Booking tours can greatly enrich your travel experience, offering structured, insightful explorations of new destinations. Whether you prefer online convenience or personalized local recommendations, various options are available to suit your needs. From comprehensive online travel agencies and specialized tour operator websites to hotel concierge services, travel apps, and local tourist information centers, you can easily find and book the perfect tour. Always consider the tour's reputation, inclusions, and cancellation policy to ensure a seamless and enjoyable adventure.
Book directly with the guide or through their website.
Very often we see people asking for recommendations about tours, be it in Lisbon, Sintra, Porto, Douro Valley, Lagos, Algarve, etc.
I’ll start by saying that – if you’re intent on booking tours – you should also make them a top priority, along with accommodation and flights. These three things combined make up the essentials of your trip. They define when you’re coming, where you’ll be staying, and what you’ll be doing while you’re here.
As a good starting point, it’s great to browse online platforms to check what is being offered. Airbnb Experiences, Get Your Guide, Tripadvisor, Viator… are great places to read some reviews and stay informed. But that’s it.
Most tour guides are self-employed, which means that they have to manage all the expenses of their work and don't have a fixed salary. That's why the commission charged by these platforms becomes too ‘heavy’ for those who provide these services.
As plataformas acima referidas cobram comissões substanciais aos seus fornecedores. Abaixo, mostro-lhe alguns print screens de algumas destas plataformas, para lhe dar uma ideia de quanto está a pagar a mais pelo serviço.
An example: a commission rate of 30% means that you are paying 100 euros for your excursion, but the supplier will only receive 70 euros. So you pay 100 euros, but receive a 70 euro excursion. Note that suppliers CANNOT change the commission rate, except on Viator/Tripadvisor. There, the minimum commission is 26.3%, but it can go up to 50%!
Therefore, when comparing prices, it is important to understand what is being offered (all-inclusive or just transport and guide services) and what types of tourism (mass, niche, boutique, high-end, specialized, tailor-made...). For a more detailed explanation of how to break down the costs of a trip, read this excellent article.
Typically, companies that operate on these platforms and offer low prices have very small margins to remain competitive and depend on mass tourism to stay afloat. When you see several ads from the same company, for very similar excursions, that's a warning sign. Several companies promote “small groups” and end up putting their clients on a bus or divided between several vans doing the same itinerary.
At the other end of the spectrum are the most expensive excursions. These are often overpriced on these platforms (due to commission), but if you do a little research and contact the provider directly, they will (more often than not) offer you a much better rate.
By reaching out directly to the provider you can potentially save hundreds of dollars/euros.
There are a number of advantages associated with these platforms:
Posting comments
Viewing photos of places
Finding places to visit
Researching what to do in a city
Cancellation policy
etc...
But unfortunately some of them are an unnecessary cost for suppliers/companies, due to legal obligations in Portugal. For example, these commissions are supposed to help pay for insurance, but third-party insurance is compulsory for tourism companies in Portugal (and has to be taken out by the company itself) - so Portuguese tourism companies are being charged twice for the same cover.
The greatest advantage of these platforms is their cancellation policy if a tour is cancelled up to 24h before.
The cancellation policy is very generous to travelers, allowing a full refund if a tour is canceled up to 24 hours in advance. The platform doesn't worry about this, and this fact is inconsequential for mass tour operators - hence the greater prevalence of these operators on such platforms. Most of these operators overbook because they have relatively high cancellation and no-show rates. But for an individual trying to start a business (or a one-man-show), a cancellation represents a huge loss of revenue. Most people are just trying to pay the rent/mortgage on the house they live in, put food on the table and get their children into school. So if you've made a commitment to a guide like this, do your best to show up. Leave the rest to your guide to make sure you have a memorable day. We feel humbled, happy and grateful for each and every person we meet and with whom we have the privilege of sharing one or several days.
Proof of this are the comments that I and guides like me receive, and as I say in my biography: “it's a job that I love and that I don't see as an obligation but as a pleasure, because it's something that brings me a lot of satisfaction”.
Final word of caution:
Before the Internet and online platforms, a common way to get recommendations was to ask the hotel concierge - in fact, that's the definition of a concierge, someone who is there to answer your questions and attend to your needs. Nowadays, from personal experience, hotel concierges have become a bit “greedy” and their recommendations are based upon who is paying them commissions. They ask for sums in the same order of magnitude as the commissions charged by the platforms (not necessarily taking your best interests into consideration) when their only job is to inform and advise. Here's something to think about.
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