Do you have a question about booking a tour? Have you already read How Buying Works ?
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Frequently Asked Questions about Buying
About LocalGuiding Booking products on LocalGuiding
Bookings & Payment
- When do I need to pay the tour and how can I pay?
- Why do I need to pay a deposit?
- How much is the deposit?
- Will other people be part of my tour?
- Is my payment secure?
- What happens after I make the down-payment?
- I didn't receive a booking confirmation. What do I have to do?
- Do I need to reconfirm my booking before arrival?
- Should I rate and review the tours I booked?
- How can I rate and review the tours?
Cancellations of existing bookings
Questions with answers
About LocalGuiding
What is LocalGuiding?
LocalGuiding is the place for booking unique travel tours and activities directly from local tour guides. Connect with passionate local experts and make unique experiences everywhere you go.
We want to help change the way people travel - experience the local life as it is, not how mass tourism companies masquerade it. People who live in the destination know their place inside out. That's why only locals can provide you with local activities that are REAL, things to do that don't appear in any travel guide.
Get to know the person who is selling the tour! Look at the tour guide's profile to learn more about their personality. Find travel tips and advice they have shared with our community. Read their guiding history to get an idea of their competence. Evaluate their quality and reliability by checking reviews from previous clients.
Find your unique local experience now!
Trust the local knowledge, trust LocalGuiding.
Who am I buying from?
Explore unique experiences in our global marketplace of passionate local sellers. On LocalGuiding you buy the tours and activities directly from the tour guide.
If you have a question about a specific tour you can ask the guide directly on his profile page. To do so click on the button "Ask guide" below his photo.
How does LocalGuiding provide for my safety?
On LocalGuiding you buy the tours and activities directly from the seller. To offer you a safe, secure and fair shopping experience we have implemented safety measures which you can read more about here.
Booking products on LocalGuiding
How can I find tours and activities?
On LocalGuiding you can either browse through our tour categories or search with keyword and filters to narrow your search.
Get inspiration from travel tips written by our local guides or ask them for advice in our public forum.
How can I book tours?
Book your tour before someone else snatches it up. You don't have to register to book on LocalGuiding.To confirm your booking you only have to pay a 10% deposit of the tour price in advance. In return you'll receive an email with full details of your booking. This down-payment is a safety measure for both of you; to be sure that traveler and tour guide commit to the same date.
For more info read How Buying Works
How can I get in touch with a Local Guide?
You can get in touch with all sellers at any time. To ask a specific guide a question go to his profile page and click the button "ask guide" below the photo. Your question and the resulting answer from the tour guide will then appear on the Wall of his profile page. If you have a specific question about the tour we recommend asking the tour guide directly.
After booking a tour you'll receive the full contact information of the tour guide who is providing your tour.
You can also ask a question of all tour guides in the region at once. To ask a public question click on Local Advice.
How can I check availability?
For each tour the local guide uploads their availability and prices. In the tour details you'll find a calendar that outlines what dates the tour is available for purchase. To make a confirmed booking select date, time and the number of people you want to book for and click "continue" to check-out.
Bookings & Payment
When do I need to pay the tour and how can I pay?
To confirm your booking you only have to pay a deposit of 10% of the tour price directly. You may use your credit card or PayPal.
The other 90% of the tour price is paid in cash directly to the tour guide. The Tour Guide may offer different payment methods. Check his Shop Policies and choose any of the methods he accepts.
Why do I need to pay a deposit?
The deposit has to be paid at the time of booking in order to reserve the date, time and number of people that you choose.
If you have chosen the option "private tour" the tour becomes unavailable to any other person on the site. It's a private tour exclusively for you and your group.
If you have chosen the option "shared tour" and reserved per person the number in your group, there may be other travelers joining you up to the maximum number of participants allowed for the tour.
With either option you choose, after paying the deposit your trip is booked and you'll receive a confirmation email with all tour details and tour guide contact information.
How much is the deposit?
The deposit is 10% of the total cost of the tour. The minimum deposit is 2 USD.
Will other people be part of my tour?
When booking the tour you decide weather you want it private or shared:
Select "private tour" to buy the tour exclusively for you and your friends. The tour is then unavailable to any other person for this date. Consider that there are a maximum number of participants for every tour. Check the tour detail page for information about the maximum number of participants.
When you book the shared tour, be aware that it is a public tour and other travelers may join you.
Is my payment secure?
To confirm your booking you have to pay a deposit of 10% of the tour price directly to LocalGuiding. You may use your Credit Card or your PayPal account.
All payments executed through our site are processed by our payment processing partner PayPal. All payment forms are SSL secure. Our payment partners use 128-bit encryption, the most powerful available, to protect transmissions over the Internet.
You'll find more information how safe we are on our Safety page.
What happens after I make the down-payment?
After completing your booking you'll receive an email with full details of your booking including tour guide contact information.
Unless otherwise agreed between you and the Local Guide, you'll have to pay the balance of the cost of the tour in cash to the Local Guide. The Tour Guide may offer different payment methods. Check his Shop Policies and choose any of the methods he accepts. If you pay in cash, we recommend paying the money to the tour guide at the END of the tour.
Please rate the seller after you have enjoyed the tour.
I didn't receive a booking confirmation. What do I have to do?
After completing your booking you'll receive an email with full details for your booking including tour guide contact information.
If you do not recieve this email please check your Spam folder. If you can't find our email in your Spam folder, make sure you have written your email address correctly and then contact LocalGuiding.
Do I need to reconfirm my booking before arrival?
It's not necessary but we recommend that you contact your Local Guide directly 24-72 hours ahead of the beginning of the tour to coordinate final arrangements.
Should I rate and review the tours I booked?
Yes, your review helps other travelers find out about the reliability and integrity of a seller.
On LocalGuiding you'll find reviews from previous clients and get to know the tour guide more personally. You'll see all reviews posted on LocalGuiding whether they are positive or negative. Tour guides cannot delete or change any of these comments. Since reviews are based on first-hand experiences these comments are independent from any commercial interest. They give you more of an idea of what the guide is really like. Additionally, the tour guides get direct feedback to optimize their service quality.
How can I rate and review the tours?
On LocalGuiding only previous clients who booked a tour can rate this service. To rate the tour log in and go to the tour page you've attended. There you'll have the option to leave a comment and a rating.
To book a tour you don't have to register. To rate these tours you first have to register with the same email address provided in the booking process. After log in you can go to the tour page and leave a comment. We're sorry but to ensure that only previous clients evaluate tours you have to register. This however ensures that the tour ratings are real and trustworthy.
Cancellations of existing bookings
Can I cancel or change a booking?
Unless otherwise provided in the terms supplied by the Local Guide in their Shop Policies, a purchase of a Tour may be cancelled up to 72 hours in advance.
To give the Local Guide the opportunity to get replacement work for your date, please contact him directly as soon as possible.
If you cancel a booking the 10% down-payment paid to LocalGuiding will not be refunded.
For more information about the cancellation and refund policy please visit the Local Guide's Shop Policies or contact him directly.
Any amendments to your reservation must be agreed upon with the Local Guide directly. Note that LocalGuiding will never be involved with or responsible for details of amendments between buyer and seller.
How do I cancel a tour?
Unless otherwise provided in the terms supplied by the Local Guide in their Shop Policies, a purchase of a tour may be cancelled up to 72 hours in advance.
To give the Local Guide the opportunity to get replacement work for your date, please contact him directly as soon as possible.
If you don't cancel up to 72 hours in advance you authorize the Local Guide to issue an invoice to you for the amount of the loss incurred by your late cancellation.
For more information about the cancellation and refund policy please visit the Local Guide's Shop Policies or contact him directly.
What happens if a Local Guide cancels a booking?
Once you book a tour though our site, the Local Guide is responsible for providing the tour unless he is unable to do so for reasons of illness or extreme force majeure. In this case the Local Guide will contact you to find mutually the best solution. This can be the refund of any amount paid to the Local Guide or the delivery of the agreed tour with another Tour Guide.