Viator: What It Is And How To Book Your Next Experience

Viator is a booking engine for tours, excursions, and experiences all over the world, and is owned by Tripadvisor. Think of it as Expedia, but instead of travel bookings like flights and hotels, it's for things to do when you're at your destination.

And like Expedia, Viator doesn't actually provide anything you book, that's done by local tour companies. It's simply a one-stop shop for tours at your destination.

Here's how Viator works, what they offer, how to book your tour, and the best credit cards to use.

How Viator Works

Viator is basically a search engine/marketplace for tours and experiences all over the world. In terms of what it's related to, it's part of the Tripadvisor group. They'll produce a list of activities you can do in your chosen search location, which are provided by various businesses.

You'll make your booking through Viator themselves, but it won't be provided by Viator, rather a local agency.

All the details you need are with Viator. In fact, you may not find out who is actually providing until you go to make your booking.

It's a convenient way to check out what kinds of tours and activities are in your area of travel, all in one search result. Viator doesn't just let anyone list bookings, they do have standards to meet. And if you run into issues, you'll have customer support backing you if anything goes wrong or you need a refund.

How bookings work on Viator

Let's go through making an actual booking. We'll look at a popular tourist destination right here in Canada – Niagara Falls.

On the homepage, you'll immediately see the search bar, and we'll take a look at Niagara Falls. As you type, Viator will start listing out destinations. You also have the option to pick dates, but this step isn't necessary at this stage.

An important point to note (especially with a place like Niagara Falls), pay attention to the country you're searching in. My first search I accidentally clicked on Niagara Falls, USA, not Canada. I initially couldn't figure out why all the activities I was looking at started in Niagara Falls, New York.

On the search results page, you get all kinds of options to better fine-tune your search. Here are the initial results I saw.

If there's something specific you had in mind, you can use the filters to find it.

Let's take a closer look at actually booking one of these. And for fun, let's take a look at this helicopter tour.

If you haven't done so, you'll want to pick a date, as well as the number of people participating. This way you'll see availability for your chosen adventure.

This page has full details on what you're getting. And for a tour like this, it includes info on where to meet them. In this case, you can either meet them at a set point or arrange a pick up. Depending on how popular your activity is, there can be quite a few user reviews as well.

Once you pick your date and time if required, you can go to complete your booking. After you enter in some basic information, you'll finally be able to see who is providing the tour.

Enter in who is participating, and then you can pay for your booking. So what about the currency you're paying in?

This example is simple, we're doing a tour in Canada. But even for bookings that aren't in Canada, you can still pay with Canadian dollars.

At the top right, you can select your country as well as desired currency to pay in, and Canadian dollars are an option.

But you can select other currencies, even if you pick Canada as your country. We're going to test what Viator has for exchange rates. Let's take a look at 1 trip in Niagara Falls, New York. First, here's the price in Canadian dollars.

We'll switch our currency to U.S. dollars, and now we'll see the U.S. dollar price, with an indication we're looking at a price in USD.

That's an exchange rate of 1 USD = 1.40 CAD. Here's what the real exchange rate was on the day this was written.

That's a 2.2% markup. It certainly isn't terrible – it's a slight improvement over most credit cards that would charge you a 2.5% fee. But if you have a no foreign exchange fee credit card, that's costing you more (more on those below).

Earning Rewards with Viator

Viator works on a commission basis. If you book a tour with them, Viator gets a small cut for providing the platform you made your booking with.

And Viator will share some of that with you with their rewards program. They'll let you know when you make your booking how much you'll earn. You'll then be able to use those dollars towards a future booking with them.

As an example, here's how much you might have earned on our helicopter tour for 2 people.

$48.90 is a 5% return on your purchases. And there's really nothing you have to do to earn them other than creating a free account with Viator.

Reviewing and sharing your experiences on Viator

A big part of any site that sells something are user reviews. You get to read other people's experiences, both good and bad about something you're looking at.

Viator is no different. At the bottom of each page are reviews from those who have taken the tour. This helicopter tour is rated quite well (with the obligatory handful of negative reviews).

Best credit cards to pay for your Viator experiences

When it comes to paying for your experiences, you can either pay by credit card (they accept Visa, Mastercard, and Amex), Mastercard or Visa debit cards, and PayPal.

Credit cards will be the choice of many. First, Viator is generally coded as a travel provider. To earn bonus rewards, your credit card will have to provide a category for any travel.

But more than that, this kind of service gets used a lot when travelling outside of the country. And as we've shown, you'll save money if you get a credit card that charges no foreign exchange fees.

Viator does offer the convenience of paying in Canadian dollars, with an exchange rate that is similar to what any credit card would offer. But you'll save money with a credit card that doesn't charge any foreign exchange fees.

Here are some of the best options in this category.

Credit Card	Welcome Bonus	Earn Rates	Annual Fee, Income Requirements
Scotiabank Gold American Express Card	$60 GeniusCash + Up to 50,000 bonus points, first year free (terms)	* 6 Scene+ points per $1 spent at Sobeys, Safeway, FreshCo and more * 5 Scene+ points per $1 spent on groceries, dining, and entertainment * 3 Scene+ points per $1 spent on gas, select streaming services, and transit * 1 Scene+ point per $1 spent on foreign currency purchases * 1 Scene+ point per $1 spent on all other purchases	* $120 * $12K personal
Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card	$30 GeniusCash + 35,000 bonus points (terms)	* 3 Scene+ points per $1 spent at Sobeys, Safeway, FreshCo and more * 2 Scene+ points per $1 spent on groceries, restaurants, entertainment, and daily transit * 1 Scene+ point per $1 on all other purchases	* $150 * $60K personal/$100K household
Home Trust Preferred Visa	None	* 1% cash back on all purchases	* $0 * None
Wealthsimple Prepaid Mastercard	None	* None	* $0 * None
EQ Bank Card	None	* 0.5% cash back on all purchases	* $0 * None

Your experiences with Viator

Viator certainly offers an excellent platform for searching and booking experiences.

Any experiences with Viator that you want to share?

Let everyone know in the comments below.

FAQ

What is Viator?

Viator is a booking platform for tours and experiences. You can find listings for tours all over the world in one place.

How does Viator work?

Viator is simply a third party website where tour operators can list out what they have to offer. You make your booking through Viator but the actual excursion is provided by someone else.

Is Viator legit?

Viator is a legitimate company, and is part of the Tripadvisor group. They simply list tours and experiences that can be booked. The actual tour is provided by others. Viator does have standards for operators to meet in order to be listed on their site.

What is the best credit card to pay for Viator experiences?

The best credit card to pay for your experiences with Viator are either a credit card with bonus rewards on travel or a no foreign exchange fee credit card. Some of the best no foreign exchange fee credit cards include:

• Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
• Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card
• Home Trust Preferred Visa
• Wealthsimple Prepaid Mastercard
• EQ Bank Card