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Here's what it's like to to book an adventure abroad through Viator, Trip Advisor's tour and excursion booking platform

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• While in Croatia with my family this year, I used Trip Advisor 's activity-booking platform Viator to book boat charters abroad. All operators are pre-vetted by Trip Advisor to guarantee credibility and safety. Excursions range from $15 for a walking tour to thousands for luxury experiences.
• Booking independently through Viator saved me significant costs compared to using a travel agency, and helped me plan my vacation in advance, with clear pricing and reviews from past guests.
• I had a great experience with Viator and would use it again — but with a few changes. Next time, I'll make sure to ask more questions first, so I don't face any surprises. Here's what you should know to do the same.
• Read all Insider Picks travel reviews here.

I'm a lifestyle journalist with a focus on travel and trot the globe frequently with my husband and five-year-old twins. So I think of myself as pretty savvy when it comes to calling upon Internet resources (not to mention intuition earned through experience) to make bookings, even in places I've never before been.

This summer, I went on a two-week vacation with my family in Europe, hitting Greece and Croatia, plus bordering countries along the Dalmatian Coast. We spent a fair amount of time off the beaten path and there were a lot of moving parts. But I felt confident, and competent, that I could independently plan our trip, without the help of a travel agency. I know my way around search engines for flights, hotels, and deals.

But there was a blind spot. How would I book tours and excursions such as chartering a speedboat for our family to Croatia's famous islands?

I was relieved when I stumbled upon the activity-booking search engine Viator , which is owned by Trip Advisor. After reviewing various offerings and reading reviews, I booked two separate boat charters through the company. Both boats were clean, comfortable, beautiful, more or less as advertised, and operated by companies I would not have known how to access without Viator. 

I'd recommend the platform, especially to anyone staying at an Airbnb without a concierge like I did, or looking for cheaper options than what a hotel or travel agency might suggest. But I'd offer a caveat from my own experience: savvy travelers must make sure to cover their bases to avoid potential pitfalls such as the one we experienced. 

What is Viator?

Viator is Trip Advisor's platform for booking all kinds of activities during travel. Consider you might find 4x4 and camel tours in Dubai, a skip-the-line tour of the Colosseum in Rome, or a tour of the Grand Canyon by helicopter from Las Vegas.

Really, you'll find just about anything. The search engine includes options for a truly whopping 200,000 bookable activities in places all around the world making it unlikely that you won't find what you need. All operators listed are pre-vetted for credibility and safety backed by Trip Advisor .

Importantly, the site also aggregates millions of reviews, like what you'll find on Viator's sister site, Trip Advisor, so you have a pretty good sense of what you're getting. 

How is Viator priced?

Naturally, price points on Viator range dramatically based on the location and the excursions' complexity. A basic walking tour might cost under $20 while a day-long excursion or charter could cost hundreds more. The more expensive of the two trips I booked came in under $1,000, and the rates on the site can soar depending on what you're booking.

The site is optimized for mobile booking, offers around-the-clock customer service in multiple languages, a lowest-price guarantee, and a 24-hour cancellation policy, which makes the financial risk in booking feel low. 

In fact, I made use of that cancellation policy a few times to cancel and rebook similar activities when I changed my mind on the specifics, and also to flatly cancel a sightseeing tour I'd booked for our first day in Greece when I realized we'd all be too jet-lagged to bother.

I made both Viator bookings using my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card  — both in U.S. dollars — and faced no trouble making these changes.

What did I book through Viator?

I'd never been to Croatia, but knew I wanted to see its beautiful islands. We were staying in an Airbnb apartment (a rare choice for me) instead of a full-service hotel with concierge, so I was on my own for finding out how to do this. 

Poking around on the Internet for tours, I discovered Viator , which was previously unknown to me. I appreciated that like its parent company Trip Advisor, Viator heavily incorporates a review system, and the Trip Advisor backing gave me confidence. I booked two tours, each about three weeks ahead of our arrival.

For our stay in Dubrovnik, I booked a half-day private speedboat tour to the Elafiti islands , which earned an impressive five stars overall, with over 100 reviews on Viator. The trip for four people for four hours came in just under $400 after I used a 10 percent discount code. 

Then, for the portion of our trip in the northern area of the country, Split, I booked an all-day private sightseeing tour with five proposed stops , including the famous Blue Cave and Hvar island. This trip also had an overall five-star rating on Viator, but with far fewer reviews, just 27 as of the time of this writing. The eight-hour trip for four people on the private speedboat charter cost $873 after the discount code.

These prices might seem steep, but consider that it's priced for four people, as well as the alternative. When I briefly felt overwhelmed with planning, I reached out to a Croatia-based travel agency. The land-only quote for a week in the county for our party of four was 12,000 euros. Booking on my own — including these two-day trips through Viator — cut our expenses to less than half.

My booking experience with Viator

After so much planning, our trip was at last underway. We spent a morning at a Dubrovnik beach club before our scheduled boat tour for the afternoon. That same day, the highly responsive tour company reached out through WhatsApp and email to coordinate transportation for us to the marina, where we'd be meeting our skipper and the boat.

They called a rideshare at their expense to meet us at the beach club and we arrived at the marina to find an impeccably clean boat and friendly skipper.

As promised, the boat was just for our family with amenities like shade cover and a USB port to charge up phones and stay ready for photo taking. 

We set out for the afternoon on the Adriatic and were able to customize our itinerary, checking out bays, beaches, and caves at our own pace. The skipper snapped family photos and offered snorkel masks and drinks.

At the end of the afternoon, our skipper called us an Uber to take us back to the hotel. Overall it was a successful, fun day. And at under $400 for four people, felt like a great value for all we were able to do.

Unfortunately, it didn't foreshadow the more challenging experience we had on our next excursion, which was the full-day boat charter from Split.

For that trip, I had more difficulty communicating in advance with the operator, who was less responsive. I didn't get all my questions answered before booking, and miscalculated by making some critical assumptions that turned out to be false.

We arrived at the marina to find a boat that exceeded our expectations. It was a rather luxurious looking speedboat with room for 12 and was larger and fancier than our previous boat in Dubrovnik.

It was also more powerful, at 250 horsepower. While some people might appreciate that, the speed of the vessel scared our young children right away.

Our skipper was a devoted and experienced older brother, so he was well equipped with strategies to help calm our kids and took pains to make them comfortable. He even let my son "drive" the boat and honk the horn, which was a huge hit. 

But my daughter was still uncomfortable as the boat sped through the open ocean. Off the bat, I wondered if this was something any ambitious American traveler would attempt with such young children had they known how rough it would be.

The skipper warned us that the Blue Cave would be backed up and crowded, and the timing might correspond to a bumpy afternoon sail. So we opted against it and chose a custom plan to mitigate the intensity. I appreciated that we were able to change the day's itinerary to better suit our needs.

Our skipper took us to a gorgeous, remote beach on the island of Vis, which was a true highlight with crystal clear water and a sense of true isolation. We swam from the boat to the beach, snorkeled, and took lots of pictures.

Afterward, we sailed to glamorous Hvar island, where we passed an hour or so with lunch in Hvar Town.

But it was after that, on the way back to the harbor in Split, when our challenges started in earnest.

It was squarely afternoon by then, and the winds had picked up; the open ocean was very choppy. That is to say, our boat caught full air and slammed back down — over and over again. There was nothing the skipper could do as this was the nature of the boat and typical conditions.

Although my kids (mercifully) don't suffer motion sickness, they were terrified. Anyone with young children and those who do suffer from motion sickness should inquire about conditions before booking any similar boat ride as I wished I had.

My son could be placated by heading back to his post as the boat's "driver," but my daughter was miserable for the full 75 minutes it took to get back to the marina and the waves soaked our family. Making matters more concerning, there was only one kid-sized life jacket on board.  

I was regretful that I'd gotten us in this position. I hadn't adequately confirmed that this was the right trip for our family.

And although I generally feel like a diligent and capable planner, I'd continued with the booking despite not waiting for the answers I needed: Would there be child-sized snorkel masks? Would there be two child-sized life jackets? Was the water likely to be rough? Will we get wet or seasick?  

The bottom line on Viator  

Overall, I wouldn't trade either of the stunning boat excursions I booked through Viator . They made for essential sightseeing experiences for any visitor to Croatia.

The operators on both experiences were professional, and the services were provided as advertised. I also found the prices to be reasonable, much more so than if I'd booked through a travel agency.

I'll book through Viator again, but next time, I'll make sure I'm asking more questions and getting the specific answers I need first.

If a particular operator is vague or reluctant to respond to the specifics of an important matter, like child-sized life vests, or typical water conditions, I will move on to another operator.  

As a now-seasoned Viator user, I'd say: book with confidence. Just make sure you ask a lot of questions specific to your needs and make sure you get them all answered explicitly before you show up on the day of your booking.

With the sheer number of bookings available on Viator, you should have plenty of options to keep moving onto another suitable tour operator until you find one that gives you all the answers — and confidence — you need.  

Book a Viator excursion, large or small, anywhere on earth .

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How to Become a Tour Guide Today: What Kind of Experience Can You Offer?

In today’s travel landscape, a tour guide can be much more than someone simply walking visitors through a historic neighborhood or explaining artifacts in a museum. One subset of guides has emerged in recent years, which we call Experience Hosts. If you’re interested in offering travelers a local experience (indeed, even a traditional walking tour still fits the bill)—but aren’t sure where to start—you’re at the right place.

Experience Hosts are individuals who want to become a tour guide, so to speak—but by offering their own unique, local experience to travelers. While this can be any type of tour or activity, some of the most sought-after experiences these days are those that are a bit more… untraditional, such as an oyster-shucking class on the harbor, salsa dancing lessons in the streets, or goat yoga on a farm (yes, that exists!). Whether your motivation to become a tour guide is to earn money as a side gig, simply share your local passion and expertise (or unique hobby/skill) with travelers far and wide, or actually start building a successful tour business, [ta-obfuscator type=”link” new-tab=”true” href=”https://supplier.viator.com/sign-up-info/hosts?m=61567″ text=”becoming a Tripadvisor Experience Host”] is a great place to start. No matter your passion, you can turn it into a bookable tour/experience to sell online!

In this article, step one of our Getting Started Guide for Experience Hosts, we’ll help you determine your interests and goals, find inspiration and competitive opportunities, and figure out how to use your knowledge and passion to create a tour that travelers will book.

Determine Your Interests and Goals

Start by deciding what activities interest you and whether you want to pursue them as a full-time job or part-time hobby. Narrow your search based on your interests. Research events or places that are popular in your area. You can also check tour guide association websites for any resources that could apply to your market.

“I would suggest producing something new. You know, that really makes a difference. You’ve got to do something that others aren’t doing to be visible”

— Fabrizio B., Individual Experience Host, Naples, Italy

Browse Tripadvisor

Before browsing, it’s important to understand the relationship between Tripadvisor, Viator, and Viator.

Tripadvisor : Tripadvisor is the world’s largest travel site, enabling travelers to unleash the full potential of every trip. With over 730 million reviews and opinions covering the world’s largest selection of travel listings worldwide – covering approximately 8.1 million accommodations, airlines, experiences, and restaurants – Tripadvisor provides travelers with the wisdom of the crowds to help them decide where to stay, how to fly, what to do and where to eat. Viator is a global tours, attractions, and activities business that Tripadvisor acquired in August of 2014. Viator.com remains the world’s largest booking site for tours and attractions. Viator is part of the distribution network where your products will be sold when you join the Viator platform. Viator : Viator (an operating name for Viator, Inc.) is the entity that connects experience providers like yourself instantly with hundreds of millions of travelers worldwide. When you work with Viator, you get: The largest single-source distribution network in the industry, including distribution across Tripadvisor, Viator, and thousands of partners and affiliates. An unparalleled audience and API connectivity solutions to help you generate more bookings—months in advance or at the last minute. User-friendly interface with simple, do-it-yourself tools that allow you to load products and manage availability and bookings. Growing distribution network includes major hotels, airlines, loyalty programs, travel sites, our dedicated travel agent network, and more.

Now that we’ve established the relationship, let’s review how you can explore the Tripadvisor site to help you think about what type of Experience you want to offer. Every “ Thing to Do ” on Tripadvisor has a section that merchandises Viator products (the tours and activities that operators are selling). Research big cities and survey which products have a lot of reviews. Determine whether those products might be interesting to explore for your Experience. It’s also worth considering creating new products that enable travelers to experience a destination currently underserved on Tripadvisor.

To do this:

1. Search for your desired destination at https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions .

2. Browse by Category to see all the products that are linked to an attraction.

3. Scroll down to see attractions ranked by traveler interest and the bookable products (i.e., “14 Ways to experience it”) available for each attraction. Any top attractions with fewer than three linked products might be an option for you to consider.

Trial Different Experiences

If they are available, take tours, classes, or workshops related to your area of interest. Which ones stood out? What did you like or dislike? Was there too much or not enough information? How could the experience be improved?

Start Local

What are people within your network or community interested in? Would they be interested in the product you’re thinking of offering? Send out a survey or connect with other local tour guides to understand what’s exciting in your area.

1. How to Become a Tour Guide

2. Understanding Your Audience

3. Get Compliant

4. Setting Up Your Account

5. Sell Online to Travelers

6. Marketing Plan

7. Get Bookings & Reviews

Sell your products online to travelers worldwide!

About the Author: Dave Armenti

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