IWIS Global vs. Viator or GetYourGuide
By IWIS Global · Published 22 September 2026 · Updated 27 September 2026
Viator and GetYourGuide don’t run tours themselves — they’re marketplaces where local tour operators list their tours. Booking through one adds a marketplace layer (and its commission) between you and the operator running your tour. IWIS Global doesn’t list on either platform: you book directly with the operator whose guide and vehicle run your tour, with no marketplace commission built into the price.
What Viator and GetYourGuide actually are
Both platforms are booking marketplaces, not tour operators. A local tour company creates a listing, sets a price, and pays the platform a commission on each booking. Neither platform publishes a single fixed commission rate. GetYourGuide’s supplier terms define its commission as a percentage of the retail price, set in each supplier’s account, and its supplier site says rates vary by country. Viator describes its model as pay-for-performance: the operator pays a commission when a booking is completed. Whatever the exact number for a given listing, it’s built into the price you see — the operator sets a price that covers the tour cost and the commission.
Booking directly with IWIS Global skips that layer. There’s no marketplace commission to price in, because there’s no marketplace.
Cancellation policy: consistent vs. per-listing
Both Viator and GetYourGuide offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before an experience — but only on listings set up that way. Viator promises a full refund for cancelling at least 24 hours ahead on most experiences, and its developer documentation lists three policy types: standard (full refund up to 24 hours before), custom (terms set by the operator), and all sales final (no refund — around 10% of products, per the same documentation). GetYourGuide’s Help Center says most activities have free cancellation up to 24 hours before, but depending on the provider a booking can instead be partially refundable or non-refundable. On either platform, you have to check the specific listing before assuming which policy applies.
IWIS Global’s cancellation policy is the same for every tour, every time: free cancellation until 24 hours before departure, with instant booking confirmation. Nothing to check listing-by-listing.
Who you’re actually booking with
On a marketplace, the platform is who you pay and who handles your booking record — the operator running the tour is a name on the listing page. Book directly with IWIS Global and the company taking your payment is the same company whose guide meets you at your hotel. That also means no marketplace intermediary between you and IWIS Global if something needs to change close to your tour date — you’re talking to the operator directly, not routing a request through a platform’s support layer first.
What this doesn’t claim
This page isn’t saying every marketplace listing is overpriced, or that every operator behaves the same way once you strip out the platform layer — that varies by operator, and we haven’t independently verified competitors’ service quality. What’s verifiable and sourced above: how the marketplace commission structure works, and how cancellation policies differ between “platform default, checked per listing” and “the same policy on every IWIS Global tour.” For what IWIS Global itself does differently on pricing specifically, see our No-Commission Pledge — no commission on optional craft-workshop stops, on top of no marketplace commission on the booking itself.
Checked on 27 September 2026 against the platforms’ own pages: GetYourGuide’s supplier terms, supplier site and Help Center; Viator’s homepage, Operator Resource Center and developer documentation. Neither platform publishes its commission rates, which vary by operator and country.
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