Who are the creators behind Unique Tours Factory (UTF)?
The idea for Unique Tours Factory is the brainchild of a group of entrepreneurs passionately enthusiastic about travelling off the beaten track and keen to set up new services to promote unique and emotionally rewarding travel.
A team of around a dozen people is hard at work putting the offering together and developing the website. We have included photos of them under the heading « About us ».
I love showing people around my city, but I'm not a professional guide. Can I apply to join UTF?
We have opted to work only with professional guides with considerable experience of the profession and its associated activities. This is a guarantee we feel we owe to our customers.
I'm a professional guide. So can I just go straight ahead and sign up on your site?
No. As a professional guide, you can apply to be registered on our site and offer your services. These services will be analysed by our teams who, after discussions with you, will decide whether you meet the criteria for registration on the site. The criteria are based on the quality and originality of the tours you offer, and their compatibility with our services.
I'm a professional guide and I have ideas for tours that match your offering, but I don't live in one of the cities you mention. Can I still apply?
Yes, of course you can apply. But we have a timetable for opening up in new cities and we need to make sure your applications fits in with that timetable. So we might have to ask you to wait a few weeks before making your registration official. If a number of candidates from the same city come forward spontaneously, we will consider advancing the date of opening for that city.
Who is responsible for the service providers and for services other than guide services?
We have decided to work with you on the strength of the originality of the tours you offer and your knowledge on the ground. It is you who will be offering the tour on the website, so you need to have a complete overview of the service to ensure it corresponds to the central theme you have devised.
Moreover, you know your city better than anyone, so you will be best placed to offer the best service providers and the best events for a comprehensive, high quality visit. Your knowledge of the location and your grasp of the local language are key advantages in providing a service of the highest quality.
You say that the services proposed should fall into three phases, but I'm not sure I understand how to distinguish between them.
Over the half-day or the full day of your tour, we want to offer our clients something new and original, through three singular moments, each conveying a distinct emotion. The tour should combine a "culture break", an original and entertaining moment in the form of an encounter and/or an activity and, finally, a festive moment that might be a dinner, a musical show, a sports event, etc.
We expect our partner guides to put forward new themes that will act as the common thread for the service as a whole.
Example: visiting a museum or a particular neighbourhood on the theme of "Cookery over the centuries", followed by shopping at a local market and finishing off with a cookery lesson and tasting.
See more Our concept
Do I have to include external service providers in the tours I offer?
No, this is not a requirement. You are perfectly free to offer tours that you handle alone or with your team, as long as we have approved the service. But the originality and wealth of UTF's offering should inspire you to seek out partners that will enrich the client's experience and introduce them to the best your city has to offer. This is the case for most of the guides already registered with UTF.
What are Unique Tours Factory's target destinations?
The Unique Tours Factory will open to clients at the beginning of February 2016 with offers in 14 of Europe's most-visited tourist cities: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Budapest, Lisbon, London, Lyon, Madrid, Milan, Nice/Côte d’Azur, Paris, Prague, Rome, Venice and Vienna.
Naturally, we plan on subsequently expanding the project to include other cities, first in Europe and then beyond (USA/Canada) with no loss of time, and we hope to be offering tours in over 50 cities by the end of 2016.
If, in the meantime, guides from other cities come forward with ideas for original tours, we will consider the possibility of advancing the opening date for the city in question.
What is UTF's commission on every tour sold?
The rules on commissions are set out in the General Terms and Conditions, a copy of which will be made available to you once your application is approved. If you do not accept these terms, you are free to refuse to register on the UTF website.
How will I receive payment?
Our payment system is based on the Mangopay electronic payment platform. Mangopay is a subsidiary of the Leetchi Group, which is now owned by French banking group Crédit Mutuel. Mangopay is a payment system, widely used by online marketplaces, capable of handling e-money flows to various operators. The money paid by a client is automatically allocated to the various beneficiaries (your, your service providers, UTF) without any other intermediary involved. The sum due to you is temporarily blocked on a virtual account and will be released no later than seven days after the completed tour, in the form of a credit transfer to your bank account. The same method will apply to any partner taking part in the tour. You can consult your account at any time via the dashboard provided on the UTF website.
See more Why join us
Matters relating to contractual and legal terms (conditions of membership and of contract termination, undertakings by guides and partners, conditions of cancellation by guides, partners or clients, etc.) are set out in the General Terms and Conditions. For reasons of confidentiality, these are not made public. They will be submitted to you once you have registered on the site and you will be invited to read and accept them before your registration can be finalised.
What is the project's target clientele?
Our aim is to offer quality services guaranteeing out of the ordinary and exclusive experiences. We are therefore targeting seasoned travellers who expect the best, in the high-end segment and with serious spending power.
The visits are aimed at small groups, primarily consisting of two to four people (generally the maximum number of people travelling together). It may be a couple, a family with children or a select group of friends.
Our main, but not our exclusive, target will be English speaking and largely American. Australian, Brazilian, Dutch and British travellers are also likely to be attracted to services of this kind.
How will my services be presented to clients? How will we reach them?
Your services will be spotlighted regularly on the site through special features on you posted on the home page. A content-rich blog will also be launched as the site goes live, consisting of articles and portraits composed by our editorial team. We are also developing an online and offline communication strategy based largely on press relations, partnerships with other players targeting the same clientele, natural listing of the website and the purchase of key words.
A comprehensive marketing, sales and communication strategy will be at your service, its main aim being to promote your services and offerings.
Can I feature on the website under the name of my agency, and not on an individual basis?
The personalised approach is central to every aspect of the project. We think it is very important for clients, when they make a booking, to see the face of their main contact: it makes the whole experience more personal and friendly. So all our partners are represented as individuals and not as agencies. On your presentation page, you can add the fact that you have set up your own company and that you also work under its name, but without adding an outgoing link. If you are not sure that you in person will be able to handle all tours booked, you can add that you work with several guides and that, should you be unavailable, a replacement can be arranged. We could also envisage creating two to three profiles for your agency in the name of two or three of your guides if, for example, each has a special field.
I'm not particularly computer savvy. Who can I turn to for a little help to upload my profile and my tours?
This site is designed to promote your knowhow and creativity, not your IT skills.
To assist you in this process and in your everyday use of the website, the UTF team has created some video tutorials.
You can have access to these videos by clicking on the links below :
Website general presentation
A general presentation of the website intended for guides and the website intended for Service Providers
Your profile information
Entering your profile information
Your tours information
Entering your general information, tour description and prices, photos & videos
Entering your information on the Service Provider (partner) website
Entering personal information, business presentation, legal information and bank datas
However, if you still have questions, the UTF team remains at your disposal to help you managing booking requests, marketing your
products and helping you with your profile information
Contact us
Who manages my availability and how?
You can keep your own diary updated in your personal space. Sometimes too busy to remember to update? Not to worry: you have full control over your bookings at all times. You will receive notice, by e-mail, of every booking request we receive, for you to confirm or decline within 24 hours. So you will never be inundated with bookings, since you are always free to accept or refuse a booking request.