Viator: the Tripadvisor group marketplace, read from Naples

In one line: what it is and why you run into it

Viator is a tour and activity marketplace in the Tripadvisor group. It is not a partner platform of ours and we do not verify its prices: this profile exists because when you look for a day trip from Naples you end up there anyway, often starting from the Pompeii or Vesuvius listing on Tripadvisor.

What you need to know is who the seller is, what changes compared with the local operator, and which three lines to look at before the price.

Who the seller is

Tripadvisor, Inc., listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol TRIP, names the Tripadvisor, Viator and TheFork brands among its own subsidiaries. The link between the review you read and the booking button is therefore internal to the same group.

On the company’s origins the verifiable source is the press release with which Tripadvisor announced the deal: Viator was founded in 1995, with its head office in San Francisco and regional offices in Sydney, London and Las Vegas, and at that point it had more than 250 employees, over 20,000 bookable tours and attractions, more than 600,000 traveller contributions and over 3,000 affiliate partners. The agreement, worth around 200 million dollars, was announced in July and completed in August 2014.

Today its affiliate portal declares more than 300,000 experiences in 2,500 destinations. On Trustpilot the score is 4.5 out of 5 from more than 332,000 reviews: the same as Civitatis, but on the largest volume in this section.

How booking works

As on every marketplace, the activity is uploaded by a local supplier and the confirmation arrives as an electronic voucher to show the operator. The cancellation and refund conditions are stated on the individual activity and are not uniform across the catalogue: it is the same model you find on GetYourGuide, Tiqets and Musement.

Its terms of sale describe a standard policy: change or cancellation up to 24 hours before the start time, or by 23:59 two days before the date when the experience has no fixed time. Products marked “All Sales Final” are neither refundable nor changeable, and a minority of listings carry conditions of their own: the one on the listing is what counts when you buy. So before you pay, read that line yourself on the product in front of you: on a boat to Capri, or on a tour that depends on the sea, it is the most important line of the purchase.

The three lines to compare, not the title

Two listings with the same title can be two different days. In Naples the recurring differences are always the same three.

1. The entrance. The ticket for the Pompeii archaeological site costs €20 in the express version according to pompeiisites.org, and it is a named ticket. A tour “with a guide” that does not include it makes you pay twice if you do not notice.
2. The real time inside the site. On the catalogues we verify, a Pompeii tour with transport from Naples states between three and three and a half hours in total; an eight-hour day, like the Pompeii plus Vesuvius combination at €92, spends those hours on the coach and on the crater as well. The bigger number is not more visiting.
3. Who runs it. The agency’s name appears on the listing or on the voucher. In Naples they are often the same firms that also sell on the partner platforms: if you recognise it, open its profile in operators and platforms.

The comparison below lines up the guided Pompeii tours on the catalogues whose prices we verify, with duration and rating beside the figure.

What changes compared with booking from the operator

Booking from the marketplace you pay by card, you have a voucher and centralised support, and the price includes the platform’s commission. Booking straight from the agency in Pompeii or from the private-hire driver you deal with whoever does the work, but your protection is whatever they put in writing: confirmation, time, price per person or per vehicle, what happens in bad weather.

The choice is not a matter of principle, it depends on the day. On a trip involving ferries or a boat a platform voucher is worth the commission; on an airport transfer or a bare entrance ticket, often not. The public fares to measure against are in getting around Naples.

What to keep in mind

Viator has the widest catalogue and, level with Civitatis, the highest Trustpilot score in this section, and the traffic Tripadvisor sends it explains that. But a wide catalogue also multiplies near-identical listings: the work falls on you, comparing entries, duration and operator.

If you want to skip that work, start from the pages that already compare the products line by line: Pompeii in a day and the Amalfi Coast in a day.