Book a helicopter with your iPhone: Viator Tourist App gets our approval
Harnessing the power of an existing travel website with 3 million unique visitors a month, Viator is an iPhone app with a nice simple interface that lets you find out tourist stuff nearby and then book it. All from your phone. It’s stuff like tours of the Empire State building or helicopter trips over Los Angeles (their most booked experience).
Dan from Viator came in to give us a demo. This was our opinion of it all…
Nice features:
– Clean User Interface – nice and easy to navigate, it takes account of where you are, and the type of activity you’re interested in
– It filters by time too – showing you a range of activities available at short notice.
– Content and partners guaranteed by the Viator service
– It’s cheaper than booking through a concierge service or your hotel: because Viator cut the bureaucracy, they can make it cheaper.
– Convenience: You can pay from within your phone using a credit card entry form. Though the app doesn’t store your details for security reasons.
Downsides:
– Entering your credit card details over your phone – a bit fiddly?
– Data Roaming Charges: Someone needs to think of a way round this one. Using internet on your phone in another country costs you ££s. At a time when you most want to know about what’s around you – you can’t because it’s like ripping up banknotes. Dan from Viator said that they recommended using it on wifi where available. That does limit how useful the service is… but still, could be handy.
Conclusion
Dan explained that Viator was originally made for the US – and provided information for people on city breaks. I could see this app being very useful for that. It’s a tool for city breaks, though they now cover 150 countries and sell over 9000 tours and experiences. It will be good for big obvious tourist experiences and activities and could save you money too. And hey it’s a free app! Just check the hotel has wifi first…
Viator for iPhone is free on the iTunes store
Viator for iPad is also free on iTunes
And coming to Android and Blackberry soon.
