Channel managers offer two key benefits for tour operators:
- They let you consolidate your bookings across all sales channels in one calendar (your website, OTAs, partners, and offline sources).
- They let you manage availability across all sales channels from your centralised booking calendar.
These bring added benefits of saved time and improved organisation — you don’t have to jump between sites to check bookings and manually add new reservations to a primary calendar. Plus, they prevent overbookings, where you have to cancel or reschedule with travellers.
Most of all, many online travel agencies (OTAs) suggest tour operators use a channel manager and will offer added perks to users who do.
But there are a few considerations when comparing these solutions —
For starters, you need to be able to connect to the channels you already use and have options to grow your online distribution strategy.
OTA partnerships and connections are invaluable here. You should look at:
- The number of available OTA integrations.
- The specific sites each channel manager connects with.
- If it has partnerships with any OTAs to offer extra perks or discounts.
On that note, you should also compare the fees for using each platform. Consider subscription fees, booking fees, and transaction fees. Some channel managers charge all three, some charge a combination of subscription and booking fees, and others only charge booking fees.
(We have a guide on comparing tour booking system pricing here.)
So, we compiled this list of popular channel managers for tour operators comparing Bókun and other top-rated options. We review:
We’re a Tripadvisor brand and Viator partner and developed our channel management software, Bókun, to support tour operators’ operations. Our booking fees are the lowest in the category (1% to 1.5%), and we waive Bókun booking fees on Viator reservations so you can keep costs low while filling your calendar.
You can try our booking platform for free here.
1. Bókun
Scalable Channel Management & Preferred Viator Partnership
Bókun is an all-in-one tour operator software to manage sales channels, bookings, tour listings, availability, staff, and back-office operations.
Our system integrates with hundreds of OTAs and includes a reseller Marketplace where you can connect with other tour operators and travel businesses (like hotels, rental providers, travel agents, etc.) and establish partnerships. Tour operators have thousands of distribution channels to reach new customers.
We work with teams of all sizes: small one- or two-person teams love us because our platform includes user-friendly tools to take business online and explore digital strategies. We can even guide growing teams as they increase bookings and test new sales channels.
We’re one of the most popular channel management solutions specifically because:
- We have a preferred partnership with Viator and can waive Bókun booking fees on those reservations. (We also offer free Viator subscription checks each year; 12, 24, or 48, depending on your package.)
- We offer a Premium Connectivity Partnership with GetYourGuide to earn you better visibility on their site.
- We offer the lowest booking fees — 1% to 1.5% — on online reservations (from your site, OTAs, or partners) and never charge for offline bookings.
Plus, we have two channel management offerings: our native channel management tool, which comes with Bókun’s paid plans, and a separate channel manager API for teams that already have a homegrown reservation system and need a way to connect to OTAs and centralise those bookings.
We’ll review our core features and channel management tools in the following sections, but you can also start a free trial (no CC required) to explore our platform.
Selling Online & Channel Management
Bókun includes several tools to sell and promote your tours across online sales channels.
For starters, we provide an online booking engine to enable direct bookings from your site. You can embed our booking widget in a few clicks and see those reservations in the Bókun calendar.
Teams that don’t already have a website can use our one-click website builder to create a booking site.
The booking widget is automatically installed; you just personalise the site with logos, images from past tours, and history about your brand. Then, we’ll cover the charges to bring your site online.
Next, connect Bókun with the OTAs of your choice to promote your tours to millions of potential new customers.
In addition to Viator and GetYourGuide, we integrate with major OTAs like Expedia, Civitatis, and Trip.com, as well as more niche-specific online channels, like OTAs for wine tour providers or boat tour providers. You can also use Bókun to connect with Google Things to do.
You can connect unlimited OTAs to spread your reach and increase tour reservations — and we don’t charge per channel. You can add or remove sales channels anytime through the Sales Tools tab.
Read more: How to sell tours on Viator & drive bookings | Bókun Partners
All reservations populate Bókun’s booking calendar, and availability is updated in real-time across all connected channels. More on availability management later.
Now, as mentioned above, we also offer a channel management module for teams with existing reservation software.
(Perhaps you already have a booking system to manage offline and website bookings but need a way to connect with OTAs and manage those reservations.)
You can use Bókun as a middleman to connect your existing booking system with OTAs and feed new reservations back to your calendar.
Bókun can check availability between calendars and sites to keep all sales channels current, and you can see all bookings in the calendar system you’re already using.
Grow Your Distribution Network with Bókun Marketplace
In addition to OTAs, our network includes 27K partners in the travel and tourism industry, so you can connect with other businesses and grow your distribution network via partnerships.
Our network includes tour and activity operators like yourself, as well as travel agents, DMOs, hotel and resort chains, rental providers, and more, so you can find complementary partners.
Tour operators use our network to:
- Find resellers who will promote their tours and help fill their booking calendars.
- Connect with suppliers and cross-sell or upsell others’ tours and experiences for a commission.
- Create travel packages to offer travellers more unique or convenient experiences.
Our suppliers generated an average of $220,000 in revenue in 2023 via Bókun’s OTA and reseller connections. In fact, Bókun users who advanced from one sales channel to two saw a 4x increase in Gross Booking Value.
Bókun also includes all of the tools to manage partner communications and contracts securely in our system.
Read more: How to market a tour company
Managing Tours, Pricing & Availability
Viator users can push products directly into Bókun to display and sell them on their website. The import only takes a few seconds, so you don’t have to recreate these listings in Bókun. Then, you can manage these products in the Experiences tab.
The Experiences tab is home to everything you need to:
- Design engaging tour listings with detailed itineraries, catchy descriptions, and images and videos from past experiences. You can also feed Tripadvisor reviews to our system and offer add-ons with tours.
- Set pricing by experience. We offer various ways to price tours (for example, you can create pricing categories or offer special rates for private tours), and Bókun has dynamic pricing to automatically adjust rates and optimise revenue. We also let you tailor rates per sales channel.
- Create availability rules by experience. You specify how people book with you, start and close-out dates, days offered and departure times, minimum and maximum capacities, and booking cutoffs. Availability rules populate your calendar, but you can make one-off changes if you need to block out days or departure times.
Then, availability auto-updates across all sales channels. Your website, OTAs, and partner sites will display real-time availability from your calendar so travellers can’t book reserved spots.
Note: You can also keep track of physical inventory for tour listings — say you offer bike tours or rentals. Then Bókun knows to block out experiences once inventory is no longer available.
The product builder walks you through each step to create listings and specify pricing and availability. You can update listings at any time and create templates from listings to design future listings quickly.
You can also list tour packages by creating combo experiences with two or more of your products. This is a way to increase revenue from a single booking, and travellers visiting new places appreciate tour packages because it lets them fill their itinerary and visit top attractions.
Read more: How to create tour packages | 3 steps + best practices
Managing Staff & Back-Office Operations
Bókun also includes an array of tools to manage payments, staff, traveller check-ins, and back-office tasks like fielding customer emails. We’ll give a quick overview of those here.
First, Bókun connects with an array of online payment gateways so travellers can pay online at the time of booking. We partner with PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Rapyd, Worldpay, and more. We even partner with Klarna, so you can give travellers various payment options.
Payments are processed securely online, and you can monitor revenue in Bókun’s financial reports.
Next, the central booking calendar allows you to see all reservations (from online and offline channels). You can view this calendar from the Bókun desktop app or mobile apps. These are available for both iOS and Android.
You can assign staff to tours, and they can see their schedule and the details (again, from desktop or mobile). They know how many travellers they’re responsible for, who’s showing up, and any special accommodations. Then, they can more easily keep track of last-minute changes or no-shows.
Speaking of last-minute changes — Bókun provides customer portals so travellers can modify or cancel reservations online. Your booking calendar automatically updates to reflect those changes, and our system sends travellers a confirmation email.
Our arguably most convenient feature is Bókun’s automated communications. Bókun includes a native CRM and customisable email templates so our system can send important emails for you.
Our system automatically sends booking confirmations or confirmations when travellers modify reservations, but you can also customise and schedule:
- Reminders before tours — prevent no-shows and share mobile tickets to streamline check-in. (Our mobile apps include ticket scanning features.)
- Thank you’s after tours — this is a great opportunity to ask for reviews or offer discounts to encourage customers to return.
- Newsletters — send your existing customer base updates about happenings in your area or new experiences you offer so they can book with you the next time they’re in town.
- Abandon cart emails — retarget customers who drop out mid-checkout and secure new bookings.
- Promotional emails — these are another opportunity to ask for reviews or share repeat customer discounts, but you can also promote seasonal or referral discounts here.
Bókun Reporting
In addition to these back-office tools, we also provide a reporting dashboard to monitor bookings and revenue. We provide out-of-the-box reports so you can:
- See total number of bookings over different time frames — then you can pinpoint busy and slow seasons and prepare for those times.
- Review the details of bookings to learn more about your customer base and who is booking your experiences.
- Compare bookings by tour and identify your most popular experiences — then you have insights to modify your product line and offer more of what travellers book.
- Measure sales channel performance and determine which sites or partners generate the most bookings and revenue.
- Monitor a live sales feed and track revenue from bookings.
We also offer an advanced reporting module for teams that want to create custom reports.
Bonus: Provide a Five-Star Customer Experience
We’ve focused our post on the benefits of channel managers for tour operators — but these also bring conveniences for travellers (which is why many OTAs suggest using them).
The greatest convenience is that travellers can see your availability online and book with you 24/7. They can find you on your site or familiar OTAs they already know and use to book travel.
Customers don’t have to send emails back and forth with your team, and they have peace of mind knowing your calendar reflects real-time availability. There’s no risk of double bookings or unexpected cancellations. They also appreciate…
- The option to pay securely online with a credit card vs. waiting to pay in person.
- Portals to manage reservations at their convenience.
- Helpful email communications like updates before and after tours.
- Mobile tickets for fast check-in.
- The ability to leave reviews and see feedback and pictures from past experiences.
Bókun’s toolset not only organises tour operator operations but also promotes better customer experiences in tandem.
Pricing & Getting Started
We’ve discussed pricing throughout, but let’s summarise here.
The paid packages start at $49/month. The starter plan includes all core features, but you can choose an upgraded package to access additional tools, like sub-vendor management and Zapier integrations.
Our booking fees are as follows:
- 1% to 1.5% for bookings made through your website, OTAs, or partners.
- We waive Bókun booking fees on Viator reservations.
- Offline bookings are always free.
You can choose to cover booking fees or pass them on to customers. (We’ll incorporate fees into the customer’s total price so they don’t see them as an added cost.)
We do not charge transaction fees — online payments are processed through the provider of your choice.
The Channel Manager API is available as a bespoke package with varying pricing by customer (both the monthly fee and the % booking fee). If you’re interested in learning more about this solution, please contact us for a demo here.
Get started with a 14-day free trial!
2. Palisis
Palisis is a comprehensive booking system for managing reservations and operations. In addition to its solutions for managing bookings and sales channels, the platform also includes features to support high-volume ticket sales, which may appeal to attractions and event venues.
We include Palisis on our list because they have a preferred partnership with Hotelbeds and are connectivity partners with GetYourGuide and Viator. Palisis also integrates with dozens of other OTAs and includes a reseller marketplace to expand your online visibility.
The benefits of their OTA partnerships are not clear, though it appears the only benefit is enhanced visibility on those sites.
Like Bókun, Palisis offers straightforward pricing with a flat subscription fee, though booking fees are slightly higher at 1.9% per online booking.
Palisis works with tour and activity providers around the world but is particularly popular with UK-based brands.
Features
- Connections with OTAs & channel management
- Online booking widget
- Reseller network
- Customisable booking calendar
- Tools to create a tailored booking flow
- Ticketing tools (for high-volume ticket sales)
- Native POS & integrations with payment processors
- Reporting
- Mobile apps
Pricing
Palisis offers a basic plan — the most popular plan — with features to sell on your website, channel management, a customisable booking calendar, reporting, and 24/7 support. This plan costs $49/month and has a 1.9% booking fee for online reservations.
They also provide custom enterprise packages (custom pricing).
3. Travelotopos
Travelotopos is a notable channel management solution as they have a preferred partnership with GetYourGuide — though they don’t disclose the exact benefits of their partnership. Like Palisis, this booking software is typically popular with UK-based teams as the brand was started in Greece.
Travelotopos appeals to teams of all sizes with moderate pricing and booking fees (3% for online bookings). It connects with hundreds of OTAs and includes a B2B reseller marketplace where tour operators can expand their distribution network.
The platform is also reportedly easy to use and scalable. The Travelotopos team will help you get set up and running, though this onboarding help comes at an extra charge.
Features
- Connections with OTAs & channel management
- Preferred partnership with GetYourGuide
- Online booking engine
- Customisable booking calendar
- B2B reseller marketplace
- Resource management
- Integrations with: major payment gateways, hotel reservation systems, and other business applications like ERPs
- Options to offer coupon codes, promotions, and vouchers
- Reporting
- Mobile apps
Pricing
Travelotopos charges a $270 one-time set-up fee. Afterward, you pay a 3% booking fee for online reservations and a 1.5% fee for agent or reseller reservations.
4. FareHarbor
Next is FareHarbor — a Booking.com brand. FareHarbor appeals to teams because:
- They don’t charge subscription fees, only booking fees.
- They offer a website-building service where their team will create a site for you from their template gallery.
- The platform has little to no learning curve, so tour operators can be up and running quickly.
However, the catch with FareHarbor is high booking fees (to counter the lack of subscription fees). FareHarbor charges a variable — up to 6% — fee on each booking.
They pass this fee on to the customer, but depending on the price of your experience, this fee can deter customers from booking and impact conversions. So FareHarbor may appear free, but it may cost you customers.
Booking fees are a major consideration when comparing channel managers, so we’d say FareHarbor is not the #1 option compared to competitors’ booking fees and perks.
We should also mention that FareHarbor does not clarify whether it offers benefits for Booking.com users or free reservations from that channel.
Features
- Connections with OTAs & channel management
- Customisable booking calendar
- Website-building services
- Online booking widget
- Reseller network
- Product management
- Availability management
- Staff management
- Native POS
- Integrations with Stripe
- Customer portals
- Fast check-in features & online waiver tools
- Options to sell memberships
- Reporting
- Mobile apps
Pricing
FareHarbor charges variable booking fees — as high as 6% — per reservation. They pass these fees to customers (which can impact booking conversions).
Read more: Best FareHarbor alternatives comparison guide
5. Rezdy
Rezdy is a global name and trusted by tour operators around the world. They’ve also merged with Checkfront and Regiondo to grow their customer base and offer more unique benefits to tour operators.
Rezdy advertises its online booking system for tour operators at all growth stages, with user-friendly features, a vast toolset, and a modern UI. However, pricing makes them a better option for larger teams.
We include Rezdy on our list because they’re a well-known name, and if you’re researching channel managers, you’re bound to run into them. The site integrates with countless OTAs and includes a reseller network for tour operators to establish partnerships.
However — Rezdy does not partner with any OTA, and they charge booking fees on every online booking, so when you compare Rezdy to other channel managers, they don’t offer as many benefits as Bókun or even Palisis above.
Features
- Channel management & connections with OTAs
- Customisable booking calendar
- One-click website builder (booking widgets for existing sites)
- Product & availability management
- Reseller network
- Integrations with payment processors (Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.)
- RezdyPay (Rezdy’s native POS)
- CRM & automated customer communications
- Reporting
- Mobile apps
Pricing
Rezdy offers a 21-day free trial to explore their platform, then three paid plans:
- Foundation ($49/month) includes the tools to sell online and channel management. You pay a 2% booking fee for online reservations and $1 per agent or offline booking.
- Accelerate ($99/month) includes everything in Foundation plus extras to create tour packages or offer extras with experiences. Rezdy offers only slightly lower booking fees here: 1.9% for online bookings and 0.85¢ for offline or agent bookings.
- Expansion ($249/month) is the most advanced plan. Here, you can access upgraded reports and create custom integrations via API and Webhooks. You also enjoy lower booking fees here: 1.75% for online bookings and $0.70 for offline or agent bookings.
Read more: Best Rezdy alternatives comparison guide
6. TripWorks
TripWorks is a popular tour operator software for growing teams because, in addition to OTA connections and channel management tools, it includes a suite of marketing tools to manage online advertising campaigns and support digital marketing techniques.
It’s typically used by teams who already have some experience selling online and are ready to explore new growth strategies.
Like Rezdy, TripWorks does not partner with OTAs to offer extra benefits. However, they don’t charge booking fees, so teams exploring channel managers may like TripWorks for that reason.
We should note that we commonly recommend TripWorks for larger teams due to the pricing structure.
They do not charge subscription or booking fees, but they charge a 2.9% + 0.30¢ transaction fee for customers to book and pay online — and they require you to process a minimum of $5K in credit card transactions each month ($30K over six months), or you’re subject to an inactivity fee of $49/month.
Features
- Channel management & OTA connections
- Online booking widget
- Reservation management
- Reseller network
- Product management
- Availability management
- Marketing tools to build & manage online advertising campaigns
- Integrations with marketing software & other business applications
- Dynamic pricing
- Native POS
- Integrations with Apple Pay & Google Pay
- Options to sell gift cards & vouchers
- Digital waivers
- Reporting
Pricing
TripWorks doesn’t display all pricing details online, but it typically appeals to larger teams due to the pricing structure we discussed above.
You start on the platform for free — explore features, embed the booking engine on your site, connect with OTAs, build tour listings, set availability, etc. Then, when you’re ready to start accepting bookings, you connect your credit card and begin paying for the platform.
You can also contact TripWorks to learn more about pricing.
7. Beyonk & BookingHound
Next on our list is Beyonk and BookingHound — these are sister software owned and operated by Beyonk. Like Palisis above, this brand is also popular amongst tour operators in Europe.
- Beyonk is recommended for tour operators to manage a centralised calendar. It includes booking widgets, OTA connections, a reseller network, and channel management tools.
- BookingHound is recommended for destinations, attractions, and event venues to manage high-volume ticket sales. It includes ticketing tools, options to sell season tickets, capacity management, waitlisting tools, and more.
Beyonk and BookingHound receive positive reviews because the platforms include dozens of features to support operations and are both highly scalable. They’re also appealing because Beyonk does not charge subscription fees for its solutions.
However, booking fees on both platforms are steeper — a 4% fee for every online booking. Beyonk also does not offer any OTA partnerships, so it falls lower on our list of recommended channel managers.
Features
- Connections with OTAs & channel management
- Online booking widgets
- Custom checkout workflows
- Reseller network
- Inventory management to monitor equipment, facilities, & staff
- Tools to manage online or in-person payments
- Options to cross-sell products & offer add-ons
- Options to sell gift cards & issue discount codes
- Dynamic pricing
- Options to offer free events
- Automated customer communications
- Content management system
- Affiliate codes
- Reporting
- Analytics from Meta & Google
Also available in Beyonk:
- ePOS system
- Staff & schedule management
- Zapier integrations
Only available in BookingHound:
- Online ticketing tools
- Capacity management system & waitlisting tools
- Options to sell memberships or season tickets
- Options to sell merchandise
- Customer self-service portals
- Questionnaires
- Abandoned cart retargeting
Pricing
- Beyonk charges a 4% booking fee for each reservation but no subscription fees.
- BookingHound is available for $38/month — it grants access to more features and includes the digital waiver solution. You still pay 4% booking fees here.
- Beyonk also offers custom enterprise plans.
8. TrekkSoft
The last option, TrekkSoft, is another well-known booking management software provider — historically popular among UK-based tour operators. However, it’s one of the most expensive software options on our list: the brand charges subscription fees, (high) booking fees, and transaction fees.
TrekkSoft offers a robust feature set and connects with hundreds of OTAs, but we should point out that the platform lacks a reseller network — you can only grow your reach via OTAs.
Although TrekkSoft receives good reviews and offers a high-quality solution for tour operators, the lack of OTA partnerships and reseller network, coupled with expensive pricing and booking fees, makes it a less-than-favourable option.
Features
- Connections with OTAs & channel management
- Customisable booking calendar
- Custom website builder
- Booking widgets for existing sites
- Availability management
- Partner network to establish contracts with suppliers & resellers
- Integrations with payment processors (Stripe, PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay)
- Payoo (TrekkSoft’s native payment gateway)
- Resource management
- Reporting
- Mobile apps
Pricing
TrekkSoft offers three packages:
- Commission is the starter plan that grants limited feature access — it includes the booking engine, channel management, and integrated payment gateways. TrekkSoft requires a 12-month contract for this plan and charges an $850 set-up fee. You’re also subject to booking fees (5% for website bookings, 3% from OTAs and partners, and a 0.60¢ fee for offline bookings) and transaction fees (2.5% + 27¢).
- Accelerate is the upgraded plan that costs $150/month. It grants access to more advanced features and the reseller network. This plan also offers lower booking fees: 2.5% for direct online bookings and OTAs and 60¢ per offline booking.
- Ultimate is the top-tier plan, with full feature access, that costs $300/month. You enjoy the lowest booking fees here: 2% for direct online bookings and OTAs and 60¢ per offline booking.
Read more: Best TrekkSoft alternatives comparison guide
Start a 14-day free trial of Bókun to explore our platform, connect with Viator, and begin promoting your tours online.
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