How a marketplace works
Viator was founded in Sydney in 1995; according to public information the company, Viator, Inc., is now based in Needham, Massachusetts, and has been part of the Tripadvisor group since 2014.
The difference from a conventional reseller is the model. Viator doesn't organise tours: it hosts offers from third-party operators and acts as their disclosed agent. In practice:
- the supplier decides the itinerary, price, group size and cancellation terms;
- Viator takes the payment, sends the confirmation and collects the reviews;
- the trip is run by the local operator, with its own coaches and guides.
That's why two trips with almost identical titles can be very different. The name that matters on the listing isn't Viator but the supplier.
Four suppliers, four different day trips
Tuscany day trips from Florence show the model clearly. At our last check, the most-reviewed ones came from four different operators:
| Supplier | Rating | Indicative price | Meeting point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walkabout Florence Tours | 4.9 from about 24,000 | about $111 | taxi rank at Santa Maria Novella station, 07:45 |
| CAF Tour – Gray Line | 4.8 from about 3,000 | about $76 | piazzale Montelungo, 07:15 |
| Ciao Florence Tours | 4.6 from about 7,200 | about $69 | kiosk in piazzale Montelungo, staff in fuchsia jackets |
| myTour in Italy | 4.4 from about 1,100 | about $60 | Villa Costanza, on the T1 tram line |
These are four products, not four prices for the same tour. The dearest trip is also the most reviewed and the highest rated; the cheapest leaves from Villa Costanza, outside the centre, so you need to allow for the tram. At our last check, all four offered a full refund up to 24 hours before.
You'll find some of these operators elsewhere too. Walkabout, now Walkabout Tours, has its own review in this guide. CAF Tour – Gray Line also runs a day trip with lunch sold on Tiqets. myTour in Italy is the supplier of the equivalent trip on Musement.
Is it cheaper to buy from the supplier?
Sometimes, yes, and it's the most useful check you can make. On its own site Walkabout offers its “Best of Tuscany” from €75, while the most-reviewed Walkabout trip on Viator was listed at around $111. They aren't necessarily exactly the same product, but the difference justifies a comparison.
There are differences between platforms too: Gray Line's trip with lunch on Tiqets costs from €105, more than the Gray Line trip on sale on Viator, though the two programmes don't necessarily match. Each platform applies its own margins, and the supplier may sell different versions on different channels. If the price is in dollars, remember that your bank may add an exchange charge.
For comparison, below are two classic day trips on Tiqets and GetYourGuide, at prices we update often because they change all the time.
Pisa, Siena & San Gimignano: Day Trip from Florence + Wine Tasting
(18 reviews) from €64
Book on Tiqets
Florence: Pisa, Siena and San Gimignano Day Trip with Lunch
(11,722 reviews) from €49
Book on GetYourGuideFive checks before you book
On a marketplace the job of sifting falls to you. Before paying for a day trip on Viator, look at:
- The supplier's name, and look it up outside Viator too: its own site, other platforms, independent reviews.
- The meeting point and time: piazzale Montelungo, Santa Maria Novella station and Villa Costanza are three different places, and at that hour a mistake costs you the trip.
- What's included: lunch, a tasting, the climb up the Leaning Tower, entry to Siena Cathedral. Sometimes they're paid extras.
- The cancellation terms stated on that listing, not the general ones.
- The recent one- and two-star reviews: they tell you more than the average.
Cancellation: the supplier decides
On the four trips in the table the rule was a full refund up to 24 hours before. But Viator also carries non-refundable products and custom terms, and some tickets for the Leaning Tower of Pisa can't be refunded. For the Tower, in any case, the official site costs €20 and lets you cancel up to 2 hours before.
Support goes through the help centre and the chat: there's no public phone number. On the day of the trip, for a delay or a question about the meeting point, it's best to call the supplier directly.
Viator and the competition authority
In its investigation into Colosseum tickets, Italy's competition authority also examined Viator, but left it out of the fines because it considers it a marketplace: the fines went to GetYourGuide, Tiqets, Musement and others.
Viator reviews: what customers say
At our last check Viator had about 4.5 on Trustpilot from about 332,000 reviews, with 74% five-star and 11% one-star ratings; the app on the App Store was rated at around 4.9. The recurring complaints reflect the model:
- disputes over refunds;
- suppliers who don't respond;
- confusion over the meeting point;
- listings that don't match the trip actually run.
Who it suits
Viator suits English speakers who want to see lots of day trips side by side and have the patience to read the supplier's name and its reviews. It suits less well anyone who wants a single contact on the phone, or who pays in euros and doesn't want to think about the exchange rate.
Why 3 and not 4, like GetYourGuide? Viator's reputation on Trustpilot is better, but for anyone booking from Italy three things weigh against it: no phone number for support, prices in dollars, and cancellation terms set trip by trip by the supplier, with no platform-wide rule. On the most-reviewed day trips from Florence the practical result is similar; the checking, here, falls more to you.
Alternatives to consider: GetYourGuide for day trips with 24-hour cancellation and prices in euros, Civitatis if you travel in Spanish, and our guide to day trips from Florence to work out which itinerary suits you, from Siena to Chianti.