd way, then these vouchers would suit you best.

Gifting the best of experiences

“Gift me gold, gift me diamond and I can sell them away. Gift me an experience, and its mine forever” By someone like you and us.

Isn’t it so true! Bikat vouchers offer you a unique way to gift your friends, family, and loved ones. Gift them an experience of adventure that they can never forget. we deliver your gifted vouchers by email or courier, whichever way you suggest us. The vouchers would carry a personal message from your side, can be digitally submitted or handwritten, making it that bit more special for your loved one. In fact, why just loved ones! Gift it to anyone, from your bosses to 1st crush to even your enemies! Because any adventure expedition with the Bikats is always refreshing and reflective at the same time, and anyone with the Bikats would vouch for this:)

So why should I buy Bikat Vouchers

Easy to buy/gift and easy to redeem. Everything is managed on our website seamlessly.
With a time limit of 1 year from the date of purchase.
One voucher can be used in one booking only with complete voucher amount usage

How to use the vouchers?

You can use the voucher to book any of our expeditions.

What are general terms related to the vouchers?

A voucher once redeemed or expired would not be valid for any other transaction
A Bikat voucher can only be redeemed with Bikat Adventures
All voucher codes would be unique and generated by Bikat Adventures
Vouchers are applicable only for treks in India unless it is a cancellation voucher issued against the Nepal Treks.
One can redeem only 25% of the core trek /event fee using a "Merged" voucher, irrespective of the value of the Voucher.
Vouchers cannot be clubbed with any promotional offer or running discount to book an event.

Can I use the voucher multiple times?

No. The voucher can be used only once and thereafter the code would stand invalid.

What is the Validity of these vouchers?

The validity would be mentioned for each voucher specifically

What happens if I use part amount from the voucher?

If you redeem a voucher for part amount, then the remaining amount would not be refunded by Bikat Adventures. Well, not that we like to keep the change but the process is bit too complicated to manage operationally! For eg. If you are booking a trek worth INR 10000, and you redeem a voucher worth 15000, then you would lose a sum of INR 5000. So we suggest that you use your voucher wisely while booking a trek.

I used my voucher to make a booking but I had to later cancel the same. Do I retain my voucher?

In case of voluntary cancellation of booking by the participant, the voucher cannot be revived.
In case of cancellation of the expedition by Bikat Adventures due to weather or any other unforeseen issues, the voucher codes would be reactivated by us within 7 working days.

What should I do if I am facing issues with my vouchers or while redeeming them?

In case of any difficulty in redeeming the vouchers online, you can write to us with a reference to your voucher code at [email protected]

Your contributions are welcome! We invite you to submit your stories from anywhere in the world. We welcome everything from short easy adventures of 2- 3 days to long challenging expeditions involving multiple days.

We get a large number of hits everyday so your story will be seen by a large number of audience. Don't worry if you forgot to note down some important information about a trek you just completed or if spelling or grammar isn't your strong point. We will edit your story & help you with the information already available with us. The idea is to provide an interactive way for you to share your stories with a community of fellow adventurers. Having your adventures on a public website is also a great way to share your stories with friends and family.

FAQs

What all can I share as content?

In our endeavour of creating more and more relevant content, we have an official policy on content sharing. We believe content sharing from the adventurers is a great way to source relevant and practical knowledge from all over the world. Those who are passionate about trekking, cycling, rock climbing, or any other adventure related field, can now submit their blog-posts, photos, videos to Bikat Adventures and contribute to the overall knowledge base related to Adventure travel in India.

I am no professional !! Can I also share?

This policy is not just for professionals who are expert writers or photographers but also for those who go on a trek or any other expedition and want to share some of their experience with the larger audience of adventure community. And don't worry if you forgot to note down some important information about a trek you just completed or if spelling or grammar isn't your strong point. Our experts will help you edit and proofread your story. The idea is to provide an interactive way for you to share your stories with a community of fellow adventure enthusiasts.

Do I also get rewards for sharing?

Yes. For the first time in India, Bikat Adventures has formalized a way to say Thank You! We announce a formal structure of Story points for all the content that you share. Below table simply outlines the rewards that you can earn while you contribute towards the larger good of rich information gathering in the field of adventure in India:

Content Type	Story Points
Article (Upto 800 words with Atleast 5 High Res. Pics)	1200
Article ( More than 800 words with Atleast 10 High Res.Pics)	2000
Photo Story (Atleast 10 High Res Pics With Relevant Captions)	1200
Photo Story (Atleast 20 High Res Pics With Relevant Captions)	2000
Video Story/VLog (HD Quality)	2000
Photo (High Res only)	50

*One story point = 1 INR

We are nobody to judge you!

The table above is by no means a judgement or valuation of the heartfelt stories that you share, either through blogs, photos, videos, or any other creative expression for that matters. Well, this is not to create a market out there but just to encourage the people who make that extra effort of clicking, writing, or even thinking creatively :). It is just a gesture from the Bikats. That’s it!

How do I submit?

As another first of its kind initiative from any Indian Adventure company, Bikat Adventures has launched a dedicated portal for uploading your articles. Just click the “Earn Story Points” tab from your Dashboard and start sharing the content on your own Bikat blogging handle. You can use pictures, videos or text paragraphs in your article. The feature is very user friendly. Just try out…

Video Stories / Vlogs should be shared through applications like Google Drive or Dropbox. Share with us at [email protected]

How would you publish my content?

The first step is a review by our experts. Only once the content is approved by the experts, it would be published on our website. We may contact you for certain additions like pictures, etc. that can help in communicating the idea better for the readers. Once published, we feature your content on our website and other social / digital media forums on which we are active. The content will be shared along with your name and brief description about you.

How do I redeem these points?

You can redeem the points by converting them into a voucher. Bikat Vouchers can be redeemed on any of our expeditions (min 3 days) using the voucher code.

Do I need to be a member for submitting content?

No. One need not be a member to submit. You just need an account on our website.

What are the other terms & conditions involved?

Once the author has submitted the entry, Bikat Adventures Pvt. Ltd. reserves the right to review the entry as per the policy/ terms and conditions mentioned above and also as Bikat Adventures Pvt Ltd. deem fit.

The content submitted should be your original work free from any plagiarism. Any Pictures/Video Clippings, used in the submitted content, should have been either originally shot by the author or Published with due permission from the original source and giving appropriate credit.

Bikat Adventures would reserve all further rights to use the ‘published’ content on all channels – website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Quora, Pinterest or any other social / digital media platform.

Once the content is published, the same would be a property of Bikat Adventures Outdoors LLP and no claim either under the Intellectual Property rights or the concerned laws related to it over the content would be recognized or entertained.

Published content cannot be copied/reproduced on any other digital forum which includes, but is not limited to, websites, Social Media Portals, etc. by the author any other individual / organisation / company.

So if you are into Adventure & enjoy sharing your experiences – we are the website for you!