Automation: Auto-Send Review Requests After Every Tour via Zapier

What This Builds

A fully automatic system that sends every tour guest a personalized review request email exactly 24 hours after their tour ends — without you doing anything after the initial setup. Review requests sent at 24 hours convert at 3-5x the rate of requests sent a week later (or never). More reviews → higher TripAdvisor and Viator ranking → more bookings.

Once built, this runs invisibly in the background every day, even during your busiest peak season when you're too exhausted to remember to send follow-ups.

Prerequisites

• A Zapier account — free plan for testing, paid plan for automated runs ({{tool:Zapier.price}})
• Gmail account used for tour correspondence
• FareHarbor or Peek Pro booking software (these connect to Zapier)
• A review request email template written and ready to send
• Comfortable using Gmail for email

The Concept

Zapier is like a translator that makes different apps talk to each other. You set up a "Zap" — a rule that says: "WHEN something happens in App A, DO something in App B."

Your Zap rule: "WHEN a booking in FareHarbor is marked as Complete, WAIT 24 hours, THEN send the guest a review request email via Gmail."

After that's running, you never think about it again. You guide, the automation handles the follow-up.

Build It Step by Step

Part 1: Write your review request email template first

Before touching Zapier, write the email you want to send. Use ChatGPT (Level 1 guide) or write it yourself. Requirements:

• Under 150 words
• Personal and warm (not corporate)
• Includes a direct link to your TripAdvisor listing
• Includes a direct link to your Google Business profile (search "leave a Google review [your business name]" to get this link)
• Doesn't feel automated

Template to adapt:

Subject: Thank you for joining us today, [First Name]!

Hi [First Name],

Thank you so much for spending [X hours] with us on the [Tour Name] today. It was a pleasure having you along, and I hope you left with a few stories worth telling.

If you have a moment, a review on TripAdvisor or Google makes an enormous difference for a small independent guide like me — it helps other travelers find us and know what to expect.

[TripAdvisor Link]
[Google Review Link]

Thanks again, and if you're ever back in [city], I'd love to have you join us again.

Warmly,
[Your Name]
[Tour Name]

Save this template in a Google Doc — you'll paste it into Zapier.

Part 2: Create a Zapier account and connect FareHarbor

1. Go to {{tool:Zapier.url}} and sign up for a free account
2. On the Zapier dashboard, click Create a Zap
3. In the Trigger step, search for FareHarbor (or Peek Pro if you use that instead)
4. Select the trigger event: New Order (in FareHarbor) or look for "Booking Completed" or "Order Updated"
5. Click Sign in to FareHarbor — you'll be redirected to FareHarbor to authorize the connection

What you should see: A "FareHarbor account connected" confirmation in Zapier.

Troubleshooting: If FareHarbor isn't in the Zapier search, check zapier.com/apps for current integrations. FareHarbor has a Zapier integration under their "Connect" settings. You may need to generate an API key from your FareHarbor dashboard.

Part 3: Add a 24-hour delay step

After the trigger step, click the + button to add a new step. Search for Delay by Zapier (it's a built-in Zapier tool, no extra account needed).

Select Delay For and set:

• Delay: 1 Day
• Optional: set a specific time window ("Only send between 9am-7pm") to avoid emails arriving at 2am

What you should see: A Delay step between your FareHarbor trigger and the email action.

Part 4: Add the Gmail "Send Email" action

Click + to add another step. Search for Gmail.

Select action: Send Email.

Connect your Gmail account if not already connected.

Configure the email fields:

• To: Map to the guest's email address from the FareHarbor trigger data (look for a field like customer_email or contact_email)
• Subject: "Thank you for joining us today, {{first_name}}!" — map the first name field from FareHarbor
• Body: Paste your email template from Part 1. Replace "[First Name]" with the mapped {{first_name}} variable from FareHarbor.

What you should see: An email preview with the guest's actual data populated in the fields.

Part 5: Test the Zap with a real (or test) booking

Click Test step in Zapier — it will use the most recent FareHarbor booking as test data. Review the email it would send:

• Does the name appear correctly?
• Is the email address correct?
• Does the delay step show correctly?

If everything looks right, click Publish Zap to turn it on.

Troubleshooting: If name fields appear as blank or "undefined," check which field name FareHarbor uses for guest first name. It may be customer_first_name, contact_first_name, or name. Look at the raw trigger data in the test step to find the right field name.

Part 6: Monitor for the first week

For the first 7 days, check your Gmail Sent folder daily to confirm emails are going out after tours complete. Confirm:

• Timing: emails sending ~24 hours after tours
• Content: names appearing correctly, links working
• No duplicate emails being sent

After the first week of clean operation, you can ignore it entirely.

Real Example: Tour Guide Workflow

Setup: Michael runs 3 ghost tours per day in Charleston, 5 days a week. He used to send review request emails manually — but after an 8-hour guiding day, he forgot 60% of the time. His TripAdvisor rank was stagnant at 47.

After building the Zap: Every guest who books through FareHarbor automatically receives a warm review request email 24 hours after their tour. Michael doesn't think about it.

Input (automatic): FareHarbor marks booking #4521 as complete at 9:45pm after the evening tour.

Output (automatic, next day 9:45pm): Guest Sarah Chen receives: "Hi Sarah, Thank you so much for spending 2 hours with us on the Charleston Ghost Tour tonight..."

3 months later: Review count up 4x. TripAdvisor rank moved from 47 to 12 in the Charleston tours category. Bookings up 22%.

Time saved: Zero ongoing time. One 90-minute setup session, then it runs forever.

What to Do When It Breaks

• Emails stop sending → Check your Zap's run history (Zapier dashboard → Zap history). Look for red "Error" entries. Common issue: your FareHarbor API key expired — regenerate in FareHarbor settings.
• Emails sending to the wrong address → Check the field mapping in the Gmail action. FareHarbor may have changed their API field names after a platform update.
• Delay not working — emails sending immediately → Check your Delay step configuration. Make sure "1 day" is set, not "1 minute" or no delay.
• Duplicate emails being sent → Your trigger may be firing twice (once when booking is confirmed, once when marked complete). Add a Filter step: only continue if booking status equals "complete."

Variations

• Simpler version: Use FareHarbor's built-in automated emails feature (if available on your plan) — no Zapier required, though less customizable
• Extended version: Add a second Zap that sends a "30-day follow-up" email with your next seasonal tour promotion — converts one-time guests into repeat bookings

What to Do Next

• This week: Write your review request email template. Create your Zapier account. Test the connection to FareHarbor.
• This month: Run the Zap for 30 days. Check review velocity — compare review count this month vs. last month.
• Advanced: Add a second automation: when a new 5-star review appears on TripAdvisor (via TripAdvisor's Zapier integration or a monitoring tool like Mention), send yourself a Slack/text notification so you can share it on social media within the hour.

Advanced guide for tour guide professionals. Zapier pricing and app integrations update regularly — verify FareHarbor and Peek Pro connection availability at {{tool:Zapier.url}}. A {{tool:Zapier.plan}} subscription is required for multi-step Zaps with delays.