By Roanda Sutton & Erin Slater

Enhancing Collaboration with Site Engine Network

As an activity company the aim is to maximize the number of ways to present your services to travelers when they are considering visiting your destination, while they are planning and booking their visit. In addition you want to even reach travelers while they have already arrived at the destination.

To achieve this access it is important to explore every opportunity for being present online on web pages that tourists may find while searching for things to do in an area. You can achieve this through making your website visible in search engines, having your service mentioned in travel blogs, online articles, web sites of tourism information bureaus, OTA’s and more.

Yet, there is another unique opportunity that only tours and activity companies have. Because tourists can do more than one activity a day, they can collaborate with each other as a community for activity providers in an area and promote each other’s services.

Activitar realized that this is a vital opportunity that should not be missed by tours and activity companies and therefore we set out to build the ability for inventory sharing among the community of Activitar customers. We have turned the Activitar online booking engine into a networked platform, that we named the Site Engine Network.

By participating in this network, suppliers can list each other’s services on their respective Site Engines instantly and real-time bookable. This increases visibility and access to a wider audience to earn commission or get more sales while creating a symbiotic relationship that is mutually beneficial to all parties involved.

Moreover, Activitar has ensured that Site Engine Bookings have zero administrative hassle, as bookings are reported and settlement of monies happen two days after the activity takes place from the payment gateway trust account. This means there is absolutely no risk of payments being delayed when due. All members of the network can share their inventory freely with complete assurance and transparency. (This auto settle solution is currently available in SA only but will be expanded to other markets in collaboration with local payment gateway partners.)

Getting Started with Site Engine Network Collaboration

To begin harnessing the power of the Site Engine Network here are your steps:

1. Reach out to as many other suppliers in the network in your local area as you can and discuss sharing inventory through the network.

2. Once you agree to network, you will negotiate the commissions that you will offer for your services to be sold via the SE Network. The billing terms will be on a net rate billback contract and as mentioned, settlement is two days after the activity has taken place (if both parties are on Paygenius).

3. Next you will agree with your network partner which services to mutually offer and to sell.

4. Contracting via SE Network. On your left menu on Activitar, click on SE Network. This is where you will be able to contract and offer your services and to accept offered services to resell.

   Click here on how to offer and accept services.

Alternatively you can reach out to the support team for more assistance at support@activitar.com

Revenue Opportunities with the Affiliate Program

In addition to supplier collaboration through the Site Engine Network, affiliates play a crucial role in expanding the reach of your services.

The main difference between the SE Network and Affiliates is that the SE Network focuses on business relationships between those who are members of the Activitar network, while the Affiliate Program is focused on business relationships with companies like information bureaus hotels, guest houses.

In practice in the case of the SEN as we have seen inventory is shared to the partners booking engine and also received from the partners website. The e-commerce transaction happens on the Site Engine of the party selling the service. For example the segway operator can sell the zipline operator’s product on the segway site engine.

In the case of an affiliate arrangement a link is placed on the affiliates marketing website (not their site engine) and the e-commerce transaction occurs on the product owner’s own site engine.

Affiliates extend your service reach by generating links from accommodation and restaurant websites to diverse platforms. Affiliates aren’t restricted to Activitar businesses; it also enables networking with local and nearby establishments. This facilitates that you reach numerous micro-audiences to boost visibility and bookings.

Affiliate links to your site engine will also boost its visibility in the search engines, as they will be counted as valuable backlinks endorsing your relevance.

Conclusion

Together, we have the power to transform not only our individual businesses but also the broader tourism ecosystem. Let’s leverage this platform to forge meaningful connections, drive innovation, and shape a future where collaboration is the cornerstone of success.

To learn more about how to leverage cross-selling to your advantage, feel free to contact dirk@activitar.com or sales@activitar.com. We’ll be happy to assist you every step of the way!