Viator is committed to helping our customers learn about and enjoy their vacation destination: we do that by selecting quality activities and tours offered by respected and established local tour operators all around the world. And over time, we’ve come to understand that one of the really vital elements in the products we offer is the Tour Guides themselves.
In some instances neither Viator nor our local tour operator employs the guides; they are provided by the attraction itself. In the case of the Tower of London, only former servicemen with 22 years service can apply for the role. That breeds, it seems, a very particular sort of Tour Guide:
When you think about the skills a Tour Guide needs to master, you begin to see our point: a guide needs to be a historian, a lecturer, a teacher, a navigator, sometimes a driver, a linguist, a customer service specialist, a diplomat… and often enough a psychologist as well! So when we begin to consider a new Tour Operator, the first thing we do is check out their tours by tagging along on a few. It quickly becomes apparent what type of approach the guides have, and whether that matches with Viator’s standards.
One thing we’re not looking for is numbers! Some guides bewilder their guests with so many numbers you begin to feel like a calculator keyboard: “Gaudi was born in ____, so he was only ___ when he started work on the Cathedral, which stands ___ meters tall and measures ___ meters in circumference.” Oh! For God’s sake, no more numbers! How about “Gaudi was still a young man when he started work on the cathedral, which as you can see, is incredibly big.”
Of course we like our Guides to know these numbers; and there’s often an engineer or some sort of geek in the crowd who’ll ask “What’s the circumference?” so you can find out if you really need it. But you won’t remember it. That’s what those Lonely Planet books are for; or WikiPedia!
What we are looking for is a Guide who understands why this destination or attraction might be interesting to our customers, and who can explore that connection with them. That’s not the sort of thing that guides learn in a classroom, it comes from experience and listening and an innate ability that really can’t be taught. We often hear our local operators bemoan the difficulties involved in finding great guides; an ability to find and retain quality tour guides is one of the key things that separates great tour operators from the also-rans.
When you book a Viator tour, do so with confidence that your tour guide is a professional who really knows and understands what they’re talking about, and who will ensure you get the most from your investment in the tour.
-Rod Cuthbert
March 18, 2011 by Rod
Musings from Viator's Founder, Places to Go