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, $29.99/month)
• 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", which is 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 while 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, because 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 so you can paste it into Zapier.

Part 2: Create a Zapier account and connect FareHarbor

1. Go to zapier.com 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}}!" and 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, so regenerate it 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, with 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), which needs no Zapier but is less customizable
• Extended version: Add a second Zap that sends a "30-day follow-up" email with your next seasonal tour promotion, which 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 and 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, so verify FareHarbor and Peek Pro connection availability at zapier.com. A Professional subscription is required for multi-step Zaps with delays.