Many people have an important question when planning to go for Umrah: Should I go by myself, or go with a group? It’s definitely a detailed question, and each person will have to do their own side-by-side comparison to determine what’s best for them. In this post, I’d like to simply give a few important points to consider when planning your own Umrah trip.
Experience
This is by far one of the most important things to consider when it comes to picking a group. A company that has experience knows how to make your experience smooth and memorable. Why? They’ve done the same thing they’re doing for you thousands of times before.
So when it comes to hotels, food, transportation, flights, guidance during the Umrah, and all the other logistics of a Umrah trip, they know exactly what to do. The reason this is so valuable for many people is because it allows them to turn their brain off. Not in a bad way… in a good way actually. It allows them to focus all of their attention on benefitting from their Umrah and enjoying their trip.
If you choose to go by yourself on the other hand, all of the stress is on you. Now that does come with freedom, which is good. But it also comes with responsibility. Flights? That’s on you. Hotels? That’s on you. Transportation? That’s on you. If anything goes wrong with any of these, you usually can’t blame anyone but yourself. And the stress multiplies if you’re taking your family with you. So that’s why looking at the experience of a group is important before you choose to go with them.
How do you determine if a company has experience? This requires research on your part. If you’re able to speak to the owner, or whoever is in charge of managing the groups, that’s an excellent start. If you’re able to meet the owner, even better. Usually, the older they are, the better, although this is not a fixed rule. There are some very good younger managers and owners as well.
You also want to ask questions. How long have they been a Umrah tour guide/group manager? Do they speak Arabic? Do they partner with hotels or airlines? Questions like this show how well-immersed they are in the Umrah industry. For example, a group being partnered with airlines and hotels means, they not only have a ton of experience, they do Umrah so often that it’s much cheaper for them to buy seats and rooms in bulk, meaning they have a good reputation and have a reasonable expectation that enough people will book with them to sell out the rooms and seats.
It’s also a good idea to ask the owners and managers deeper questions about their experience if you get the chance. Questions like: What was your worst Umrah group experience? If they say something like, I missed my flight, they probably don’t have much experience. But if they tell you about a struggle with losing a group member, or visa issues that causes a member to get stranded, that’s probably an indication that they’re very experienced and can handle themselves well under pressure.
Reviews
Reviews are powerful. And for good reason. They show the past customers’ perception of a given Umrah company. Think about the fact that most people are more likely to leave a bad review if they have a bad experience than to leave a good review if they have a good experience. In other words, they’re more likely to forget to leave a good review if they had a good experience. So if a company has a lot of good reviews, that’s definitely saying something.
And do your due diligence. Don’t limit yourself to Google reviews. Check Yelp, Trustpilot, and even Reddit for people’s honest reviews about their time with the Umrah company.
When looking into the reviews a Umrah company has, you also want to see what they’ve been praised for and if they have any negative reviews. Keep in mind, one negative review or a few negative reviews is not bad in and of itself, as there will always be negative experiences, especially for large Umrah companies that take thousands of people per year. What’s more important is the nature of the negative review. Think about this: one Umrah company that has 10 good 5-star reviews is probably not better than a Umrah company that has 3,000 reviews, even if they happen to have 10 or 20 negative reviews.
This concept ties back into experience. The more positive reviews a company has, the more likely it is that they have a lot of experience, even if they have a few negative reviews. Now on the other hand, if they have a lot of negative reviews, you probably already know you want to avoid a company like that.
Following Quran and Sunnah
One of the biggest things to watch out for is the adherence of the Umrah company to the correct Islamic rulings. The last thing you want to do is spend thousands of dollars going for Umrah, only to make major mistakes that might render your Umrah invalid.
You want to make sure that the Umrah company you go with actually cares that you do things correctly. One of the key ways that good companies do this is that they have webinars or lessons for their groups where they explain step by step how to do Umrah and allow the group members to ask questions. They understand that for many, this is the first time they’re doing Umrah and they want to do everything properly to the best of their ability. For that reason, the guides and group leaders that are knowledgeable on the subject of Umrah and can answer the group members’ questions in a clear and concise manner.
Some Umrah companies will have a lesson before the Umrah where they physically show you how to put on the Ihram. Things like this allow the group members to have a greater understanding of how to go about doing the Umrah and ease their concerns since they trust that the guides they’re following know what they’re talking about.
When it comes to going for Umrah, it’s important to do your due diligence and make sure the company you choose understands the responsibility of serving the Hujjaj and takes it seriously. Make sure they have experience, follow the Quran and Sunnah, and have positive reviews from their past customers. And most importantly make Istikharah.