Combo products can be a shortcut to growth. Instead of selling a one-off ticket or tour, you can sell a whole day that feels easy, curated and worth paying more money for.
The key is simple: a good combo feels like a considered full experience, rather than separate bookings jammed together.
Start with the guest, not your product list
Ask yourself: who is this for? Is it for a family, a foodie, a solo traveller, an adrenalin junkie, a wellness guru etc. Once you know the person it’s easier to see which products belong in the same day and which don’t. If you can describe the combo in one or two sentences and it sounds like a complete experience then it probably is. If you find yourself explaining the link then it probably needs more work.
Timing is where combos fail
On paper you may be tempted to fit a lot into one day. However, in reality guests need time to find meeting points, check in, move between locations, and simply pause to take in their surroundings. Put yourself in the shoes of your guest when planning the itinerary – is there enough time to move around calmly or does everything feel rushed? Guests want to feel relaxed and calm on their trip and a smooth, slower combo will always be a winner.
Pricing should be transparent, not mysterious
Whatever pricing you choose, make sure the value is clear: what’s included, what’s optional or add-ons and why the price makes sense. One simple option is to add up the value of the single products and then decide if you want this to feel like a ‘deal’ or if you want to position it as a more ‘premium’ experience. If you are choosing to offer this as a deal then price slightly cheaper than the separate experiences total. If you are going down the premium route then it’s worth adding in extras such as transport, food and drink or giveaways. Whichever decision you make it should be obvious to guests why the combo is the better option.
Your description should do a lot of heavy lifting
Guests want to know about the day they’ll have, not your internal naming structure. It’s important to give the combo a full title that sounds like an experience and not an afterthought. Explain what happens and then detail the basics: total duration, meeting point, travelling from one place to the next. You want to make this feel like a full experience rather than simple copying and pasting the individual product descriptions. Top tip: keep updating descriptions based on customer feedback and common questions.
Always stress-test your new experience
New combo experiences are a great opportunity for more bookings and increased revenue – but you want to ensure behind the scenes feel calm, not chaotic. Before publishing, check that schedules and capacities line up on a busy day. Be careful when pairing a low-capacity, highly-resourced experience with one of your best sellers that sells fast and in huge volumes. The goal is to sell more with less stress, you don’t want to be constantly moving people and schedules around to accommodate bookings.
Be clear on partner responsibilities
It’s important for combo experience to have one point of call if your experience is created with another operator. Agree who sends confirmations, who guests contact if they have any issues, what happens if one part of the experience is cancelled and who handles payments and refunds. Agree this upfront so you aren’t left scrambling during busy periods.
Test and learn
Don’t rush off and combine all of your experiences into combos after reading this. Take a look at your current offerings and test one or two combos that you think could be a success. Keep an eye on booking trends and customer feedback to understand how the experience is performing. Ask your guides if they are seeing any issues on the ground and make tweaks where necessary. Then build up to more combo experiences as you feel more confident.
At their best, combos are simple. They provide guests with a full day to experience your destination without any hassle. If your combo reads that way to you then you’re most likely on to a winner.