FAQs

The number of tours each week varies. Usually there are three to five tours provided each week. However, some weeks there may be only one or two and sometimes zero. The Team does like to take a vacation now and again.

There is no shortage of tour destinations but we feel that offering a maximum number of five tours a week provides a reasonable selection to our tourists while not overloading our volunteers too much.

We have considered providing a bus but they are not cheap. We think that one big reason for the success of Conrad Tours is due to the low cost. In addition there is more work involved in collecting the bus fare. We, Conrad Facility Tours would be out of pocket for any no-shows on a bus trip. (We did arrange for a bus the Neyland Stadium but there was a lot more work for the host.)

We think it is easier and cheaper to have tourists make their own way to the facility.

This is the process:

1. Subscribe to Conrad Facility Tours by joining on our website www.conradtours.com.
2. This gives you 30 days of free tours for which you will receive two to four invitations each week.
3. After 30 days your membership will expire unless you pay the membership of $10 for one year or $25 for three years.
4. When you receive an invitation to a tour of interest click on the button in the invitation which will take you to the “Current and Upcoming Tours” page.
5. Find the tour and click on the “Make or Cancel a Reservation” button.
6. Provide your email address and follow the instructions to make a reservation.
7. If that tour is full, your name will be added to a wait list.
8. You can add another member to your reservation so that both of you will move from the waitlist to the attendance list together.

This is a tour that was cancelled and then rescheduled with the tourists on the original tour given the first opportunity to sign up for the rescheduled tour. An invitation may or may not be sent out to all tourists. It will probably be difficult for the average tourist to get on a rescheduled tour before it fills up.

We welcome new ideas and suggestions. You can email them to conradtours@gmail.com

The only benefit that volunteers receive is the ability to sign up themselves and another member (usually a spouse) before the invitation for a tour is sent out. Volunteers can claim some reimbursement towards the cost of gas for tours that are a long way from

We are very conscious of the fact that many people have difficulty getting on some tours. We therefore send out the invitations at random times during the day and night. We feel that sending them out at random times gives everyone an equal chance of making a reservation. No preference for night-owls or early risers. We actually only send out the invitations between the hours of 4:00 am and 9:00 pm.

Yes, we can, and we are now doing that on every invitation.

We believe that if we sent them out at the same time of day then dozens of people would wait by their computers and phones at that time and the tours would be full in less than a minute.

We do provide some information but we will provide more in the future. We will try and identify standing time, stairs, etc. and the availability of seats. It never hurtys to put a couple of lawn chairs in your car which you are welcome to use at any time.

If you go to our website www.conradtours.com and click on the “Current and upcoming tours” button you will see a list of active tours accepting reservations and upcoming tours giving the date and time of future tours for which an invitation has not yet been sent out. (I just looked at the list and there are ten active tours and fourteen upcoming tours.)

Yes, if you and your spouse make separate reservations that can happen. To avoid that situation, add your spouse as an additional member on your reservation. That way the system will ensure that both of you are on the confirmed list or both of you are on the wait list.

Note: This only applies if you add the second member at the time of the the initial reservation. If you add the second member later, they will be treated as separate reservations.

This is a problem we wrestle with all the time. We try and discourage it. We do at times send emails to those no-shows just to let them know that they are taking away the opportunity for another person who would like to go on the tour. We have considered penalties such as loss of membership or suspension, but that would require a lot of volunteer work to track multiple offenders and it would create ill-feeling. We have considered requiring a $20 security deposit and then deducting $5 for every no-show, but again it would create arguments and ill-feelings. There is no easy solution.

That is easy to do.

1. Go to our website www.conradtours.com.
2. Click on the “Current & Upcoming Tours” button.
3. In the top menu bar, click on the “My Signups” button.
4. Enter your email address.
5. Any tours you are signed up for will be listed,

We agree it can be difficult to get on a tour. We are a victim of our own success but we do try and help people to get on tours:

1. We send out invitations at different times of the day.
2. We repeat popular tours until there is no wait-list.
3. We stopped offering tours to guests

If the confirmed-list is full we suggest you still make a reservation on the wait-list because that will encourage us to repeat the tour.

Each tour has a maximum number of attendees. When that number is reached, reservations are added to a wait-list. When tourists cancel reservations occur, names move up the wait-list automatically and into the confirmed-list when there is room.

If tourists cancel before the Final Instructions are sent out, the people who move up onto the confirmed-list are not notified.

If tourists cancel after the Final Instructions are sent out, the people who move up onto the confirmed-list are notified and provided a copy of the Final Instructions

If there is only one space in the confirmed-list and a couple make a reservation, then the maximum allowed number is increased by one to allow both to get on the confirmed-list.

We did not think it necessary but we will consider the idea.

The average tour lasts about 90 minutes. The tour-guide tells their story for 45 minutes to an hour and then follow up questions can last a further 30 minutes. Some tours are shorter, some tours are longer. Bryce McDonald is the tour guide for the Cumberland Playhouse and his tours usually last three hours!

There are a number of reasons why tours are cancelled and rescheduled:

1. Outside tours can be cancelled because of the weather
2. A tour can be cancelled if the tour-guide gets a scheduling conflict, such as out of town travel or equipment breakdown.
3. A tour can be cancelled if the host and tour-guide determine that too few people are on the confirmed-list.

It is more work for the volunteers and it is not very productive. When we offer a first opportunity to people on a rescheduled tour, very few people take advantage of it presumably because the new date does not fit their schedule. It is also open to abuse as people could sign up on a wait-list just to get preferential treatment in the future. Wait-lists would get even longer making even more work for volunteers tracking which tourists are on which wait-lists

We do try to start tours at the stated time, however it is tempting for some hosts to wait a few minutes to see if there are any late arrivals. We will try harder to start all tours on time.

We tend to keep repeating tours as long as they have a waiting list.  We also put effort into finding new destinations. We added 14 new tours in 2024. We have added 10 new destinations so far this year. (September 2025)

We do repeat popular tours such as:-

1. Deep Draw Yak Ranch 47 tours
2. Cumberland Playhouse 35 tours
3. Fairfield Glade Wastewater 27 tours
4. Moss meals 22 tours
5. Art Circle Library 21 tours

We have approached a number of local facilities in and around Crossville and either they have declined or we have decided not to have tours at that location. When Covid was around some facilities closed their doors to outside visits and have not changed that policy or never allowed visitors at in the first place: Volkswagen, Nissan, Amazon, Kerry Ingredients, Mizkan America, Crossville Tile, Aviagen, Flowers Bakery, Crab Orchard Limestone Quarry, Colinx and Monterey Mushrooms.

You can pay $10 for one year or $25 for three years. Your membership will expire one or three years after you make your payment (not a calendar year.)

During the month prior to the expiration, our membership manager sends you two email reminders. If you did not get them, please check your spam folder.

You can check the status of your membership at any time.

1. Go to https://conradtours.com
2. Scroll down a little to the “Check Your Membership Status” block.
3. Click on the link: “Check Membership Status”
4. Enter your Email address.
5. Your (and your spouse, if applicable) membership status and your expiration date will be displayed.

During the month prior to the expiration, our membership manager sends you two email reminders. If you did not get them, please check your spam folder.

Most tours are completely free of charge. Some do charge: Sunrise Dairy charges $12 but includes a wagon ride and an ice cream, Calfkiller Brewery charges $6 but includes a small glass and lots of beer tasting.

The reason we are able to offer free tours is because we do not provide a bus, you have to make your own way to the location of the tour. In addition, all twenty of our team members are volunteers.

Yes, everyone pays the membership fee, including John and Carol Conrad.

In 2024 we had a total revenue of $4,640 and expenses of $3,435.

At the end of the year, we had $2,256 in the bank.

We think that having a balance of about $5,000 in bank is a reasonable goal that would ensure we have enough money to pay our bills the following year, rather than living hand-to-mouth as the bills come in.

Our larger expenses were:

Reservation software License                                                       $1,200

Volunteer Appreciation event                                                      $   646

Office Supplies, business cards, rack cards, etc.                       $   473

Equipment, table display, etc.                                                      $   372

MailerLite Bulk Email Application                                              $   322

PayPal fees                                                                                   $  281

Miscellaneous, tablecloth with logo, etc.                                   $  141

                                                                                                      ======

                                                                                                       $3,435

You have two choices when it comes to payment:

1. Mail a check to our treasurer, Mike Durnwald at 45 Cedar Ridge Cir, Crossville TN 38558.
2. Pay online into our PayPal account. You can pay using your credit card. You do not need a PayPal account.

We will investigate how easy it would be to offer this feature.