There’s a truism in travel that not all people understand. Planning ahead gets you what you want. Waiting gets you what’s left over.
It’s why travel advisors are always advocating booking early, whether a cruise, a resort stay, or a customized FIT vacation. But sometimes, even travel advisors leave out an important piece of the travel puzzle – in-destination tours and activities. It’s an oversight that hurts clients and travel advisors.
“We market the big stuff,” Adam Duckworth, owner of Travelmation, explained. “We market the cruise ships and the resorts and the theme parks… and we’ve let the client deal with the little stuff on their own.”
When Duckworth’s team came to him about partnering with Viator to sell day tours, he shrugged it off.
“I thought we’ll probably do a little bit of business here, a little bit of business there, but these aren’t the big things that we sell for high, high dollars. And sure enough, I was wrong. We have turned this into a really lucrative part of our business.”
It’s something every travel advisor can – and should – do.
Better client experience
The less a client has to worry about during their vacation, the happier they’re going to be, Penny Rushing, owner of Four Points Travel, told Travel Market Report.
“It’s less planning, less things to do when they’re actually on their trip,” she said. “They know what they’re going to do, what they’re going to see. It’s less stress.”
“Planning excursions in advance also ensures that travelers are able to access top attractions,” said Leshea Beauchamp, partnership manager for ToursByLocals.
A first-time trip to Amsterdam isn’t complete without a visit to the Anne Frank House or the Van Gogh museum. Same with seeing the Last Supper in Milan or going to The Vatican when in Rome. But clients who wait until they’re in-destination could very well end up disappointed when those attractions are sold out.
“We kept beating this drum over and over again,” said Duckworth. “This is the moment where you have to book early if you’re going to get what you want. In Europe this summer, we dealt with client after client who did not want to book before they got there, and when they got there the tours were sold out or they were purchasing something from someone on the street for more money.”
Greater advisor value
Karen Sheldon, an independent contractor with Four Points Travel, joked that advisors want to be involved in every aspect of their clients’ travel plans “because we’re sort of control freaks.”
All joking aside, the more full-service advisors can be to their clients, the more valuable their service becomes.
Talking with clients about what they want to do in-destination and then guiding them to tour options that will fit their needs, whether that be group tours or a customized excursion arranged through a DMC, is a service many clients appreciate.
Additionally, the more involved advisors are in planning their clients’ complete vacations, the stronger the relationship gets.
“It’s getting to know your clients and what they want to do,” Rushing said.
Finally, by being involved in clients’ in-destination planning gives advisors the complete overview of their clients’ whole vacation, making it easier to pre-address any potential hiccups, and allows them to create detailed itineraries that clients can use throughout their travels.
“It’s retaining ownership over the booking,” added Sheldon. “We also like to build out those fancy itineraries in Travefy and when we have those confirmations, we can plug those right in.”
No money left on the table
It’s not only clients who benefit from pre-planning their in-destination experiences. There’s money to be made for advisors.
“Let’s not leave dollars on the table,” Duckworth said. “If people are adding on tours or rental cars or you name it, then we can get involved in it… I did not expect business to skyrocket with tours the way that it did but it has soared beyond my wildest imagination.”
Commissions vary by platform – ToursByLocals, for instance, starts at 5%, but advisors can get bumped up to 10% by booking $7,500 in revenue (per year). Get Your Guide, Sheldon told TMR, pays 8%, while Viator pays 10%.
DMCs, on the other hand, usually want to be paid net rates, giving advisors the opportunity to mark up the tour prices.
In all cases, “There’s the potential to earn something,” Sheldon said.
What about clients who want to wait?
Not all clients initially want to pre-book their in-destination tours and activities. Some simply haven’t thought that far ahead. Others want to take their time and make their own decisions.
Sometimes pointing out the benefits of pre-planning is all it takes to get them to act. In other cases, letting clients know the tours you recommend are vetted by a company you trust or that you’ve had other clients do these tours can prompt them to pre-book.
“We can advise. That is what we do, we’re travel advisors,” Duckworth said. “We’re not mandaters. We can’t make people book early if they want to wait, but we say, to get the good stuff and to make sure you have a spot, book these in advance.”
For clients who insist on doing it on their own, travel advisors still have an option open to them.
“Our travel advisors probably have more conversations than not with guiding clients along the way with tours,” Duckworth said. “However, Viator also has a booking link that our travel advisors can share with clients so clients can peruse at their will.”
The link leads to a compilation of all the tours for the location(s) that clients are visiting. Clients can take their time and make their own purchases when they’re ready. So long as they book through the link their advisor sent them, the advisor gets the full commission.
“It’s another way to make a little bit of money,” Rushing said.
Tour companies, consolidators, and DMCS
Advisors have several choices when it comes to planning and booking in-destination tours and activities. Some of the most popular consolidator-style choices are Viator, ToursByLocals, Get Your Guide, and Project Expedition. But there are also regionally-specific operators, such as Evan Evans in the U.K.
Another option is to work with a DMC (destination management company) to create a more customized and private experience.
“It really depends on the client and the type of touring they want,” said Sheldon. “If they’re the kind of people who are fine going with a group, like to Stonehenge or similar, we would more likely book that through a Viator, Evan Evans, or something like that.”
But for boutique, high-end clients, Sheldon said she’s more likely to set up a private tour with a company like ToursByLocals or a DMC, “just to assure there’s no mistakes in the translation, so to speak.”
“Definitely the DMCs are more tailored, luxury, unique experiences than, hey I need tickets to the Vatican,” Duckworth added.
Sometimes it’s not that the client needs a private tour, but that they need it customized.
“Customizable travel experiences is huge,” said ToursByLocals’ Beauchamp. “We have the ability to customize any experience they [clients] want with the guides on our platform.”
Advisors are welcome to reach out to and communicate with guides directly through the ToursByLocals agent portal to create a customized experience. So long as everything stays within the ToursByLocals system, advisors will get a commission.
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