How booking works for travelers

Booking a tour on Rainbow Tour Guides follows a simple path: find a guide, request a tour, pay once they accept, chat and meet, then leave a review. Here's what happens at each step.

1. Find your guide

Browse guides or start from a destination. You can filter by city, language, and interests, and read reviews from travelers who booked with that guide before. See Find the right guide and Read a guide profile for tips.

2. Request a tour

Once you've found a guide, choose a date, a duration (4, 6, or 8 hours, depending on what that guide offers), and how many travelers are joining. If you'd like more than one day with the same guide, you can request up to 7 consecutive days. The price is calculated and locked in at the moment you send the request — your guide changing their rates later never affects a booking you already made. See Request and confirm a tour and Understand tour pricing.

3. Wait for your guide to respond

Your guide reviews the request and accepts or declines it. There's no countdown or expiry on a pending request, so guides can take the time they need to check availability — see Waiting for a guide to respond.

4. Pay for your booking

Once your guide accepts, it's time to pay. If you've saved a card and turned on automatic charging, this can happen instantly; otherwise you'll get a secure payment link. Your booking is only confirmed once payment goes through. See Pay for a booking.

5. Message your guide

Use the chat to sort out meeting point details, ask questions, and get ready for the day. See When can I message my guide?

6. Meet and explore

Meet your guide at the agreed point and enjoy your private tour, at your pace. See On the day of your tour.

7. Leave a review

After your tour, both you and your guide can leave a review of each other. Reviews are double-blind, so neither of you sees the other's review until both are submitted (or automatically after 48 hours). See Reviews after a tour.

Still need help?

If you get stuck at any step, our contact form is open to everyone, and signed-in travelers can also open a support ticket from their account settings.