For Algarve tour, boat and activity operators who sell through agents
Switching to Algarve Circle from Viator
Viator takes 20% of a booking as standard, and more if you join the programmes that lift you up the search results. It earns some of that by reaching travellers planning the Algarve from another country. What it should not be earning is a fifth of the booking from a guest who already has your number. Algarve Circle gives you that direct channel for a flat fee, with no commission on anything.
01
What changes for your customer
| What matters | Viator | Algarve Circle |
|---|---|---|
| Whose name the booking is under | No: Viator, part of Tripadvisor. You are the supplier behind it. | Yes: Yours. The confirmation comes from your business. |
| What they pay | No: Your listed price, which has to carry the commission | Yes: The price you set, with nothing added at checkout |
| Pay with MB WAY | No: Card and the usual wallets | Yes: Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and MB WAY on every checkout. Multibanco once you switch it on in your Stripe. |
| Booking in Portuguese | Yes: Yes, as one of many languages | Yes: Everything in Portuguese and English, including every email we send them |
| If they want to change something | Partly: They go through Viator, who come to you | Yes: They use the link in their own confirmation, or they call you |
| Booking with you again next year | No: Through the agent again, at full commission | Yes: Straight from your page, at no commission |
YesYes, with a conditionNo
02
What changes for you
| What matters | Viator | Algarve Circle |
|---|---|---|
| Commission on every booking | No: 20% as standard, and 25% to 30% in the categories and promotional programmes that decide your ranking | Yes: None. Not at launch, not at volume, not ever. |
| Monthly cost | Yes: €0, no listing fee | No: €50 a month on Pro (€25 on the launch offer), cancel any month |
| What you keep on a €90 seat | No: About €72 at the standard 20%, less if you are buying placement | Yes: About €88, after your own Stripe card fee |
| Where you appear in their results | Partly: Better placement is available by giving up more commission | Yes: Your own page, which we rank for your town and your activity |
| Who the customer belongs to | No: The agent holds the relationship | Yes: You do. Their booking is with your business. |
| Where the money lands | No: The agent collects, then pays you later | Yes: Your own Stripe account, directly. We never hold your money. |
| Boats, vehicles and guides as capacity | Partly: A seat count you keep in sync | Yes: Named units or a shared pool, with a hard guarantee against double booking |
| Deposits instead of full prepayment | No: The agent decides | Yes: You decide. Percentage or fixed, refunded automatically if you cancel. |
| Prices by person type | Yes: Yes | Yes: Yes. Adult, child, senior, resident, each with its own price. |
| Your cancellation policy | Partly: Shaped by the agent's standard terms | Yes: Yours, set per option |
| Invoices for what you take | Partly: A commission statement | Yes: A certified fatura through your own Moloni account, issued automatically |
| Selling passes, memberships and gift vouchers | No: No | Yes: Yes, all three, on the same Stripe connection |
| Leaving | Yes: You stay listed as long as it suits you | Yes: Cancel any month from your dashboard |
YesYes, with a conditionNo
03
How adding a direct channel works
- 01
Claim your Algarve Circle page. It is very likely already there, with your photos and your trips on it.
- 02
Connect your Stripe account. Ten minutes, and the money then goes straight to you.
- 03
Add your trips as bookable options. Duration, price, how many seats, which boat.
- 04
Turn bookings on, and put the embed code on your own website so the visitors you already get can book without an agent in the middle.
- 05
Keep Viator exactly as it is. Nothing here asks you to leave it.
Honest about what this does not do
Viator sits inside Tripadvisor, which is where a great many people start planning a holiday. We are not that, and we will not pretend to be. If someone is choosing the Algarve from a sofa in Manchester, the agent reaches them and we do not. Keep it for that. What this replaces is the commission on the bookings you already owned: the guest who came back, the one who found your own website, the walk-up at the marina, the hotel that sends you people every week.
04
The numbers, worked
An operator selling €5,000 a month through the agent at the standard 20% hands over €1,000. Say a third of those guests would have come to you anyway, through word of mouth, a repeat visit or your own website. That is about €333 a month of commission paid on bookings you already owned, and roughly €2,000 across a six-month season. Moving just that share onto your own page costs €50 a month.
Figures: Viator's standard 20% commission, and the 25% to 30% seen in competitive categories and in the promotional programmes that affect ranking, from operator reports and supplier guides read on 14 September 2026; Viator does not publish a single public rate card. The €88 kept on a €90 seat assumes standard Stripe European card pricing and will vary with the card used. Viator and Tripadvisor are trademarks of their owners and are named here only to compare. Algarve Circle prices come from our own pricing page. If anything here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.