Tour Operator & Booking Types — for Hilda to verify
tour-operator-types.md
For the full content of this gist, refer to https://gist.github.com/jokull/3810a605c30a6fba9b9c68fb34614071
Jökull Sólberg Auðunsson@jokull
tour-operator-types.md
For the full content of this gist, refer to https://gist.github.com/jokull/3810a605c30a6fba9b9c68fb34614071
Tour Operator & Booking Types — for Hilda to verify
One-pager to align on tour types and operator tracking before we build out the admin tooling.
The supplier on Bokun is the company that actually runs the tour. Bokun is their system of record. We resell as an OTA. Bokun knows the commission split and handles payouts to the operator.
Examples:
The supplier on Bokun is a reseller (e.g. BOJ), not the company running the tour on the ground. We still book through Bokun marketplace terms, but we need to track who the actual operator is via the vendor system.
Examples:
Today we can't always tell 1a from 1b automatically — it requires human knowledge about whether a Bokun supplier is the real operator or a reseller. The vendor system is how we'll track this distinction over time.
Combined: ~603 published, ~335 unpublished
The operator does not use Bokun — they use a different system (Rezio, their own operations, etc). We list the experience on Bokun on their behalf so we can use Bokun's booking infrastructure. Bokun doesn't know about the commercial relationship, so we handle everything: collecting payment from the customer, paying the operator, and tracking commission ourselves.
This group breaks into two sub-categories:
Hato Bus tours (5 total, 2 published) — commission already set at 15%:
REZIO/HIS-bridged tours (~69 total, 28 published) — commission not yet set:
These show up on Bokun under our company name (Takanawa Travel ehf.) with a REZIO - HIS - prefix in the Bokun experience name. Setting commission_percent on these is an ongoing effort.
Tours booked through the Linktivity API. We pre-deposit funds with Linktivity. When a customer books, Linktivity draws down from our balance — this covers the full cost including their sub-vendor (operator) costs. We keep a commission on each booking (commission_amount). We don't pay operators separately — Linktivity handles that from the deposited funds.
Examples:
Synced from DatoCMS but have no booking integration. They appear on the site but cannot be booked. Some get significant customer interest (Mt. Fuji Private Tour by Car has been added to 32 carts).
Examples:
Each platform has a different financial model:
Bokun marketplace (1a/1b): We collect from the customer → Bokun handles the split and pays the operator → we keep our commission. Bokun knows the terms.
Bokun off-marketplace (2): We collect from the customer → we pay the operator directly → we track commission_percent ourselves because Bokun doesn't know about the arrangement.
Linktivity (3): We pre-deposit funds with Linktivity → customer books → Linktivity draws down from our balance (all-inclusive: operator costs + their fees) → we keep commission_amount per booking. Operators are paid by Linktivity from the deposited funds.
For accounting and Business Central, we need commission visibility across all types — even where the platform handles payouts.
The booking platforms (Bokun, Linktivity) tell us who the platform supplier is — but that's not always the company actually running the tour. This is especially true for category 1b where resellers like BOJ list tours on behalf of other operators.
The vendor system lets us track the actual operator of record, regardless of what Bokun or Linktivity claim. This lets us:
In the admin tours table, this shows as:
| What you see | What it means | Tour type |
|---|---|---|
BOJ > Kyoto Tours Inc. | BOJ is the platform reseller, Kyoto Tours Inc. actually runs it | 1b |
Shinobi Travel | Platform supplier, assumed to be the actual operator | 1a |
Takanawa Travel via Rezio > Hato Bus | We bridged from Rezio, Hato Bus is the actual operator | 2 |
— | No supplier info yet | Any |
Two flags can modify any tour's booking behavior:
Unpublished (is_published = false) — Hidden from the site. Includes 335 marketplace Bokun tours (bulk-imported, not curated), 44 off-marketplace, 25 Linktivity, and 32 no-platform tours.
Manual booking (manual_booking_required) — Payment goes through normally, but the actual booking with the operator is done manually by staff instead of automatically through the API. Currently only 2 tours: "Zen Vegetarian Cooking Class" (marketplace) and "Tokyo Premium Night Drive" (off-marketplace).
| Type | Published | Unpublished | Manual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1a+1b. Bokun marketplace | 603 | 335 | 1 |
| 2. Bokun off-marketplace | 30 | 44 | 1 |
| — of which: commission set | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| — of which: commission TBD | 28 | 41 | 0 |
| 3. Linktivity | 127 | 25 | 0 |
| 4. No platform | 102 | 32 | 0 |
| Total | 862 | 436 | 2 |
The admin is becoming a real system of record with clear distinction and features for each tour type:
commission_percent, for Linktivity it's commission_amount per booking. All feed into Business Central.via Rezio badge in admin.SUPPLIER (we listed it, off-marketplace) vs RESELLER (marketplace) — auto-detected from the Bokun API.Does this match your understanding?