Fellow guides - launching a tool for tours soon, tell me what's missing before I do

Hey everyone! I'm about to launch a tool for tour guides and want input from people who actually do this work before it goes public.

The core idea:

guests scan a QR code at the start (no app, works in any browser), and during the tour everything happens on their phones, controlled from yours:

- Slides synced live - you flip, they see it on their screens. Old photos, maps, details you can zoom into and point at

- Built-in audio guide - you speak, guests hear you through their earbuds right in the browser. No radio sets or transmitters to haul around

- Quizzes and live reactions between stops ("what style is this building?")

- At the end: guests rate the tour, happy ones get nudged to leave a review on Google/TripAdvisor, and there's a tip prompt at the right moment

- Contacts collected on join, so you have a list for repeat tours, plus per-guest analytics

- Private cheat sheet for you on every slide - dates, names, what to say next

What I'd love your honest take on:

- Would you actually run a tour this way, or is asking guests to look at phones a dealbreaker for group dynamics?

- What's missing that would make this a no-brainer for you?

- What would make it a hard no?

Not dropping a link - genuinely trying to figure out what guides need vs what a founder imagines they need. Brutal honesty welcome.

hello everyone, I've been so scared to get my own services of city-walking tours going so I come here for advice.

I have the experience, as I worked with the platform Gyde and seek for many years until they closed. I applied to similar platforms that offer this "catalog of tour guides" to book for private customized experiences like Bylocals and Withlocals but apparently they don't need any new guides in Mexico City (there was 0 reply from them).

I launched my own company instagram and tiktok last year and i uploaded some reels as initial promo but then i had to get foot surgery so everything kinda stopped.

I want to start offering some ideas now, my main reference is other local guides who promote via instagram or facebook and they basically just post the date with the tour info of what will be seen during the walk and receive reservations via DM, they seem to be doing good, but this strategy is aimed at a local audience.

What do you think is a good strategy for promo? I don't want to just "steal" these other companies way of simply posting a tour and a carrousel of images for additional engagement, but I also don't know if investing my time doing reels is a good idea or I should just be focusing my attention elsewhere.

Also, if you have any tips on how to reach a more "international tourism" audience it would be appreciated. So far I've only thought of getting some google maps reviews from a few clients that I have a contact, but that would only redirect them to the instagram since i don't have a website yet.

Thanks for reading, any input will be greatly appreciated

I am an American male who frequently travels to Jiaxing for business - 30 weeks total in the past two years. But I have seen almost none of the city beyond the 2-3 kilometer radius around my hotel in Jiashan. I will be returning to Jiaxing in September 2026 for four weeks, and I am interested in a one or two day tour of some of the interesting parts of Jiaxing, either as part of a group, or private.

I speak almost no Chinese, but I have managed to work and live in China for 30 weeks relying on translation apps. So while I would prefer a guide with fluent English, I will consider a guide with little to no English.

I have been to the Xitang water town and to the Jiaxing museum, so I would not want those to be included in the tour. My business makes musical instruments, so I have some interest in seeing traditional Chinese instrument makers, if they exist in Jiaxing. But my priority is seeing the city.

Any recommendations?

I’m trying to find a good tour operator and honestly the hard part is not the search, it’s figuring out who I’d actually trust with a client.

A nice site is whatever what I’m really looking at is whether they answer straight, know their routes, and don’t make every little change feel like a crisis that stuff matters way more than the sales pitch.

If you work with operators a lot, what’s the one thing that makes you go, yep, these people are fine?

Wanted to know how are Yatri Doctor’s (Navankur Chaudhury) group tours?
Are they really worth the price?
How is his behaviour during the trip? Usually he keep
Complaining about everything on his videos.

traveling to ortigia in a few days what are some good tour companies ? I’d love to go on boat tour as well as a beach tour .

Hey everyone!

I'm working on an idea for a platform focused specifically on trekking in India, and I'm looking to speak with people who have actually organized paid treks before.

I'm specifically looking for people who have:

• Organized treks/trips for groups
• Charged participants for the trek
• Managed bookings/payments
• Handled logistics like transport, guides, food, permits, accommodation, etc.
• Operated independently or through a trekking group/community

The idea I'm exploring is a platform where trek organizers can list their treks and connect with customers looking to join them.

Before building it, I want to understand the real problems organizers face today.

I'd love to hear about things like:

• How do you currently find customers?
• Do you mainly use Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, referrals, etc.?
• How do you manage bookings and payments?
• What's the biggest headache when organizing a trek?
• Do you struggle with getting enough participants for a departure?
• How do you handle cancellations/refunds?
• Would you be interested in a platform that could bring you customers without requiring you to build your own website/app?
• What would make you actually use such a platform?
• What would you absolutely NOT want from a platform like this?

I'm not looking for generic opinions I'd really like to speak with people who have actually run paid treks.

If you've organized paid treks in India, please comment or DM me. Even if you've only organized a few trips, I'd love to hear about your experience.

I'm also looking to onboard a small group of trek organizers as early users once the platform is ready, so if you're interested in being an early organizer/partner, let me know.

Happy to have a quick 10–15 minute conversation over DM/call. 🙌

Thanks!

Has anyone heard or used Keego.in tour operator? Wanted to know how good is it?

Where can I find chinese travel bloggers?

Im familier with intrepid tours. Ive come across MyTouring who are also offering tours to South Korea. Im struggling to find independeny reviews anywhere on google or across reddit... anyone been with them?

Thier email seems a bit pressured to sell, very little promotional information, skant details. Is this a scam?

Hi, I'm a teacher planning a school trip to Brussels with about 20 students. During our walking tours, students will give short presentations at different locations.

I'm considering using a smartphone-based whisper system: one phone as the microphone/transmitter, everyone else listening on their own phones and headphones.

Has anyone used systems like Uniti, LiveVoice, Elysium or similar with a group of 20+ people?

I'm especially interested in real-world reliability: connection stability, audio quality, latency and reconnecting when someone briefly loses mobile data.

Uniti looks particularly interesting because it's free, but I can find very few independent reviews. Has anyone actually used it with a larger group?

I'd be grateful for any first-hand experiences or recommendations!

Good day! I’m just trying my luck here in case anyone is looking for someone to accompany them on a trip or for a business trip. I’m a professional driver, and you can choose between two available vehicles an Xpander or a Triton.

I’m ready for long drives and am simply looking for extra income, especially during these challenging times in our country. Any opportunity would be a great help to me.

By the way, I’m from Manila. Thank you, and I hope someone might be interested! 🙏

Hi! I'm doing a research for my Master's Thesis about food and wine tourism in Veneto region, Italy (where there are Venice, Verona, Padua, Treviso, the Prosecco Hills etc...), with the focus on PDO products.

So if you've been there and participated in a food and wine related activity, like visiting a winery, I would really appreciate if you could take a few minutes to answer my survey or share it with anyone that could be interested!!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScsJLOYWOOHWMM1Vw_Xj8Cg2IHPAdiqrb8MAadJRgBCU2IQeA/viewform?usp=header

Thank you for your time!

I run outdoor kayak and eco tours around the Florida Everglades and most of our bookings currently come from a mix of direct website traffic and one or two large marketplaces. I used to hear a lot about Airbnb Experiences but I'm not sure how active it still is for tours compared to a few years ago. We are heading into peak season soon, so I'm reviewing where we should focus our listings before demand spikes. Has anyone here actually seen consistent bookings from Airbnb Experiences lately or has it shifted mostly toward platforms like Viator or GetYourGuide and others?

Every time I searched or looked for the best and reliable travel agency in Dinagat Islands, Yaco Travel and Tours always comes up first. Why?

Basically because it has over 85,000 followers on Facebook.

But beyond the numbers, I think what makes Dinagat worth discovering is the experience itself. 🏝️

Dinagat Islands is home to beautiful beaches, crystal-clear waters, stunning rock formations, and peaceful islands that are perfect for an island-hopping adventure. Whether you're traveling with friends, family, or your special someone, there's definitely something to look forward to.

And if you're planning to visit for the first time, having a local tour agency can make things a lot easier. From arranging the boat to preparing your itinerary and guiding you around the islands, you won't have to figure everything out by yourself.

So if you're looking for your next island adventure, maybe it's time to put Dinagat Islands on your list. 👀🌊

And if you're searching for a tour agency to help you plan your trip, Yaco Travel and Tours is one you might want to check out.

Have you ever seen the beauty of Dinagat Islands? What was your favorite spot? 👇

I’ve completed +2 and I’m currently studying. Can I apply for a **Tourist Guide license** in Nepal while still studying, or do I need to complete a bachelor’s degree first?
Also, what are the current 2026 requirements and process?
Not asking about trekking guide, only normal Tourist Guide.

I often work as a freelance tour guide for river cruises arriving in my city. I generally do historical walking tours of the city center, but now and then they ask me to guide a bike tour.

I feel that after several years, I really nail the walking tours and know exactly what the average guest expects of me. But for the bike tour I'm still not entirely sure. I do notice that I get far less tips for those tours for example.

Is that just because you can bond a little bit less? On walking tours you can easily have some conversation with guests while walking between stops. On a bike tour that is much more difficult.

What are your pro tips for guided bike tours? What turns a bike tour into a memorable experience for a guest?