A small walking tour company runs twelve itineraries. Every day, the team answers the same questions: Is the Highlands tour suitable for beginners? Are meals included? How many people are in a group? Where does it start? Can I join on my own? The answers are all in the tour notes, but travellers ask anyway, often late at night from another time zone.
Repeated itinerary questions take up hours every week. Answering them clearly and instantly frees the team for the conversations that need them.
The questions that repeat
- What is included, and what is not?
- How active is the tour, and how fit do I need to be?
- How many people are in the group?
- Where does it start and finish?
- What should I pack?
- Can I join as a solo traveller?
- Is it suitable for children?
- What happens if the weather is bad?
- What are the cancellation terms?
The cost of answering the same question daily adds up, as described in the cost of answering the same how-to question daily.
Example conversations
These scripts use information a tour operator might publish. Your answers should come from your own tour pages.
Traveller: Is the Highlands walking tour OK for beginners? Assistant: The tour page rates the Highlands tour as moderate, with walks of around three to five hours a day on mostly good paths. It's suitable for people who walk regularly but don't need to be experienced hikers. There's also an easier Lakes tour if you'd prefer shorter walks.
Traveller: Are meals included? Assistant: Breakfasts and three dinners are included, as listed on the tour page. Lunches and the other dinners are at your own expense, and the guide recommends local places.
Traveller: Can I join on my own? Assistant: Yes, many travellers join solo. The page explains the single supplement for a private room, and the option to share a room with another solo traveller of the same gender if one is available.
Traveller: What happens if it rains a lot? Assistant: The guide adapts the route if the weather is poor, as the tour page explains, and there are indoor alternatives on some days.
Tour pages that answer
A good tour page covers: a day-by-day outline, inclusions and exclusions, activity level, group size, start and end points, what to bring, accessibility notes, suitability for solo travellers and children, and terms. Many operators keep this information in downloadable PDFs; putting it on the page itself makes it easier to find and easier for an assistant to answer from.
Tailor-made and private tours
Some travellers want a private version of a tour or a custom itinerary. Those need a different kind of capture, covered in tailor-made trip requests captured with real detail.
Evening and overseas enquiries
Many tour enquiries come from overseas, in the evening or overnight. A quick answer at that moment keeps the traveller interested, as described in holiday enquiries that book elsewhere by morning.
Stop writing the same email
Operators often have a folder of saved replies they paste into emails. Moving that content onto tour pages, and letting travellers get answers directly, is the idea behind stop answering the same email twice: automate it.
Answering at any hour
SpideyChat for travel and tourism businesses answers itinerary questions from your own tour pages at any hour, in the traveller's language, and captures booking requests and special requests for the team.
Rewriting one tour page first
Pick your most popular tour and rewrite its page so it answers the questions above. Then let travellers ask anything else when they are planning. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about answers and capture on the features page.