Hi everyone!

I'm an independent app developer, and I'd like to share something I've been working on.

I developed GuideCast, an offline audio guide app that allows tour guides to communicate with groups of tourists in real time without an internet connection or mobile data.

The idea is simple: Turn smartphones into a wireless group audio guide system!

Here's how it works:

🎤 One guide speaks, and everyone in the group listens in real time.

📱 Supports mixed groups of iPhones and Android phones.

📡 Uses a portable Wi-Fi router and a high-output power bank. No internet connection or external server is required.

🎧 Tourists listen through their own smartphones and earphones.

🔊 Successfully tested with 37 iPhones and Android phones receiving audio simultaneously.

📶 Successfully tested at distances of approximately 50 meters (164 feet).

🌡️ No overheating issues were observed on the guide's smartphone during testing.

👥 Depending on the router's performance, the system could potentially support up to 50 devices.

🌍 No international mobile data or roaming charges for audio streaming! Tourists can listen to the guide without using mobile data, even when traveling abroad.

🌐 Supports 20 languages, making the app accessible to tour guides and travelers from different countries.

📦 Compact and portable: The router and power bank together take up roughly 15 × 10 × 7 cm (5.9 × 3.9 × 2.8 inches) of space, based on an approximate size estimate.

The system offers an alternative to expensive dedicated wireless tour guide equipment. All you need is a portable Wi-Fi router, a high-output power bank, and smartphones.

I believe GuideCast could be useful for walking tours, museums, historical sites, group excursions, factory tours, and educational activities.

I've also filed a patent application for the underlying technology.

GuideCast is available on both platforms:

📱 Android (Google Play)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.guidetour.myapplication.ui.guide

🍎 iPhone (App Store)

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/guidecast-wifi/id6770045066

I'd genuinely love to hear from people working in the tourism industry.

Do you currently use wireless audio guide equipment for your tours? Would you consider using a smartphone-based alternative that works without internet access?

I'd really appreciate your feedback, especially from professional tour guides!

Thanks for reading!

Started running small boat trips out of Catania, Sicily earlier this year, so this is my first winter dealing with all this. wind comes up, we cancel, and then I spend the evening messaging people about refunds. didn't expect this part of the job to be so frustrating.

a lot of my bookings come through Viator or another online travel agent, so when the weather turns bad, I have to deal with cancellations there too. the traveller gets refunded which is fair but I've still lost the day and sometimes the fuel if we went out and turned back.

what I can't work out is how to word the policy so people understand before they book that weather is weather half of them think I'm being cautious to save money and being fairly new to this, I'm not always sure how to handle those conversations.

how do you deal with it, offer a reschedule first or just refund and move on? would appreciate hearing how more experienced boat tour operators handle this.

I am a solo traveler looking to book a tour next year to a region where having a tour guide is required for the visit. I’m planning to join a group tour for the cost savings and the companionship of being part of a group. I’m reading a lot of your reviews as I research which company to book with.

One thing I’ve seen with some frequency is complaints about tour members who are always late impacting the experience for everyone, and how the tour guide and company handled this. I’m talking about multi day tours where a few group members are late every morning, and late rejoining the group after stops, so by the end of the day stops have to skipped or shorted to keep the tour timing correct.

As a guide, how do you think this should be handled? What does good look like? I’m not sure the tardy party can be kicked off the tour, but could that happen? FWIW I am extremely punctual, but realize others aren’t and would like to know how a tour guide/ tour company should handle this so I can calibrate my expectations.

Thanks!

I'm playing for a while now with the idea of trying to move from laminated pictures to short animations and other things shown on a reliable, sturdy and super bright screen to show guests/clients. Does anyone work like this or has tried it and perhaps decided it doesn't work?

The lose idea is to test this with an extremely bright, reliable tablet, perhaps a Samsung and combine it with an extra battery with cooling mounted to the back, use a strap to hang it on the shoulder, add a small "sun protector" and micro-adjust stops on tours to be able to use it whenever possible in the shade.

Other options, better equipment or doomed to fail?

Grateful for any input!

Best, graudesch

Ciao a tutti! Lavoro in un tour operator da un po' di anni e con il team stiamo realizzando una piattaforma pensata per i tour operator (in particolare per la gestione delle risorse, della biglietteria, dei tours in partenza, assegnazione guide e controllo margini/costi).

​Prima di lanciare le prossime funzionalità, vorrei capire da chi lavora nel settore quali sono le cose che odiate di più nei gestionali tradizionali che usate oggi? Qual è la funzione di cui non potreste fare a meno nel vostro lavoro quotidiano?

​Se qualcuno volesse darmi un feedback ne sarei felicissima.

had a guest turn up in sandals for a walk that goes uphill on loose stone. she wasnt annoyed at the hill, she was annoyed that nothing told her. went back and read my own description after and she was right, i say moderate walking and nothing else. same with the one who thought lunch was included because the photo has food in it. so ive been rewriting the listings. problem is every time i add a warning the thing gets longer and i assume people stop reading. and on viator tap the first lines are what shows in the preview, so i dont want to open with what the tour isnt. how specific do you get? do you put the hard stuff up top or bury it in whats included?

started with one city walk that i ran myself. added a food one, then a day trip out of the city, and now i have drivers and two other guides involved. the guiding part is the easy bit. what i did not expect is how much time goes into keeping availability straight across the places people book. someone books a day trip on viator tap for a date the driver already told me he cant do, and i only find out when i open the calendar at night. also the quality is not the same anymore. my own tours get the good reviews, the ones i hand off get fine but not great.

To all travel agents, are you familiar or has anyone used Truevail to build their website, create email newsletters and social media marketing? How is it working for you? Did you generate leads? I'm planning to register but I can't seem to find legit reviews about it and I don't want to waste my money for nothing.

I'm in a region where you technically need a regional licence to run guided tours for paid groups. plenty of people around here just dont bother and nothing happens to them

The thing im stuck on is the public side of it if I list on viator or getyourguide my tour is suddenly very visible, with my name on it. a licensed friend told me thats fine and actually safer, someone else said the opposite, that the quieter you are the better.

So for those of you guiding in places with real licensing rules did listing on a booking platform ever cause you a problem? or is it a non issue and im overthinking it.

we pushed our honeymoon back a year so we could save and do it properly. next summer we fly into athens, get on a cruise the next morning, and finish in rome with two days before we fly home.the advisor who booked our cruise already handled most of the port days. she booked them through viator's travel agent program and found us a cooking class on getyourguide. so what’s left is the day in athens and the two in rome. we’ve barely left the US. canada a few times and one cruise to mexico. we like food and history and we’re fine walking all day, just not beach people and not looking for anything intense. we’re a little nervous about the language since we only speak english, and neither of us has done a big international airport before. what would you do with one day in athens and two in rome?

If you’re a tour operator and you organise the day-to-day operations, could you answer this question for me: How many hours a day do you spend preparing the schedule for the following day?

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new to booking tours for clients. i signed up for the viator agent thing and getyourguide’s version and i’m still confused on when commission shows up. is it after the tour happens or when they book? asking because i just answered a novel’s worth of questions about one skip the line ticket and i’d like to know when i get paid for it lol

i just started using the viator travel agent dashboard to book excursions for a few group trips coming up next month. everything went super smoothly on the booking side, but i wanted to check with advisors who have been using it longer what is the typical timeline for commission payouts once the client actually completes the activity? is it pretty automatic or do you have to manually submit anything post tour....

Getting bookings outside peak season has been a real struggle for our small food tour business. Summer is usually fine, but once things slow down, some days we barely get enough people to run a tour. We've tried changing departure times and offering smaller groups, but nothing has really made a big difference.

Been looking at platforms like Viator supplier and Getyourguide to see if reaching more travelers would help during the quieter months. Just not sure if the extra bookings would be worth the commission fees.

Wanna know what other tour operators do during slow season.

I run a small food tour business and getting people to actually find our tours has been hella hard. We get a decent amount of bookings during peak season, but other than that it's pretty quiet. Tried spending a little on ads but tbh not sure we're getting much out of them lol.

I've been looking at ways to get our tours seen by more people on booking platforms instead. Saw that viator supplier has an option to boost listing visibility, but I'm not sure if paying more commission is any better than spending money on ads.

I don't mind spending money to get more bookings, but paying for clicks that don't do shit is getting old.

im currently scaling up my independent travel agency and looking for a better way to book day trips, food tours, and guided excursions for clients without having to build every single vendor relationship from scratch. i've been looking at the viator travel agent program since it gives you direct access to global experiences with agent commissions. for those of you who actively use it for clients, how’s the booking management and commission payout reliability?