Responsibilities of Tour Guides

KEY INFORMATION FOR ALL OUR PRIVATE CITY WALKING TOURS:

• What level of knowledge do we expect? You don’t need to be able to talk for 10 minutes about the history of each sightseeing place. But you still need to know basic information about the history of each sightseeing place, or what is special about the sightseeing place in general. As a general guideline, you need to be able to talk about 10-20 sentences about each sightseeing point. What you tell the clients is up to you, but you must prepare and study using online materials or whatever materials you choose. When you do this tour for the first few times, please prepare well each time and try to memorize what you will tell the clients. After doing the tour a few times, you will not need to study anymore before the tour. Please do not have written notes that you read from during the tour, and do not use your phone to google things; this will look very unprofessional. You need to memorize what you tell them. Please do not get lost in the streets and avoid using Google Maps to find your way. It will make a bad impression if you use your phone a lot during the tour. Please note that the better you prepare for the tour, the more likely you will be selected again for another tour. Clients usually give us feedback about the quality of the tour. If we get good feedback from your tour, you will be doing more tours.
• What kind of knowledge do we expect from tour guides? You should know about the general geography & history of the city and the country, for example:
  • How many districts are there in the city and what are the names of some major districts?
  • What is the highest building in the city? (height in meters or feet, number of floors)
  • What is the general history of the city? (e.g. when the city was founded and by whom, explain one of the most important historical events)
  • Which are the best restaurants for local food or international food? (please have some options ready to recommend to clients in case they ask)
  • How many provinces are there in the country & name some provinces?
  • Altitude of the highest mountain in the country?
  • For tours in Switzerland: What is the political system in Switzerland called and can you explain it? (direct democracy)
  • For tours in Switzerland: Which months are the winter season (e.g. for skiing)? (November to April)
  • For tours in Switzerland: Why is the flag of Switzerland square and not rectangular like all other countries? (google yourself, the answer is complex)
• Itineraries are usually not discussed in advance but are improvised on the spot in discussion with the clients. If you need to know where they want to visit before the tour starts, you can contact them yourself and ask them
• Tickets for public transportation are not included for our city walking tours. You can suggest that they take public transportation, but then please explain to them that they need to pay for their own tickets. This is already written in the tour description, but some people may not read it. Please assist them with buying the tickets.
• Food & drinks are not included. Should the clients wish to eat or drink during the tour, they have to pay for themselves. Clients do not have to pay for the food & drinks of the tour guide. If the tour guide does not want to eat or drink, he politely tells the clients that he does not want to eat (or spend money) and will come back to them, after they are finished. Or you can tell them that you want to go to a cheaper place to eat. Reason: We cannot expect the clients to pay for our food. However, according to our experience, in most cases (95%), the clients usually invite the tour guide to sit with them and eat with them.

WHAT ARE THE TYPICAL QUESTIONS CLIENTS HAVE?

• Be prepared that clients will ask you the age of some major buildings. If it is an important building, you should know how old it is or how high it is (for example, for skyscrapers, how many floors or height). Especially American clients commonly ask about the age of old buildings. So be prepared to know the average age of buildings in the old town and the age of some major buildings that are tourist attractions.
• A typical question that clients may ask is: What is the history of the city? Be prepared to explain them and point out key events in the city’s history.

WHAT TO DO BEFORE AND AFTER THE TOUR?

Before the tour:

• If you are doing the tour for the first time, please read the tour description so that you know what clients booked and expect.
• Brush up on your knowledge about the sightseeing places: if you have not done the tour for a long time, or are doing the tour for the first time, you may need to study again and brush up on your knowledge.
• Plan your route: Ensure you know the route to the meeting point and plan to arrive 10 minutes early. Think about where you plan to take clients (no need to write down, think about it and bear it in mind). Please do not get lost in the streets and use Google Maps to get around. This would look very unprofessional. Check the weather forecast and prepare a Plan B in case of adverse conditions.
• Contact clients: This is not mandatory but recommended if you have a more complex tour or have only done the tour a few times. Introduce yourself to the client via call, WhatsApp or text message. Discuss and agree on the day’s plan with the client, ensuring alignment of activities and expectations. Confirm the meeting point and time with the client. Please only contact clients 24 hours before the tour starts, not before (reason: they can cancel up to 24 hours before a tour starts). If you cannot reach the guest, don’t worry, the tour is still confirmed, and you can proceed to the meeting point at the scheduled time. We will send your phone number and name before the tour starts to the client so they can reach you in case they can’t find you.
• Wear staff t-shirt: Wear the Suisse Plus Travel staff t-shirt for the tour (if you have one, and if weather conditions allow it).

During the tour:

• Greet the clients and introduce yourself: just your name is enough, more details about yourself you may have a chance to talk during the tour. Please do not forget to introduce yourself as some clients may consider this impolite.
• When meeting the clients, first ask them if they have any wishes for the tour, such as must-visit places. Plan the tour accordingly. If any of their desired places is not suitable to visit, explain to them why it is not suitable (too far, taking too much time, very expensive, …). Please note that most clients do not have an idea where to go, that is why they book a tour. You must take the lead and suggest places to visit to them, and clearly inform them what the plan for the tour is.
• When you get the tour details from us, we will tell you how many people are on the tour. Please double-check if the number of people on the tour is correct. Sometimes clients try to bring children for free on the tour, but children are not free. Checking the number of people on the tour is your interest too: depending on the tour location, we pay slightly more if there are more people on the tour. Should there be more people on the tour than registered, please tell them that the number does not match and inform your supervisor immediately. Your supervisor will deal with them about additional payment.
• Referrals: Often, clients travel to more than just the place you served them. You can ask clients what other places they travel to next and introduce our services to them. To know which destinations we cover, you can go to our website www.suisseplustravel.com. Should the clients buy an additional tour from us because of your referral, we will give you some commission.
• If the client is interested in booking another tour with you, they have to book it through our company. Payments to the tour guide directly for another tour that the client wants to do with the guide are not allowed (non-compete clause).
• If you feel that the guests enjoyed the tour, please ask them to leave a review for you. We will inform you if someone leaves a review. Now there is no reward system for good tour reviews, but we may introduce one in the future. But of course, if you do a tour well and we have positive feedback from clients, you are more likely to be selected for the next booking.

After the tour:

• Submit the tour report https://suisseplustravel.com/tour-report/ within 24 hours after the tour. Submitting the tour report is mandatory. No payments will be sent if the tour report is not submitted.
• We pay out salaries at the beginning of each month, usually before the 10th of each month. Please do not ask us when the money arrives. The date is different each month. In case you did not get paid by the 10th of each month, please check with us why your payment did not arrive.

• What if you have clients who ask questions you can’t answer? This case is most likely to happen if you are not a professional tour guide. Please explain to them that you are not a professional tour guide and therefore you can’t answer some questions. Explain to them that they hired a “local guide”, which is a local to accompany them, and not a professional tour guide who has detailed knowledge about history.
• What to do if clients do not show up for a tour? Please take pictures of the meeting point and a selfie of you at the meeting point. We need this to prove that the tour guide was there. If the client does not show up, try to contact them. If you can’t reach them, wait at the meeting point for 30 minutes, after you can leave. If a client does not show up for a tour, you will get paid for at least 1 hour or maybe even for the full duration of the tour. How much you get paid in the case of a no-show of the client depends on each case.
• What to do if clients expect a private car for a walking tour? Some clients may not read that the tour they booked is a walking tour and expect a private driver. Please explain to them that your tour does not include a private driver and is a walking tour. Tell them that a private driver may be possible to be arranged (usually at extra cost). Please contact your supervisor immediately so he can talk with the clients directly and maybe arrange a private car.