Day two, a steep climb, and one walker struggling
Your moderate to challenging walking tour in the Picos includes days of several hours on rough paths with long ascents. The grade is on the website, with a description. A customer books online, pays the deposit and fills in her details. She has walked the South Downs Way in stages and thinks she is fit.
On day two, she is far behind the group on the long climb. The leader has to split the group, and she spends the next day on the coach, disappointed. Afterwards she says, fairly, that nobody asked her about her walking before she booked.
Grades are published but not checked
Most activity tour operators grade tours carefully. The problem is that grading is information you publish, and customers interpret it through their own experience. Nothing in a standard booking process checks whether their experience fits.
- Grades use words (easy, moderate, challenging) that mean different things to different people.
- Online booking lets customers pay without answering any activity questions.
- Questions asked after booking are free text and rarely read against the grade.
- Health and fitness conversations are left to the leader on day one.
- Group bookings mean one organiser books for people you know nothing about.
Whether a customer is fit to take part is not something we decide, and nothing here is health advice. It is about asking the right questions early and making sure your team sees the answers.
Mismatches hurt the customer and the group
A customer on the wrong grade has a worse holiday, and so does the rest of the group if the pace has to change. The leader carries extra strain. Refunds, transfers to another tour or complaints follow, and reviews often mention it. The reverse also happens: very fit customers on an easy tour feel bored and say so.
In the office, someone may have noticed a worrying answer on a form weeks before, but without a way to flag it, it went unread.
Suitability questions that reach the right person
We add a suitability step to booking and a review step for the office.
- Each tour's grade is described in concrete terms you choose: typical daily distance and ascent, terrain, time on foot or bike, and any sections that need a head for heights.
- During booking, customers answer a few specific questions about recent activity: longest recent walk or ride, hills involved, how often they do it. Questions are framed in the same terms as the grade.
- Answers are compared with the tour's grade using rules you set, and each booking is marked as a clear match, worth a chat, or a possible mismatch.
- Possible mismatches go to a named person in the office as a task, with the answers and a suggested alternative tour at a different grade.
- Customers on a group booking receive their own short questionnaire through the organiser portal or a link.
- The tour leader's briefing includes a short summary for the group, so they know who might need extra encouragement or a shorter option on a given day.
- The questions and answers are kept on the booking, so the office has a record of the conversation that took place.
| Result | What happens |
|---|---|
| Clear match | Booking proceeds, nothing extra |
| Worth a chat | Friendly note or call from the office |
| Possible mismatch | Task for a named person, alternatives suggested |
| Group member not answered | Reminder through the organiser |
| Answers on file | Summary in the leader's briefing |
A conversation before the booking, not on the hill
A customer books the challenging Picos tour online. Her answers show she walks regularly but rarely on hills. The booking is marked worth a chat. Someone from the office rings her, describes day two honestly, and mentions the moderate tour in the same region. She decides to stay on the challenging tour and start some hill training, or she switches. Either way, it was her informed choice, made early.
Over a season, the answers also tell you whether your grade descriptions are working, because you can see which tours attract the most mismatches.
Do grade mismatches happen on your tours?
- Customers can book without answering any activity questions.
- Leaders discover on day one that someone is on the wrong grade.
- Worrying answers on forms go unread.
- Group members book through an organiser with no questions asked.
- Reviews mention tours being harder or easier than expected.