Booking Software for Private and Custom Tours
You are not selling seats any more. You are selling a guide's day, a vehicle and an experience shaped around one party.
Shared tours sell places on a departure. Private tours sell the whole departure to one family, couple or company. That one change breaks the assumptions behind much booking software: prices are per group, capacity is a guide and a vehicle rather than a number of seats, and many bookings start as a conversation instead of a checkout.
This guide covers what to look for in software for private and custom tours. It is part of the tour-type series, and the day-to-day running of private groups is covered in our guide to group bookings and private tours.
Per-group pricing
Private tours are usually priced per group, because your cost is mostly the guide and the vehicle whatever the party size. Three models are common:
- A flat price up to a set size, such as one price for up to four guests.
- Tiers by group size, where the price steps up at five, nine or thirteen guests as you need a larger vehicle or a second guide.
- Per person with a minimum, which looks familiar to guests but protects you on small parties.
As an illustration: $240 for up to four guests and $60 for each extra guest up to eight means a party of six pays $360. Whatever the model, the guest should see the total for their party before paying, and the system should refuse sizes your vehicles cannot carry.
Availability by guide and vehicle
A private tour at 10am takes a guide, and often a vehicle and driver, until it ends. So availability should come from your resources, not from a seat count:
- with three guides free on Saturday morning, you can sell three private tours, not one per product;
- a private booking on one product should reduce what every other product can sell at the same time;
- guides with the right language or specialism should be matched to each booking;
- a canceled booking should release the guide and vehicle on every channel.
Operators who run shared and private versions of the same tour need both models side by side, drawing on the same guides.
Instant booking or quote
Private tours arrive in two ways. Standard private versions of your tours, at a set price, can be booked instantly like any other product. Custom routes, special requests, large groups and multi-day trips start as an inquiry and need a quote.
The quote is where private tours are won or lost. It should go out quickly, look professional, show a clear total and let the client accept and pay from a link, after which it should become a booking without anyone retyping it. Speed matters: a family comparing three private guides may well book the first clear, priced answer they receive. Keep a library of your standard routes, add-ons and prices so a custom quote starts from something close rather than a blank page. Our guide to travel proposal software compares the tools that do this.
Customization and changes
- Pickup and drop-off at the client's hotel, home or office.
- Add-ons such as lunch, tickets or an extra stop, priced and added to the total.
- Party size changes, which may move the booking into a different price tier or vehicle.
- Route changes that need the guide told before the day.
- Requests for accessibility, children or a particular guide.
Letting the client make simple changes themselves, such as adding a pickup or a guest, saves rounds of email and keeps the price accurate.
Corporate, hotel and repeat clients
A good share of private work comes back through the same doors: a hotel concierge who books a private city tour for guests every week, a company that runs team outings each quarter, an agency that sends families in the summer. These clients want speed and consistency more than a new proposal each time.
Keep their history in one customer record, agree their rates or commission once, and let them book standard private options directly rather than by email. Invoicing at the end of the month may suit companies and agencies better than a card payment for every booking.
Deposits and payment plans
When you hold a guide and vehicle for one party, a late cancellation costs you the whole departure. For high-value or multi-day private tours, a deposit at booking and the balance before the date is common, with cancellation terms that rise as the date approaches. For short private tours at modest prices, full payment at booking is simpler. Our guides to taking deposits and payment plans cover the policies.
Private options on marketplaces
Marketplaces such as GetYourGuide and Viator sell private tours as an option on a listing, often priced per group or in tiers by group size. They bring guests who would never find a private guide on their own, but a private booking from a marketplace blocks a guide just as a direct one does.
Connect those listings two-way, so a private booking on one channel reduces availability on all of them, and check that marketplace price tiers match your own. Custom quotes stay on your own website and in your inbox, where you can shape them.
Checklist
- Can I price per group, in tiers by size, or per person with a minimum?
- Does a private booking reduce availability by guide and vehicle across products?
- Can shared and private versions of a tour share the same guides?
- Can I send a quote the client accepts and pays from a link?
- Can clients add pickups, guests and extras themselves?
- Can I take a deposit and set cancellation terms for private bookings?
- Do marketplace private options stay in sync with my own availability?
Where Travelity fits
Private and custom tours are where Travelity's Trip Proposal Builder, included on every plan, does most of its work. The client gets a shareable link showing the itinerary and a transparent total, with the original price, any discount and the saving. From that link they can add pickup and drop-off locations, change add-ons, add participants, accept your policies, upload documents and confirm or pay. Products carry their own options and price tiers, dynamic pricing is available on every plan, and Daily Operations fills vehicles according to your rules and assigns guides, drivers and vehicles from one schedule. Professional adds inquiry management, and private options stay in sync with GetYourGuide, Viator, Trip.com and Google Things to Do.
Test how private bookings draw on your guides and vehicles across products in the free 21-day trial; no card is needed. Plans are on our pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
How should private tours be priced in booking software?
Usually per group rather than per person: a flat price up to a set group size, tiers that rise with group size, or a per-person price with a minimum. The booking system should show the total for the party clearly before payment, whichever model you use.
How is availability managed for private tours?
By the guides and vehicles you have free, not by seats. Each private booking takes a guide and often a vehicle for its time slot, so availability should fall when they are committed and reappear when a booking is canceled, across every channel.
Do private tours need a quote or an instant booking?
Both. Standard private versions of your tours can be booked instantly at a set price, while custom routes, special requests and larger groups usually start as a quote. Good software handles both and turns an accepted quote into a booking without retyping.
Can private tours be sold on GetYourGuide and Viator?
Yes, usually as a private option on a listing, priced per group or in tiers by group size. Connect the listing to your booking system so a private booking blocks the guide and vehicle and closes the slot on other channels.
Should private tours take a deposit?
For high-value or multi-day private tours, a deposit at booking and the balance before the date is common, because you commit a guide and vehicle to one party. For short private tours at modest prices, full payment at booking is simpler.
Bottom line
Private tours need booking software built around the party, not the seat: per-group prices, availability that follows your guides and vehicles, quotes that turn into bookings, and changes the client can make without an email chain.
Test it with two private bookings for the same morning on different products, and see whether the system knows you only have one guide left.
Related guides
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