Getting bookings
Most independent guides can lead a great tour long before they can reliably fill it. These guides cover where bookings actually come from — your own booking page, Google, reviews, and the marketplaces — and how to use each channel without handing over a third of your income. The theme throughout: use the big platforms for discovery, and keep your repeat guests direct.
Direct bookings for tour guides: the complete playbook
Reduce your OTA commission bill. How independent guides win direct bookings through their own page, Google, reviews and repeat guests.
Tour guide earnings calculator
Put your own price and volume in, and see what you keep on GetYourGuide, Viator, Airbnb, your own booking page or a plain payment link. Every channel a solo guide can sell through, side by side.
What OTAs actually charge
GuruWalk fees explained: what free tour guides really pay (2026)
GuruWalk is free on the Hobby plan (5 people per tour). PRO costs about €2–4 per traveller who turns up. What that leaves from your tips, with examples.
Viator commission and fees: a guide's breakdown
What Viator really costs suppliers: commission, the Tripadvisor and Bokun connection, worked payout examples, and when it's worth it.
GetYourGuide commission explained: what guides really pay
GetYourGuide commission is commonly reported at 20–30% of the tour price. What that leaves on a $100 tour, when the reach is worth it, and how to cut it.
Airbnb Experiences fees: is it still worth it for guides?
What Airbnb Experiences costs hosts: the service fee, worked payout examples, whether it's still worth it, and direct alternatives for guides.
Get found without an agency
How to create a booking page for your tours (step-by-step)
Turn DMs into self-serve bookings. What every tour booking page needs, how to add it to Instagram and Google, and how to take deposits.
SEO for tour guides: rank for '[city] walking tour' without an agency
Rank for '[city] tour' searches yourself. Google Business Profile, reviews, and a simple on-page checklist that gets guides free bookings.
Google Things to Do for tour guides: free bookings from Search
How Google Things to Do surfaces tours in Search and Maps, how guides get listed via connectivity partners, and how to earn free bookings.
Using OTAs without losing your customers
Viator vs GetYourGuide vs Airbnb Experiences vs Booking.com: which is best for solo tour guides?
Viator, GetYourGuide, Airbnb Experiences and Booking.com compared on real commission, who can actually join, and the clearest pick for a solo guide.
The hybrid strategy: OTAs for discovery, direct for repeat clients
Don't choose between OTAs and direct bookings. Use marketplaces to be discovered, then move repeat guests direct to keep your margin.
How to turn OTA customers into repeat, direct clients (legally)
Keep the guests marketplaces send you. Legal, respectful ways to move OTA customers to direct, repeat bookings — without breaking platform rules.
