The difference between a host and a guide, a primer (Part 2)

As a hiking host, your job is to give each of your guests an amazing experience on your trip. We'll discuss the business of hosting hikes in more details in future posts.

In the meantime, if you've already skipped ahead and created a trip you're promoting, why not consider listing it here to get more bookings.

The difference is not slight. Here's why.

If your objective is to host a specific activity at a specific destination (like a tour operator), your revenue will be based on selling tickets, rentals and other amenities.

You'll need staff dedicated to getting your visitors through your experience safely.

A kayak rental operator may have developed infrastructure to allow visitors to rent kayaks at their local lake. Besides rentals, they make money by selling gear and equipment. But many also add tours with a dedicated guide to their product mix. Adding that tour makes this kayak rental operator a host.

What if you operate a water park, a ski resort or rafting operation?

By adding a tour (not just ski or paddling instruction), you can increase your per-person average order values as well as increase your repeat business from non-locals.

Additionally, I've experienced results in my business that imply less reliance on season passes to draw repeat business because we're hosts, not just tour operators.

This opportunity isn't always clear because you're focused on transactions like group sales, where another host (or bus charter provider) brings you their guests.

But hosting guests does not require you to discount your product (i.e. season passes). In fact, you can charge a premium.

How? Simple.

When you're selling tickets to visitors, you're engaging in a transaction. This is why you focus on marketing to international visitors. They drive higher order values than locals. They're awesome!

But when you're hosting guests, you're able to address their needs better. Despite the perception that locals are always looking for deals, when you host them as guests, they will have spending patterns that are similar to your international visitors.

So, in summary, here are some answers to some questions you may or may not be wondering about:

• Why are hosted trips better for a guest? Because most guests prefer to go with a pre-organized group vs. on their own. A dedicated leader to hold a guest's hand and know their names works extremely well at getting beginners to try your activity (almost like a concierge or personal shopper, but for rafting). This is why they spend more on your business.

• Why are hosted trips better for a host? Because hosts get to charge a service fee on top of their standard trip fee, rental fee or ticket price, which guests are willing to pay when they're hosted.

• How big should groups be and why can't we just use normal group sales process? These groups are not organized before your trip. And they're typically only 6 to 18 guests, which often lies outside of typical group size requirements. But, to be clear, group sales are about discounts, which are not necessary for hosted group trips who care more about the experience.