How Viator Helped My Wallet and Sanity (and why I continue to use it)

Planning a multi-generational 12 day Northern Europe cruise for 15 people was as stressful as it sounds but discovering Viator was a game changer for me. I think it can do the same for you – let’s explore how.

What is Viator?

Viator is a platform that many use to book tours and excursions (why I originally had it recommended to me). After taking a look around the site, I discovered that there were many other travel activities like skip the line museum passes, airport transportation that you could also reserve.

So why use Viator?

• Extensive choices – there are over 200,000 different activities on Viator!
  • I have booked activities as diverse as multiple bus tours for aforementioned family cruise in Norway and Iceland to solo adventure like Silfra snorkeling between the tectonic plates in Iceland & Whale Watching in Cabo, Mexico to small group fun with Electric Boat tour in Stockholm, Sweden & Walking tour in Berlin, Germany)
• Viator was acquired by Tripadvisor, so you’re able to book your hotel and plan your vacation activities all in one place on Tripadvisor. And like Tripadvisor, there are millions of reviews for the activities and tickets that they offer so you are able to get a good sense of what you are booking and the operator.
• Customization with so many different operators and tours options, you can book according to your travel style or budget
• Affordability of the offerings versus booking through a travel agency or from the cruise line
• Flexibility with the booking process from being able to book now, pay later and many of the tours having a FREE 24 hour cancellation policy
• Support: 24/7 customer support

How to book with Viator:

To find a tour on Viator, search by your destination (and enter in your travel dates, if you have those set).

_{Beautiful Tip: The number of tours offered can be a plus or negative so what you type in here should be as general or specific as your search is. If you want to plan a trip to London, type in London to see all possible offerings vs “Heathrow shared transportation” to narrow down your search for LHR transfer options.}

• On the left of the screen, you can filter on dates, tour specifics (time of day, duration, price), ratings, free cancellation policy, deals & discounts and much more.
• At the top of the page, you are given options for top activities, different tour options (full vs half day, walking vs bus tours).
• This page will give you a general overview of the tour including the tour name, a brief description, pricing, tour length, and if the tour offers free cancellation

If you are interested in or want to see more information, click on the name of the tour.

• This is where you will find the itinerary including where the tour starts and ends along with what’s included and not included, cancellation policy, tour operator and additional information.
• You will also be able to see photos (from the operator in the information section).
• To see other travelers’ photos and reviews, scroll down past the tour information.

_{Beautiful Tip: While it’s always good to check the recent tours, it can be helpful to look reviews from the previous year for the specific time of year that you will be taking the tour for more accurate insight into what your experience may be like.}

To check on availability, fill out the information with the date and number of travelers and click on ‘Check Availability’ (at the top of the page). This will give you pricing information for your tour (per person and total), the times available, cancellation policy, etc

To book, select a time and click ‘Book Now’ to be redirected to the checkout page

My experience with Viator + how it made things less stressful

While I have traveled extensively throughout the world, most of it has been solo or with friends who have similar travel styles, so planning what would be my first cruise was an entirely different beast for me. Plus this was to celebrate my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary!

I ended up using Viator for a few reasons:

• First, it saved us a tremendous amount of money versus booking directly with the cruise line.
• Second, the full breadth of the experience on Viator from being able to choose from multiple operators to being able to see real reviews of the activities, tours to the support aspect (from Viator and the operators themselves).
• What I didn’t expect was how Viator just made planning everything so much easier! You can create wish lists, activities offering the free cancellation policy, having all tours information accessible in one place (vs if I had booked independently = having to reference each tour operator’s website for descriptions/info/etc when needed). Those were so helpful when I was deciding (or people giving me some input) on what excursions to book for each location, then to contacting operators for more information/clarification and finally when we went on/did the tours/activities.

One example of that in action for a Viator booking: transportation from Heathrow in London, UK.

• Savings: Instead of paying the cruise company $75/person airport transfer to one of their hotels that we would be charged $375/person to stay at; we paid $34.74/pax for a transfer from Heathrow airport and paid around that amount per room at a nicer hotel of our choice.
• Being able to see a full description of the different options and read through the reviews on the different companies made it very easy to quickly decide on a company and book.
• The group was split in two between those traveling in two vs one day(s) early, so I wanted everything pre-arranged for the others that were coming in one day after I did.
  • It was easy to communicate with the operator ie I could give them my dad and SIL’s info as primary contacts/names to have on the sign at pickup.
  • Unfortunately the group had major flight delays coming into LHR but I was able to email the operator with updated flight info. The company was great to work with and stayed atop the new ETAs to pick up the group and made it seamless for the group to get to the hotel.
  • And I was able to go and enjoy London that day without having to monitor everything religiously and/or stay at the hotel for wi-fi to take phone calls!

How to save even more money

• Viator Rewards:
  • Introduced last year, this program gives you 5% of the tour price on eligible bookings upon completion. (You can see the rewards amount during booking or on your confirmation if eligible)
  • Once added to your account, the funds can be used towards future bookings.
  • Beautiful tips: Learn from my unfortunate mistakes.
    • 1: You will earn rewards in the currency of your first booking so all other bookings need to be in that currency to earn rewards (ie 1st: paid in US dollars, 5th: paid in British pounds – you would not earn on this one)
    • 2: Rewards expire 180 days after they are added to your account.
• For those that do not have cards that waive foreign transaction fees, when you purchase a tour on Viator, you can pay in your currency of choice* (*from those offered by Viator)
• Need another reason to check out Viator? Here’s 15% off to make your first booking

Helpful hints

• The name of the tour operator is provided in the tour description so it is easy to read other sources for company reviews and to check pricing. Every tour that I booked on Viator vs what the operators were charging on their own website was virtually the same for that cruise
• The other big reason why I used Viator was with the ability to book through a shopping portal for major points (did you really think that I wouldn’t have some related to travel hacking here)?

Final thoughts and why I am still using Viator today

Back to solo travels for me and I still use Viator for the same reasons. One benefit in particular has turned out to be unbelievably helpful: the free cancellation policy. Travel is so unpredictable in this day and age especially as I have been traveling to areas majorly impacted by weather. In many cases, if I had booked directly with the operator, I would not have had such a generous cancellation policy as the one when booking with Viator. I have had quite a few ports cancelled and was able to cancel my Viator bookings without penalty but I know of others booking directly or through other channels were not so lucky and weren’t given a refund.

Lastly, I haven’t had a negative experience with any of my Viator bookings but I think there’s two additional reasons

• First, I feel comfortable with asking a lot of questions beforehand with the operators if needed – especially as I have been booking shore excursions on my cruises. There are so many companies out there so why give your money to those that aren’t responsive or helpful? For example, if you are on a cruise when it’s vital to get back to the ship, you can opt to go with a tour that operates to ensure that.
• Secondly, I think that the companies being vetted by Viator makes a difference in why they are responsive. There is a powerful motivator for them to stay on the platform so this works in our favor!

Do you use Viator to book? Will you now?