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Clear search- Receipts and payment recordsWhere to find your payment breakdownOpen the booking from your dashboard. The booking page shows the full price breakdown: the guide's base price, the Traveler Service Fee, and the total charged, along with the currency you were…
- Scams and off-platform paymentsWhy payment stays on the platform…in when you made the request, so it can't change later. Your payment is processed securely, and your booking is only confirmed once that payment is captured. Chat with your guide only unlocks once…
- Checkout or a payment link isn't workingYou're only sent a payment link after a guide has accepted your request. If checkout won't open or won't go through, work through these checks before contacting support.
- Payment remindersWhy you might get a reminderA booking only becomes confirmed once payment is captured — being accepted isn't enough on its own. If some time passes after acceptance and payment still hasn't gone through, we email you a reminder…
- Pay for a bookingYou don't pay anything when you send a booking request — payment only happens after the guide accepts. This protects you from paying for a tour that never gets confirmed.
- Saved cards and auto-charge…is faster — and optionally skip checkout entirely by letting payment happen automatically the moment a guide accepts.
- Chat isn't loadingLocked, not broken…booking is confirmed — meaning the guide accepted the request and payment has gone through. This is intentional: it keeps conversations tied to a real booking and protects both sides from being…
- Manage account settingsTraveler settings…Security: password, a data export, and account deletion. Billing & Payments: saved cards. Your personal details and photos live separately, under Personal Info in your profile.
- When a guide cancelsHow these cases are reviewed…manually, case by case. Our team may look at the booking details, payment records, and your in-platform messages with the guide to understand what happened before deciding on a refund.
- Extra costs and tippingWhat your booking payment coversThe amount you pay through Rainbow Tour Guides covers the guide's base tour price and the platform service fee only. That's it — the guide's time and expertise, plus the fee that keeps the platform…
- On the day of your tourNo need to bring payment…already paid for when it's confirmed, you don't need to arrange payment with your guide on the day. If a guide asks you to pay them directly, that's outside how the platform works — see Message your…
- When can I message my guide?Keep payments on the platform…to our team as a support ticket. See Scams and off-platform payments for more on spotting this.
- Community standardsWhat's never allowed…what you're offering. Trying to get around platform fees or payment — for example, asking to be paid outside the platform. See Scams and off-platform payments. Violations can result in an account…
- Delete your accountWhat happens to your data…deleted. An anonymized record stays linked to your past bookings, payments, and reviews, because the people you interacted with and our accounting, dispute handling, and legal obligations depend on…
- Discretion and privacy for LGBTQ+ travelersWhat our team can seeSupport and admin staff can access booking, payment, and message records when needed for safety, disputes, or legal reasons — never for browsing or curiosity. See the Privacy Policy for the full…
- Email and notification preferencesEssential emails always sendBooking updates, payment reminders, security notices, and support replies aren't optional — they're tied to your account activity and keep sending regardless of your marketing preferences. Accepting…
- How booking works for travelers4. Pay for your booking…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.
- How guides are verifiedWhat "verified" means, and what it doesn't…combine verification with other layers — locked messaging until payment, reviews from past travelers, and a clear way to report concerns — to build trust across the whole booking. See Stay safe on…
- How support worksIf you're signed in…better option when your question relates to a specific booking, payment, or your account, since it keeps the conversation and any details together in one place, and you can check back on its status…
- If you need to change a booking's date or timeIf a guide has accepted but you haven't paid yetAt this stage your booking shows as Payment Required. If the date no longer works for you, contact us and we'll help sort it out before any payment happens — there's no self-serve cancel option once…
- Multi-day toursOne booking, start to finishA multi-day tour is still a single booking: one price, one payment, one chat thread, one review, and one payout to the guide at the end. You don't need to send separate requests for each day, and…
- Phishing and fake messages…messages try to trick you into handing over your password, payment details, or personal information by pretending to be from a service you trust. Here's how to spot one that's pretending to be…
- Privacy requests and marketing choicesEssential emails aren't part of marketing consentBooking, payment, security, and support emails are tied to using the platform, not to marketing consent, and continue regardless of your marketing or newsletter choices. [!NOTE] See the Privacy…
- Promo and referral codesWhere to enter a code…while the booking is still waiting for the guide or waiting for payment: click Got a discount code?. You can also remove a code there. If you arrived through a friend's referral link, the code box is…
- Report a safety concernWhat happens nextOur team reviews the booking, payment, and messaging records connected to your report as part of looking into it. We can take action on accounts that violate our standards, up to and including…
- Request and confirm a tour4. Pay to confirmOnce the guide accepts, your booking moves to a Payment Required state and you'll get a secure payment link. Paying is what makes the booking confirmed — see Pay for a booking for the details,…
- Stay safe on your tour…itself — manual guide verification, locked messaging until payment, and locked-in pricing — but a few habits on your part go a long way too.
- Supported browsersThe most common surprise: in-app browsers…of the site looks fine. [!IMPORTANT] If sign-in, sign-up, or payment silently fails or nothing happens when you tap a button, and you got there from a link inside another app, open the page in your…
- The site fails on a specific network or Wi-FiWhy this happens…load](/help/security-check-not-loading) Checkout page won't load or payment won't go through Filter or VPN blocking Stripe's checkout scripts Try a different network; see [Checkout isn't…
- The site isn't working on my phone or browserIf you can't update…or computer — for anything time-sensitive, like completing a payment.
- Understand tour pricingThe traveler service fee…base price plus a 10% Traveler Service Fee. That fee covers payment processing, verification, support, and the safety systems that keep the marketplace running — it's the same 10% on every booking,…
- Using the site on your phoneWhat you'll need…messaging. A stable connection, especially when completing payment. [!NOTE] Some steps, like signing in with Google or completing checkout, load a script from a third-party provider. If your phone…
- Waiting for a guide to respondYou're not charged while pending…charged unless and until the guide accepts and you complete payment — see Request and confirm a tour.
- What other people can seeWhat guides see about a traveler…the details needed to evaluate and respond to it. Your saved payment card details are never visible to a guide — Rainbow Tour Guides doesn't share card information with anyone but the payment…
- When a guide declinesYou're never charged for a declined requestSince payment only happens after a guide accepts and you complete checkout, a declined request never costs you anything. Your booking's status simply changes to Declined and nothing further happens…
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60 articles · Showing articles for travelers.
Getting started
What Rainbow Tour Guides is, who it is for, and how it works.
- What is Rainbow Tour Guides
- How booking works for travelers
- How guides are verified
- Who Rainbow Tour Guides is for
Planning and booking
Find a guide, send a request, and get ready for your tour.
Payments and refunds
Prices, checkout, currencies, cancellations, and refunds.
Account and privacy
Sign in, manage settings, and control your data.
- Create and verify an account
- Sign in or reset your password
- Sign in with Google
- Change your email or password
Safety
Stay safe, recognise scams, and report a concern.
Troubleshooting
Fix sign-in, device, browser, network, and payment problems.
- I can't create an account
- I can't sign in
- A verification or reset email hasn't arrived
- The site isn't working on my phone or browser
Still need a hand?
Tell our support team what happened and include your booking reference if you have one. We reply within 1–2 business days.