Private guides booking software for operators
Private guiding is the highest value per booking in the industry and the worst served by marketplaces, because the product is a person and their availability.
Who books private guides
Families, small private groups, corporate visitors and luxury travellers, usually with a longer lead time and a specific brief.
How the season runs
Steadier than group categories, with corporate and family demand smoothing the calendar. Repeat and referral bookings are a large share of the year.
The marketplace problem for private guides
A percentage fee on a 400 EUR private day is enormous, and the marketplace still cannot convey why this particular guide is worth booking.
Why Tourpublish fits this category
Reputation and referral drive this category. A personal link that a past client can forward to a friend is a better sales channel than any listing page.
What operators use it for
- Licensed city guides sending a personal link to concierge partners.
- Specialist art and history guides selling to a returning client base.
- Corporate visit programmes booked through a single shared link.
What you get
- One-tap checkout with Apple Pay and Google Pay.
- Tracked KLNKs for every tour with per-creator, per-campaign attribution.
- Two-way sync with Bokun, CaptainBook and TicketingHub.
- A 3% fee on the Founding plan.
Frequently asked
I sell mostly by referral. What does a platform add?
It removes the admin. Referrals can book and pay themselves instead of exchanging a chain of emails about availability and deposits.
Can I quote custom itineraries?
Yes. Set up your standard private products for instant booking and keep bespoke briefs as an enquiry, so simple jobs never need a conversation.
Operators in this category
Crister NæssHead of Visit Voss, Visit Voss, NorwayFor us, Tourpublish is much more than a platform. It is part of the digital infrastructure a modern DMO needs to build around the destination, connecting businesses, content, data and distribution in a way that creates more collaboration and less friction. The destination of the future needs to be easy to discover, understand and book, whether the customer journey starts with Google, social media, an AI assistant or one of our partners. Tourpublish helps us mobilize the entire destination, turn authentic local content into shared value, and create a stronger foundation for data-driven marketing and seamless booking across businesses. That is where we see the role of the DMO evolving: not controlling every customer touchpoint, but building the infrastructure that makes the whole destination more connected, visible and bookable.
Pilot underway to onboard 40+ operators across the Voss region
Start selling private guides direct
Import your inventory, share a KLNK, and stop paying a quarter of every ticket on bookings you could win yourself.
Get startedWhere to sell private guides
Cities where private guides perform
- Tour operators in MilanFashion and design weeks create the strongest demand of the year. Summer weekends empty out as the city heads to the lakes and coast.
- Tour operators in KrakowApril to October is intense, with school-group demand concentrated in spring and autumn and a strong Christmas market period.
- Tour operators in WarsawSteadier through the year than Krakow, with a business-driven midweek pattern and a leisure peak from May to September.
- Tour operators in ViennaSpring and autumn are the cultural peaks, with the ball season in winter and a distinct Christmas market run through December.
Other categories
- Food tours booking softwareFood tours run year round in most cities, with a dip in deep winter and a spike around long weekends and food festivals. Evening departures fill fastest.
- Walking tours booking softwareWalking tours are the most weather-sensitive high-volume category. Shoulder months swing hard on forecast, so same-week promotion beats long-lead campaigns.
- E-bike tours booking softwareStrongly seasonal outside the Mediterranean, with a April to October core. Fleet size caps supply, so the goal is a higher-margin seat, not more seats.
- Boat tours booking softwareTight summer peak with weather cancellations built in. Rebooking flexibility matters more here than in any land-based category.
- Day tours booking softwareLonger lead times than any other category, often two to six weeks. That makes day tours the best fit for search and long-form content rather than same-week social.