With rare exceptions, Joe and I are typically DIY travelers. Wherever we’re visiting, we’ll usually set up a list of things we’d like to see while we’re there. Then we can make daily itineraries based on the list (and if we don’t see everything on our list, it’s the perfect excuse to go back and visit again someday).
However if it’s a place where we’re very unfamiliar with our surroundings (especially in foreign countries) and we’re trying to get a lay of the land, or if we just have a relatively short amount of time to kill and don’t want to run around too much, we’ll oftentimes spend a couple of hours on a “hop on, hop off” (HOHO) bus. We generally won’t even hop off…we’ll just ride around to learn what’s where and get an idea of how far it is from the hotel, what traffic is like, etc.
I’ve been on a handful of HOHO buses in my time:
- New York City (not my choice. I mean, I grew up there! But friends were visiting from Japan, they had never been to New York before, and they wanted to go)
- Washington D.C.
- Liverpool
- Saigon
Depending on what country you’re in, the topic of tipping your guide and/or driver may come into play (of course, you may be in a country that has adopted a not tipping society. But for those that have, here’s an idea of who to tip, when, and how much).
But then it’s happened to the best of us. You’ve just finished your tour and you want to tip your guide. You don’t have money. Maybe you’re in the U.S. and just don’t carry cash anymore. Maybe you’re in a foreign country and haven’t gotten the time to do a money exchange yet. Either way, you’re the one who looks like the cheap jerk. And it’s not a good look.
City Sightseeing is fixing that.
You may not be 100% familiar with their name, but I’m sure you know their product. They call themselves the world’s leading hop-on hop-off company, and since 1999, have run those (usually red) open-top double-decker buses that are in about 130 cities around the world (they also offer boat tours, sightseeing train tours and guided walking tours, but they’re most well-known for their HOHO bus tours).
Anyway, back to tipping.
City Sightseeing has recently announced that they are partnering with TripAdmit’s digital tipping platform, called TipDirect.
TipDirect will provide a convenient, secure and cashless way for guests to “show their appreciation” (I always loved that term. Such a nice way to say “tip”) to their guide or driver. Guests will be able to tip guides directly from their mobile devices by tapping a card or by scanning a QR code.
TipDirect’s generative AI automation will also be able to help guests generate a personalized review.
Matias Machesich, Director of Sales for TripAdmit was quoted as saying: “This latest partnership is testament to the TipDirect development team which has built our powerful platform. As we head closer towards becoming a cashless society our vision is to make it easy for guests everywhere to tip digitally.”
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