The idea is to offer Live Tours.

You as a guide will be connected live to the client via a personal video call from your phone, and walk around with them!

That’s hugely different to virtual tours: we don’t use Google Streetview or show Powerpoint presentations, we’re not just people locked at home behind their laptops.

A video call is much more personal, direct and allows for spontaneity! The client wants you to quickly turn left and explore that street: sure, why not! They want to see the sunset instead of a lunchtime tour? No Problem!

We learned to appreciate video calls for being able to see our friends and family during the pandemic, and luckily most of us have also mastered the technicality because of it.

But what we’ve also learned is that big zoom meetings are a bit messy, people talk over each other and nobody is being heard. That’s why we’ve decided to limit the size of the potential “group” to up to 5 people using one device. A family or group of friends sitting around one laptop, all of them in the same room. This way we can keep it more intimate and make it a special experience.

We are a tour manager and a creative director from Berlin – both with years of experience in our field, a passion for local tourism and a deep understanding of what it means to be a guide. So we started thinking about alternate ways of tourism during the pandemic, and came up with the solution!

We are what you would call a bootstrap company: meaning right now, we are doing everything ourselves. From concepting to developing the website to getting you on board and launching something new and exciting!

So there’s no big investor, no big corporation, it’s down to us to decide what we want it to be, and that includes you! We don’t want to create a new community, we want the community to create and shape this: you get to decide what to offer, how much to charge and how to present it. Your feedback, suggestions and ideas will help all of us to turn this into a success!

There are many platforms and apps that allow video calls right now, but we recommend Zoom due to better video quality.

You will set up the links, send the details and call them at the arranged time. Once they join you on their tablet, laptop or computer, the tour can begin!

This is where we hope to be different. Not just in terms of the novel way of doing a tour, but also the type of tours we can offer.

Because we are looking for the tours that you want to do!

The standard guided visits are perfectly fine. But if there is something that you love, that you know a lot about, that you always wanted to show and explain to people – this is your chance 🙂

Being able to hang out with a specialist who shares their passion and knowledge with you in a personal video on location call is pretty amazing!

Since the client is watching via their devices, attention span will be lower than when you walk with them in real live. We therefore recommend to limit the duration to around 1 hour. Which means the tour shouldn’t try to cover an entire city, but can be more specific and focus on parts of a it, or periods of history, religion, architecture, you name it. This is where you can show your in-depth knowledge and stand out from a standard sight-seeing tour.

All you need is a half-way decent phone with a good internet connection (4G / LTE) wherever you are, headphones and a solid data plan: one hour video call uses around 700MB.

We strongly recommend to get a Gimbal – the one we’ve tested comes cheap at €50 and works really well: Rollei Mobile Butler 2

Another recommendation would be a battery pack to make sure you don’t run out of juice!

Sure! Since tours can’t be as long as we’re used to, it makes sense to split things up and offer them separately. Or show the full bandwidth of your expertise by offering tours based on different topics

Customised tours will be offered as a service. Clients can contact us with their ideas and needs, and we will link them up with the right person for the job!

It depends on what you would like to offer!

We’re working on several different products, so we’re looking for licensed local guides, local guides, tour guides, teachers and artists.

It’s not an employment, we only connect you with the customers. But how many tours you do is up to you! You will be able to fine-tune your availability on the website. If you can only do live tours on one day of the week in the afternoon, then that’s ok too!

That depends on you! You will set the price for your tour.

However we would like you to start somewhere between €40 and €50 per hour, at least in the beginning while we establish the service and you learn how to master it and get great reviews in.

As we’re just starting, getting listed on the website is free and we only charge a commission of 15%.

Yes! We actually found a way to use Paypal Donations to do this (we’ll help you with the setup). The website would then feature a “send tip” button on your profile, which the clients can be reminded to use after the tour.

There are many reasons to get listed on our site and become part of the team.

To state the obvious: money! We are still in the middle of the pandemic, so travelling isn’t an option for many people. A lot of them turn to online experiences, and we’re offering the one that’s closest to actually being there!

But that’s not all. No matter your professional background, you will be learning new skills. Doing visits via video call requires a new way of thinking: how to express the tour content and how to define the route. Using a mobile phone as a way of communication is something that we are all used to, but mastering how to tell stories through it requires practice. We’re sure these new skills won’t just be useful to run WalkWithMe tours, but prepare you for many personal and professional scenarios yet to come.

Right now in times of covid-19, you can offer visits to customers who can’t travel. But this won’t necessarily change once travelling becomes normal again! People will get used to doing virtual visits alongside their standard travels, and you can do the same by providing both.

Let’s also not forget that our live tours aren’t bound to holiday periods. You might get plenty of off-season work in!

Last but not least, we are working hard on expanding all over the world. The website allows you to meet all the hosts, chat with them and expand your current network!

We are creating a quality platform with quality content and global reach, with the sole focus on live video tours and services. Every guide is hand picked and vetted, trained and mentored by us. The money earned from commissions is used for marketing and promoting your tours and you as a guide. 

In return we need your commitment to us. Meaning that we expect you to be available to offer your tours. If you won’t have enough availability, it might not be the time to collaborate with us yet. However, we are open to discuss this topic individually with each of you.

Send us an email at guides@walkwithme-tours.com, tell us who you are and what tours you have in mind, and we will be in touch to arrange a call with you.

And if you’re not sure about the technical side of things, don’t worry, we’re here to help! We’ll do a test run together to make sure that your tour will be a great experience!