Getting started · 9 min read · Updated June 2026
How to start a tour or charter business
Turning a great experience into a real business comes down to a handful of decisions and one good booking system. Here's a practical path from idea to your first paid reservation.
By the Theybook team — built with operators, for operators
Define the experience
Nail down exactly what you're selling: the duration, the group size, what's included, and the price. Clarity here makes everything downstream — pricing, capacity, marketing — far easier.
Handle the essentials
Sort your licensing, insurance and any permits for your activity and location. Decide whether you'll require a liability waiver (most activity operators do) and what intake you need from guests, like age, weight or experience.
Set pricing and capacity
Choose a headline price and decide on tiers (adult, child, senior) and optional add-ons (gear, photos, upgrades). Set a realistic capacity per departure based on your equipment, crew and safety limits.
Get a booking system
Use booking software that takes payment online, prevents overbooking, and sends confirmations automatically. With Theybook, payments go to your own Stripe and there's no commission — so your unit economics work from day one.
Launch and tell your story
Design a booking page that conveys the experience, then drive traffic from your social channels, local partners and Google. Collect reviews after each trip to build the proof that converts the next guest.
The licenses-and-insurance reality check
Before the brand and the website, confirm the boring parts: business registration, any activity-specific licenses (captain's license, guide permits, park concessions), commercial liability insurance, and the waiver wording your insurer expects. Requirements vary wildly by activity and jurisdiction — a call with a local insurance broker who covers your industry is the highest-value hour of your launch.
Build the waiver into checkout from day one. Digital signatures collected at booking mean nobody is signing clipboards at the dock while the tide turns, and the signed record stays attached to the reservation.
Pricing your first season
Work backwards from a full-but-realistic calendar: estimate departures per week, multiply by expected fill rate (be honest — 60-70% is strong for year one), and set a per-seat price that covers costs at that volume with margin left over. Tiers (adult/child) widen your market without discounting; add-ons (gear, photos, food) raise the average order without touching the headline price.
Resist the urge to compete on price alone. New operators win on niche, story and reviews — a distinctive experience at a fair price outsells a generic one at a cheap price within a season.
Your first 50 bookings
Set up your Google Business Profile the day your booking page goes live — local search is the highest-intent channel you'll ever get for free. Add your booking link to Instagram and answer every DM with it.
Partner locally: hotels, marinas, visitor centers and complementary operators all refer guests; a simple promo code per partner tracks who sends what. And after every single trip, let the automated review request do its job — your first twenty reviews are worth more than any ad budget.
Key takeaways
- Clarity on experience, price and capacity comes first
- Waivers and intake protect you and inform your crew
- Choose commission-free booking software so the math works
- Reviews are your most durable marketing asset
Ready to keep 100% of your bookings?
Set up your booking page in minutes — flat monthly fee, 0% commission, payouts to your own Stripe.
Questions, answered
FAQ
01Do I need my own website to start?
No — your Theybook booking page can be your site on your own domain. You can always add or embed into a bigger site later.
02How do I take payments?
Connect a Stripe account; guests pay by card and funds land directly in your bank on Stripe's payout schedule.
03How much does Theybook cost?
Theybook is a flat $99/month (or $83/month billed annually) with every feature included — unlimited bookings, unlimited experiences, the full design studio, automated emails, waivers, gift cards, CRM and team accounts. There is no commission, no per-booking fee, and no setup fee. The only other cost is Stripe's standard card-processing rate, which is paid to your own Stripe account like any other payment processor.
04Do you really take 0% commission?
Yes — zero, permanently. Commission platforms typically take around 6% of every order, which on $300,000 of annual bookings is roughly $18,000 a year. Theybook's flat fee means a record month costs exactly the same as a quiet one, so every additional booking you win is pure margin.
05Who processes the payments?
Your own Stripe account. Guests pay by card at checkout and the money settles directly to your bank on Stripe's normal payout schedule. Theybook never holds, routes or touches your funds — if you ever leave, your payment history and customer relationship with Stripe remain entirely yours.
06Do I need technical skills to set it up?
No. Setup is self-serve and most operators are bookable the same day: add experiences, set availability, pick a design preset and connect Stripe. The design studio uses visual controls with a live preview, and embedding on an existing site is a single copy-paste.
Keep what you earn. Start today.
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