Viator Review: My HONEST Experience With Viator Tours
As an avid traveler (and full-time travel blogger), I’ve tried out my fair share of tour booking companies. And spoiler alert, Viator is the one I recommend most!
In this Viator review I’m sharing my honest opinion and experiences going on Viator tours around the world—including what happened when recently I needed to cancel a Viator booking last minute (and put their cancellation policy to the test).
If you’re wondering, this article is NOT sponsored by Viator. Everything I share here is my own opinion, based on my own experience—and based on tours I paid for with my own money! 😊
Snaps from some of the MANY Viator tours I’ve been on in the Caribbean. Europe, Hawaii, and Central America
How Viator Works (With LOCAL Tour Companies)
Viator is a tour aggregator—kind of like Airbnb for tours, except more professional. Local tour companies list their tours and experiences on Viator to boost bookings and in turn, Viator handles all the payment and creates a trustworthy review system.
Unlike Google Reviews or even reviews on the tour operators websites, you can trust Viator reviews because they only allow reviews from travelers who actually paid and went on these tours! (I look for tours with 4.8/5 stars or higher, and usually 100+ reviews).
This allows you to compare multiple local tour companies all in one place to find the absolute best! Then you can book securely through Viator with their reserve now and pay later feature plus free cancellation policies.
My Experience Using Viator (And Cancelling)
I’ve booked dozens of Viator tours around the world, such as:
- 🦈 Shark diving in Oahu, Hawaii
- 🍷 Wine tasting beneath Mt. Vesuvius
- 🌿 ATM caving tour in Belize
- 🥾 Fushimi Inari hiking tour in Kyoto, Japan
- 🏝️ Island in a day adventure in St. Vincent, Caribbean
- 🤿 Night snorkeling with manta rays in Hawaii
- and more…!
But let me give you a specific example of where Viator really saved me!
On my most recent trip to Japan, I only had two days in Kyoto (spoiler alert: that’s not enough!) Knowing it would sell out, we preemptively booked this award-winning Kyoto E-Bike Tour. But when I really worked out the logistics, I realized that we didn’t have time for it along with all the other things we wanted to do in Kyoto.
I really didn’t want to, but I had to cancel a few days before—and since Viator offers reserve now and pay later PLUS free cancellation on *almost* all experiences, the $230 for that tour never even left our bank account.
We’d reserved our spots months before, and were able to cancel a few days before the experience without ever being charged.
Transparently, this was my first time cancelling a Viator booking, and I really didn’t expect it to be so easy! It really makes me think that as I plan trips in the future, I should book my Viator tours even if I’m not 100% sure, just to make sure I get my spot before they sell out.
Reserve Now & Pay Later Feature
As I mentioned, Viator offers a reserve now and pay later feature, which is pretty handy!
Usually, when booking travel experiences directly with a tour operator, or another third-party tour booking site (aka Viator competitor) like Klook or GetYourGuide, you have to pay to reserve your spot.
But with Viator you can always make a tour booking and delay payment to a few days before the tour date. And of course, you don’t get charged extra for this!
Reserve now and pay later is useful if you’re short on cash but want to plan a future trip. As a travel blogger, I like this because it usually helps me keep all my travel ‘business expenses’ from a trip within the same bank statement—less confusing when it comes to bookkeeping!
Why Viator is Trustworthy
I know Viator is trustworthy from my own experience booking tours around the world, but if you want more evidence, here’s some food for thought:
- Viator is owned by TripAdvisor: You’ve heard of TripAdvisor, right? It’s the world’s largest travel-review and travel-planning platform and they acquired Viator in 2014.
- Viator has 300,000 bookable experiences around the world: That’s a LOT!! They’ve been doing this for over a decade, too.
- Viator has a 4.4/5 rating on TrustPilot: That’s really high for TrustPilot, and its from nearly 300,000 Viator customers.
- Reviews are verified: As I’ve mentioned, the only folks who can submit a review of a Viator experience are ones who have actually paid for and gone on these experiences.
Overall, I choose to book tours with Viator over other tour booking sites because I’ve found that it has the greatest selection of tour options in all the places I’ve traveled (Latin America, Asia, Hawaii, Europe, etc)
Disadvantages of Using Viator
I’m going to be totally honest, I haven’t experience many cons of using Viator. However, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Viator is a marketplace, not a tour provider: Like with Airbnb hosts, the tour provider can send you messages and info on Viator, but reaching out to Viator customer support (which is great support, by the way) won’t connect you directly with the tour provider.
- It’s possible you miss out on cheaper tours: Viator has a low price guarantee, but there is sometimes a chance that there’s another local tour provider who isn’t listed on Viator and may offer a lower rate.
- Viator doesn’t have everything: If you’re traveling somewhere remote, you might not have many bookable options on Viator. I’ve had to book plenty of tours directly with local providers in smaller towns. But in *most* tourist destinations around the world—even small ones—you can find experiences on Viator.
- Viator isn’t the best for tickets: Klook is another (Asia-focused) tour booking platform that I used in Japan. While I prefer booking with Viator (for all the reasons in this article), Klook has something that Viator usually doesn’t—tickets for viewpoints, trains, etc. If you just need an entry ticket for somewhere, check Klook!
👋🏽 Is this article honestly helpful?! I would much appreciate it if you use my link to book your Viator experiences. I earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) which supports all my free travel guides on Your Friend The Nomad!
