Viator is a leading global marketplace for tours and activities, helping millions of travelers book unforgettable experiences—from kayak tours and food walks to zipline adventures. Listing your experiences on Viator connects your business with a worldwide audience actively searching for things to do.
Xola is proud to be recognized as a Viator Top Connected Partner, meaning our integration meets Viator’s highest standards for performance and reliability. This ensures that your availability, pricing, and reservations sync in real time, creating a seamless experience for your guests and reducing the risk of overbookings.
With the Xola + Viator integration, your availability and reservations stay automatically updated across platforms. Viator bookings appear directly in your Xola dashboard and follow your Xola Capacity and Equipment settings—saving you time, eliminating manual work, and helping you confidently manage your business across multiple sales channels.
User Access: Administrator or Curator roles have access to set up Viator in Xola.
Administrator, Reservationist Lite or Reservationist roles can view and modify Viator reservations in Xola.
Equipment Manager, Guide Manager or Guide roles can only view Viator reservations on the Roster.
To grant access to users, click here.
What's covered in this article:
How to Get Started
To begin using the Xola + Viator integration, you’ll need to ensure a few things are set up:
- Make Sure You Have an Active Viator Account
- If you're not already listed on Viator, you'll need to apply and be approved. You can do that here: https://www.supplier.viator.com.
- Set up Products in Viator
- Your Viator offerings must align with only one of your Xola Experiences. For example, suppose you have different variations of the same experience in Xola with different durations. In that case, a product must be created in Viator for each of these experiences so they can match Xola exactly.
- The schedule in your Viator offering must exactly match the corresponding Experience in Xola. If it does not, you'll need to modify your schedule or create a new Experience for your offering.
- Log in to Xola and Authorize the Integration
- Go to the App Store in Xola.
- Locate the Viator app and click Install.
- Click Connect Viator Account and follow the steps to authorize the connection.
- If you have multiple products on Viator, you’ll be able to map each Viator product to the appropriate Xola experience during the setup process.
- Map Your Products
- Once connected, you'll need to map your Xola products to your Viator products:
- To configure which products you would like Viator to access, navigate to Settings > Apps > Viator and click Configure. Here, you can select the products you want to connect.
- Your Xola and Viator accounts will still have to be mapped together.
- To start the process, navigate to your Viator account's Account > Connectivity section and select Xola from the Reservation System drop-down menu. Selecting Xola from this list will prompt Viator to contact Xola to begin mapping.
- Once connected, you'll need to map your Xola products to your Viator products:
How it Works
Here's what to expect once the integration is up and running:
- When someone books on Viator, the availability in your Xola experience is automatically updated. Also, reservations made in Xola or on your website will block out time on Viator to help prevent overbookings.
- Reservations made on Viator will appear in your Xola dashboard as soon as they’re completed. These will include:
- Guest contact information
- Tour date and time
- Party size
- Any custom questions you've configured on Viator
- Viator reservations are tagged in Xola with a Viator badge, so you can easily identify them.
- If you use Xola's Redemption App or QR Scanners, Viator will generate a QR code for your customer on their confirmation email. You can then scan this QR code when checking in guests.
- If a guest cancels via Viator, the booking will automatically cancel in Xola. However, if you cancel the booking in Xola, it will not cancel on Viator; you must cancel it manually in the Viator supplier portal.
Tips for Success
Make the most of your Viator + Xola integration with these best practices:
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Ensure your start times and durations match exactly between Xola and Viator. This helps ensure your mapping is accurate and guests receive the correct information when they book through Viator.
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You can manage your availability directly in Xola. Even though reservations can come from multiple channels, using Xola as your primary calendar ensures accuracy across all platforms.
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Revisit your mapping settings regularly. If you add new products or make changes to your tours in Xola or Viator, updating your mappings is essential to keeping everything properly connected.
FAQs
How long will the integration take?
Integration completion times can vary, so getting a timeline from your Viator representative is essential when signing up. To expedite the process, ensure your experiences are being shared with Viator (Settings > Apps > Viator and click Configure) and that your products in Viator are configured and match what you offer in Xola.
Will I be able to edit Viator reservations directly through Xola?
Your Viator reservations must be edited through Viator directly; however, your Xola account will reflect select changes made within Viator's system. These include cancellations, refunds, arrival date/time changes, and guest quantity.
You can enable the ability to make edits to Viator's reservations in Xola by navigating to Settings > Preferences > Modify OTA experiences. By checking this box, you can edit an experience in Xola that originated in Viator, but your edits will not reflect in Viator's system.
Will Viator honor my Experience and Outing minimums set within Xola?
No, all reservations made through Viator are auto-accepted. You may be able to set minimum restrictions within Viator.
What about email communications to my customers? Who sends them?
When a customer makes a reservation through Viator via this integration, all emails and communication they receive will be those you set up in Viator from the Viator system. No Xola emails will be sent.
How will Viator know which Experiences to connect to within Xola?
Within your Viator account, you will select Xola as your distribution partner and select which of your Xola Experiences to map to your Viator products.
What about schedule changes?
If you add or change your experience and activity schedules, please make sure to mirror those changes exactly in Viator. This ensures the mapping between the two platforms stays successful, as it "tells" the Viator API what to "look" for. For this to work, the schedule offered in your Viator offering must exactly match the corresponding Experience in Xola.
I already have an account with Viator; what do I do now?
If you already have a Viator account, awesome! Simply navigate to the product connection section of your Viator account to begin the mapping process. If you have any questions, contact Viator to help start the process.