Tour Guide Replacements - Notify and Explain to your client.

There are some cases when a tour guide may not be able to guide the client as scheduled by a booking made of them directly. Your clients will understand about these changes if they are notified in advance. Let us first have a look into some negative client feedback OurExplorer have experienced in this topic.


“Guide A was not our tour guide. Guide B was. B was a very good guide, and covered all the locations we expected. I presume A had a very good reason for the switch to B, but it still leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.”

“The first 'surprise' was that we'd thought we'd booked a personal tour guide, so were expecting Guide C, with whom I'd had a lot of emails to confirm details etc. At no point did he indicate we may get someone else (Guide D) from his company. Guide D did make it clear he knew the arrangements but we had expected C to arrive, so even that felt uncomfortable at first.”

So what shall a tour guide do to avoid such complaints from your client?


Notify client in advance to avoid the “surprise”.

It takes only a short note to say “I am personally not available on the tour day, but will arrange my fellow tour guide, who is also a professional and qualified tour guide. Here is the contact for your new tour guide…”

Quick response is critical.

Here is another client who felt uncomfortable at first but later decided to go on with the same guide’s offer. “Thank you for your quick response. I just received another email from the guide, and he has found us a replacement guide.”


Clear explanation from the new tour guide upon meeting client is reassuring.

If you communicated with your clients all the time about their sightseeing tour details, ask the guide who is your replacement to explain again upon meeting. This is reassuring to the clients that they did meet the right person. Also, there will be no confusion about the itinerary or tour arrangements.


Exchange mobile numbers with your clients

A tour guide can notify the clients easily with short messages. Especially if you are meeting cruise passengers who usually start the journey long before your meet, mobile communication is helpful.