Creating Value with Add-ons: A Tour Operator’s Guide to Success

As every tour operator knows, travelers seek all types of experiences. Sun-seekers live for that hot weather. Adventurers crave that adrenaline rush. Culture vultures want that immersion in history. It’s your job to deliver experiences that are as smooth and stress-free as they are unforgettable.

Savvy tour operators know there is a lot of value in going that extra mile—from positive reviews to increased customer loyalty and more revenue. Anything you can do to make travellers’ experiences even more memorable or unique is more than worth the time, money and effort. But what if there was a way to enhance your customers’ experiences and increase your revenue—without extra staff and resources? 

Tour and travel add-ons are additional services or products you can offer alongside your main tours and activities. Let’s take a look at the benefits of offering add-ons, check out some examples, and share best practices for seamlessly integrating tour and travel add-ons into your booking process.

What are tour and travel add-ons?

Tour and travel add-ons can range from convenient pickup and drop-off services, to experiences like gourmet meals, photography packages, and VIP access to events or attractions. 

The use of add-ons as a strategy can be traced back to when airlines started “unbundling” services like seat selection, meals and baggage that were traditionally bundled with a flight purchase. This allowed passengers to tailor their flight to their particular preferences, and it led to a general unbundling trend across the travel industry. In turn, this has created a great opportunity for travel and tour operators to offer tailored add-ons.

Benefits of tour and travel add-ons

The beauty of add-ons as a tool for tour operators is their ability to both boost your income and increase customer satisfaction, without the hassle and expense of investing in additional staff or other costs and resources. Here are some key benefits of offering add-ons:

More income without the extra work: Add-ons provide the opportunity for customers to spend more of their vacation budget on things they want or need with you instead of another company. If you choose your add-ons carefully they can add significant income, without requiring you to hire more staff or affecting your operations in a negative way. 

Improved customer satisfaction: Enabling customers to customize their experience through add-ons means they’re more likely to be satisfied with the tour.

Pricing flexibility: Instead of bundling everything together under one price, you can provide different levels of pricing and enable customers to pick and choose the add-on services and experiences that appeal to them most. 

Standing out in the market: Add-ons can help you stand out from the competition. By offering a range of unique or exclusive experiences and services as add-ons, you can gain a competitive edge and broaden the target audience for your tours and activities.

Why travelers love add-ons

Those are the benefits of add-ons to your business. What about your customers? It’s all about choice, customization and feeling in control. Travelers enjoy having the option to feel more in control of their trip by personalizing it to their interests, budget and needs. Add-ons allow them to do just that. 

Personalization: Add-ons give your customers the freedom to choose to pay for what matters most to them, whether that’s convenient services, luxury upgrades, or something unique they hadn’t considered at the time of booking.

Convenience: Add-ons make the online booking process even more convenient for customers. Instead of having to arrange transportation, meals, gear rental, or other extras on their own, they can select the add-ons and options when they book.

Value: By giving your customers more choice of what they pay for or don’t pay for when booking their trip, they are more likely to feel they are getting a good deal—and an experience they are confident is customized to their needs. 

Examples of add-ons for tour operators

When selecting what add-ons to offer, the important thing is to know your audience and their needs and interests. You could even survey your customers to see what add-ons they might appreciate. Remember, it’s not just about making more money, although that is a huge benefit, it’s also about providing value and ensuring your customers have the best travel possible experience. You can also search for things you currently offer as bundled experiences and services, but that you could easily unbundle.

Here are a few travel add-on ideas to consider.

Pick-up and drop-off services: Getting to your accommodation on arrival can be one of the most stressful parts of any trip. Convenient pick-up and drop-off services can be very valuable to travelers arriving in unfamiliar destinations with limited public transportation or other options. You can also easily integrate this add-on into your Rezgo booking system by creating specific pick-up locations. Check out our guide to creating pickup locations.

Meal options: Food-related add-ons are always popular. They can include everything from daily breakfast to a packed lunch as part of a hike to a gourmet meal in a local restaurant. Rezgo allows you to easily add meal options as part of the booking process; customers just choose their preferences during checkout. 

Seasonal and activity-specific gear: Not everyone can or wants to buy specialist gear for a trip and many people like to travel light, especially when airlines charge for extra baggage. This creates an opportunity to offer seasonal or activity-specific gear as add-ons. This could be specialist gear, such as camping gear or wetsuits, or it could just be more everyday items people often forget, such as sunglasses, sunscreen, hats, and water bottles. Other items could include umbrellas, branded towels, swimwear and first-aid kits to ensure travelers are prepared for anything.

VIP access: Consider offering VIP access to events and attractions, or exclusive experiences that enable your customers to treat themselves and customize their trip further. This could mean early access to a popular attraction, use of a private guide, or a behind-the-scenes tour that isn’t available to the general public.

Photography packages: Taking photos that make a trip live long in the memory is hugely important to travelers, especially in the social media age. A photography add-on for a trip or experience ensures they get professional-quality photos to remember their experience. Rezgo’s integration with Fotaflo enables you to offer automatic photo delivery as part of your efforts to provide the best customer experience possible, as well adding an additional revenue stream to your business.

Trip insurance and refund protection: Trip insurance is a very common add-on. It provides peace of mind to your customers and saves them shopping around for insurance themselves. From a business perspective, you save time and money by avoiding common refund issues. We make it easy to include enhanced refund protection.

Branded merchandise: “Need a hat for your trip?” A fun way for customers to remember their trip is through branded merchandise like t-shirts, hats, water bottles and towels. Rezgo’s Merchandise System allows you to easily and seamlessly manage and sell physical products as add-ons as part of the booking process.

Special occasion add-ons: Many people take a trip to mark a special occasion, such as a birthday, graduation or anniversary. These customers might appreciate the option to choose a tailored package that makes the occasion even more special, such as custom cakes, private tours, event tickets, and more.

As an example of how different add-ons can work for different travel businesses, and how you can sell the benefits to customers, an adventure activity company could offer the following add-ons with a whitewater rafting day trip:

• “Waterproof GoPro rental: Document your rafting experience with a waterproof GoPro camera to capture every thrill and—hopefully not—spill.”
• “Riverside BBQ lunch: Enjoy a gourmet BBQ lunch back at our HQ on the riverbank after your adventure.”
• “Trip insurance: Protect your booking with our refund protection, ensuring peace of mind in case of unexpected changes.”

How to make add-ons work for you—and your customers

To make the most of add-ons, they need to be easy for you to integrate into your business, especially your booking process, and easy for your customers to see the value in, browse, and select add-ons.

Seamless integration: Make sure your add-ons are easy to find and select during the booking process. Whether you’re using price checkboxes or dropdowns, your aim should be to ensure a smooth and straightforward booking experience for your customers. Learn more about Rezgo’s Custom Booking Fields.

Communicate the benefits: It’s crucial to clearly communicate the benefits of each add-on to your customers. Provide detailed descriptions and highlight the value of each option. This helps customers make informed decisions and understand exactly what they’re getting with each add-on.

Offer a range of options: Some customers may want to go all out when booking their trip, while others might prefer just a few carefully-selected extras. Cater to different customer needs and preferences by offering a variety of add-ons. 

Let technology do the heavy lifting: Part of the success of add-ons as a strategy is how easy it is to offer and sell them. Use the technology available to you to streamline the management and sale of add-ons. This not only improves the customer experience but also simplifies your operations.

Integrating add-ons into your business results in increased revenue and more satisfied customers. Rezgo provides the tools you need to manage and sell add-ons effortlessly, whether it’s through our merchandise system, integrations, or simple booking fields. 

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