Xola has become one of the most top-rated tour operator software since it debuted over a decade ago — it has an exceptional 4.7 stars on review sites and commonly wins tour operators over with its sleek, modern look and feel.
If you’re considering Xola for your tour business, you should understand how its features and pricing stack up against competitors. We’ve compiled this pricing guide with everything you need to know about Xola before making the investment. It covers:
Xola Pricing Breakdown
Aside from Xola’s modern user experience, many users like the platform because the pricing is “simple and transparent.”
- The brand doesn’t offer tiered packages; all users have access to all features.
- They provide free setup, onboarding, and 24/7 live support for all customers.
- There are no subscription fees here, they only charge a partner fee per booking — that fee is usually 2.39% + 30¢ of the booking total, but it can vary for international transactions.
But there are a couple of things that give us pause here.
One, Xola notes that partner fees can vary for international transactions, and some reviewers say it can get as high as 6%, which is quite a hike compared to what’s advertised on the site.
Two, Xola may charge for its website-building service. They don’t offer a standard website builder for users to design their own site; Xola handles the design and can charge custom rates for this service.
Three, Xola does not mention anything about transaction fees on its site, but this is a standard cost across all tour operator software.
We do see that Xola partners with Stripe for online payment processing (Stripe’s standard online fee is around 2.9% + 30¢ for domestic credit cards). And in regions where Stripe is not supported, Xola notes that payment processing can be provided via Authorize.net and its connected third‑party processors. So you’ll have to pay a percentage of the booking total to one of these payment processing tools as well.
Xola includes a contact form on the pricing page to learn more about its rates and total costs for using the platform — we suggest getting in touch with them to double-check all details before committing to the platform.
Xola Product Overview
Xola is a highly popular online booking system for tour and activity providers because it includes everything business owners need to manage operations, and all of its features are intuitive and easy to learn. Since its launch in 2011, the platform has built a reputation for its clean interface and straightforward approach to online booking management.
Xola tends to appeal most to tour operators prioritising direct bookings because they offer a website building service and tout an online booking engine widget optimised to streamline the booking process, keep users in the checkout flow, and prevent drop-off. They’ve designed their product to prevent those last-minute abandoned carts, and its low partner fees shouldn’t scare customers away come checkout.
In addition to features to secure more website bookings, Xola also offers tour operators several avenues to grow their customer base and earn more bookings, including OTA connections so users can sell tours on popular travel sites and a reseller marketplace to establish partnerships with other travel businesses.
The platform also has a variety of features to manage back-office operations: a user-friendly central booking calendar, real-time availability updates, inventory management, staff management, mobile tickets and digital waivers for customers, CRM software, even a phone booking system to support offline reservations. Users also appreciate its in-built marketing tools to fuel retargeting campaigns.
All in all, Xola is a comprehensive solution for managing all aspects of your tour business — from initial booking through check-in and post-tour marketing. You can handle everything in one system rather than jumping around multiple tools.
Notable Xola Features
- Website building service
- Online booking widgets (for existing sites)
- Channel management & OTA connections
- Distribution network
- Availability management
- Inventory management
- Staff management
- Phone booking system to manage offline reservations
- Native point-of-sale (POS)
- CRM
- Marketing tools to promote your tours & retarget customers
- Digital waiver solution
- Customisable tickets (and ticket scanning tools for convenient check-in)
- Reporting
- Mobile apps
Reviews of Xola’s Booking Platform
Positive reviews of Xola say:
- Setup and onboarding is straightforward; operators can get up and running quickly and don’t need a bunch of technical knowledge to tailor the system to their business needs.
- The customer support team is super helpful and readily available, with users praising the team’s quick responsiveness.
“You can easily access help articles from the dashboard. The people that work there are so helpful and can almost always help you find a good solution to whatever issue you may have.”
- The interface is intuitive for both admins and customers — tour operators can easily manage reservations and behind-the-scenes operations, and travellers can easily reserve tours without back-and-forth or waiting around for booking confirmations.
- The abandoned booking feature stands out as a major differentiator, allowing operators to capture contact information and follow up with potential customers who didn’t complete checkout.
“Best feature is the abandoned bookings so you can capture the contact info of people who almost booked but did not complete. We use this to send follow up emails with a special offer to try and save the sale. This feature alone makes Xola the best in market booking software.”
- The platform feels comprehensive and eliminates the need for multiple tools, with operators appreciating that they can handle everything in one system.
- The pricing is transparent and lower than many competitors, especially the partner fees for online bookings.
“Xola is useful for us to collect and manage all bookings from a single platform with really low commission rates.”
However, some negative customer reviews of Xola say:
- Customer support can be inconsistent, with some users experiencing slow resolution times and having to repeatedly explain their issues to different team members.
“Regardless of who you speak with you must first catch them up again on everything you’re trying to accomplish. This part is the most frustrating. When speaking to the 4th person I found it easier to just copy and paste the previous chats we had rather than trying to explain. We have been having trouble with our buttons implemented by Xola over 1.5 weeks ago. Meanwhile our clients have not been able to book online.”
- Some features feel incomplete or lack customisation options, operators have to work around these limitations or request new features.
- The integration with Smartwaiver (their digital waiver solution) feels limited and outdated, leaving many users wishing for a better alternative.
- Technical glitches often disrupt operations, with some users reporting bugs in the booking dashboard or data entry issues. Users also note the Android mobile app is quite buggy.
“There’s a random glitch I’m noticing recently where the guest will input their email and phone number, but when looking at their booking through the dashboard, their email shows up twice. When I go into the customer’s profile, their phone number shows.”
- The booking fees, while advertised as low, can add up for high-volume operators and feel expensive as you scale.
You can find more reviews of Xola’s booking system in the links below:
Read more: Best Xola alternatives comparison guide
Bókun vs. Xola
Bókun and Xola are both all-in-one tour operator software with glowing 4.7 star ratings — they share many of the same features, and both prioritise ease of use and affordability to accommodate teams at all growth stages.
However, Bókun stands out from Xola in three areas: growth drivers, scalability, and value for money.
#1. Growth drivers
Bókun is a Tripadvisor brand with a variety of premier partnerships and integrations to help tour operators see greater success when selling tours across online channels.
- We have an exclusive Preferred Partnership with Viator, so Viator users can enjoy more money-saving benefits: 0% Bókun booking fees and (12, 24, or 48) free subscription checks each year. Viator users can also seamlessly import products to Bókun and sell those experiences directly on their website.
- We have a premium integration with GetYourGuide so our users can sell tours to GYG’s 20+ million monthly visitors and enjoy real-time, seamless connectivity between systems.
- We’re Airbnb Experiences’ top restech partner, so our users can easily join the Airbnb platform and sell travel experiences to their massive, global audience.
- We’re Civitatis’s #1 connected restech, so our users can use both platforms in tandem and easily manage Civitatis bookings.
- We’re a Google Things to do connectivity partner, so Bókun users can skip the application process, instantly join Google’s program, and promote their travel experiences on the most popular search engine.
Our platform connects with 50+ global OTAs — Expedia, TourRadar, Trip.com, TourDesk, Hotelbeds, Headout, Tiqets, and more — so tour operators have countless opportunities to expand their distribution network and sell tours on all of the most popular sites travellers use to plan and book vacations.
In addition, Bókun boasts the largest in-built reseller network in the industry. Marketplace contains thousands of travel industry businesses so our users can establish partnerships with travel agents, destination management companies (DMCs), attractions, accommodation providers like hotels, resorts, and B&Bs, rental companies, transportation services, educational institutions, and other tour and activity providers.
Our system includes all outreach, contract, and partner management tools, and supports unlimited contracts, so our users can easily grow their reach and discover new ways to earn bookings and revenue.
Our Marketplace allows Bókun users to:
- Work with resellers who will earn bookings on their behalf.
- Partner with suppliers to resell their services’, earn commissions, and add revenue streams.
- Create comprehensive packages with partners to diversify their product line and offer travellers more conveniences.
Then, our Referral Tracking feature gives tour operators even greater flexibility to establish partnerships.
Referral Tracking lets teams earn bookings through any business or professional they wish to work with: social media influencers, travel bloggers, tourism boards, local interest groups, or other businesses in their area. They can build their own affiliate network and provide affiliates with a trackable booking link — affiliates can earn bookings from their audiences, and operators can see where they’re winning new business.
Learn how Bókun helps you earn more bookings in this guide, then see how current Bókun users leverage the platform to drive sustainable growth in our case studies:
- How Simba Sea Trips drives consistent 20% annual revenue growth with Bókun
- Venice Tours achieved a 400% revenue increase through the Bókun Marketplace
- How Tasty Tours NYC saw 381% revenue growth and became a multi-channel success after integrating with Airbnb Experiences
- How Tour Marbella pulls in 54% of their bookings via Bókun Marketplace connections
- How Mega Zipline Iceland scales to new heights with 100+ partner contracts
#2. Scalability
Bókun and Xola are similar in the fact that they include all of their booking management features for all users — we pack all of our core features, including our growth drivers discussed above, in our START plan so all tour operators can hit the ground running and maximise the benefits of Bókun.
But we also offer more support for our users as they grow and their needs evolve.
- We offer two enterprise-level plans — PLUS and PREMIUM — with advanced tools like agent portals, allocation manager, and subvendor management. Those plans also include Zapier access to integrate Bókun with any tool in your tech stack.
- Our team offers guided onboarding and support for enterprise users so we can make sure Bókun is optimised for your needs and answer any questions you have along the way.
- Enterprise plans include a yearly strategy call with our customer experience team so we can discuss current growth goals and brainstorm ways to hit new milestones year after year. We’re not just a software solution, we’re also your strategic partner.
We also provide the Bókun App Store where teams at all stages can customise Bókun with additional modules. You can add tip management tools, customer SMS messaging, advanced departure management, digital waiver solutions, and more here.
#3. Value for money
As mentioned above, Xola is commonly praised for its lower fees. Compared to names like FareHarbor, Peek Pro, and TripWorks, Xola’s rates are far lower.
However, Bókun stands out with the lowest booking fees amongst all competitors — 1.5% online booking fees and 0% Bókun booking fees on Viator reservations for users in our START plan. Then, fees are even lower as you upgrade to enterprise packages.
And yes, we charge a monthly subscription — but it’s one of the lowest you’ll find. Our START plan includes dozens of features, so you get the most bang for your buck.
Our low monthly subscription coupled with super low booking fees keep Bókun affordable as you scale — while Xola users note that the partner fee, even being on the lower end, starts to eat into profits as they take on more bookings or add expensive experiences, like combo packages, to their product line.
While Bókun and Xola both have solid reputations, users rate Bókun’s value for money superior — at 4.7 stars in this category vs. Xola’s 4.5 stars.
Bókun’s Complete Feature Set
Bókun and Xola are both comprehensive solutions, but Bókun offers a variety of features not found in Xola. Check out our toolkit below:
Booking management features
- Online booking engine widgets (compatible with all website builders)
- One-click website builder with professional templates
- Booking management with a central calendar & real-time availability updates
Growth drivers
- Channel management & 50+ OTA connections
- The Bókun Marketplace with thousands of international travel partners
- Partner & contract management tools
- Referral Tracking to partner with affiliates
Product & resource management
- Product management with intuitive listing builders, dynamic pricing, upselling tools like add-ons, features to create combo packages, & Tripadvisor sync to feed reviews between platforms
- Resource management with real-time tracking & a variety of allocation rules to optimise utilisation
Customer management tools
- Customer self-service portals
- Check-in tools like mobile tickets & ticket scanning to streamline arrivals
Back-office tools
- Native CRM to capture customer information, build an organised database, & power retargeting
- Automated communications with a gallery of email templates (to dispatch booking confirmations, mobile tickets, follow-ups, abandoned cart emails, & more)
- Business intelligence reporting to measure bookings and revenue over various categories
- Integrations with over a dozen online payment processing tools (Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Worldpay, Braintree, Klarna, etc.)
- Mobile apps for iOS & Android
Bókun Pricing Breakdown
Here’s how our pricing compares to Xola’s:
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