How to travel safely when a tour guide is booked online?

Open your mobile phone, book a local guide as easily as hailing a taxi, and enjoy personalized services... This summer vacation, more and more travelers are tired of the routines and constraints of group tours and lack of self-guided tours. With the courage and experience, he turned his attention to “booking tour guides online”. Since nine provinces and cities, including Jilin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, launched the pilot program for the free practice of tour guides, "online appointment tour guides" have quietly emerged in the past two years. At the same time, they are also faced with the reality of uneven service quality and "good reviews but no success."

Tourists design itineraries according to their needs, which is more meticulous and calm than taking a group tour

After finishing the work at hand, Wang Yu asked for annual leave and planned to take his family to Sanya for a trip. "It can be said that we are raising a family. There is an old man in his sixties and two children, the elder is eight years old and the younger is less than three years old." When mentioning the travel lineup, Wang Yu was a little worried, "With the group The pace of the tour is unbearable, the children cannot get up so early, and each attraction has a limited time limit, and the elderly cannot keep up. The self-guided tour is flexible, but there are usually many things to do, and I don’t have time to do a guide, so I feel unsure about going there rashly. "

Wang Yu accidentally heard about the concept of “booking a tour guide online” at a friend’s place and decided to give it a try. “It is said that they can design routes according to their own needs and provide ‘one-to-one’ explanations without having to worry about being Shopping everywhere." Opening an online travel platform, Wang Yu clicked on "Local Guide" on the homepage and entered the destination. The list displayed a lot of guide information, "not only the number of services, point ratings, but also 'outdoor play' Tags such as "Gourmet", as well as introductions to hiking guides, chartered transfers, special experiences and other projects."

Wang Yu found that the quotation rules of these guides are different, "Take hiking guides as an example. , some have a flat price of 350 yuan per day, and some are divided into 8 hours and 10 hours according to the duration. Female tour guides are more expensive than male tour guides. In addition to the difference in model, chartered cars also vary depending on whether they provide accompanying tours. If all are included, it is 'more luxurious' than traveling with a group."

Last week, Cheng Hui, who just returned from traveling in Xi'an, also experienced "booking a tour guide online". Considering that the ancient capital has a long history and she wanted her children to gain more knowledge, she went to the platform in advance and chose a local guide with "History Pass" in the tag. "The young man is very experienced. He can explain it from the child's perspective and connect the exhibits with historical stories. The child was very fascinated and asked to find relevant history books to study when he came back." Under the guidance of the tour guide, Cheng Hui, mother and son, I spent a whole morning wandering around the Shaanxi History Museum, and then went on an in-depth tour to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses. “If you are with a group, it’s hard to see such detail and calmness. If you go to visit by yourself, it’s just like an outsider watching the excitement at most, and you can’t be an expert.” "Guidelines"

Tour guides are more flexible and transparent than travel agencies and can select clients

Since joining the "Local Guide" section of the platform two years ago, Lin Ya (pseudonym), a post-90s girl Then he has the identity of "online appointment tour guide". "The itinerary of leading a group in a travel agency is fixed, but being an 'online tour guide' is much more flexible. It mainly focuses on customer needs and can be adjusted at any time." Lin Ya said that as a tour guide in a travel agency, you will still encounter low-priced tours. " Although the contract will state what shopping arrangements or self-paid items are included in the itinerary, tourists feel very bad about "online tour guide appointment" which already has a special tour guide service fee. Moreover, the route arrangement is directly related to the review, so few people are willing to make their own sign. "

On the platform, the one-day hiking guide provided by Lin Ya in Chengdu is quoted at 599 yuan, and the one-day tour in Qingcheng Mountain in Dujiangyan is quoted at 699 yuan. "If it is from a travel agency, the tour guide will never participate in the pricing, but On the platform, I set the price, and customers can choose me, and I can choose customers.” Ding Lin (pseudonym), who also joined this section of the platform in 2016, also felt deeply about this. She has been working hard in the tourism industry for 10 years since she started leading tours in Zhangjiajie in 2009. “In the past, when I led tours, the travel agency gave me a ‘capita tour’. Not only did we get no salary, but we also had to pay a ‘capita fee’ to the travel agency. If If I don’t promote some self-funded projects or take tourists shopping, I will still lose money if I don’t do it.”

After starting to become an “online tour guide”, Ding Lin began to try a new working model, “hiking guide.” The price will be clearly marked, and the service content is also clearly listed, including 10 hours of accompanying explanations, guidance, local food recommendations and itinerary arrangements.”

As the number of orders increases, tourist needs have become more diversified. , "Including airport pick-up and drop-off, chartered cars, booking accommodation, special experiences, etc., this means that there must be a team to support." Today, Ding Lin's team has forty or fifty certified tour guides, and the rules of the platform have also quietly changed , "At first, it only required a tour guide certificate and an introduction to the group experience, but now it requires company qualifications, and we are already going through the relevant procedures."

Compared to professional tour guides who have served thousands of times, the young man Zheng Ran (pseudonym) has a much calmer mentality. Although he also posted introductions on different platforms, he never accepted them all. "My main job is a teacher, and I work part-time as a local guide in Guangzhou purely out of interest. I usually only do it when I am on vacation or on weekends." Taking orders. It’s more about travel sharing than service, and it brings them more cultural experience.

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Zheng Ran said frankly that his quotation is not low, and customers usually have two characteristics: first, they are educated, and second, they have good economic conditions. “They are often not satisfied with what they can search online.” official introduction, I would also like to hear some personalized interpretations, and this is exactly my specialty. For example, at the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, I would tell the person why it is called Chen Clan Academy instead of the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, what the meaning of the four flagpoles is, what Lingnan special fruits are carved on it, and other details.

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From People’s Daily Online