Zaui + Automate.travel: Tours, Transport & Operations
Zaui handles bookings and ground transportation. Automate runs your post-booking operations, CRM, and finances.
TL;DR
Zaui is strong for operators who combine tours with shuttle/bus/ferry transport — 30+ OTA connections and deep route management. Automate.travel adds the operations layer: guest CRM, AI communication, financial settlements, and guide scheduling.
Complementary platforms for tour + transport operators
About Zaui
Zaui is a cloud-based booking and operations platform from Vancouver, Canada (founded 2002). It's one of the few systems built for both tours AND ground transportation — with route/timetable management, fleet tracking, and intermodal journey support. Independent (not owned by an OTA).
What Zaui does well
Zaui is uniquely strong where tours meet ground transportation.
Transport management — routes, timetables, fleet tracking
Zaui is one of the few booking platforms built for ground transportation. Route and timetable management, fleet tracking, multi-leg journeys, and intermodal connections. If you run shuttles, buses, or ferries alongside tours, this is Zaui's unique differentiator.
Channel distribution — 30+ OTAs including transport-specific
Beyond the usual Viator/GetYourGuide/Expedia connections, Zaui integrates with transport-specific OTAs like Busbud, GotoBus, and Wanderu. That's rare among tour booking platforms.
Free plan with all features
Zaui offers a free plan that includes every feature — no feature gating. You pay a 6% booking fee instead of a subscription. For operators starting out or testing the platform, there's zero upfront risk.
Agent/reseller portal
White-label B2B access for travel agents. Your reseller partners can log in, see availability, and book on behalf of their clients — branded to look like your own system.
Why operators look for alternatives
No persistent guest CRM
“We had 200 shuttle passengers last week. Can't tell you if any of them took our walking tour last month.”
Zaui keeps basic customer profiles — name, email, booking history. But there's no unified communication timeline, no way to see every interaction (emails, calls, WhatsApp) in one place per guest, and no way to recognize returning customers across products. When a guest who took your morning ferry books an afternoon tour, you're starting from scratch. Automate builds a complete CRM layer: every booking, every message, every touchpoint in one guest timeline.
No financial settlements
“Our transport routes look busy. Are they actually profitable after fuel, driver pay, and OTA commissions?”
Zaui tracks booking revenue but can't tell you the actual margin on each departure. After driver pay, fuel costs, vehicle maintenance, OTA commissions (which vary between Busbud and GetYourGuide), and ticket fees — what's left? You find out weeks later in a spreadsheet. Transport operators running 20+ daily departures across multiple routes need real-time cost tracking. Automate's Tour Settlement calculates the actual margin per departure, per route, per period.
No AI communication or unified messaging
“German tourists email in German, Korean groups message in Korean. Our team speaks English and Spanish.”
Zaui sends email confirmations and notifications. That's it. No WhatsApp integration, no unified inbox across channels, and certainly no AI to help draft responses in your guest's language. When you're running both tours and transport, you're dealing with a wider range of customers — tourists, commuters, travel agents — across more channels. Automate's AI drafts contextual responses in any language, linked to the guest's specific booking and history.
Side by side
Feature comparison
| Feature | Automate.travel | Zaui |
|---|---|---|
| Operations | ||
| Departure management | ✅ Included | ◐ Partial |
| Fleet management | ✅ Included | ✅ Included Deep transport focus — route/timetable management, vehicle tracking, intermodal support |
| Employee scheduling | ✅ Included | ◐ Partial Basic staff scheduling, bulk driver assignment |
| Pickup/dropoff management | ✅ Included | ✅ Included Strong — built for shuttle/charter/bus operations |
| Guide portal | ✅ Included | ◐ Partial |
| Incident tracking | ✅ Included | ❌ Not available |
| CRM & Communication | ||
| Customer history/timeline | ✅ Included Full CRM with unified guest timeline across all channels | ◐ Partial Customer profiles with purchase history, demographics |
| 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 Email confirmations, basic notifications |
| 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 Revenue/occupancy reporting only — no per-booking margin calculation |
| Financial reporting | ✅ Included | ◐ Partial Customizable reports for bookings, revenue, quotes |
| Platform | ||
| Multi-OTA integration | ✅ Included Bookings from Viator, GetYourGuide, Bokun, FareHarbor, Rezdy, Ventrata — imported via email forwarding or CSV | ✅ Included 30+ OTAs: Viator, GYG, Expedia, Klook + transport-specific (Busbud, GotoBus, Wanderu, Distribusion) |
| Multi-entity management | ✅ Included Switch between brands/cities in one click, consolidated reporting | ◐ Partial Agent/reseller portal with white-label B2B access |
| 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 | ◐ Partial Limited mobile backoffice app — cannot show tour availability |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Per-booking From €1.50 per booking with volume discounts down to €0.25. No setup fees, no lock-in. | Commission-based Free plan: all features, 6% per online booking. Enterprise: custom pricing, as low as 1% per booking. No feature gating — all features included at every tier. Channel Manager module included free. |
See how Automate complements your Zaui setup
No credit card required · No setup fees
How the platforms work together
Zaui handles bookings and transport logistics. Automate handles everything after. Here's the workflow.
Guest books on Zaui
A guest finds your tour on Viator, your shuttle on Busbud, or books directly on your website. They complete the booking and payment through Zaui's checkout. Zaui handles routes, timetables, and seat management.
Booking data moves to Automate
Booking details — guest info, tour/transport date, group size, special requests, payment status — transfer to Automate. Today this works via CSV import or confirmation forwarding. We are not a Zaui partner; we are working on a smoother handover.
Automate assigns guides and manages the team
Based on the booking, Automate checks guide availability, handles shift scheduling with availability windows, matches guide skills and languages to the group, and notifies the team through the guide portal. For transport bookings, Automate tracks driver assignments and vehicle scheduling.
Guest communication flows through Automate
When the guest emails about the pickup point, WhatsApps to change the date, or calls 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 or transport runs, Automate calculates the actual margin: booking revenue minus guide/driver pay, vehicle cost, fuel, OTA commission, ticket fees, and any extras. By Monday morning, you know exactly which weekend departures made money and which didn't.
Zaui runs the bookings. Automate runs the operations.
Think of it as two halves of a complete system. Zaui handles everything before the guest arrives: discovery, booking, payment, route management, and transport distribution. Automate handles everything from that point forward: operations, communication, team management, and financial settlement. There's no overlap. There's no conflict. Most Zaui users we talk to are already using 3-5 additional tools (spreadsheets, WhatsApp Business, accounting software, scheduling apps) to fill the gaps Zaui wasn't designed to fill. Automate replaces all of them with one integrated platform.
- Zaui = booking engine, transport management, channel manager
- Automate = CRM, operations, finance, communication, HR
- Replace 3-5 tools with one platform that works alongside Zaui
- Especially valuable for mixed tour + transport operations
Zaui runs the bookings. Automate runs the operations.
Think of it as two halves of a complete system. Zaui handles everything before the guest arrives: discovery, booking, payment, route management, and transport distribution. Automate handles everything from that point forward: operations, communication, team management, and financial settlement. There's no overlap. There's no conflict. Most Zaui users we talk to are already using 3-5 additional tools (spreadsheets, WhatsApp Business, accounting software, scheduling apps) to fill the gaps Zaui wasn't designed to fill. Automate replaces all of them with one integrated platform.
- Zaui = booking engine, transport management, channel manager
- Automate = CRM, operations, finance, communication, HR
- Replace 3-5 tools with one platform that works alongside Zaui
- Especially valuable for mixed tour + transport operations
Financial clarity for complex tour + transport operations
Running both tours and ground transport makes financial tracking harder, not easier. Different cost structures (per-seat vs per-vehicle), different OTA commissions (Busbud vs Viator), different driver/guide compensation models. Zaui shows you booking revenue. Automate shows you actual profit. Tour Settlement automatically calculates margins by factoring in every cost tied to running that specific departure on that specific day. The result is a clear picture of profitability that updates in real-time. You know, on Monday morning, exactly which Saturday routes made money and which didn't.
- Real-time margin per booking, per route, per tour, per period
- All costs factored in: drivers, guides, vehicles, fuel, commissions
- Monthly financial close in 1 day instead of 2 weeks
- Compare profitability across transport routes vs tour products
Financial clarity for complex tour + transport operations
Running both tours and ground transport makes financial tracking harder, not easier. Different cost structures (per-seat vs per-vehicle), different OTA commissions (Busbud vs Viator), different driver/guide compensation models. Zaui shows you booking revenue. Automate shows you actual profit. Tour Settlement automatically calculates margins by factoring in every cost tied to running that specific departure on that specific day. The result is a clear picture of profitability that updates in real-time. You know, on Monday morning, exactly which Saturday routes made money and which didn't.
- Real-time margin per booking, per route, per tour, per period
- All costs factored in: drivers, guides, vehicles, fuel, commissions
- Monthly financial close in 1 day instead of 2 weeks
- Compare profitability across transport routes vs tour products
One timeline per guest, across every channel
A guest books a shuttle through Busbud. Later, they email about accessibility. Then they WhatsApp to ask about luggage. Then they call about the pickup point. 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. No more checking multiple tools to piece together a guest's story.
- 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 a shuttle through Busbud. Later, they email about accessibility. Then they WhatsApp to ask about luggage. Then they call about the pickup point. 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. No more checking multiple tools to piece together a guest's story.
- 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
[DO UZUPELNIENIA] Case study
“Quote from the operator about switching to Automate and the results they achieved...”
-- Operator Name, Company Name
Location / Tour type
--h
Hours saved per week
--%
Response time reduction
--x
Fewer tools needed
Frequently asked questionsAbout Zaui vs Automate
Your Zaui setup handles bookings. See what handles the rest.
Book a 30-minute demo. We'll show you how Automate fills the gaps between booking and operations.
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