A few words from the operators I've built for.
Back to all interests10+ years of industry firsts
I built a product in the tourism industry and had it acquired six months after we launched. Now I'm building the next big thing.
The through-line
I built conversion-focused websites made specifically for experience operators, then a platform to sell them at scale. It helped over 20 tour operators grow their online sales revenue by an average of 42%, and was acquired by a major North American reservation-technology company within months of launch. Today nearly every res-tech offers operators a free website. That started here.
When COVID emptied the calendars, I pushed operators toward an underserved, higher-value channel: corporate groups. We built the playbook and a DIY kit for landing them. Now it's hard to find an operator site that isn't selling to corporate teams.
Every other tool in tour tech lives before the experience or after it. The during moment, when guests are most engaged, most grateful, most likely to act, has been ignored for a decade. Digital Guidebooks is another original innovation of mine, built for exactly that moment: more tips for guides, more emails collected, more reviews earned. I expect it to be the industry default by 2030.
The pattern
Each of these started the same way: noticing a moment in the operator's world that every tool had walked past, then building for it before the rest of the industry caught up. It started in food tours. It applies to any guide-led experience, anywhere meaningful time happens between a guide and a guest.
digitalguidebooks.comPartnerships that go back years
Jonathan and I have been working together for years, long enough that his business has become one of the truest tests of everything UpLevel does. In this case study, he walks through three specific ways Chicago Pizza Tours is better off as a result.
Midgi and I go back years too, all the way up in Juneau. Here she is on her home turf, plus a few of us together along the way.
What operators say
“This has been the most empowering business tool I've seen. I am a better leader, more intentional in every level of my business, and frankly a better person for having taken it to heart.” André Baronov-Torres, Magnifico ToursRead more reviews
The platform behind it
UpLevel Tourism
The consultancy and toolkit I use to help tour operators book more high-value corporate groups and grow their margins.
Visit upleveltourism.com