What is 'toursbylocals'?

Is this a company like Viator that consolidates tours by other companies?

We're looking for some private tours in South America and sifting through all the available data is a little overwhelming.

Is this a company like Viator that consolidates tours by other companies?

 

We're looking for some private tours in South America and sifting through all the available data is a little overwhelming.

I had a great experience with another company last year, since I could book many tours with them in different ports of South America having excellent proffessional tour guides and getting good prices. You can contact them at this site tourguideushuaia.net

thanks for the leads! I appreciate your response.

Hi! We've used ToursByLocals for city tours and shore excursions in a number of places now (Hawaii, Paris, Croatia, London, and about to meet a guide in Buenos Aires at the end of October). They're different than Viator in that the company isn't so much a re-seller of tours, but more of a private tour operator. I have liked being able to get in touch with the guides and customize itineraries, rather than buy the tour 'as-is'. Sometimes that's an easier approach than wading through all the suggested tour itineraries, which, like you say, can be a bit overwhelming with all the different options. Have a great trip!

Hi! We've used ToursByLocals for city tours and shore excursions in a number of places now (Hawaii, Paris, Croatia, London, and about to meet a guide in Buenos Aires at the end of October). They're different than Viator in that the company isn't so much a re-seller of tours, but more of a private tour operator. I have liked being able to get in touch with the guides and customize itineraries, rather than buy the tour 'as-is'. Sometimes that's an easier approach than wading through all the suggested tour itineraries, which, like you say, can be a bit overwhelming with all the different options. Have a great trip!

Did you ever have a cancelled port when booked with Tours By Locals? How difficult/easy was it to get a refund of your downpayment? Or did you get one?

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Did you ever have a cancelled port when booked with Tours By Locals? How difficult/easy was it to get a refund of your downpayment? Or did you get one?

 

 

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Tours by locals is a booker based in the USA. They have guides in many countries. If you ask for a guide they have a list for you to choose from. They take your money (prepaid), book your guide and tell the guide your needs, the guide is an independent operator and usually works for several bookers and or tour agents. For finding the customer and telling the guide, Tours by Locals gets 50% of the tour price. They pay the guides once a month -- the following month (if your tour takes place on Oct. 18 and you booked your tour June 2 YOU pay June 2 on booking and they pay your guide 50% of the tour cost on November 15). They do help guides connect with customers but I prefer to find my own guide through internet and make my deals and details by email. TBL does have some good guides but guides work cheaper if you book without the booking agent.

Did you ever have a cancelled port when booked with Tours By Locals? How difficult/easy was it to get a refund of your downpayment? Or did you get one?

Fortunately this has never been an issue for us, but I did ask about it before booking. The company has a straightforward "force majeure" refund policy that offers full refunds if the ship doesn't make it into port for any reason.

Tours by locals is a booker based in the USA. They have guides in many countries. If you ask for a guide they have a list for you to choose from. They take your money (prepaid), book your guide and tell the guide your needs, the guide is an independent operator and usually works for several bookers and or tour agents. For finding the customer and telling the guide, Tours by Locals gets 50% of the tour price. They pay the guides once a month -- the following month (if your tour takes place on Oct. 18 and you booked your tour June 2 YOU pay June 2 on booking and they pay your guide 50% of the tour cost on November 15). They do help guides connect with customers but I prefer to find my own guide through internet and make my deals and details by email. TBL does have some good guides but guides work cheaper if you book without the booking agent.

Actually, this isn't quite how it works. I have always communicated directly with the Tours by Locals guide, via email. The company doesn't do that on my behalf. Also, they're Canadian, not American (maybe not important to you, but as a Canuck, I like this :D). And guides get 80% of the tour price, not 50% (a detail I researched early on, as I like to get money into the hands of local suppliers.)

Perhaps things have changed some since I had the conversation with a guide in Rio. He was trying to be an independent guide booking without a 3 rd party. We spent a week with him and so this was many conversations over the week. I try to not look at TBL because if I can't find the guide without TLB then I make myself pay for their services-- seems fair to me. They also will not hire a guide if they speak of the financial information-- This is pretty common to use booking services to fill out the guide's schdule. In Bali we took a wrong turn and ended up in the staging parking lot for a Princess shore excursion-- The guides were changing signs on cars and vans and picking up uniform shirts to go on a 30 bus trip to paradise trip. Essentially Cruiseline is also a booker. Guides take the lower price because it is steady income compared to hoping enough private business comes in

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I see that it is indeed a Canadian company. Early in their history there was an office in Boston for USA payments and arrangements. That might have stopped years ago now that international commerce over internet is now so very common as is fund transfer. At the time I used them (early in company's history), You contacted your guide by email through the company server. They never used the guides last name only first so harder to locate. The company said they started because it was so hard to locate guides and make arrangements. Let me second that! Almost never reserved hotel rooms etc. Took weeks to mail details back and forth. If you had the money hired a travel agent to make arrangements but some of the agents wanted to sell you what they had. It is of course much easier these days and I enjoy doing my own arrangements. Tours by Locals seems to be reliable and probably quicker than doing the research yourself.

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Is this a company like Viator that consolidates tours by other companies?

 

 

 

We're looking for some private tours in South America and sifting through all the available data is a little overwhelming.

I would say that Tours BY Locals is more of a booking agent for travelers and a founding or lead service for guides. The guide pays them for finding customer (% of fee) and perhaps some fees by the customer too. Viatour books set tours by other companies. Some of the tours can be exclusive to your group others are seat on tour tickets.

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Wow! Lot of explanations. I organize all by local tour guides in each port with a Buenos Aires Tour Operator : LIZ Concierge services.

This is a person that answer you and is connected with chile, uruguay , brasil and peru. And lead in Buenos Aires.

No platforms. No intermediates. No unknown guides. All are independent and they live through word of mouth so they don´t have to pay anyone to get clients, they are not a marketing solution. They are history people, architectures, licensed guides, economists, very interesting and all madure people that are really experts and bilinguals contact her at

liz2arg at yahoo dot com