Hotel walking distances
We walk the route from each hotel entrance to the Haram gate a guest would actually use, and record the distance and the gate. We do not use straight-line distance, which is what booking sites publish and which understates the real walk by 30-50% in the dense blocks around the Haram.
Routes are re-walked each season, because construction around the Haram closes and reopens approaches regularly. Where a route changes materially we note the date.
Package price index
The index is built from live pricing across the packages we list, normalised to a 10-night, quad-sharing, per-person basis so that quotes with different room configurations are comparable. It is refreshed daily.
The limitation: it reflects the operators we work with, which is a subset of the market. It is representative rather than exhaustive.
Airfare and seasonality
Airfare figures are indicative return economy fares by route, refreshed from published fares. The seasonality multipliers are derived from observed price movement across a full year and are directional rather than exact for any specific date.
Visa timelines
Processing times are medians observed across applications we file, updated weekly. Official Saudi guidance states 24-72 hours; our medians reflect what we actually see, which is close to that for direct filings and slower for agent-filed applications.
Where we can be wrong
Prices move daily and we are not always first to reflect a change. Crowd indices are modelled, not counted. Prayer times follow the Umm al-Qura calculation and are accurate, but shift daily, always check on the day. Nothing here substitutes for confirming visa rules on Nusuk directly.
Questions
How do you measure hotel distance to the Haram?
We walk the route from the hotel entrance to the Haram gate a guest would actually use and record both the distance and the gate. Booking sites publish straight-line distance, which understates the real walk by 30 to 50 percent in the blocks around the Haram.
How often is your pricing updated?
The package price index is refreshed daily. Airfare figures are indicative and updated from published fares. Prices move faster than any index, so treat the figures as a guide and confirm at quote stage.