Adding an option to your experience

An option is a variant of your experience that guests choose between. A tour in Spanish, a version with lunch included, each is an option. Pricing, guest types and availability are all set per option, and every experience needs at least one before it can go live.

Note: Options are added while you are building a new experience, before you submit it. Once an experience has been submitted or is live, you cannot add another option from Hub, raise a request and our team will set it up for you.

A few words you'll see

• Option — a variant of your experience. If two versions differ in price, inclusions or availability, they're separate options.
• Guest type — a category of guest you sell to, like Adult, Child or Senior. Each has its own age range and price.
• Schedule — the dates, time slots, pricing and inventory for an option.
• Inclusion and exclusion — what a guest does and doesn't get for the price they pay.
• Release period — how close to the start time you can still accept a booking.

Note: Fill in your experience details first — see Adding a new experience. The option form has five stages: Setup, Guest directions, Reservation settings, Guest types, and Schedules, Closures, & Campaigns.

Before you start

• Know what's included and excluded in this option.
• Know where guests go on the day — the meeting point, and whether you pick up from hotels.
• Decide how you want to confirm bookings: automatically, through your reservation system, by email, or via your B2B portal.
• Have your cancellation and rescheduling windows ready.
• Know your guest types and their age ranges.

Here is a walkthrough of how you can do it

Step 1 — Setup

Option name

Give the option an internal name and a reference code. 

Inclusion & exclusion

List everything guest will receive as part of the experience.

Step 2 — Guest directions

Pickup details

If you collect guests from their hotels, turn on hotel transfer and add the hotels you pick up from. You can enter them one at a time or upload a list.

Start location

Add the points guests need — your meeting point, redemption point or boarding point, depending on how your experience runs. You can add more than one, and say whether guests need to visit them in a specific order.

You'll also set:

• Redemption type — how guests exchange their voucher for entry.
• Reporting time — how far ahead of the start time guests should arrive.
• On-ground contact — who a guest reaches if they can't find you.
• Whether guests must arrive on time, and whether they need to bring a photo ID.

Note: The voucher preview only becomes available once your Guest directions details are filled in.

Step 3 — Reservation settings

Booking

Choose how you'd like to confirm new bookings from Headout:

• Instant confirmation (Freesale) — bookings are confirmed automatically the moment a guest books. Nothing is needed from you.
• Reservation system/API connection — bookings are confirmed automatically through your third-party reservation or ticketing system. You'll pick which system, and enter your product code.
• On request via email — you confirm each booking from the email we send you. You can add the email address to use, and set a release period or cutoff time.
• Your B2B booking portal — bookings are managed through your portal. You'll add the portal link and login details.

Cancellation

Say whether this option can be cancelled and whether it can be rescheduled. For each one you allow, set the window how long before the start time a guest can still cancel or move their booking.

Step 4 — Guest types

Add each type of guest you sell to and set their age range. Age ranges must not overlap, so an Adult starting at 18 means Child needs to end at 17.

Step 5 — Add a schedule

Under Schedules, Closures, & Campaigns, create the schedule for this option — its dates, time slots, pricing and inventory. This is a short four-part flow ending in Save schedule.

For a walkthrough of each part, see Adding a schedule to a new listing.

Note: If bookings for this option come through an API connection, you don't need to enter pricing or inventory here — those come from your reservation system.

Step 6 — Review and submit

Open Review details to see everything you've entered for the experience and its options in one place. Anything still missing is flagged, so you can go back and fill it in.

Click Preview listing to see how guests will see it on Headout. When you're happy, click Submit for review.

Frequently asked questions

Can I add more than one option?
Yes, as many as you need, while you are still building the listing. In the option list on the left of the form, use Add another option — you can start from scratch or duplicate an option you have already built. It unlocks once your first option is complete.

Can I add an option to an experience that is already live?
No. Options can only be added while a new listing is being built. For a live experience, raise a request under Manage or edit your experience with the Experience ID and what the new option should include — name, inclusions, guest types, prices and availability — and our team will set it up.

I imported this listing from my booking platform and there is no Add another option.
Imported listings bring their options across from your platform, so the option is not built by hand here. Add it in your platform, or raise a request and we will look at it with you.

Do I have to build each option from scratch?
No. Once you have one option, you can duplicate it and change just the parts that differ — useful for the same tour in several languages.

I'm connected via API. Do I still fill in pricing and availability?
No. Choose Reservation system/API connection on the Booking step and your prices and availability sync from your system. You still complete the descriptive parts — inclusions, guest directions, guest types.