What makes a tour the best tour?
I see a lot of different types of companies say they are #1. That got me thinking, so, I did a google search for “top tours in Santa Barbara”. I was surprised by how many tours claimed to be the #1 tour in Santa Barbara. What makes them the #1 (insert business type) in Santa Barbara and why do we believe them?
The top items that come up when I googled “the top things to do in Santa Barbara” are pretty much all listings from: Tripadvisor, Viator, Get Your Guide, Visit Santa Barbara, Downtown Santa Barbara and more Tripadvisor. There were also a few “articles” talking about these “top” things to do, so, I clicked on a few AND….
They link directly to company listings on Tripadvisor NOT business websites. That really got me thinking…
Sidebar: when I became a business owner, I learned about a lot of 3rd party businesses that also wanted to sell my tours. However, they want to charge the same price and take a %. The percentages used to be not huge, but not amazing for a small business with a large overhead. In the last few years, I find myself competing with these companies to sell my own tickets and they take a very large cut. Probably, wondering why I bother, but really it is necessary to sell on other sites because the internet and SEO is a mysterious every changing thing.
But what I really want to know…
Did the companies that deem themselves THE BEST and #1 – who said they were #1. #1 what? Like the best of the best? But was there some sort of competition that did these ratings? Did they win a competition to be rated #1? If so, I may want to get in on these competitions.
And then there are the new tours on the block. However, if they are voting themselves #1 and just opened, maybe that’s a little stretch of the truth?
Over the years we have seen a lot of tour companies come and go…
Over the years, we have had guests come on our tours, who are either from another tour company or starting one. In my experience, not one of them has been forthcoming to me about their intentions. I have had people startig tours, go to my Partners and tell them they are coming on our tour…I have had a feeling every time someone comes on the tour and there is something that feels weird. I didn’t personally do that when I started the company, but there was only one other food tour operating at the time (there had been two that operated at one point and one had closed). Santa Barbara is too small to be sneaky and weird.
I guess the point of this post is to take everything with a grain of salt and beware when someone claims they are #1 or the very best, especially when they are just starting…I mean except for us, because we are the best, but we have worked our asses off for 10 years. And, I am sure someone doesn’t agree, because again, open to interpretation and who you jive with, which is why there is even a market.
We are a community, let’s act like one and support each other.