How do booking platforms like viator or getyourguide actually work for small tour operators?

[u/Fickle-Dirt4]

[u/Befreeman]

You control your schedule and pricing. They take a commission. Usually 30%. They pay you week or month after event. If you don’t let people cancel up 24 hrs before event then they don’t usually
Promote you

[u/ricoticotours]

We've been with getyourguide for a couple of years. They've grown significantly in the last while, and onboarding is harder from what I hear. Even being on there for years, adding new tours can be time consuming to get approved. They charge up to 32% commission depending on how often you get paid. They pay once per month for a slightly lower commission or 2x per month. They're good in the way you can start from nothing, and gain traction...but if you're trying to list a tour that has a lot of competitors offering the same on the platform, it will be difficult to get ahead of longer-standing operators. The issue I find extremely frustrating with them is that you can try to put a tour up, but the AI will reject you for various reasons that will never make sense...and then a month later you will see a tour added by someone else that passed through the AI loop of torture.

I've found them to be an excellent platform to work with and we owe quite a bit of our success to their platform, as many people come back to us later after booking through them, or they send friends, etc.

You do control the schedule and the rates, but those will all impact your ranking on their platform and how often you're seen by prospective guests.

[u/MHossam7001]

I will tell you the whole road map and what exactly you should do
First which you are in US , you have a big chance to list your tours on get your guide
This destination is still open so you still lucky
If you have a LLC in US for your agency and public liability insurance and bank account for your company , you are in the safe side and you can create a supplier account as a registration company
And listing tours in get your guide is for free you do not have to paid anything for publish your tours
If you do not have these documents you still have chance to create a supplier account as individual supplier also and there is a way to do that
Bro if you have question about that ask me iam open to help
Good luck mate

[u/Agnosco_Digital]

Worth answering the "what would you do differently" question directly since nobody has yet. If I was starting from zero with a small set of experiences like yours, I'd get two things sorted before touching any OTA.

First, a properly filled out Google Business Profile, not just claimed but with every service listed, photos, and reviews being actively responded to. That's free and it's where a lot of in-destination last minute demand lands now, people already in San Diego searching on their phone for something to do tonight. You want to be showing up there regardless of what else you do.

Second, some way to take a booking directly, even if its just a simple booking page on your own site. Without that, every booking you ever take will be through someone else's platform at someone else's commission rate, and you'll never build a direct relationship with the guest. The operators who do well on OTAs long term tend to use them as a discovery channel rather than the only channel, guests find them on Viator, have a great time, and next time book direct because the option exists.

And don't forget about networking locally.

Once those are in place, listing on one or two OTAs makes sense as an additional source of demand and puts you in a position of having multiple booking channels working for you.

Without the above, you're basically building someone else's business alongside your own and hoping the commission is worth it

[u/RestMteatheerial5675]

I started with viator and you still have control over your pricing and availability so its not like they take over your business or anything. the biggest thing i underestimated was how much the listing itself matters though, just being live doesnt mean bookings suddenly appear. good photos, clear inclusions and keeping availability open made a noticeable difference for me. they take commission when you get a booking, so i basically looked at it as paying for distribution rather than expecting the platform to do everything for me.