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Are you an Adventure Tour Supplier or an Adventure Guru? Do you want to learn more about ekoVenture? Click "Watch a Demo" to view an interactive flash demo now!
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Are you an Adventure Tour Supplier? Do you want to increase bookings and exposure and access no-cost inventory management software? Then click "Sign Up Now!"
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Frequently Asked Questions
General
ekoVenture marketing expertise
Technology
ekoVenture support
Sustainability
Business relationship & payments
Signing up
ekoVenture.com functionality
General
- So, what exactly is ekoVenture?
- At launch in summer 2008, ekoVenture will be the world's first online adventure travel marketplace connecting millions of adventure travelers directly with hundreds of ekoGurus (travel experts) and thousands of adventure tour suppliers. As of May 2008, our database includes 5,000+ tour suppliers and 50,000+ adventurer travelers. ekoVenture will provide tour suppliers with direct access to thousands of adventure travelers and no-cost tools provided through our exclusive industry leading partner, PEAK 15 Systems, to streamline their booking and management practices. We will provide the adventure traveler with a community to connect with other travelers and ekoGurus and a place to find tours and book them directly on ekoVenture.com.Back to top
- Why should I sign up?
- ekoVenture provides you with a new distribution channel for your tours and requires absolutely no commitment or up-front fees from you. Additionally, as a member of the ekoVenture community, you will have no-cost access to an industry leading inventory management and CRM tool provided through exclusive ekoVenture partner, PEAK 15 Systems.Back to top
- What are the risks to my operation?
- None. There are no up-front fees or costs and no contracts. You can cancel your ekoVenture posting and membership at anytime for any reason, and you only pay ekoVenture a 10% transaction fee for each booking that we make on your behalf or referral that we make which you close.Back to top
- I am still not sure, can I call you to talk?
- Absolutely, you can call us anytime at +1-877-eko-2eko (356-2356), opt 1. If we are on the line with other suppliers, leave a message, and we will get back to you within one business day.Back to top
ekoVenture marketing expertise
- How do you attract the adventure traveler to ekoVenture.com?
- Since our primary job is to market your tours, we will drive millions of adventure travelers to ekoVenture.com each year; and that means millions more opportunities to make bookings. To achieve this, our industry leading marketing team has secured partnerships with the top organizations, associations, and affiliates in adventure sports and travel. Additionally, our marketing team goes directly to the consumer with our proprietary marketing plan heavily leveraging the latest in search engine optimization and viral marketing techniques. ekoVenture gives you the marketing power of a large company and guarantees you greater exposure for your tours!Back to top
- Why will the adventurer book on ekoVenture.com?
- Here are just a few of the reasons why adventurers will book their tours direct on ekoVenture.com:
- Our brand promise! 10% of ekoVenture's profits are applied directly towards environmental sustainability. The adventurers select which approved organizations receive a portion of the contribution.
- Total credit card security — adventurers can rest easy knowing that ekoVenture has validated the reputation of all suppliers in the ekoVenture network. This allows the adventurer to book with confidence, all the while knowing their credit card details are encrypted and securely processed with a well known brand, making them more likely to book with smaller suppliers in countries other than their own.
- Tour supplier cancellation protection — some tour suppliers reserve the right to cancel trips if they cannot fill enough spots. Should this happen, we protect the adventurer from an "adventure-less" vacation by using our network of thousands of tour suppliers to find the adventure traveler another tour that's just as cool!
- Meet other adventurers on their tour — anyone adventure traveler on ekoVenture can post a quick profile about themselves. This lets them see who else is on their tour and even connect ahead of time!
- Win a free adventure! — for every booking an adventure traveler makes on ekoVenture.com, they are entered into one of our regular drawings for a chance to win a trip for two to anywhere in the world for a one week adventure of their choice!
- Discounted services & gear — our partners offer exclusive online discounts to ekoVenture customers.
- Tour updates — as the trip approaches, the adventure traveler will receive updates with regional information, visa reminders, vaccination reports, geopolitical happenings, ground transportation details, and other things they need to know to maximize their adventuring! They can access all this information on ekoVenture.com in their private trip portal, meaning you field less basic customer service calls.
- 24/7 ekoVenture concierge service — while the tour operator is always best suited to answer specific questions about the adventure, the adventure traveler can travel with confidence knowing that ekoVenture is there for whatever they need, whenever they need it. Can't reach the tour supplier? Flight delayed and need help booking another? Stuck in foreign country and need directions? Call ekoVenture concierge service anytime..for anything!
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- Why can't I do the same thing to drive exposure for my tour?
- Most tour suppliers simply don't have the resources to partner with hundreds of organizations to drive exposure. A few larger tour suppliers may already have significant exposure, but are always looking for more direct channels to consumers and better ways to service them in an online environment! ekoVenture is a new way to increase distribution in a highly competitive market in a totally risk free way!Back to top
Technology
- I don't understand how the internet works, can I still use ekoVenture?
- Absolutely! There is no need to be an expert in technology. If you know how to use email and how to use a standard internet browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox, you have all the tech knowledge you need.Back to top
- It sounds like ekoVenture relies on cutting edge technology, what type of internet connection do I need?
- While any web page will load faster with a faster internet connection, ekoVenture has no special requirements. All you need are the following:
- Standard internet connection — dial-up, DSL, or faster
- Internet browser — MS Internet Explorer or Firefox
- Email — any standard email account will work just fine to communicate with ekoVenture and receive any relevant notifications — don't have an email account? Call us, and we'll help you set one up!
(check back near launch for specific version requirements for Windows and browsers)
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- Our operation has a very sophisticated website, will the ekoVenture platform work with that?
- Since the ekoVenture.com platform is not directly linked to your website, your site's sophistication will not impact your ekoVenture experience.Back to top
- My operation doesn't even have a website. Does that mean I can't use ekoVenture?
- Anyone can use ekoVenture even without a website! In fact, not having a web presence is all the more reason to use ekoVenture. We will help you create your tour profiles online so they post to ekoVenture.com, where our global reach will expose your tours to millions of potential customers.Back to top
- We already have a central reservation system and we do not want to maintain our inventory in both our current system and the ekoVenture central inventory system provided through an industry leading partner — so now what?
- Many of our clients are large and manage many thousands of departures each year, which means they already have an internal system that works, which they have spent a significant amount of resources developing. If you already have such a system, and do not want to maintain two inventory systems, no worries! We work with clients like you to write scripts into the ekoVenture database, ensuring your tour descriptions and inventory are always accurate on ekoVenture.com. We cover the cost of this on our end and your team simply needs to write the script from your current system. If your IT team is not capable of this, or you don't have one, don't fret! We will do this for you at no cost as well!Back to top
- Are there any limitations in terms of how many photos or videos I can upload to market my tour?
- Absolutely none! ekoVenture encourages you to upload as many photos and videos and as much content about your tours as you would like. The more information you include, the more likely you are to make a potential customer feel comfortable with your operation.Back to top
ekoVenture support:
- What if I have difficulty using your tools or just have general questions about ekoVenture?
- We want to hear from you — call us anytime at +1-877-eko-2eko (356-2356) to chat about our product, our business, or whatever!Back to top
Sustainability
- What is ekoVenture's sustainability promise all about?
- A guiding principle of ekoVenture is to help protect the environment and indigenous cultures in the regions in which our ATO members operate. For this reason, we have committed 10% of our profits towards environmental sustainability.Back to top
- How does this impact my operation?
- As a tour supplier, you can choose from a list of approved organizations, and a portion of the money ekoVenture allocates towards environmental sustainability will be applied directly towards your cause. This can directly benefit your efforts to protect the local habitats that make your tours possible. We also allow our partners, who are listed on the partner section of our website, to submit grant programs for funding.Back to top
- Who is paying for this?
- ekoVenture makes this donation. To be clear, this is NOT an additional fee, this is NOT something that is in anyway paid for by our supplier members. ekoVenture is simply donating a portion of our own profits from our business operations to an organization that will help preserve the environment so that our future generations can enjoy it!Back to top
Business relationship & payments
- This sounds great, but how much will it cost?
- There are absolutely zero up-front costs or fees and no contracts are required. ekoVenture will simply deduct a 10% transaction fee for every tour that is booked on ekoVenture.com or charge a 10% referral fee for every referral that a supplier closes.Back to top
- How does ekoVenture manage deposits from adventure travelers and payments to me?
- ekoVenture allows each supplier member to use their own custom deposit collection policies. The way this works is as follows:
- ekoVenture will collect the initial deposit at the time of booking or 10% deposit, whichever is greater. If greater than 10% is collected per the supplier's policy, 10% will go through ekoVenture's merchant account while the remainder will be charged through the supplier's merchant account - the adventure traveler will only see one transaction.
- Based on the policy for that particular booking, ekoVenture will alert the adventure traveler (through both a confirmation page and an email) of the remaining payment dates for the balance of their trip - the payments and any future invoicing will be handled directly by the supplier.
- Once the tour is delivered by the supplier, this 10% deposit held by ekoVenture will be recognized by as the 10% transaction fee for the booking.
(ekoVenture will cover the credit card transaction fees on the initial 10% deposit while the supplier will be responsible for all credit card processing fees on the remainder of the balance)
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- Does ekoVenture honor my cancellation policies or use their own?
- Each supplier will enter their individual cancellation policies into the ekoVenture system and ekoVenture will honor these. ekoVenture holds the initial 10% deposit in a trust account. If the tour departs, that 10% initial deposit will become the ekoVenture booking fee. If the tour is cancelled by the adventure traveler, then ekoVenture will disperse the 10% deposit to either the adventure travelers or the supplier based on the individual cancellation policies of the supplier in that instance - ekoVenture earns no fees in this case.Back to top
- Where does the initial 10% deposit go when the adventure traveler books on ekoVenture.com?
- The adventure traveler's payment is held in an ekoVenture trust account.Back to top
- When do I get paid?
- As described above in the section on deposits, you get paid immediately since you still manage all invoicing per your existing policies and systems. ekoVenture simply holds the first 10% of payments in a trust account and will only earn that deposit as the booking fee if the trip actually departs. If the adventure traveler cancels, ekoVenture will pay the full 10% fee back to either you or your customer based on your specific cancellation policy for that tour.Back to top
- How does ekoVenture brand my tours?
- ekoVenture brands your tours as your own and will even provide your contact information to the adventure traveler once they create a profile and provide their name and email address. We will use this information to track direct referrals and referral fees - supplier must pay a 10% referral fee for any referrals that convert to sales.Back to top
- So what if the adventure traveler calls us directly and books the tour with my operation, not on ekoVenture.com? How do you manage that and do we pay a referral fee?
- When an adventure traveler has interest in your tours on ekoVenture.com, they will be given a code to provide to you when they call. This code will indicate they learned about your operation and tours on ekoVenture.com. We will track all referrals and codes through our online system and reporting tools (which you can also access) and we expect that when a tour supplier secures a booking from a referral that they honor the 10% referral fee. ekoVenture will have the ability to cross reference these referrals with client feedback left on ekoVenture.com as well as measure trends against other suppliers as it relates to conversion. If a supplier is found to consistently not honor referral fees, they will be banned from the ekoVenture community.Back to top
- What if I decide I no longer want to market my tours on ekoVenture.com?
- No problem! ekoVenture wants our tour supplier community to work with us only when it makes sense for them. That means if we cannot satisfy your needs and provide value, you can cancel your tour postings at any time for any reason. You can reactive your tours at any time.Back to top
- How can I see how many bookings ekoVenture has taken for my operation?
- ekoVenture provides each tour supplier with a portal to access all information about their account. As part of this portal there are several "point and click" reports that will provide you with valuable information about your overall bookings, their source, payment status, and more!Back to top
Signing up
- How do I sign up?
- Simply follow these two easy steps:
- Click on the sign up link on any page of this site or click here
- Enter some basic information and answer a few simple questions
That's it! Leave the rest to ekoVenture! We will create your tour descriptions, upload photos from your website and send you the descriptions for your final approval. If you have a large number of tours, we will be in contact to discuss automated ways of uploading your tour inventory to the ekoVenture database.Back to top
- Once I sign up, how long until I hear from ekoVenture?
- That depends on how many questions we have. Some tour suppliers have very clear websites that are easy to use, making our job easier. Other tour suppliers have less complete websites, and we will need to contact them. Once you sign up, you will receive an email from ekoVenture confirming that we received your information. If we have questions, we will contact you shortly. If we do not, we will contact you closer to our launch date for your final approval of your tour descriptions. Currently, the ekoVenture launch is scheduled for summer 2008.Back to top
- Why will ekoVenture not be live until summer 2008?
- ekoVenture is building a multi-million dollar adventure travel marketplace, community and booking platform using all of the latest innovations in online technology. Unfortunately, this takes some time. Please be patient with us, we're working day and night in the name of our shared passion. Just imagine how much easier your daily life will be when you have a centralized online distribution platform, integrated scheduling tool, and direct global distribution to millions of adventurer travelers!Back to top
- What if I want to talk to ekoVenture before launch?
- Please call us anytime! We love our tour suppliers; we love adventure travel; and we love hearing from our customers anytime, so call us at +1-877-eko-2-eko (356-2356).Back to top
ekoVenture.com functionality
- How exactly do I interact with the website as a tour supplier
- Simple. Once ekoVenture sends you the invite to review your tour profiles, you just log in using your username (your email) and password (we will provide and you can change). From there, the online tools for scheduling, reporting, tour management and agency management are intuitive and easy to use. Should you have questions, you can either use our online tutorials or call ekoVenture's support line at anytime for help.Back to top
- What if I want to make changes to my tours or add/delete tours?
- Easy! Simply log-in to the ekoVenture.com portal and make changes to your tours in real-time with the click of a button. With one click you can update your real-time inventory and tour details for millions of adventurer travelers.Back to top
- This all sounds great, but most of my departures are custom, how does ekoVenture handle these custom itineraries?
- ekoVenture has worked with our inventory management partner and our user interface experts to create an intuitive custom tour module for our customers. It works like this:
- You enter each custom tour module into the easy to use database
- Once an adventure traveler finds one of your sample itineraries or standard itineraries, they will be provided with a link to your custom tour module tool
- The adventure traveler will select from a list of all the custom options and a draft itinerary will be created for them with a cost estimate (excluding the cost of airfare)
- The adventure traveler will be provided a custom code that they will provide to you when they call to talk about the tour specifics
- Now, you can help them modify their custom itinerary over the phone and close the sale
- If you close the sale, you pay ekoVenture a 10% referral fee
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- I understand my operation will have access to a no-cost inventory management tool, can you tell me about this?
- Sure! ekoVenture wants to make sure that your real-time inventory is available on ekoVenture.com to ensure that adventure travelers can see trip availability and your tours. To accomplish this, ekoVenture has partnered with travel industry leading CRM tool PEAK 15 Systems, and you will have access to a version of this tool to manage your inventory and basic customer relations functions. You can use this to better manage your own operation and also to ensure that your inventory is up-to-date for the millions of adventure travelers who will access it on ekoVenture.com.Back to top
- Do I need to use this no-cost tool?
- No. If you have a current inventory management system you prefer to use, ekoVenture will work with your technical team to create a custom script that will maintain updates in the ekoVenture system, ensuring accurate information is displayed on ekoVenture.com.
If you do not have a current inventory management tool to integrate with, then you should use our inventory management tool to ensure accurate tour descriptions and inventory is always displayed on ekoVenture.com
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- This inventory management tool is just what I need, but how much is it?
- Again, it is FREE! ekoVenture does not charge for use of the centralized reservation tool. We only make money when we sell tours for your operation.Back to top
- Why do you not charge us for this tool?
- Our industry leading partner has provided us with this tool at no cost — we then provide you this tool at no cost as well. We do this since it allows us to display real-time inventory on ekoVenture.com, which makes selling your tours easier, and that is how we make our money! Our partner provides this tool at no cost in the hopes that in the future your needs will grow and you might choose to upgrade your platform to provide more robust CRM capabilities, invoicing, financial analysis, and more!Back to top
- How do I interact with my existing travel agents and distribution partners and how do they interact with me?
- In ekoVenture version 1.0, due in summer of 2008, you will interact with your other distribution partners much in the same way you do today — just make sure to update the inventory in the ekoVenture inventory management system (assuming you do not use an integration to your current system) when you accept a booking from another distribution partner. That is all you need to do!
In ekoVenture version 2.0, scheduled for later in 2008, we plan on releasing an agency management module. This module will allow your approved agents to login to a custom portal and access your real-time inventory and trip information and even make bookings and hold spots all while they are on the phone with their client. This means no more calling you for inventory questions and no more missed sales because of unnecessary back and forth phone and email tag!Back to top
- The ekoVenture approach seems like a great way to help my operation access back-office tools we might not otherwise be able to afford while also increasing our tour distribution, what's the catch?
- No catch. ekoVenture's goal is to help solve several of the problems in the adventure industry, and the lack of a centralized reservation system is one of the issues we want to solve. Also, we make our money from the 10% transaction fee from booking tours on ekoVenture.com. In order to make the booking process efficient enough to allow us to charge low fees and manage thousands of bookings per month, we need a real-time inventory management tool in place to help us achieve this efficiency.Back to top
- If an adventure traveler leaves a negative review on ekoVenture.com about my operation, what recourse do we have?
- ekoVenture will work closely with tour suppliers when they feel an adventure traveler has left an undeserving negative review. The supplier has two courses of action:
- Contact the adventure traveler directly — try to work out a solution with the adventure traveler in exchange for them updating their negative reviews once you satisfy their issue.
- Contact ekoVenture — while ekoVenture cannot guarantee we can help in this situation, a supplier who feels they have been unfairly reviewed can send the details to ekoVenture through the supplier portal, and ekoVenture will review the facts — (this is how eBay handles disputes as well)
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- How do I know that my competitors will not leave negative reviews on the ekoVenture.com site about my supplier?
- ekoVenture takes the feedback process very seriously, that is why only adventure travelers who have a private security code can enter feedback about your tours. These private security codes are provided by ekoVenture to each adventure traveler who books on ekoVenture.com immediately upon their return from your tour. Additionally, we will provide you with the ability to send each of your customers who do not book on ekoVenture.com with a private security code as well — this will enable your operation to build a solid reputation on ekoVenture and help you secure more bookings from confident and happy customers.Back to top
- How will ekoVenture's tools save my operation time and money?
- ekoVenture saves supplier's time and money in several ways:
- Increased bookings — over time, ekoVenture will attract more and more adventurer travelers who will be more likely to use our community and book your tours, meaning more custom tours sold and fewer vacancies on your standard tours and thus, increased revenue and profits!
- Decreased administration — ekoVenture and its technology will reduce the time you spend in needless back and forth inventory management discussions with travel agents and distribution partners. Your real-time inventory will be available on ekoVenture.com 24 hours a day, seven days a week for access by millions of adventure travelers.
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