What is Viator?
Viator is an OTA, a booking platform for activities and experiences owned by TripAdvisor.
It serves as a gateway between tour operators — guides, cruise lines, museums, activity providers — and travelers from around the world.
- Founded in San Francisco in 1995, Viator was acquired by TripAdvisor in 2014.
- It currently hosts over 300,000 activities in 200 countries.
- Every offer published on Viator is automatically visible on TripAdvisor, which immediately doubles its reach.
This unique positioning makes it a global showcase, but also a very competitive marketplace.
Operators find:
- an international audience (notably North American),
- an integrated booking and payment system,
- an immediate credibility thanks to the TripAdvisor ecosystem.
However, Viator imposes a strict framework:
- an average commission of 20 to 30%,
- demanding quality standards,
- rigorous moderation of visuals, texts, and conditions.
It is therefore a formidable acquisition lever, provided you understand it well — and know how to manage it without getting lost.
This guide focuses on connecting to Viator, but you can also check our guide on connecting to Get Your Guide, which is another well-known OTA.
Good to know: Tourbiz supports connections to these two OTAs, and many more!
Guide to start selling on Viator
Registering on Viator is not rocket science, but it all depends on rigor. Every poorly filled field, every mediocre visual, or every vague description can push your offer down in the rankings. Viator rewards precision, consistency, and responsiveness.
1. Create your Viator Supplier account
Registration is done directly on the Supplier Portal of Viator.
You need to provide:
- your legal information (SIRET, address, VAT number);
- your contact details;
- your general terms, cancellation policies, and insurance;
- a brief description of your company and services.
After submission, Viator manually verifies your file — expect a few days for complete validation.
⚡ Tip: take care of your presentation. A clear biography, a professional tone, and real team photos enhance trust.
Remember: your business profile is also your showcase on TripAdvisor, and the article Tripadvisor tourism visibility perfectly details how to optimize this cross-exposure.
2. Add your products and offers
Once the account is validated, you can publish your first activities.
Each product sheet is structured around three axes: content, logistics, value.
- Content: a descriptive title (“Sunset cruise on the Seine”), a clear description (what the experience includes and excludes), and inspiring visuals.
- Logistics: precise schedules, clear meeting point, duration, spoken languages.
- Value: prices consistent with the market, additional options, combined offers.
Viator favors offers that are both readable and easily bookable.
⚡ Advice: think of your sheet as a mini-landing page. It should tell a story, reassure, and entice clicks without detours.
Activities with at least 6 authentic photos, a clear description, and regular schedules have a conversion rate 40% higher.
3. Manage your bookings and payments
Once your products are online, Viator becomes a full-fledged sales channel.
But the real success comes from your daily management:
- responding quickly to messages,
- keeping your stocks updated,
- tracking your payouts,
- managing cancellations flexibly.
It’s a demanding routine, but it makes all the difference.
The Viator algorithm favors responsive, consistent, and reliable operators.
Don’t neglect the back-office part: poor planning management can cost you dearly, especially if you are also present on other OTAs.
This is precisely what our article on tourist booking management addresses in depth: how to stay organized, productive, and avoid manual errors.
In summary, Viator is not a difficult platform to integrate, but it is a platform that does not forgive amateurism. Every detail counts, and those who treat their page like a real online store — photos, texts, responses, follow-up — end up dominating the results.
How and why to go through Tourbiz for the connection with Viator
For many operators, Viator represents a huge opportunity — but also an additional burden.
Managing multiple OTAs at once, tracking commissions, avoiding overbookings, maintaining consistent prices: what was supposed to simplify sales quickly becomes a balancing act.
That’s exactly why Tourbiz was designed.
A simple, smooth, and error-free synchronization
Tourbiz connects directly to Viator via API. Once the link is activated, your products, stocks, and bookings flow automatically between the two systems:
- every sale made on Viator appears instantly in your Tourbiz interface,
- your stocks update in real-time across all your channels,
- your prices remain aligned — no spreadsheets, no copy-pasting, no risk of duplicates.
This native interconnection is not limited to Viator.
It extends to GetYourGuide, Funbooker, Google Things To Do, and your website.
You manage everything from a single dashboard, without ever having to reconnect to each platform.
The example of an operator who regained control
Let’s take the concrete case of one of our clients: a Parisian operator offering various tourist activities — guided tours, cruises, cultural workshops.
Before Tourbiz, he spent several hours a day juggling between his Viator, GetYourGuide, and Funbooker accounts. Each OTA had its specificities, its prices, its stocks. Result: confusion, errors, and a blurred vision of his actual margin.
Since he integrated Tourbiz:
- his sales are centralized on a single interface,
- he can activate or deactivate products according to the OTAs (for example, some exclusive offers only on GetYourGuide, others reserved for Funbooker),
- he instantly visualizes his net margin by channel, allowing him to adjust his prices and priorities.
Result: less than 5 minutes a day to manage three OTAs, a better-controlled margin, and a distribution model finally under control.
Why Tourbiz changes the game
Tourbiz is not just a simple technical connector.
It’s a strategic management tool: it automates repetitive tasks, secures your data, and helps you decide — rather than suffer.
Les opérateurs qui utilisent Tourbiz avec Viator gagnent :
- du temps (plus d’erreurs de stock ni de saisies manuelles),
- de la clarté (une vision marge/volume consolidée),
- de la flexibilité (diffuser les bons produits, au bon endroit, au bon moment).
