Small Fish Big Ocean - Helping small tour operators and niche agents with travel ecommerce

Helping small tour operators and niche agents with travel ecommerce

Latest Activity

Justin Armstrong replied to Justin Armstrong's discussion 'New Website for Small Tour Operators'1 hour ago

We are based in the united states. We charge 15%, out of which we pay the credit card fees.

Alex Bainbridge replied to Guillermo Gonzalez Canales's discussion 'How to find agents?'1 hour ago

Hi Guillermo Where do your customers come from? USA? Europe? Asia? I guess you will be looking to attract luxury travel agents from the regions that create the most potential for you? Give us that information and I will see what I can come up w...

Alex Bainbridge replied to Justin Armstrong's discussion 'New Website for Small Tour Operators'1 hour ago

Hi Justin This is very interesting Two quick questions 1) Where are you based? (country) - I couldn't see from your site 2) What % will you take of the transaction? Cheers. Alex

Justin Armstrong added a discussion7 hours ago

New Website for Small Tour Operators

We recently launched our new website dedicated to small and medium tour operators. Operators can post their tours for free. There are tools for creating a seller profile, uploading media related to your tours and finding keywords to help people fi...

Guillermo Gonzalez Canales added a discussionon Wednesday

How to find agents?

Hi everybody! I've been working offering my private tour expedition services through hotels concierges in the Riviera Maya... It has been nice, but I'm trying now to make some direct deals with luxury niche travel agents... But I can't find them a...

Nicola Young replied to Ludovic Guinee's discussion 'Tour Operator or Travel Agent: France based in UK'on Tuesday

Hi everyone, Further to this question, I am also in the process of setting up a tour operator company registered in the UK and operating out of France. Does anyone know, do I need to be registered in France even though we'll be operating from a ...

Alex Bainbridge replied to Jamie McCubbin's discussion 'Using Affiliates'June 24

Hi Jamie I am sure you know of this but have you seen http://www.golftourismscotland.com/ Cheers. Alex

Alex Bainbridge replied to Matthew Champness's discussion 'Very confused!'June 24

Hi Matt, I didn't really want to say this (well I did, but I didn't) but these forums are sponsored by TourCMS - www.tourcms.com (software that we run) Packages are a highly competitive sector so just a word of warning - regardless of software y...

Alex Bainbridge replied to Aiden Li's discussion 'Mobile Travel'June 24

The key with mobile travel is that it is most helpful to people WHILE they are travelling..... Pre-travel planning can continue to work on full screen PCs. Hence mobile travel can be more about concierge services, selling last minute upgrades / a...

Matthew Champness replied to Matthew Champness's discussion 'Very confused!'June 24

Hi Alex Thanks for the response. I want to do it via online, so effectively selling package tours via my website to the masses? Any help in the directions of software I should be look for? Matt

Dee Edwards replied to Aiden Li's discussion 'Mobile Travel'June 22

I am assuming it is travel products or services run over mobile phones or other mobile devices.

Jamie McCubbin added a discussionJune 18

Using Affiliates

Hi folks I am about to distribute flyers to golf clubs/driving ranges and set them up as affiliates so that we can pay them commission for bookings (and to incentivise them not to throw the flyers into the bin). Each flyer will have a reference ...

Gareth Thomas replied to Gareth Thomas's discussion 'Travel Distribution Summit'June 18

I've just had an email about video footage available from this event: https://secure.firstconf.com/travel/tds/video-request.asp £240. Anyone tried it/know if it's worth it? Cheers - Gareth

Alex Bainbridge replied to Matthew Champness's discussion 'Very confused!'June 18

Hi Matt First you need to think how you are going to reach out to your customers For example will you go direct (trading online) - or will you go via agents? If you are going via agents - will they be niche agents that you will deal with directly...

Matthew Champness added a discussionJune 17

Very confused!

Hi This is a great website that has helped me with a number of questions however im utterly confused. I want to set up my own independent tour operator offering specialist sports package tours to America. Im struggling with the cost side of thing...

Aiden Li added a discussionJune 9

Mobile Travel

hello everyone, does anyone knows what is the definition of "Mobile Travel"? I am doing research right now but I could not find enough details about this topic. Thank you for your help!

Rachel Harvey replied to Rachel Harvey's discussion 'Combining TourCMS with website'June 7

Great - thanks for your help on both questions Alex. Rachel

Alex Bainbridge replied to Rachel Harvey's discussion 'Combining TourCMS with website'June 7

Hi Rachel Best to hop over to http://community.tourcms.com to ask your questions! However, to answer your question, yep - you can integrate how you wish - options include iframed booking engine, conventional web link booking engine - or if you a...

Alex Bainbridge replied to Rachel Harvey's discussion 'ATOL?? IPP??'June 7

Hi Rachel Yes - you have it about right. There are alternatives - TOPP, Travel Trust Association (TTA), IPP You can be an affiliate of an existing bonded company (so they have the contract between consumer and tour operator) - which is less commi...

Rachel Harvey added 2 discussionsJune 6

Forum

New Website for Small Tour Operators 2 Replies

Tagged: payment, gateway, free, services, tours

Started by Justin Armstrong in The foyer. Last reply by Justin Armstrong 1 hour ago.

How to find agents? 1 Reply

Started by Guillermo Gonzalez Canales in The foyer. Last reply by Alex Bainbridge 1 hour ago.

Tour Operator or Travel Agent: France based in UK 3 Replies

Hi, I'm going to set-up my company as a tour operator or travel agent based in UK. I'm struggling to understand the difference between these 2. My offer will be exclusively in France and I will o...

Started by Ludovic Guinee in The foyer. Last reply by Nicola Young Jun 30.

Using Affiliates 1 Reply

Hi folks I am about to distribute flyers to golf clubs/driving ranges and set them up as affiliates so that we can pay them commission for bookings (and to incentivise them not to throw the flyers...

Started by Jamie McCubbin in The clinic. Last reply by Alex Bainbridge Jun 24.

Very confused! 3 Replies

Hi This is a great website that has helped me with a number of questions however im utterly confused. I want to set up my own independent tour operator offering specialist sports package tours to ...

Started by Matthew Champness in The foyer. Last reply by Alex Bainbridge Jun 24.

Mobile Travel 2 Replies

hello everyone, does anyone knows what is the definition of "Mobile Travel"? I am doing research right now but I could not find enough details about this topic. Thank you for your help!

Started by Aiden Li in The foyer. Last reply by Alex Bainbridge Jun 24.

Travel Distribution Summit 9 Replies

Hello Has anyone been to this event in previous years: http://events.eyefortravel.com/tds/conference/ I' been to a number of travel shows and found the seminars to be (on the whole) quite interes...

Started by Gareth Thomas in The foyer. Last reply by Gareth Thomas Jun 18.

Combining TourCMS with website 2 Replies

Hi Alex - I'm hoping you can assist me with this one. I know that you can design your own sites on the TourCMS site, but is there the option to link the back end booking / report system with a bes...

Started by Rachel Harvey in The foyer. Last reply by Rachel Harvey Jun 7.

ATOL?? IPP?? 1 Reply

Sorry to drag up this issue of customer financial protection / bonding, etc, but my understanding is that if you are selling packages (flights and accommodation) you have to be ATOL bonded. You can...

Started by Rachel Harvey in The foyer. Last reply by Alex Bainbridge Jun 7.

Anyone experienced with Kayak sponsored links? 1 Reply

I am considering using the Kayak sponsored links to advertise a locally-focused OTA site. The USD 500 prepayment is a little steep, though so I am looking for some indication on the price and quali...

Started by Andrej in The foyer. Last reply by Alex Bainbridge Jun 6.

Do you need insurance if you are going to arrange tours? 3 Replies

Hi again, been a while since I have posted. Anyway I am receiving conflicting information about insurance for small tour groups. I know a couple of groups who are essentially acting as tour groups...

Started by workingNOMAD in The foyer. Last reply by Ralph Foulds Jun 1.

The community project concept 13 Replies

This is a bit of an experiment but we are confident that it will work. As explained in our "introduction post" every month we are going to run a project that everyone can get involved with. Next m...

Started by Alex Bainbridge in SFBO Project chit-chat. Last reply by Ilkka Kauppinen May 28.

Money, Money, Money! 3 Replies

Hi, I'm at the beginning of the process of setting up my own travel company, looking to specialise in tours abroad, mostly Europe. They will be package tours so will comply with package holiday re...

Started by Angela Burrows in The clinic. Last reply by Angela Burrows May 26.

How hard will it be to change people's perceptions about a destination? 3 Replies

Hello all. As a fairly new member, I enjoy learning from your knowledge and commenting in the discussions. I am developing escorted tours centered around particular themes that will bring tourists...

Started by Timothy Schenck in The clinic. Last reply by Timothy Schenck May 22.

TOPP or TTA? 17 Replies

I'm in the process of setting up a new travel company (uk incoming) and trying to decide between TOPP and TTA. Can users of either advise on their practical experience of these schemes?

Tagged: tta, topp

Started by Keith Roberts in The clinic. Last reply by Daniel Le Merle May 22.

Would you book this holiday?! (threadjack on the Tourdust thread) 17 Replies

I was just playing around with Tourdust to contribute to the other thread and I had an idea of something that may spark up some ideas and opinions on different interfaces and user experiences. Her...

Started by Dee Edwards in Website and product reviews. Last reply by May Ince May 22.

New Website just launched - paypal have pulled the plug on us 36 Replies

Hi all, We've launched our new website integrating the paypal payment system on our website and paypal have now decided that they will not provide us with this facility because we are not abta mem...

Started by Anna Maria O'Flynn in The foyer. Last reply by Alex Bainbridge May 22.

Package Travel Regulations Question 1 Reply

Hi everyone, Firstly I'd just like to say what a brilliant website - a real gem for the small fish out there who need a little extra help with the ins and outs of the industry (which seem endless)...

Started by Joe in The foyer. Last reply by Dee Edwards May 21.

Exhaustive list of hotel offers found in hotel contracts - e.g. 7 nights for 5 etc 3 Replies

Has anyone got a good list of what kind of hotel offers are common in hotel contracts? e.g. 7 nights for the price of 5 etc? If you don't have a list, please add any you know of below! Thanks. A...

Started by Alex Bainbridge in The foyer. Last reply by Paul Slugocki May 20.

Looking for travel planners/workers to sell Ethiopian Safari 4 Replies

Ethiopia is probably the one African country that has yet to be discovered by mass tourism, but arguably one of the most beautiful and and unique destinations in the world.. Pangeans safari, tour o...

Tagged: road, travel, trips, African, vacations

Started by liza Andreou in The clinic. Last reply by sparapizz May 19.