In-trip activity bookings for multi-day tour operators
Hero is a popular tool for multi-day tour operators, whose Guides arrange optional activities for their customers ‘on the go’. It’s a future-proof solution that eliminates the need for Guides to handle and carry cash, alleviating security and safety issues. All payments are digital, every sale is recorded and commission payments can be split and paid out to Drivers / Guides automatically.
Here’s a quick overview of how it all works…
Hardware
Guides typically operate their trips using an iPad or tablet. It’s the perfect tool to manage customer manifests, complete status reports, collate trip photos and videos, and send and receive emails.
Accessing the Hero Portal is easy. Guides simply login to Hero on Chrome anytime, anywhere.
Experiences
Experiences from thousands of suppliers are already available on Hero, however, product content can be curated to meet the unique needs of every reseller.
Resellers (in this case Tour Operators) simply ask their preferred suppliers to sign up to Hero in order to participate. Once suppliers have completed Hero’s supplier agreement, Hero’s onboarding team load their products into the platform, connecting via API where possible.
From there, Resellers can then choose to allow their Guides full access to all products in Hero’s marketplace or restrict visibility so Guides only see products pre-approved by the reseller.
Contracting
Resellers no longer need to undergo the annual process of contracting rates with suppliers. It’s all handled by Hero.
Suppliers simply advise Hero of any unique product configuration needed for the reseller, which could include:
- Unique products
- Unique retail rates / commissions
- Allocated inventory
Bookings
Guides build itineraries of optional activities for their customers, benefiting from live rates and inventory. Bookings is processed digitally with a couple of clicks.
Once booked, customers receive tickets digitally on their own device.
Payments
Customers pay via credit card via a payment link sent to their device. Customers can then choose to store card details for future purchases, enabling the Guide to arrange activities and process payments with the customer’s consent.
Reporting
Guides, and other members of the team, can see a real-time record of all sales activity on their Hero Dashboard. At any time, Guides know exactly how much commission they have generated and how much of this they are due to receive.
Remittance
At the end of each payment cycle, Hero automatically generates and sends Remittance Advice to all recipient parties:
- the Guide for their share of commission earned
- the Reseller (Employer of the Guide) for its share of the commission earned
- the Supplier of the service sold for its net payment due
4 days later on Friday, Hero deposits funds into the bank account of each party.
Customer Self-serve
Hero’s solutions can be extended to enable your customers to ‘self-serve’ and purchase add-ons online, without the need for a Guide to assist. Hero can supply each Guide with a company-branded webpage and QR code to share with their customers. Customers can browse and book experiences and sales are attributed to the Guide within Hero.
Additionally, tour operators with their own customer app can incorporate Hero to facilitate bookings of experiences throughout the tour. This enables product visibility to be tailored to the customer’s itinerary and personal info and payment details to be tokenised.