Software for private tour guides

An independent guide sells two products. The fixed private tour (a 3-hour food walk for one family or group) wants instant booking and a deposit. The custom day (a full-day itinerary for a family reunion, or a corporate group) wants a conversation, a quote and a signed agreement. SoloWOS handles both, as long as each booking is one private group. Ticketed departures where strangers buy seats need a tour booking platform.

From the booking to the tip

1. A traveler finds you through your Link in Bio page or a QR code at their hotel's front desk and opens your booking page.
2. Each tour is a meeting type: the 3-hour food walk at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., the meeting point as the location, 2 hours' buffer after, and 48 hours' minimum notice (example settings). Bookings run up to 8 hours, so a full day fits.
3. Charge to book takes a $75 deposit by card (example amount), refunded on its own if they cancel at least 72 hours before. Booking questions ask group size, ages and dietary needs.
4. For a custom day, a form asks dates, group size and interests, and you send a proposal with the itinerary, entrance fees, a 30% deposit and your cancellation terms.
5. For a bike or kayak tour, the waiver goes through E-Signatures with each adult as a signer before the tour date.
6. After the tour, the balance invoice goes out with the pay link, and an automation asks for a review a day later.

A typical week in high season

• Monday: nine private tours booked over the weekend, each with its deposit.
• Tuesday: a family reunion asks for a full-day custom tour for 14 people. You send the proposal with the itinerary that afternoon.
• Wednesday: two tours. The reminder 24 hours before told each group where to meet.
• Thursday: the family accepts and pays the deposit. One couple cancels a Saturday tour 5 days out, and their deposit is refunded on its own.
• Sunday: balance invoices for the week's tours are paid. You log museum tickets, transit passes and parking in Expenses.

All 13 tools, one by one

How an independent tour guide uses each tool:

• Link in Bio: A page with each tour's booking link, the custom tour request form and your reviews page, linked from Instagram and the cards you hand out after a tour.
• Short Links: A QR code for the hotel front desk card and another for the B&B flyer, so you see which concierge sends you guests and can thank them.
• Forms: Custom tour requests: dates, group size, ages, mobility needs, interests. Conditional questions ask about a corporate invoice only if they pick "company group".
• Scheduling: Each private tour as a meeting type up to 8 hours long, with the meeting point as the location, a fixed deposit, a refund window and buffers between tours. One booking per slot, with no seat count.
• Proposals: Custom itineraries with the day's plan, entrance fees as lines, a deposit percentage and your cancellation terms, accepted online by the organizer.
• E-Signatures: Waivers for bike, kayak or hiking tours with each adult signing, and agreements with a corporate client or a hotel that refers guests.
• Document Tracking: The itinerary for a multi-day private tour as a tracked PDF, so you see whether the organizer shared it with the group.
• Screen Recording: A short screen walkthrough of the map and the plan for a group organizer who can't get everyone on a call.
• Notes & Boards: A page per tour with stops, timings, backup plans for rain and restaurant contacts, and a board for custom requests in progress.
• Time Tracking: Barely needed for fixed tours. Useful for custom planning, to see how many hours a full-day itinerary took to build before you quote the next one.
• Invoicing: Balance invoices after the tour, corporate invoices on terms, and an invoice to a hotel or agency that books guests through you.
• Expenses: Entrance tickets, transit, parking, a guide license fee and the bike rental you pay for, each with its receipt.
• Automations: A day after a tour's balance invoice is paid, email a thank-you with your review link; when a custom proposal sits unaccepted for 3 days, follow up.

Licenses and taxes

• Guide licenses: some US cities require tour guides to hold a license, and the rules differ widely and change. Check with your city's licensing office before you sell tours there; we don't list cities here because we couldn't confirm each one's current rule.
• Business licenses and permits: the SBA notes that local governments set their own licensing and permitting rules. Check whether the parks or historic sites on your route require their own permit for commercial tours.
• Card payments: payment processors file a 1099-K when your payments pass the IRS threshold ($20,000 and 200 transactions in a year), and you report all income either way.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by state; check yours with a lawyer or your licensing board.

SoloWOS or Acuity: which fits

Tour and activity booking platforms such as FareHarbor and Peek are the usual choice for ticketed departures; we couldn't confirm their prices and features for this page, so check their sites. For private tours booked one group at a time, a general booking tool works.

Choose Acuity or a tour platform if:

• You sell gift certificates for tours (Acuity, Standard plan and up), or travelers expect text reminders.
• You run scheduled departures with seats sold to individual travelers, which SoloWOS can't do.

Choose SoloWOS if:

• Every booking is one private group, and you also quote custom days that need a proposal, a deposit and sometimes a waiver.
• You want the booking page, the quotes and the invoices to corporate clients in one account.

Acuity's price and plans were checked on October 17, 2026 on its own site; check their site before you decide. See Acuity Scheduling vs SoloWOS.

Start with these three

Scheduling with your best-selling tour and a deposit, Proposals for custom itineraries, and Short Links with a QR code for the hotels that send you guests.

Free tools that help

• Time zone meeting planner for calls with international organizers.
• Payment fee calculator to see what a card deposit costs you.
• QR code generator for front desk cards.
• Project cost calculator to price a custom full-day tour.

What SoloWOS won't do for a tour guide

• No seat capacity or ticketed departures: each slot takes one booking.
• No reseller or online travel agency channels, and no gift certificates.
• No text reminders, and no tipping screen; add a tip line to the invoice if a client asks.
• One currency per workspace, so international guests pay in yours and their card handles the conversion.
• SoloWOS doesn't file taxes, issue 1099s or collect sales tax for you. Invoicing sends the invoice with a pay link (card through your Stripe account) and your other payment details; your accountant or tax software handles the rest.