Google Things to Do for tour operators: the free Book button
How charter and tour operators get the free Book button and Official site link on Google Things to Do via FareHarbor, and what to fix if it won't show.
Jon Persson
Co-founder, Websites & Systems ·
A guest who took your sunset sail last summer tells her sister to book it. The sister searches your business name on her phone. Google shows your profile, and under it a list of places to book the trip: Viator, GetYourGuide, maybe a third reseller. If your own booking page isn’t on that list, she taps one of theirs, and you pay commission on a guest who was already yours.
Google Things to Do is how your own booking page gets on that list, with an “Official site” label next to it. For FareHarbor users it’s free to set up and there’s no commission on those bookings. Most operators still haven’t done it: just over one in four tour operators and one in five activity operators are connected, according to Arival’s Global Operator Landscape study (2024).
Here’s how it works, how to set it up through FareHarbor, and what to check when your Book button won’t show.
What Google Things to Do is, and where it shows
Things to do on Google is Google’s program for tours, attractions and activities. Operators and resellers send Google their trips, prices and booking links, and Google shows them in Search and Maps, both as free listings and as ads (Google Ads Help).
For a charter or tour operator, the piece that matters is the operator booking module. It lists your trips, with prices and booking links, under “Prices” on your own Google Business Profile, on phones and desktops, in Google Search and Google Maps (FareHarbor help center, updated Sept 2026). It’s what people see when they search your name.
Google also shows other sellers of the same trip in that module. Tours you sell through OTAs appear right next to your own (Google for Developers).
Google has other modules for attraction tickets and landmark-based experiences, but for most charters, your own profile is the one to get right.
Free booking links vs paid ads
There are two ways onto Things to Do:
| Free listing | Things to do ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it shows | Your Business Profile in Search and Maps | Search and Maps results for trips and places |
| What it costs | Nothing, and no commission | You pay per click |
| Who sets it up | Your booking system | You or whoever runs your Google Ads |
Get the free listing first. Google doesn’t charge for it, and FareHarbor says Google takes no commission on the bookings it sends (FareHarbor help center). Your guest pays FareHarbor’s usual booking fee, the same as on your website.
The “Official site” link next to the OTAs
The “Official site” label goes on the line that leads to your own primary booking page. That page can sit on a different domain from your website, as long as your website links to it (Google Ads Help). That’s exactly how FareHarbor works: FareHarbor hosts the booking page and your site’s Book now buttons open it. Every FareHarbor client can get the label.
Why it matters: every other line in that list is a reseller. A booking made through the GetYourGuide line lands in your FareHarbor Dashboard as a GetYourGuide booking, commission and all. The Official site line is the only one that doesn’t pay a reseller.
Say you run a $600 half-day charter and pay Viator 25%. Every guest who searched your name and still booked through Viator cost you $150. Viator still brings you people who’d never have found you. The Official site line is for the ones who already chose you. (More on that in why Viator ranks above your website.)
What you need to get listed on Google Things to Do
Three things:
- A claimed, verified Google Business Profile. It has to be marked open (FareHarbor help center) and show your full business address (FareHarbor, 2023). Your category matters too: Google only shows the operator booking module for certain business types (Google for Developers).
- A connectivity partner. Google recommends tour operators connect through an approved partner instead of building their own feed. Its list of approved partners includes FareHarbor, Rezdy, Bokun, Xola, FishingBooker, Ventrata, TrekkSoft, Regiondo and Zaui. Peek isn’t on the list itself; Peek users connect through Magpie, which is.
- Trips matched to your profile. Your partner sends Google your business name, address, phone number and website with each trip, and Google matches them to your Maps listing. If they don’t line up, nothing shows.
If your booking system isn’t a partner, you can add activities and a booking URL by hand in the Tickets or Activities section of your Business Profile. Partner listings show ahead of what you add yourself, though (Google Business Profile Help).
How to connect Google Things to Do through FareHarbor
FareHarbor’s Connectivity team does the technical work, with no setup fee and no commission (FareHarbor, 2023). Here’s the order:
- Fix your Business Profile. Claimed, verified, marked open, full address, and a business name that matches the one on your FareHarbor booking pages.
- Pick your trips. Google allows 10 activities per business profile. FareHarbor recommends trips with per-person pricing that run several days a week and don’t usually sell out. For most charters, that means your scheduled trips first: the sunset sail, the snorkel trip, the shared half-day fishing trip. A private charter priced per boat is a weaker fit.
- Send the request. Fill out FareHarbor’s Connectivity support request form with your Business Profile and the items you want listed. Several locations? One Dashboard can connect to several Business Profiles.
- Wait for the notice. The team maps your items to Google and tells you when they’re bookable. “Ready to show” means your items are mapped, not that they’re live yet, so stay in touch with the team until they confirm.
- Run it like any online booking. Google bookings land in your Dashboard, the guest gets the normal FareHarbor confirmation email, and cancellations and refunds work the same way.
Not on FareHarbor yet? It’s free for operators, and we set clients up on it as part of their website build.
Why your Book button isn’t showing on Google
Google publishes the product issues that keep a trip off its listings. These are the ones you can fix yourself:
- Your name or address doesn’t match Maps. Google checks that the operator name matches the business at that address on Google Maps. Your trade name on Maps and your legal name (with the “LLC”) in FareHarbor is enough to break it. So is a mailing address on one and the marina address on the other.
- Your profile isn’t claimed, open or in the right category. Fix these before anything else.
- No bookable date in the next 30 days. Google flags a trip as an error if it can’t be booked within the next 30 days. Close for winter, or load your calendar only a week or two out, and your trips drop off. Keep future availability open.
- The price doesn’t match. The price on Google has to include all taxes and fees and match what the guest pays at checkout (Google Ads Help). If the booking page comes out higher, the trip gets flagged.
- Your name isn’t on the booking page. The operator’s name has to show on the page the guest lands on. Check that your company name appears on your FareHarbor booking pages.
One more that won’t block you but costs bookings: your line can look pricier than the OTAs’. Google shows the all-in price, and yours includes FareHarbor’s booking fee, so the same trip can look cheaper on Viator. FareHarbor’s suggestion is to raise your OTA rates to match your direct rate.
Paid Things to Do ads, briefly
The same feed can run ads. They show on Search and Maps with photos, price, your business name and a booking link (Google Ads Help), and you pay only when someone clicks. In Google Ads they’re called Travel campaigns, and Google is moving them into new Search campaigns for Travel starting in the third quarter of 2026. For now the only bidding option is maximize conversion value with a target return on ad spend (Google Ads Help).
FareHarbor won’t run these ads for you. It can hand over the details to whoever manages your Google Ads.
My advice: get the free listing working first. It catches people who already want your trip. Ads reach people who don’t know you yet, at a cost per click. If you’re weighing that, start with Google Ads for tour operators.
How to check Google Things to Do is working
Once FareHarbor tells you you’re live, check it yourself:
- Search your business name on your phone, in Google and in Google Maps. Find the section of your profile that lists your trips and prices.
- Find your line. It should carry the “Official site” label.
- Tap it. It should open the FareHarbor booking page for that trip, at the same price Google showed.
- Look at the other lines. Note which OTAs show up and what they charge next to you.
- Watch your Dashboard. Bookings through your line come in like any online booking. Bookings through an OTA’s line show up as that OTA.
- Check again when the season changes, when you change prices, and after you edit your Business Profile name or address.
We connect Google Things to Do as part of our Google Business Profile optimization package, and our booking website puts the same FareHarbor Book now button on every trip page, so guests get the same checkout whether they start on Google or on your site. If you want to see what shows up when someone searches your name, book a call and we’ll look at it together.
