We recently became aware of an interesting new feature from GetYourGuide when they approached one of our clients. We’re sharing what we know in case this is of use to others; however, both the feature itself, and our understanding of it, are nascent, so we encourage you to investigate this further.
What Is The GetYourGuide Ticketing Solution?
GetYourGuide has created a checkout process that taps into your booking engine using the API to check availability and make bookings. This is only a front-end system change; they are not asking you to abandon your back-end system. (However, it sounds like they do also offer a full solution for those that are interested.)
Why Is GetYourGuide Contacting Me?
GetYourGuide is able to tap into your revenue stream and potentially charge a percent of revenue lower than your booking engine does. By doing so, they can leverage the platform and your traffic and revenue, to generate revenue for GetYourGuide while also potentially saving you money and improving your conversion rate.
Am I Giving Up My Booking Engine?
No. You’re not switching your back-end system; only the checkout flow on your website.
How Do I Make The Switch?
Your developer makes minor code changes on your website to change how your booking buttons work. GetYourGuide claims that this is a 15-minute job. In some cases, that will be true. For most of our clients, the process would take a couple of hours or less.
What Are The Upsides?
- Lower fees. GetYourGuide may be able to offer a lower fee than your booking engine offers.
- Potentially higher conversion rates. If GetYourGuide’s checkout process is more user friendly than your booking engine’s checkout process, you may see higher conversion rates, leading to higher revenue and a lower cost of acquisition.
- 10% commission on “more unforgettable tours in the area,” presented to customers after they book with you.
- Language translation. GetYourGuide’s solution is translated into 19 languages and 40+ currencies.
- “Official Site” link in Google Things To Do. (This is something your booking or distribution partner should already be providing, so this may not be an advantage for you.) This will likely link directly to the GetYourGuide ticketing solution rather than your site, but this is still your most direct sales channel (other than in-person).
What Are The Downsides?
[Also see What Are The Unknowns?]
- An OTA takes over your direct sales—albeit at a direct sales rate.
- No upselling. The GetYourGuide solution does not currently support add-ons or upgrades.
- All of your online bookings will now become 3rd-party bookings. If 3rd-party bookings are a hassle for you to manage in your system (customers rescheduling or canceling, etc.), this may be a downside for you. For others, this may be a non-issue.
- Confirmation emails will come from GetYourGuide.
- It is highly likely that the booking engines will adjust their pricing models to close this loophole. If GetYourGuide starts taking 100% of your online sales, booking engines that rely heavily on online commissions will lose most or all of the revenue they’re generating from you today. If you are willing to live with the other downsides for at least short-term savings, the risk is minimal. Just be ready to switch back to your booking engine’s checkout process if a fee gets added by your booking engine for API-based sales.
- If you currently have a waiver integration, it may not work. GetYourGuide can add a waiver link in their confirmation email, but if you have a solid integration right now that ties a waiver to a specific booking, that may not work.
What Are The Unknowns?
How/whether conversion tracking is thorough and accurate. Does ecommerce data get into Google Analytics? Does cross-domain tracking work correctly so that the data is accurate? Does their solution support GA4? How is conversion data sent to platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, etc.? All we know from GetYourGuide so far is, “We push our events directly into the client’s primary domain and do not open any additional tab.”
Should I Make The Switch?
We’re going to stop short of making any broad recommendations aside from the following suggestions:
- Run the numbers to see how this will impact you.
- Make sure you can live with any feature loss or any downsides mentioned above.
- Ask questions and/or conduct testing to ensure that your measurement and tracking work correctly.
- Run an a/b test if possible, particularly watching your ecommerce conversion rate. Our website ROI calculator may be of use as you track this data.)
- Understand the impact on your booking platform. Their revenue model may depend on your web sales, and this solution appears to cut their revenue stream.
