In today's world, embracing tech solutions is key to streamline your business processes. This is especially true in handling liability waivers. For businesses like yours offering recreational rentals, online waiver software is not only modern, but it's quickly becoming the new standard.

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How does Online Waiver Signing Work?

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The journey from a paper-based to a digital waiver process can be direct and easy - transforming what once was a paperwork chore into a user-friendly experience. The online waiver signing process usually follows these steps:

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1. Waiver Invitation: As the rental business owner, you have two choices to get the ball rolling. Your customer either visits your website where they can find the waiver, or they receive a personalized email from you containing a unique waiver link.
2. Form Access: Without requiring any special app or software, the customers can effortlessly click on the link to access the waiver form. Seamless access means the customer's overall experience is off to a good start.
3. Waiver Review: Now your customer takes the reins. They're in control to carefully review the waiver, making sure they understand all the conditions stipulated in the form. This transparency builds trust between you and your client.
4. Electronic Signature: Things get technological but still remain simple. Thanks to digital tools, the customers can easily sign the waiver electronically. The affirmation is instantly validated, creating a legal and binding agreement.
5. Final Submission: After signing, the eager patrons then submit the waiver, completing this user-friendly task. Then, the spotlight turns back on your efficient system, as it records and stores the signed waiver data digitally.

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As a business owner, this means experiencing smooth-sailing operations with more time to focus on what really matters - ensuring your customers have the best rental experience. Embracing the online waiver signing process brings with it automation, organization, and speed, saving the day from the hassles of manual paperwork. You'll find yourself not only safeguarding essential information but also simplifying your workflow, carving out a win-win scenario for everyone.

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What is Online Waiver Software?

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Stepping into the world of online waiver software can feel like hiring a virtual assistant dedicated to managing liability waivers for your boat, jet ski, kayak, or bike rental business. Rather than juggling time-consuming paper waivers, your new digital helper creates a smoother experience.

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One of the significant features of online waiver software is its ability to provide customers with a platform for digital signature accessibility. It's a big goodbye to the days of pen-on-paper waivers, rather customers can now readily sign digital waivers either on a mobile device at your rental location or from the comfort of their home. Just a few clicks and they can indicate their understanding and consent - it's as simple as that.

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Beyond collecting signatures, the software excels in document management. Each time your customers complete their digital signature, the software automatically stores their signed waiver in a secure, digital repository. This paperless system aids the environment while also significantly saving your business the time and effort previously spent on document storage and manual filing.

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And if you ever stumble, wondering who signed what and when, the software's organized retrieval system comes to the rescue. It allows you to quickly review specific waivers, keeping your documents meticulously arranged, ensuring you can effortlessly keep track of agreements without missing a beat.

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Most importantly, adopting online waiver software in your rental business fundamentally changes the game when it comes to time management. Your team no longer needs to manage stacks of physical waivers, clearing up time for tasks that directly impact customer satisfaction, be it fueling the jet skis or ensuring the bike tires are properly inflated.

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In essence, online waiver software plays a colossal role in modernizing rental businesses. By automating routine, yet crucial tasks, it allows you and your team to dedicate more time to enhancing the customer experience - the true heart of a thriving rental business.

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Benefits of Using Online Waiver Software for Adventure Rentals

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Online waiver software optimizes all aspects of your rental business through integration, efficiency, and convenience.

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Integration with Booking Systems: Automate your operations by integrating online waiver software with your booking system. Eliminate admin tasks and expedite the process to save time.

Streamlined Operations and Quick Check-ins: Reduce check-in queues with online waivers. Customers can complete and submit waivers digitally, simplifying the process and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Secure Data: Online waiver software provides robust data security measures, safeguarding customer information and documents from potential breaches.

Environmental-friendly Approach: By switching to digital waivers, you'll significantly reduce paper consumption, supporting environmental sustainability.

Efficient Waiver Management: Retrieve and organize waivers effortlessly from your system, eliminating administrative hassles and streamlining your operations.

Enhanced Customer Experience: Improve customer interactions by allowing them to sign and submit waivers at their convenience from any device, promoting a smoother onsite experience.

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Features of the Best Online Waiver Software

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To optimize waiver processes, it's essential for your equipment rental business to select online waiver software equipped with a broad range of features. These features enhance the system's capabilities, facilitating convenient usage, efficient management, and greater customer satisfaction.

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• Custom Branding: Modify your waiver's layout, fonts, colors, and logos to seamlessly integrate with your company's branding and promote recognition and trust among renters.
• Collection of Signatures Online: Allow your customers to provide their digital signatures. The signed form is then instantly uploaded to a secure database.
• Secure Storage: Online waiver software utilizes robust security measures, including data encryption, secure sockets layer (SSL), and firewall protection.
• Multiple Documents: Manage multiple types of waiver documents. With it, you can easily organize, categorize, and retrieve various waivers, such as Liability Waivers, Medical Waivers, or Release of Liability Waiver Forms.
• Multiple Languages: Offer multilingual support, allowing your waivers to cater to travelers from different regions.
• Expiration Dates: Set expiry dates for waivers using the online waiver software to ensure forms are relevant to the period of the rental.
• API Integration: Allow the waiver software to communicate with other existing systems, offering a wider range of functionalities.

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Key Takeaways

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In this article, we underscored the transformative role of online waiver software in the realm of recreational rental businesses. Let's take a moment to recap some of the major points.

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• Online waiver software revolutionizes the process of handling liability waivers in recreational rental businesses, significantly simplifying the traditional pen-and-paper method.
• The software allows customers to sign waivers digitally with just a few clicks, either on-site or from the comfort of their home. It promotes transparency and builds trust between the business and the customer.
• Not only does the software securely store signed waivers, it also efficiently organizes and retrieves them, eliminating tedious manual filing and administrative hassles.
• Supplementing physical waiver management with an automated, online solution significantly enhances time management, freeing business owners and their team to focus more on improving the overall customer experience.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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How difficult is it to implement online waiver software into my current workflow?

Integrating an online waiver system into your current workflow is generally straightforward. Most software providers will offer support during the setup process. Importantly, the aim is to simplify your operations, not complicate them. So, you can expect a user-friendly design that is easy to navigate and understand.

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Will the digital waivers still be legally binding like traditional paper waivers?

A: Absolutely! Electronic signatures are legally recognized and can be just as binding as traditional paper and ink signatures. However, it's always a good idea to consult with your legal advisor to ensure that the waivers comply with all relevant local, state, and federal laws.

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Can I customize the waiver forms to fit my business needs?

Yes, indeed. Most online waiver software allows heavy customization. It can include adjusting the layout, adding your business logo, and even integrating your brand’s specific color themes. This helps keep your branding consistent across all platforms.

Review automation fundamentally revolutionizes the way your rental business receives feedback. It's a technology-focused strategy that significantly enhances the way customer reviews are collected, monitored, and managed. In your recreation rental business, positive reviews can directly lead to more bookings and higher revenue.

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What is Review Automation?

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Review automation is a digital process that simplifies the collection of customer reviews. It leverages technology to send review requests to customers seamlessly, eliminating the necessity for manual outreach. It's an automated system that prompts customers to leave reviews about their experience. This tactic employs digital tools to transform the traditionally manual process of asking for a customer's opinion into a streamlined, automated act.

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_{How do Automated Reviews Work?}

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Once a customer's rental session ends, an automated system triggers an invitation for them to share their experience. It typically involves an email or text message requesting for their feedback. After the customer submits their review, the automated system collects and categorizes these inputs based on pre-set parameters, such as star rating or date. The collected reviews may then be published on specified platforms or utilized within the company for service improvements. It's a complete, hands-off process that ensures you consistently collect valuable customer feedback, while saving your resources.

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Benefits of Automation for Collecting Google and TripAdvisor Reviews

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Review automation can significantly enhance business performance.

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Visibility & Customer Attraction: Automation improves business visibility via SEO, driving word-of-mouth recommendations and enhancing company reputation.

Efficient Messaging: It helps create personalized review requests, enhancing customer engagement and making them feel appreciated.

Schedule Management: The ability to schedule review prompts according to customer behavior ensures regular feedback without causing annoyance.

Improved Review Collection: Automation eases feedback collection by eliminating manual tracking and reducing errors, freeing staff to focus on other tasks.

Online Presence: Positive feedback can be promoted on online platforms, establishing a strong online presence.

Effective Response to Criticism: Automation alerts businesses to negative feedback for quick resolution, maintaining a positive business image.

Google My Business Visibility: Automation increases the company's visibility on this key platform by boosting the number of reviews.

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Automated Customer Review Software vs a Managed Service

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The main difference between a managed service and automated customer review software lies within the level of control, effort, and cost that you as a business owner are willing to either retain or delegate.

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In terms of a managed service for customer review collection, this usually involves employing an external team or company that specializes in procuring, organizing, and analyzing customer reviews. The benefits of such a service include having professionals handle the task, extensive customization options, and extensive analytical insights. The drawbacks, however, include the higher cost compared to automation software and potentially slower adaptation to your unique needs.

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In contrast, automated customer review software offers a more hands-off, cost-effective solution. Once set, it operates on autopilot, sending reminders to your customers, collecting reviews, and processing them for your review. Businesses prefer automation software due to its cost-effectiveness, consistency, and the ability to reduce repetitive tasks. On the downside, it may offer less flexibility and personalization than a managed service.

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Setting Up Automated Review Software

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Embarking on the journey of setting up an automated review software? Great! With automation comes efficiency, simplicity, and effectiveness. But like any business decision, it's not merely about choosing the first software you come across. The process requires alert assessment, integration, training, and vigilance. You'll need to make sure the existing review methods aren't cutting it, choose a software that satisfies your requirements, seamlessly integrate it with your current systems, train your staff to use it effectively, and continually monitor performance. With these deliberate steps, you'll see an uptick not only in quantity but in the quality of your reviews.

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1. Evaluate Your Needs and Situation

Initially, assess the current method of collecting customer reviews. Is it manual, time-consuming, or ineffective? If so, you may need to look into automating this process. Calculate the time and resources dedicated to this task and determine whether automation could improve efficiency and effectiveness.

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2. Choose the Right Automated Review Platform

Once the need for automation is established, it's time to choose a review platform. Consider the cost, capabilities, ease-of-use, and the platform's reputation. It might be useful to speak with other rental businesses who have implemented such systems for suggestions or recommendations. Choose a platform that aligns with your specific requirements.

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3. Integrate with Your Existing Systems

The chosen review automation platform needs to be integrated with your existing CRM. Check whether the platform supports integration with your current system. The platform provider often assists with integrating their system into your operational processes.

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4. Train Your Staff

Ensure your staff is well trained and comfortable using the new system. Provide training sessions to ensure everyone understands the functioning of the new automation platform. This will ensure efficient use and better results.

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5. Regular Checks and Enhancements

Once the review automation system is implemented, continuously monitor its effectiveness. Are you getting more reviews? Are they more positive? Use this data to tweak and optimize the system for maximum benefit.

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Key Takeaways

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1. Review automation is a powerful tool for recreational rental businesses to efficiently manage customer reviews, improve service delivery, and drive business performance.
2. Crucial factors influencing customer reviews include service quality, pricing, ease of use, company reputation, and effective communication among others. Through review automation, businesses can make informed adjustments to enhance these areas and ensure customer satisfaction.
3. A comprehensive implementation of review automation entails an initial assessment, choice of platform, integration with existing systems, staff training, and ongoing monitoring for optimization.
4. Tailored responses, professional tone, and prompt replies improve the effectiveness of automated review responses. Acquisition of Google reviews can be increased by requesting for reviews and incentivizing customers.
5. Consistent service quality and well-crafted review responses boost business credibility. Addressing customer feedback enhances business operations and fosters customer loyalty. SEO benefits from a continuous flow of reviews.
6. Comparatively, automated customer review software is more advantageous than managed services due to its consistency, task reduction ability, and cost-effectiveness, despite less personalized services.

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FAQs

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How do Automated Reviews Differ from Traditional Review Methods?

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Automated reviews substantially differ from traditional review methods. Traditional review methods typically involve manual solicitation and collection of customer feedback, which can be time-consuming and inconsistent. In contrast, automated review systems proactively and systematically request reviews from customers, saving time while ensuring a steady flow of recent, relevant feedback. Additionally, automated systems are able to instantly organize and analyze reviews, providing critical insight that manual methods might miss.

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I run a small-sized rental service. Is review automation advisable for my size of business?

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Absolutely! For small businesses like yours, review automation can be a game-changer. Your team, as mighty as it might be, probably wears many hats. Automating reviews means you can channel the energy spent on manually seeking feedback into improving your services. A steady influx of reviews can also help you take the pulse of customer satisfaction and make any necessary adjustments. Plus, with unique insights to show off online, potential clients can easily spot what's to love about your services—helping you shine brighter in the marketplace. So, regardless of your business's size, review automation can definitely level up your operations.

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How do Automated Review Systems Handle Negative Feedback or Criticism?

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Automated review systems have mechanisms to handle negative feedback effectively. On receiving a low-rating or negative review, the system can trigger an alert for the business to take immediate action. Automated systems often provide templates for responding to suboptimal reviews, but it is vital to personalize these responses to maintain authenticity. If consistently negative feedback is received in a specific area, the system's analytical function can highlight this, offering an opportunity for improvement.

As the temperatures rise and the days get longer, the summer season presents an exciting opportunity for tour operators to maximize their business potential and capitalize on the influx of eager travelers. With the right tools at your disposal, you can streamline your operations, enhance customer experience, and ultimately maximize revenue for your tour operator business. From automating communications to filling your tours to their fullest capacity, Peek Pro empowers you to take charge of your summer season like never before

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Prepare for a record-setting summer with our checklist of 6 business-optimizing strategies to make the most of the upcoming season:

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1. Customize Your Abandoned Booking Emails for Higher Conversion Rates
2. Capture Last Min Bookings with Smart Cutoffs
3. Upsell Your Experiences with Add-Ons
4. Boost Staff Retention with Tipping in the Booking Flow
5. Generate Repeat Business with a Loyalty Program
6. Other Feature Launches to Help You Maximize Your Summer

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Customize Your Abandoned Booking Emails For Higher Conversion Rates

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There are many reasons a customer gets distracted while booking an activity. By sending customers a little reminder of the experience they’ve left behind, you can bump your sales in a big way! For optimum results, customization is key - tweak the language to sound like your company, include enticing photos, customer reviews, and even add a discount code to increase conversions

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Capture Last Min Bookings with Smart Cutoffs

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Based on our data, there is a surge in bookings a few hours before activities start. Smart Cutoffs let you extend your online booking cutoff times when a minimum amount of spots have been filled, allowing for more last-min bookings.

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Upsell Your Experiences with Add-Ons

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Upsell your experiences and boost cart sizes by selling Add-Ons in your booking flow. Some easy examples include bottles of water, snacks, or towels. If you’re feeling more creative, you could offer champagne or branded merch.

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Boost Staff Retention With Tipping in the Booking Flow

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We know how important it is to hold onto your staff and bumping up their take-home salary is a great way to do that. With Peek’s native tipping feature your guests can choose to add a tip at any point in their customer journey, including right within the booking flow. Plus, Peek’s customizable reporting makes it super easy for you to pay out the correct employees (or you can choose to split them between the team)

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Generate Repeat Business With A Loyalty Program

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Make the most of your regular customers and offer deals that will keep them coming back. With Peek’s membership feature, you can offer various packages and deals to encourage repeat business. For Example:

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• Season Pass: Free access to kayak rentals from June to August
• Annual Pass: 50% off Jet Ski rentals with every Boat rental booking
• Package Deal: Make 10 bookings, and get the 11th free

Other Feature Launches to Help You Maximize Your Summer

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Make checkout even faster and easier for your customers with new payment options in your booking flows. Peek operators with the mobile wallet enabled are seeing it being used in 24% of transactions and the customer’s checkout experience is now 25% faster. Along with increased speed and efficiency, mobile wallet payments are becoming a preferred payment option for many, with 60% of people now feeling confident leaving their homes with just their phones! These new payment options ensure customers have more easy payment choices, helping you boost conversions and grow revenue.

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Summer is in full swing, and the time to capitalize on the bustling season is now! As a tour operator, you can't afford to waste a moment. Peek Pro, our all-inclusive booking software, equips you with the essential tools and features to seize the moment. From automated communications to loyalty programs, Peek Pro empowers you to make the most of this vibrant season. If you're already a partner, ensure you're utilizing all the incredible features Peek Pro offers to optimize your business. Don't leave any opportunity untapped! And if you haven't partnered with us yet, there's no time to lose. Reach out to our sales team today for a free demo and start reaping the benefits of Peek Pro immediately.

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The rise of social media and review sites has made the creation of personal & shareable content more important than ever. These not only provide lasting memories for the customer but help boost revenue and word of mouth for tour operators! Given this, Peek is thrilled to announce a brand new partnership with PicThrive, offering tour operators a seamless guest experience for purchasing and distributing souvenir photos and videos.
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What is PicThrive?

PicThrive is a better way to sell and share experience souvenir photos and videos. A combined single sales and marketing platform with more than 1 million guests served, PicThrive is designed for tour operators to create a contactless photo purchasing experience. Optimized for both in-store and online sales, PicThrive helps capture every sale so your customers can walk away with a lasting photo or video memory.
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What does this mean for operators?

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Grow revenue

‍Operators can increase tour sales by using a branded gallery to link to the Peek Pro booking system and boost incremental per-guest sales by promoting the photo/video purchase process at the start of the guest booking.

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‍More branding opportunities

By linking the two systems, guests are encouraged to go through a fully branded journey that fits seamlessly into your business, with full customization at every touch point.

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‍Boost quality reviews

‍PicThrive offers several options for one-click sharing and linking photos to reviews in TripAdvisor, Google and Yelp, allowing future guests to picture themselves on your awesome experience! Even better, it automatically gives you free user-generated marketing.

How does the integration work?

Simplify the steps for selling photo and video packages by passing necessary guest info from a booking in Peek Pro to an online personal photo gallery with a mobile-friendly purchasing experience. New bookings from Peek are pushed to PicThrive, where operators have the choice to integrate two ways: Auto Sales&Auto Complete. These are great integration options for adventure businesses looking to simplify the guest experience. Auto Sales allows operators to create timing rules to automatically send emails out with the option to purchase after the activity has ended. Auto Complete helps speed up the check-out process by displaying a list of customer names and emails that fit with the first few letters entered. Connecting Peek to the PicThrive workspace will automatically identify which customers have already purchased photos and videos in store, then connect those who haven’t made purchases directly to their trip album for the opportunity to buy online. For some operators, it also makes sense to offer pre-pay options in their booking process, where a photo or video package is included in the reservation process.
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How do operators start taking advantage of this partnership?

If you’re a Peek partner interested in using PicThrive, reach out to support@peek.com to have the integration set up in your Peek Pro account.

Thanks for Joining Us for Growvember!

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We had another incredible year of learning and connecting with the tours, activities and attractions industry. Peek hosted 7 30min workshops on topics ranging from pricing and business strategy to PR and TikTok, and we caught up with 4 awesome operators and got their thoughts on the year to come.

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Big thanks to all of the speakers and to those who joined us live for the discussions. Growvember 2022 is now over, but don’t worry! You can access the recordings of all talks right here.

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‍Mitch Bach

Co-Founder, TripSchool

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Catherine Warrilow

Managing Director, Daysout.com

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Joanna Gruau

Multi-day Trips Product Manager, Wheel The World

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Casey Clark

CEO, Cultivate Advisors

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Jazlyn Richardson

Social Media Manager, AAMP

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Kelsey Tonner

Founder & Lead Coach, Guest Focus

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Joshua Pacheco

Account Executive, Peek

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Tour Operator Roundtable

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Forrest Parker, Undiscovered Charleston, Paola Osuna, Tomatl Mexican Culinary Experiences, Mark Runyan, Kayak Connection, Jaime Lewis, Islandz Tours, John Lynch, Peek

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See you next year for Growvember 2023!

We have created this page as a hub for advice, resources and updates regarding the impact of Hurricane Ian on tour and activity operators.

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We wanted to let you know that we are here to help and it’s not a losing battle – there are many ways of support to help you return to daily operations.

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We know this is a difficult time for those affected and understand that you may have questions about rebuilding or the future of your business. The Peek Team is here to help if you or any other tour operator need assistance during these difficult times.

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How to Take Action

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Government Financial Support

• IRS

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Stay up to date on the latest updates from the IRS of any changes to tax relief applications for those living in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina who were impacted by Hurricane Ian. The IRS has also recently expanded many of its deadlines from October 17th to February 15th giving victims extended time to apply for different forms of financial support. If your tax and financial records were damaged or lost due to the hurricane, learn more at this guide to help reconstruct your records to properly apply for financial aid.

• FEMA - Florida

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FEMA has set up a designated page to provide all information needed to access support on both a federal and local level. On this page, you can find resources translated to multiple languages, the direct link to apply for Disaster Assistance and many more key resources offering support. FEMA has also created this helpful video on the different ways you can apply through phone, web and mobile app.

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FEMA has also set up dedicated pages for North Carolina, South Carolina and Seminole Tribe of Florida.

• Small Business Association

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Through the SBA, you can check if you live in a county that qualifies for an SBA Disaster loan. The SBA has created this helpful fact sheet that goes more in-depth on the different types of loans, loan limits, interest rates and more. While completing your SBA loan application, the SBA is available to answer questions and provide support through their support line at 800‐659‐2955.

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Other Forms of Support

• Red Cross

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The Red Cross is still providing assistance to Hurricane Ian victims by helping find open shelters, offering support for pet owners and raising donations to be distributed to those in need. The Red Cross is on the front lines assisting hurricane victims and will continue doing so in the near future. Read some stories to learn how the Red Cross is helping victims in need.

• Disaster Distress Hotline

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Available 24/7, 365 days a year, the Disaster Distress Hotline helps connect victims with trained counselors to help find support and offer crisis counseling. If you’re looking to speak with a counselor, you can call or text the hotline at 1-800-985-5990.

• Tripshock GoFundMe

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Our friends at Tripshock have created a GoFundMe page to raise money specifically for watersports and boat operators impacted by Hurricane Ian. 100% of the funds raised will be distributed to operators, their families and staff. At the time of writing, the GoFundMe has raised just under half of its goal of $20,000. Tripshock also maintains a Facebook group specifically for watersports and boat operators where you can learn more.

• Operation Blue Roof

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Created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Operation Blue Roof aims to construct safe, stable temporary roofing for those whose roofing has been damaged or destroyed on their home due to natural disasters. If you’re a Florida resident of Lee, Sarasota, Collier, DeSoto or Charlotte county, you may be eligible for assistance from Operation Blue Roof.

Additional Resources

• US GOV

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Dedicated to all things Hurricane Ian relief, this homepage set up by the USA GOV is a great resource to use for general information. Along with key details on obtaining financial relief, the homepage has links offering disability services, veteran support and updates on resources for those employed by the federal government.

• FDIC

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The FDIC is actively working to ensure victims of Hurricane Ian can access their finances and is keeping a running list of banks

currently operating in affected communities. FDIC also has created numerous resources for avoiding possible scams run by those looking to take advantage of those most vulnerable.

• Website of Florida Governor

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The official website of the Florida Governor is providing updates on all things related to Hurricane Ian recovery on his official website. From frequent updates on health and safety to cleanup processes, the Governor’s site is a good one to follow to stay informed.