Bokun + Automate: the complete tour operations stack
Bokun sells tours. Automate runs them. Together, you get a single end-to-end system — from the moment a guest clicks 'Book' to the financial close at month-end. No gaps, no spreadsheets in between.
TL;DR
Bokun (by Tripadvisor) is the industry's strongest booking engine: 70+ OTAs, 30,000+ marketplace partners, and 0% fees on Viator bookings. Automate.travel is purpose-built for everything after: guest CRM, guide scheduling, real-time margin tracking, AI multilingual communication, and financial settlement. Bokun confirms the booking. Automate picks up the operations. The combination gives you a complete stack that no single product covers alone.
Our recommended booking engine partnership
About Bokun
Bokun (by Tripadvisor) is a booking and channel management platform for tour operators, activities, and attractions. It offers booking widgets, a channel manager with 70+ global OTAs, a B2B marketplace with 30,000+ partners, basic resource management for guides and equipment, and customer communications.
Why Bokun is our recommended booking engine
Automate works with every major booking engine. We recommend Bokun because its strengths complement ours best.
Online bookings and checkout
Bokun's booking widgets convert visitors into customers. Embed them on your website, customize the flow, and accept payments in multiple currencies.
Channel management with 70+ OTAs
Bokun's channel manager connects to Viator, GetYourGuide, Expedia, Klook, and thousands of other distribution partners. Manage availability, pricing, and content from one place.
Payment processing
Accept credit cards, handle refunds, manage invoices. Bokun's payment infrastructure handles the financial transaction side of bookings.
Booking widgets and website integration
Embeddable widgets that match your brand. Calendar views, availability displays, and add-to-cart functionality that works on any website.
Marketplace with 30,000+ partners
Bokun's marketplace connects you to resellers worldwide. List your tours and activities where other operators and travel agents can find and resell them.
Better together
Why Bokun + Automate is our recommended stack
Automate works with every major booking engine. But Bokun is where the combination is strongest — and here's why.
Largest distribution network in the industry
70+ first-party OTAs and 30,000+ marketplace partners. More channels selling your tours means more bookings flowing into Automate — which means better data for scheduling, margin tracking, and guest communication.
Tripadvisor ecosystem advantage
Bokun is a Tripadvisor company — 0% Bokun fees on Viator bookings. If Viator is one of your top channels, Bokun saves you money on the booking side, and Automate shows you the real margin after all costs.
Transparent pricing complements per-booking ops
Bokun's subscription + low percentage model (from 1%) keeps booking costs predictable. Combined with Automate's per-booking model (from €1.50), you get a complete stack where the total cost scales cleanly with your business.
Clean handover, zero overlap
Bokun does bookings, channels, payments. Automate does CRM, operations, finance, communication. No feature conflict, no redundant modules, no paying twice for the same thing. Each product does what it's built for.
Why operators look for alternatives
Saturday morning, 4 tours out — every guide knows their assignment
“Saturday, 8 AM. 4 tours going out. Everyone knows where to be.”
Bokun handles the booking and availability. Automate handles the operations behind it: shift scheduling with availability windows, guide skill/language matching, automatic conflict detection, incident tracking, and a full performance history per guide. Bokun makes sure the tour is sold. Automate makes sure it runs.
You know the margin before you close the books
“Our best month — and this time we know exactly how much we kept.”
Bokun tracks booking revenue. Automate adds the other side of the equation: guide pay, vehicle costs, OTA commissions, ticket fees, tip shares. Real-time margin per booking, per tour, per period. By Monday morning you know which of Saturday's tours made money. Month-end close takes 1 day, not 2 weeks.
One guest, one timeline — no matter how they reach you
“Guest emailed, called, and WhatsApped. We replied once, from one place.”
A guest books through Bokun. Then they email, WhatsApp, and call. Automate puts all of that in one timeline, linked to the booking. AI drafts replies in the guest's language. Your team sees the full picture before they respond. The combination means booking data and communication live in the same place.
Complete stack
What each half of the stack covers
Bokun sells tours. Automate runs them. Together: one end-to-end system. The table below shows the operations layer that Automate adds on top of Bokun.
Bokun handles
- ✓ Online bookings & checkout
- ✓ 70+ OTA channel management
- ✓ 30,000+ B2B marketplace
- ✓ Payment processing
- ✓ Booking widgets & website
Automate handles
- ✓ Guest CRM & communication
- ✓ Guide scheduling & team ops
- ✓ Financial settlements & margins
- ✓ AI multilingual responses
- ✓ Incident tracking & reporting
Side by side
Feature comparison
| Feature | Automate.travel | Bokun |
|---|---|---|
| Operations | ||
| Departure management | ✅ Included | ◐ Partial Availability scheduling — prevents double-booking, no full departure workflow |
| Fleet management | ✅ Included | ◐ Partial Basic resource management for guides and equipment — no shift planning, availability tracking, or incident management |
| Employee scheduling | ✅ Included | ❌ Not available |
| Pickup/dropoff management | ✅ Included | ❌ Not available |
| Guide portal | ✅ Included | ◐ Partial Bokun Guide app — check-ins and manifests, no payroll or guide self-service |
| Incident tracking | ✅ Included | ❌ Not available |
| CRM & Communication | ||
| Customer history/timeline | ✅ Included Full CRM with unified guest timeline across all channels | ❌ Not available |
| Unified inbox (all channels) | ✅ Included | ❌ Not available |
| AI-drafted responses | ✅ Included Multilingual AI — drafts responses in guest's language | ❌ Not available |
| Phone/PBX integration | ✅ Included Built-in VoIP with caller ID showing guest history | ❌ Not available |
| WhatsApp/SMS/Email | ✅ Included Unified timeline — all channels in one view per guest | ◐ Partial Customer communications management — confirmations and messages |
| Helpdesk/ticketing | ✅ Included | ❌ Not available |
| Finance | ||
| Tour settlement | ✅ Included Automatic financial reconciliation per tour | ❌ Not available |
| Margin tracking per booking | ✅ Included Real-time margin visibility per booking, per tour, per period | ❌ Not available |
| Financial reporting | ✅ Included | ◐ Partial Booking-level reports, no cost tracking or margin analysis |
| Platform | ||
| Multi-OTA integration | ✅ Included Viator, GetYourGuide, Bokun, FareHarbor, Rezdy, Ventrata bookings come in via confirmation forwarding or CSV | ✅ Included 70+ global OTAs, 30,000+ marketplace partners — industry-leading distribution |
| Multi-entity management | ✅ Included Switch between brands/cities in one click, consolidated reporting | ❌ Not available |
| Self-service guest portal | 🔜 Coming soon In development — branded guest portal with upsell/cross-sell | ❌ Not available |
| Branded mobile app | 🔜 Coming soon Planned — white-label app for guests | ❌ Not available |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Per-booking From €1.50 per booking with volume discounts down to €0.25. No setup fees, no lock-in. | Subscription + per-booking fee Free tier / Start $49/mo + 1.5% / Plus $149/mo + 1.25% / Premium $499/mo + 1% |
See both halves working together
No credit card required · No setup fees
How Bokun and Automate fit together
Bokun does the booking. Automate runs everything after. Here's the sequence when a guest books your tour.
Guest books on Bokun
A guest finds your tour on Viator, GetYourGuide, your website, or the Bokun marketplace. They complete the booking and payment through Bokun's checkout. This is Bokun's domain, and it does it well.
Booking lands in Automate
Bokun confirms. The booking shows up in Automate with everything attached: guest, date, group size, special requests, payment status. No spreadsheet, no copy-paste. Your team picks it up the same way they pick up any other tour for the day.
Automate assigns resources and schedules the team
Based on the booking, Automate checks guide availability, assigns the right vehicle for the group size, generates pickup routes, and notifies the guide through the guide portal. The operations team sees all departures for the day in one view.
Guest communication flows through Automate
When the guest emails about the meeting point, WhatsApps to add a person, or calls to ask about accessibility, it all arrives in Automate's unified inbox, linked to their booking. AI drafts responses in the guest's language. Your team sends them with one click.
Tour Settlement calculates the real numbers
After the tour runs, Automate calculates the actual margin: booking revenue minus guide pay, vehicle cost, OTA commission, ticket fees, and any extras. By Monday morning, you know exactly how each weekend tour performed. Month-end close takes 1 day, not 2 weeks.
One booking flows through the entire stack
Bokun handles everything before the guest arrives: discovery, booking, payment, distribution. The moment Bokun confirms, Automate picks up: operations, communication, team management, financial settlement. Two products, zero overlap. Most Bokun users we talk to are running 3-5 extra tools (spreadsheets, WhatsApp Business, accounting software, scheduling apps) to cover the operations side. Bokun + Automate replaces that patchwork with one continuous workflow.
- Bokun: booking, channels, payments, marketplace
- Automate: CRM, operations, finance, comms, HR
- One booking, one continuous workflow — no re-entry
- Replace 3-5 extra tools with the second half of the stack
One booking flows through the entire stack
Bokun handles everything before the guest arrives: discovery, booking, payment, distribution. The moment Bokun confirms, Automate picks up: operations, communication, team management, financial settlement. Two products, zero overlap. Most Bokun users we talk to are running 3-5 extra tools (spreadsheets, WhatsApp Business, accounting software, scheduling apps) to cover the operations side. Bokun + Automate replaces that patchwork with one continuous workflow.
- Bokun: booking, channels, payments, marketplace
- Automate: CRM, operations, finance, comms, HR
- One booking, one continuous workflow — no re-entry
- Replace 3-5 extra tools with the second half of the stack
Financial clarity for your operations
Bokun shows you booking revenue. Automate shows you actual profit. Tour Settlement automatically calculates margins by factoring in every cost: guide compensation, vehicle rental, OTA commissions (which vary by platform), ticket costs, equipment, and any other expenses tied to running that specific tour on that specific day. The result is a clear picture of profitability that updates in real-time. You don't wait for month-end. You don't rely on spreadsheets. You know, on Monday morning, exactly which of Saturday's tours made money and which didn't. This is the financial visibility that transforms tour operations from guesswork into a data-driven business.
- Real-time margin per booking, per tour, per period
- All costs factored in: guides, vehicles, commissions, tickets
- Monthly financial close in 1 day instead of 2 weeks
- Compare profitability across OTAs, tour types, and seasons
Financial clarity for your operations
Bokun shows you booking revenue. Automate shows you actual profit. Tour Settlement automatically calculates margins by factoring in every cost: guide compensation, vehicle rental, OTA commissions (which vary by platform), ticket costs, equipment, and any other expenses tied to running that specific tour on that specific day. The result is a clear picture of profitability that updates in real-time. You don't wait for month-end. You don't rely on spreadsheets. You know, on Monday morning, exactly which of Saturday's tours made money and which didn't. This is the financial visibility that transforms tour operations from guesswork into a data-driven business.
- Real-time margin per booking, per tour, per period
- All costs factored in: guides, vehicles, commissions, tickets
- Monthly financial close in 1 day instead of 2 weeks
- Compare profitability across OTAs, tour types, and seasons
One timeline per guest, across every channel
A guest books through Bokun. Later, they send a WhatsApp message. Then an email. Then they call. In Automate, all of these appear in a single timeline, linked to their booking. When the phone rings, your team sees the guest's name, their booking details, and their complete interaction history — before they even answer. AI drafts responses in the guest's language, referencing their specific booking and tour. No more checking multiple tools to piece together a guest's story. No more duplicate replies from different team members. Just one clear, complete picture of every guest relationship.
- All channels unified: WhatsApp, email, phone, SMS
- AI drafts contextual replies in the guest's language
- Phone caller ID shows booking history instantly
- Team sees full context before responding
One timeline per guest, across every channel
A guest books through Bokun. Later, they send a WhatsApp message. Then an email. Then they call. In Automate, all of these appear in a single timeline, linked to their booking. When the phone rings, your team sees the guest's name, their booking details, and their complete interaction history — before they even answer. AI drafts responses in the guest's language, referencing their specific booking and tour. No more checking multiple tools to piece together a guest's story. No more duplicate replies from different team members. Just one clear, complete picture of every guest relationship.
- All channels unified: WhatsApp, email, phone, SMS
- AI drafts contextual replies in the guest's language
- Phone caller ID shows booking history instantly
- Team sees full context before responding
Frequently asked questionsAbout Bokun vs Automate
Bokun handles the booking. Automate handles the rest. See both live.
30-minute demo. We'll walk through the complete Bokun + Automate workflow — from booking to settlement — using your actual data.
No credit card required · No setup fees