How to contact travelers like a pro (with templates!)
It’s essential to contact travelers before and after the guruwalk. If you do it the right way, you can get more money and better reviews on your profile. In this post, you’ll discover when and how to contact travelers like a pro, with practical examples that you can adapt to your tour. Let’s go!
Very important! Although you don’t know what to answer when you receive a message from travelers, it’s very important to always answer them and as soon as possible! Otherwise they will come to us to complain 😉
Why is it important to contact travelers?
Travelers already received an automatic confirmation email when booking your guruwalk, so why would you bother yourself sending private messages to travelers?
- Receive more money: Travelers usually prepared the money they will give you before the tour! So everything you do before can have an impact on that amount.
- Get better reviews: If you provide an amazing experience before and after the guruwalk, travelers will feel grateful and write about it in their reviews.
- Reduce no-shows: When travelers see you care about them, they will also care about you! And they will make sure to let you know if they can’t participate in your guruwalk.
You can achieve it if:
- Travelers see you like a professional. Acting like a professional is about sending personalized, useful and well-structured messages to travelers. It shows you care about them. A professional guide answers all their doubts and questions within a short period of time and gives them recommendations to enhance their stay in your city.
- Travelers have better expectations of the tour. Is it going to rain? Is it very cold outside? Are some museums going to be closed? Read again the description of your guruwalk and ask yourself how travelers imagine the experience they’ll have. The closest to reality, the better. So don’t hesitate to message travelers before the tour to make sure they will have the right expectations.
How to contact travelers before the tour?
As written before, all your messages should be useful, personalized and well-structured. Forget about writing cold emails and make them friendly and professional at the same time. Set up your templates and automate welcome, reminder and thank you messages in the messaging system
To save and organize your templates, you can use Trello, with cards of colors containing the different templates. Trello is great as it’s also an app, so you can answer quickly in any situation.
Case 1: If you have a booking a week / a few days before
This is the most usual case. In this situation, we recommend sending 2 messages: one to personally confirm the booking when it’s done and a friendly reminder 24-48h before the tour.
First message – confirm the booking
- When? When you receive the booking.
- How?
- Introduce yourself;
- Personally confirm the booking;
- Thank for the booking;
- Explain the focus of your tour (= meet expectations);
- Write your phone number again;
- Give the link of your tour for details.
Hi Neil,
I’m Bernard, your guru in Valencia, nice to meet you! 🙂
I confirm your booking on April, 6th at 10:30. Thank you so much for choosing my guruwalk! Hope you like historical legends, and funny anecdotes, because my tour is all about that!
Looking forward to meeting you in Valencia!
Best regards,
Bernard
PS: You can contact me through WhatsApp: +32 4XX 81 33 47
Tour’s link with details: https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/etc
Second message – Friendly reminder with practical information
- When? At least 24-48h before the tour.
- How?
- Practical information (day, schedule, meeting point, ways to recognize you);
- Recommendations (shoes, sunscreen, traffic, how to use public transport,…);
- Ask if there is any change.
Hi Neil,
Just a friendly reminder that we have a tour on Saturday at 10:30.
I’ll be waiting for you at the Plaza de la Virgen (https://goo.gl/maps/R1YsspExqNU2) with a red t-shirt ‘GuruWalk’ and a big smile. It may rain so make sure to bring an umbrella, comfortable shoes, and… your curiosity!
Don’t hesitate to let me know if there is any change.
Can’t wait for Saturday,
Bernard+324XX813347
Case 2: If you have a very early booking
Imagine you have a booking for a tour in 2 months. Many things can happen in 2 months.
Imagine the traveler ask you if the tour is confirmed but you still don’t know. In this case, it’s very important to answer, even you’re not sure! You should always answer travelers, so they know you saw their messages.
Moreover, a bit before the tour, we suggest you send an additional message, asking travelers to re-confirm their assistance.
Additional message – Can you re-confirm?
- When? At least one week before the tour, between the first confirmation message and the reminder.
- How?
- Asking for reconfirmation of the walker;
- Asking for traveler’s phone number (if not given in the booking details);
- Tour link.
Hi Neil,
As you did the booking a long time ago, could you please re-confirm that you’ll attend the tour? On my side, the tour is still confirmed as scheduled.
Do you have WhatsApp? This way I can send you practical information and pictures of the meeting point. Thank you!
Really excited to show you my city!
See you next week,
Bernard
Tour link: https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/etc
Case 3: If you have a very last minute booking
Imagine you have a booking on the same day or a few hours before the tour. In this situation, your walkers are probably already traveling and most of them will not look at their email box. That’s why you could skip sending an email, but we still recommend sending one, just in case. It’s just a message to confirm the tour and send practical information.
Last minute booking message
- When? When you receive the booking.
- How?
- Introduce yourself;
- Thank/confirm the booking;
- Share practical details;
- Give some recommendations;
- Write your phone number again;
Hi Neil,
I’m Bernard, your guru in Moscow, nice to meet you! 🙂 Thank you so much for choosing my guruwalk! I’ll be waiting for you at 10:30 at the Red Square (https://goo.gl/maps/3giDRQTEMwrACzwt6) with a rainbow umbrella and a big smile. It may rain so make sure to bring an umbrella, comfortable shoes, and… your curiosity!
Here is my phone number/WhatsApp: +32 4XX 81 33 47
Can’t wait to meet tomorrow/in a few hours!
Best regards, Bernard
Contact travelers after the tour
The tour is over, but you can still invite travelers to leave you feedback!
A few hours later via the automatic thank-you message on the platform and/or a few days later via WhatsApp.
You can do it the same day of the tour, through the automatic thank-you message that you can activate, or you can do them a few days later, because travelers are less likely to check their emails while traveling. Most gurus ask for the travelers' phone number to send them the group photo. But it could also be to give some local recommendations, answer a question, etc.
Hi Neil, I’m Bernard, your guru in Rome! 🙂 You can find the group picture below. It was awesome having you on my tour today! If you feel the same, I’d be so grateful to have your review on my profile. This way more people will know about my tour: https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/etc/testimonials/new Thank you so much, and enjoy your stay in my lovely city! 🙂 
A week after the tour
You didn’t get the phone number of your travelers? You didn’t want to bother them during their stay? No worries, you can still send an email. After a week, most travelers are back home with easy access to their emails, so that’s the right moment to send a follow-up for a review (in the case they didn’t leave one, of course).
Hi Neil, It’s already been a week since we met during my tour in Valencia! It was awesome having you here. If you feel the same, I’d be so grateful to have your review on my profile: https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/TOURNUMBER/testimonials/new It means a lot! Thank you so much for your support! 🙂 Don’t hesitate to let me know if you’re coming back one day to Valencia. Best regards, Bernard And what about you? Is there something you’d like to add? How do you do it?
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