Community share, per journey
Every journey publishes a community share percentage at the bottom of its detail page — the share of your trip cost that stays with local hosts, cooks, guides, jeep drivers, porters, and homestay families. It typically ranges from 55% (for expeditions with heavy international flight and permit cost) to 75% (for cultural + homestay trips with almost no fixed logistics).
We publish the raw number. If we can’t verify it, we don’t publish it. If it drops season-to-season, we say so and explain why.
Fixed partners, not gig work
Every host on our roster is on a long-term working relationship — not a one-off booking. That means:
- Guaranteed minimum booking days per season, so a host’s income doesn’t depend on us filling a specific trip.
- Off-season retainer for guides we rely on year-round.
- Advance payment (typically 40% at booking) so hosts aren’t financing our travelers’ deposits with their own kitchen budget.
- Written contracts translated into the host’s first language where practical.
What we pay a village-day
Homestay night, per traveler, all meals included: PKR 4,500 – 6,500(roughly USD 16–24), split between the host family and the village welfare fund. This is at least 2× the standard market rate in most of our operating regions.
Porter day-rate on the Baltoro: PKR 3,500 + full rations and insurance. Guide day-rate: PKR 12,000–18,000 depending on certification. Every rate is public with our booked hosts.
Where we’re still getting it wrong
Our roster is too concentrated in Karakoram. We’re actively expanding host relationships in the Hindukush and Pamir to spread revenue more evenly. We also don’t yet have a formal grievance mechanism for hosts to escalate issues to us anonymously — we’re building one.