Nikki Padilla Rivera consults for tour operators and her website is Tripkinetics.com. With an incredible background of being a tour guide and tour operator, Nikki focuses on translating between guides and operators, which ultimately creates for a better experience for the tour guides, and a superior experience for tour guests. In this interview, Nikki talks about how to take a tour from standard to excellent by following the peak-end rule: create a memorable beginning, a few high points along the way, and then at the end, leave them with an emotional life changing experience. Nikki says that the best tours end with guests feeling like they owe the guide something back for providing such a great experience, which of course opens the conversation for requesting online reviews and positive word of mouth. Also, the topic of virtual tours is an important conversation, having mostly started at the beginning of the pandemic and now determining their future and how virtual tours fit in with the tourism industry for the long term. Lasty, Nikki shares her philosophy that you should overproduce, yet make it feel serendipitous.
