GetYourGuide is a leading online travel agency (OTA) that specializes in tours, activities, and attractions worldwide. In simple terms, it acts as a marketplace connecting travelers with local tour operators, offering everything from museum tickets and walking tours to adventure excursions. To really grasp GetYourGuide’s business model, it helps to understand how every booking on the site generates value for all parties involved.
This article will break down how GetYourGuide makes money through commissions, how prices are shared between the platform and providers, the role of reviews and algorithms in a tour’s visibility, the marketing partnerships driving its growth, and how the company balances traveler satisfaction with profit margins.
Jump to: How GetYourGuide Makes Money • Splitting the Price • Reviews, Ratings, and Algorithm • Marketing and Partnerships • Traveler Satisfaction • Conclusion • FAQ
TL;DR
- GetYourGuide earns money through a commission-based model (typically 20–30% per booking).
- Operators list tours for free and only pay commission when bookings are completed.
- Ranking depends on sales performance, availability, and customer reviews.
- Partnerships with airlines, affiliates, and exclusive “Originals” tours drive traffic.
- The company balances profitability with traveler trust and partner satisfaction.
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How GetYourGuide Makes Money
GetYourGuide’s primary revenue model is commission-based. The platform does not own or run the tours itself – instead, it acts as an intermediary between travelers and independent tour operators. Whenever a traveler book an activity through GetYourGuide, the company earns a commission or booking fee on that transaction.
In practice, this means if you pay, say, $100 for a tour on the site, a portion (typically around 20–30%) is kept by GetYourGuide as commission, and the rest goes to the tour provider. This commission is built into the price you see; from the customer’s perspective, there’s just a single price to pay, while the platform and the provider later settle the split internally.
Importantly, GetYourGuide only earns money when it actually generates a booking for an operator. Listing an activity on the site is free for suppliers – there are no upfront costs to be on the platform. The company makes money only when a booking is completed, taking its cut after a traveler has paid. This success-based model aligns GetYourGuide’s incentives with those of the tour operators: the more tours an operator sells, the more revenue GetYourGuide earns.
As a result, the platform is highly motivated to help suppliers get bookings and “works hard to get you bookings” as one industry overview put it. Many in the tour industry even consider OTA commissions a form of marketing expense – essentially, operators pay GetYourGuide for marketing and selling their tours, and they “only pay the sales and marketing costs when they get the booking”.
In other words, if no one books, the operator pays nothing; if bookings come in, the operator gives a pre-agreed slice to the platform in exchange for that customer. This approach has proven successful in the travel industry, and GetYourGuide is no exception: it profits from every booking made on its platform while enabling operators to tap into a global customer base without massive upfront marketing costs.
Splitting the Price
How is the price of a tour split between the operator and GetYourGuide? In each booking, the operator receives the majority of the payment, and GetYourGuide takes a commission fee out of the total. Commission rates typically range from about 20% up to 30% of the booking value. For example, if an experience is listed at $100, the tour provider might keep roughly $70–$80, while $20–$30 goes to GetYourGuide.
The exact commission can vary based on factors like the destination, the type of activity, and the volume of bookings the operator brings in. High-volume or strategically important partners can sometimes negotiate lower rates, whereas smaller or new suppliers might start at the higher end of the range.
All of this is handled behind the scenes – the price a traveler sees already includes the platform’s cut, and suppliers are generally asked to keep the commission arrangements confidential (travelers won’t be told “X% is going to GetYourGuide” on the booking page).
GetYourGuide’s commission isn’t arbitrary; it’s designed to cover the value the platform provides. According to the company, the commission fee covers the use of its technology platform, the global marketing reach it delivers, customer service (e.g. multilingual 24/7 support to travelers), and the handling of secure payments and booking logistics.
In essence, tour operators are paying GetYourGuide to find customers for them and handle the booking process. Many operators view this as a fair trade-off – since the commission comes out only when a sale is made, it’s a “guaranteed return on investment” in marketing.
It’s worth noting that commission rates across the tours-and-activities industry have inched upwards in recent years, and GetYourGuide’s rates are in line with other major OTAs. (For context, one of GetYourGuide’s main competitors, Viator, has a baseline commission around 25–27%.) In mid-2025, GetYourGuide notified some operators of a commission increase (in some cases up to 30%), citing the need to “reflect current market conditions”.
This sparked concern among those operators, as a higher cut for the platform means a thinner margin for the local business. After pushback, the company actually reversed many of those increases for operators who appealed, with a spokesperson saying they are listening to partner feedback.
This episode highlights that while GetYourGuide needs to earn revenue, it also must keep its network of providers on board – a theme we’ll revisit when discussing balance and sustainability. For now, the key point is that GetYourGuide’s income on each booking is a commission percentage of the price, and that percentage is generally in the 20–30% range under normal circumstances.
Reviews, Ratings, and Algorithm
With over 60,000 activities (and counting) on GetYourGuide’s marketplace , not every tour can be front-and-center. This is where GetYourGuide’s search ranking algorithm comes into play. The platform uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the order in which tours and activities appear when travelers search for things to do.
According to GetYourGuide’s own partner resources, this ranking system integrates various factors such as traveler preferences, market trends, and each activity’s performance metrics to match travelers with experiences they are likely to love. In plain terms, tours that are popular and well-received tend to show up higher in the search results, whereas low-performing or poorly reviewed listings get less visibility.
GetYourGuide openly advises its suppliers on how to improve their ranking, indicating which factors matter most. Three key areas stand out :
- Conversion & Sales Performance: The algorithm looks at how well a listing converts views into bookings – essentially its conversion rate and revenue generated. Activities that attract clicks and actually lead to bookings are rewarded with higher placement. To improve this, operators are encouraged to enrich their pages with enticing descriptions, great photos, and clear pricing, since engaging content leads to more bookings (and thus higher rank).
- Availability: A tour that is widely available (offered on many dates, including last-minute openings) will meet more travelers’ search criteria and thus appear in more searches. Ensuring long-term availability (letting people book many months out) and last-minute availability (allowing bookings up to the start time) makes an activity more likely to match a traveler’s needs. In short, the more dates and slots open, the better your chances of showing up when someone is looking.
- Customer Reviews and Ratings: Perhaps most crucially, customer review scores heavily influence ranking. GetYourGuide places significant weight on traveler feedback – listings that consistently earn high star ratings and positive reviews have a much better chance of being featured at the top. This makes sense: a five-star sunset cruise that people rave about is likely to convert future customers and satisfy them, so the algorithm will favor it over a similar tour with mediocre reviews.
The emphasis on reviews and ratings cannot be overstated. In the travel experiences sector, positive reviews are almost a currency of trust. Travelers rely on them (9 out of 10 travelers read reviews before booking anything, surveys show), and GetYourGuide’s system uses them as a signal of quality. In fact, reviews don’t just influence human decisions – they also feed directly into the platform’s technology.
Strong reviews signal to the algorithm that a product is popular and trustworthy, which boosts its visibility in search results. The outcome is a virtuous cycle: great experiences lead to great reviews, which lead to higher search placement, which leads to more bookings. GetYourGuide has shared data illustrating how impactful this cycle is: for example, improving an activity’s average rating from 3 stars to 4 stars can increase its conversion rate by nearly 40%, dramatically lifting booking numbers.
And simply having a baseline of reviews matters too – one internal study found that activities with just 15 reviews were achieving 10 times more bookings on average than similar activities with zero reviews.
To ensure authenticity, GetYourGuide uses verified reviews, meaning only people who actually booked and experienced that tour through the platform can leave feedback. This approach prevents fake or misleading reviews and gives travelers confidence that the ratings reflect real customer experiences. For operators, the takeaway is clear: delivering excellent service and asking happy customers to leave a review is not just good hospitality, it’s good business.
A higher rating and positive comments will directly influence how often your tour shows up and how well it sells on GetYourGuide. For travelers, the heavy weight placed on reviews is a reassuring sign – it means the tours you see first are typically the best-rated and most popular, and the platform is actively curating quality via its algorithm.
Marketing and Partnerships
How does GetYourGuide attract so many travelers to book these experiences in the first place? The company’s growth is fueled by an extensive marketing strategy and strategic partnerships that drive traffic and bookings. As an online platform, GetYourGuide invests heavily in digital marketing – from search engine optimization (so that when you Google “ Things to do in Paris,” you find GetYourGuide links) to paid advertising and app marketing.
One area of focus has been mobile engagement: the GetYourGuide app has gained strong traction, with roughly 200,000 downloads per month at one point (about four times the download rate of a key competitor’s app).
This large user base on mobile means many travelers have GetYourGuide in their pocket while on a trip, ready to book activities on-the-go. The company has also poured resources into technology like AI-driven recommendations and dynamic pricing – essentially using algorithms to suggest the right experiences to the right customers at the right price – to improve conversion rates and user satisfaction. These tech investments aim to make the platform “smarter” at selling experiences, which in turn drives more sales for both GetYourGuide and its partners.
Beyond its own website and app, GetYourGuide has built a vast network of distribution partners to extend its reach across the travel industry. In fact, the platform claims over 1,000+ distribution partners, including major airlines and travel sites. If you’ve ever booked a flight and then seen an option to add a tour or activity, there’s a chance GetYourGuide was powering that behind the scenes.
For example, airlines like EasyJet, Emirates, and KLM have partnered with GetYourGuide to offer their passengers curated activities at their destinations. Through such integrations, GetYourGuide’s inventory of tours can be found on various third-party channels – not just on GetYourGuide’s own site. This dramatically expands the audience.
A traveler in the process of buying a plane ticket or browsing a hotel website might stumble upon a GetYourGuide-powered tour suggestion and book it, perhaps without even realizing GetYourGuide is the facilitator. These partnerships effectively embed GetYourGuide into multiple points of a traveler’s journey.
GetYourGuide collaborates with local operators to offer exclusive, one-of-a-kind “Originals” experiences bookable only through its platform. These unique offerings (such as a sailing trip) cater to travelers’ appetite for special experiences and generate significant buzz. One early “Originals” tour – a before-hours Vatican Museum visit – garnered over 16 million video views and 1.5 billion press impressions, exemplifying how exclusives double as powerful marketing for the brand.
Another pillar of GetYourGuide’s marketing machine is its focus on partnerships and affiliates. Travel bloggers, influencers, and even traditional travel agencies can join the GetYourGuide Affiliate Program, which allows them to earn a commission by referring customers. Affiliates can integrate GetYourGuide’s tours into their content or itinerary planning for clients, and earn around 8% commission per booking made through their referral links.
This essentially turns a whole army of travel content creators and professionals into marketing partners for GetYourGuide – at no upfront cost to the company (they only pay the commission on successful bookings, similar to the main business model). It’s a win-win: the affiliate gets a small cut for recommending a tour, and GetYourGuide gains a booking it might not have gotten otherwise.
Finally, as part of its partnership strategy, GetYourGuide has also worked on securing exclusive content that differentiates it from competitors. A prime example is the Originals by GetYourGuide line mentioned earlier – highly curated, often exclusive experiences available only on GetYourGuide. By collaborating directly with select operators to design unique tours (like special access to attractions or unique adventures with experts), GetYourGuide creates “wow” experiences that travelers can’t find on other platforms.
These not only satisfy a growing traveler demand for unique, authentic activities, but also serve as marquee products that elevate the brand. When an Originals experience goes viral (as the Vatican “turn on the lights” tour did with millions of views), it drives brand awareness and positions GetYourGuide as more than just a booking site but a provider of extraordinary travel moments.
In summary, through a combination of savvy online marketing, a broad partnership network (from airlines to affiliate bloggers), and the creation of buzz-worthy exclusive offerings, GetYourGuide pulls in a steady stream of customers eager to book experiences – which in turn keeps the commission-based revenue flowing.
Traveler Satisfaction
At the heart of GetYourGuide’s business model is a delicate balancing act: earning profit for the company while ensuring travelers (and tour partners) stay happy. The very nature of the marketplace means traveler satisfaction is not just a nice-to-have – it’s essential for long-term profit.
Happy travelers leave good reviews, recommend the service to friends, and come back for more, whereas unhappy customers can tarnish a tour’s rating or the platform’s reputation. GetYourGuide is well aware of this and has baked traveler-centric policies into its model, even if they might trim short-term margins.
For instance, many activities on the platform come with flexible booking policies – often free cancellation up to 24 hours before the tour starts. This flexibility gives travelers peace of mind (especially in an era of unpredictable travel plans) even though last-minute cancellations can mean lost revenue. Similarly, features like “Reserve now, pay later” on some listings allow customers to lock in a spot without immediate payment , lowering the barrier to booking.
GetYourGuide also provides 24/7 multilingual customer support , incurring substantial operational costs, because it knows that being there to quickly resolve issues or answer questions improves the overall experience. All of these measures are about building trust with travelers – an unhappy traveler might not book through the platform again, but one whose problem is promptly fixed likely will.
Another way GetYourGuide prioritizes quality is through its approach to selecting and managing tour operators. The platform doesn’t just allow anyone to list any tour; providers go through an onboarding and vetting process. GetYourGuide works with experienced, vetted local operators – often among the best in each destination – to ensure high-quality experiences for customers. They have published quality guidelines and maintain standards that suppliers must meet (for example, having the proper licenses, insurance, safety measures, etc.).
If an activity consistently gets poor reviews or if a supplier engages in subpar practices, GetYourGuide can intervene or even remove the listing – because a bad tour reflects badly on the platform. As noted earlier, “experiences aren’t like other goods in that they can’t be returned – you only have one chance to get it right”. This reality means GetYourGuide and its operators have a shared interest in delighting the customer the first time.
A focus on quality guides, accurate descriptions, and delivering what is promised is critical. The platform’s insistence that only verified customers can leave reviews also helps maintain a fair feedback loop that holds operators accountable and rewards those who truly satisfy guests.
Of course, GetYourGuide also has to balance the needs and satisfaction of its tour operators, because they are the suppliers of the experiences that drive the whole business. If the platform pushes commission too high or policies that only favor customers without regard to operators, it could lose the very inventory that draws travelers.
We saw an example of this balance when GetYourGuide attempted to raise commission rates for some partners and received significant backlash – the company quickly adjusted, even publicly acknowledging it needed to work with suppliers’ concerns in mind. The commission that operators pay is often justified as covering marketing and services, but it can’t be so high that it cripples the operator’s margin to actually run a quality tour.
GetYourGuide seems to recognize that its profit margins are healthiest when its partners are also thriving. An operator who feels fairly compensated is more likely to provide excellent service (and not feel pressured to cut corners), which again feeds into better traveler reviews and more bookings for all. It’s a three-way symbiosis: the traveler gets a great experience, the operator earns income, and GetYourGuide earns its commission – all sides win when done right.
In practical terms, balancing traveler satisfaction with profit means sometimes investing more in the customer experience even if it means a smaller cut per booking. For instance, offering a refund or alternative when a traveler has a bad experience might cost the company in the short run, but it’s necessary to maintain trust. Likewise, curating “Originals” exclusive tours might involve extra costs and coordination, but it yields a better product and brand differentiation that pays off through loyalty and word-of-mouth.
GetYourGuide’s stated goal is to “keep travelers coming back while ensuring actual tour companies get a steady flow of bookings” – essentially balancing the happiness of the demand side (travelers) and the supply side (operators). The company’s ability to maintain this balance is a big reason why it has grown into a trusted name in travel experiences.
Conclusion
GetYourGuide’s business model is a prime example of the modern digital marketplace: it generates revenue by taking a commission on each transaction, but its success depends on delivering real value to both customers and suppliers. By leveraging technology (like algorithms and AI) and partnerships to drive bookings, prioritizing reviews and quality to keep standards high, and instituting traveler-friendly policies, GetYourGuide creates a cycle where more bookings lead to more happy customers and operators, which in turn lead to more bookings.
For travelers, this means a convenient one-stop shop for memorable activities, backed by the reassurance of community reviews and customer support. For local tour operators, it means access to a global audience and a platform that, in many ways, works as a pay-for-performance marketing partner.
FAQ
Q1: How does GetYourGuide make money?
A: GetYourGuide earns a commission—usually 20–30%—on every booking completed through its platform.
Q2: Do tour operators pay to list on GetYourGuide?
A: No, listing is free. Operators only pay a commission when a traveler books and completes a tour.
Q3: How does GetYourGuide decide which tours appear first?
A: Tour rankings depend on conversion rates, availability, and verified traveler reviews.
Q4: What role do reviews play in GetYourGuide’s success?
A: Verified reviews influence both search rankings and traveler trust, directly impacting bookings.
Q5: What are “Originals by GetYourGuide”?
A: Originals are exclusive, high-quality experiences available only on GetYourGuide, designed to attract global attention.
Q6: How does GetYourGuide balance traveler satisfaction with profit?
A: It invests in flexible policies, customer support, and quality control to keep travelers and operators happy while maintaining margins.