Of course, if you do not know personally, the best guide is a guide on recommendation, but if you have no choice and have to look for services on the Internet, here are some practical tips for finding a guide in Paris:
1) The companies and guides you want to approach must be licensed.
If it is not there – you are dealing with amateurs, with all the consequences (read in the previous article).
2) Internet site. Today, it is simply necessary to have an internet site. It is the business card of the owner. If in front of you made for a quick hand, uncomfortable, uninformative site with spelling errors and bloopers – you can conclude about the professionalism of its owners. The site should be present:
- Complete information about the company or guide: address, legal name of the company, contacts, license and insurance numbers and copies of licenses and insurances
- Detailed descriptions of excursions: time and place of start, itinerary, cost. Without this information you will not be able to make a claim in case of anything.
- Terms of payment and cancellation
- Preferably a photo of the staff or the guide himself.
3) You must go to the page of the company or guide itself, or to the site of now common travel portals, where many guides for payment post pages with their services and reviews on them.
Be careful – these sites are not always able to conduct a thorough check of all those registering with them and today there are many cases when one pseudo-guide creates several accounts with falsified reviews in order to collect more applications. Unfortunately, there have been precedents of aiding and abetting such guides by site developers for financial rewards.
4) It is necessary to familiarize yourself with the reviews of the company or guide. But reviews, as you know, are a two-way street. Sometimes they help, and sometimes they can be misleading. There are very often cases when they are written by “their” people in order to raise the rating. And even on the most seemingly authoritative resources. The conclusion is that you should read them, but do not trust them blindly.
5) Beware of upfront payment demands – in 2 out of 3 cases, you won’t be able to get your money back in the event of force majeure.
6) Often when ordering an excursion it is necessary to correspond with its organizer. In this case it is not superfluous to pay attention to the style of his writing and possible grammatical errors. It speaks about the general cultural development, which is important for the guide. In addition, it is desirable to make sure in advance that the person has knowledge about the culture and history of France. If it seems to you that he does not meet your requirements – it is better to politely say goodbye and try to find another guide.
7) Beware of prices that are too low! Don’t run after cheapness! There are generally two main reasons for underpricing:
- You are dealing with someone who works “in the black”, without paying taxes, insurance and other things that are mandatory for any professional. This can be dangerous!
- You are dealing with a guide or a company that is dumping prices in an attempt to lure as many clients as possible. The laws of the market are inexorable – lower prices inevitably lead to lower quality. This is usually done by those whose services do not stand up to competition. This is the only way for them to attract tourists.
Remember – good guides know the price of themselves and their services and will never work for 50% of the tariff.
Choose the middle price category – it will be more reliable. We hope that this information will help you to make the right choice, because in any case it is up to you to decide. We wish you a pleasant vacation in beautiful Paris!
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