How My Travel Choices (MTC) produces its guidance

Destination fit

Your questionnaire answers are scored against recorded destination data. Affordability is a gate that runs before preference ranking, so a destination you cannot fund never appears as a top match.

• Financial feasibility is graded first, from comfortably affordable to out of reach for your stated budget.
• Preference ranking is weighted: budget and how well the experience matches your interests carry the most influence, followed by seasonality, trip length, traveller type and travel friction. The exact weighting is part of the MTC model and is not published.
• Interest strength is recorded per destination on a graded scale, so a result is reported as strong, good or weaker fit rather than a matched/unmatched count.
• The interest breakdown shown on a result is explanatory only; it does not change the preference score.
• Nothing is randomised: the same answers produce the same ranking for as long as the model and the underlying destination records stay the same. When we update either, an answer you saved earlier can legitimately produce a different result.

You can see the reasoning on any result: run the questionnaire

Trip-cost estimates

Trip costs are built from components rather than a single stored price, so the estimate responds to your origin, dates, party and travel style.

• Ground costs come from recorded daily cost bands per destination, adjusted for party size, room sharing, comfort level and the number of nights.
• Airfare starts from a distance model between your origin metro and the destination anchor, not from live fares.
• Some routes are adjusted where observed market fares differ from what distance alone implies; routes without such an adjustment keep the distance-based estimate rather than an invented figure.
• Travel dates map to a low, shoulder, high or peak seasonal band, which moves both price and suitability.
• Results are shown as a range rather than a single figure, and the same inputs return the same range while the model and cost records are unchanged.
• Other currencies are converted from USD using stored reference rates, so the converted figure is an approximation, not a live exchange rate.

You can change every input and watch the range move: open the Trip Cost Calculator

Seasonality and best time to visit

Seasonal answers reuse the same records as scoring and pricing: a recorded 12-month suitability profile per destination and the seasonal price bands.

• Each month is reported as strong, mixed or weak for that destination, alongside its price band.
• Months that combine strong conditions with low or shoulder pricing are highlighted as value months.
• These are typical seasonal patterns, not a weather forecast for your dates.

Destination comparisons

A comparison page only exists when a traveller could plausibly be choosing between the two places and the two records genuinely differ.

• Generated comparisons require the pair to disagree materially on several dimensions, such as cost, seasonality, trip length or interest strengths.
• No overall winner is declared, because a winner only exists once you state your own budget, dates and interests.
• For a personal verdict, the interactive comparison tool scores both places against your own answers.

Your origin and trip length

Distance from where you start changes both airfare and which trip lengths make sense, so origin is an input rather than an assumption.

• Origins are modelled as metro areas, and the distance to the destination anchor drives the airfare component.
• Applicable starting points may be pre-filled from a coarse city or country hint provided by the network layer during your visit; anything you choose yourself always takes precedence.
• Short trips to distant destinations are flagged, because each destination records a minimum sensible number of days.

What is and is not stored is described in full here: Privacy

Group trip recommendations

In MTC group travel, each traveller answers privately, and the shortlist reports which travel destinations fit the whole group.

• Every participant's answers are scored individually first; the group view is built from those individual verdicts, not from an averaged profile.
• A destination that fits every person who has answered is reported as a suggested option, not as a decision; the rest are shown as compromises with the reason each person does not fit. Agreement means something separate: it is only reported once each traveller has independently picked the same destination, and at least two have picked.
• Blocking reasons are named explicitly: budget, a deal-breaker, or too few days for that destination.
• That explanation identifies people: the shared result names which participant a destination does not work for and which kind of constraint blocked it, so the group can discuss it. Nobody's actual answers are shared — not their budget band, chosen destinations or which deal-breaker they picked.
• Results shown before the group finishes are labelled provisional, and the ordering is deterministic so the same answers always produce the same result.

The reference records behind the estimates

The figures are owner-maintained reference records, not a live feed. Each one below carries a recorded version or effective date. That is the date of the baseline record itself, which is not the same as a later re-review of every individual figure in it.

• Destination cost bands: a dated baseline set from the owner-approved evidence audit v1.0, covering 52 destinations and dated 23 August 2026.
• Airfare calibration: reference version 2026-08-20a, based on published airline and flight-search fares consulted on 20 August 2026, alongside a separate route-level evidence set recorded as 2026-08-29b.
• Origin and trip-length guidance: reference date 3 September 2026.
• Indicative currency table: a static snapshot effective 20 August 2026, used only to convert a USD estimate for display. It is not a market or dealing rate.
• A per-record review date is not available for the seasonality data.

These are the dates recorded on the reference records themselves, not the date this page or the site was last rebuilt, and not a statement that every figure was re-checked on those dates. Each airfare adjustment records the source it was based on and the date that source was consulted; those sources are named in the records rather than published here as links.

Limits and updates

Being useful before booking means being explicit about what this method cannot tell you.

• No live prices, seat availability or room availability: always confirm the real price on a booking site before committing.
• Estimates describe a typical trip of the shape you described, so an unusual itinerary can fall outside the range.
• Destination cost bands, airfare calibrations and seasonality records are updated in batches rather than continuously, and the reference records behind them carry their own versions.
• Visa, entry, health and safety requirements are not covered here; check the official source for your nationality.

More about the platform behind this method: About