How to hire, train and pay tour guides
Hire for people skills, train on every route, and put the pay in writing.
Hire for people skills
Score every candidate the same way:
| What to look for | How to check it |
|---|---|
| Storytelling, warmth, a voice that carries | A 10-minute audition tour |
| Each language you sell | A real conversation in it |
| Punctuality | Ask their references |
| First aid | A current certificate (below) |
| Local knowledge | Last: you can teach it |
Match first aid to the distance from help
GetYourGuide wants first aid matched to each activity's risk (Code of Conduct, May 2025):
| Your tours | Course |
|---|---|
| In town, help minutes away | A standard first-aid course |
| More than about an hour from help | Wilderness First Aid: 16 hours, valid 2 years (NOLS, 2026) |
| Remote or multi-day | Wilderness First Responder for the lead guide: 80 hours, valid 2 years (NOLS, 2026) |
Train guides on every route
- 1
Write a plan for each tour
Route, timings, stories, and the safety points from your safety plan: what to do if someone is late, hurt or lost.
- 2
Let new guides shadow 2–3 departures
They help and learn the timings.
- 3
Watch their first tour
They lead; a senior guide watches and gives feedback that day.
- 4
Coach on guest ratings every week
One thing to keep, one to change.
No personal messages to guests, no alcohol around minors, never alone with a child. GetYourGuide requires suppliers to protect guests from unwanted advances (2025).
Agree the pay in writing
Write each role's rate card before the season:
| Pay | Fits | Also agree |
|---|---|---|
| Per tour | Freelancers on set routes | More above a group size; prep, pickups and waiting count as work |
| Per half or full day | Private and long tours | Overtime and waiting time |
| Salary | Your core team, all year | Hours, and the work in quiet weeks |
| Tips | On top of pay, never instead | Who shares them, and when |
Add a language supplement and a late-cancellation fee. London's Blue Badge guides charge from £229 a half day in English, £258 in other languages, and the full fee if you cancel within 96 hours (2026–27).
Schedule your team a week ahead
- 1
Plan next week's departures
A guide, a driver and a vehicle for each.
- 2
Offer open jobs to several freelancers
The first to accept gets the job.
- 3
Confirm everyone the day before
With the passenger list.
- 4
Leave enough rest
No dawn pickup after a late tour, and regular breaks on long drives.
- 5
Keep a file on each guide and driver
Languages, the vehicles each can drive, and when their first-aid certificate ends: check it monthly.
Reward ratings, not review counts
Base bonuses on your own post-tour ratings, never on review quotas or guests naming their guide: see Get more reviews.
In TourTask
Add guides and drivers with their Standard fees (Guides and drivers), then give them departures on the operations calendar or through work offers. They see their jobs in TourTask Crew. See the calendar in the demo.