Frequently Asked Questions

Guides

1. How do I create a guide? What is a guide?

   Please see our How-to page for guide.

Tour Operators

1. How do tour operators leverage Ruba to get more business?

   Ruba offers a platform for tour operators to showcase their tours in a highly visual way to Ruba's growing audience of travelers from around the world.

   Ruba helps travelers discover their next trip by providing high quality, user generated, highly visual content about destinations around the world and a full complement of tours that visit those destinations.

   By showcasing your tours on Ruba you will:

   • Reach travelers specifically looking for tours. Potential travelers will be able to contact you easily to book their tour.
   • Reach travelers who come to Ruba through general travel searches (e.g. a Google search for "Best places to see in Egypt") who may not have initially been thinking of a tour but would consider a tour.
   • Get strong exposure on social networks like Facebook & Twitter. (Ruba's tight integration with social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook continually generates a steady stream of users passionate about travel.)

   Present your tours in a highly visual, appealing way. See an example of a tour page here.

2. Why would I want to display reviews for my tours on Ruba?

   Reviews on third party sites are the #1 source of lead conversion for tours! This means showing a potential customer a review of your tour on a 3rd party site is the most effective way for you to close a sale. Reviews on your own site are only the 15th most effective way of converting a potential customer.

   Ruba provides all the technology to help you collect the reviews. We know you’re resource constrained. You can even verify that each reviewer did indeed go on one of your tours before each review is published.

3. How do I sign up for Ruba? When can I get started?

   Show off your tours to the hundreds of thousands of travelers from around the world who come to Ruba.com from sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter, travel blogs, etc. Ruba's tour importer helps you list your tours quickly in a visually attractive way. Ruba's review collection technology helps you collect reviews without requiring extra resources you don't have. Ruba will show you the name of each reviewer prior to posting a review, so you can be sure that all reviews for your company are written by travelers who went on one of your tours. Ready to get started?

   Get started in 3 easy steps.
   Step 1: Enter your tours using our easy web form, or give us the address to your XML feed if you have one.
   Step 2: Get the link to our review form (either hosted on Ruba.com or on your own site) and send that link to your customers. It.s that easy.
   Step 3: Read and sign a short contract. There's no fee to list! You pay only for qualified leads.
   

   Let's go!
   Sign up below and a Ruba representative will contact you right away.

   www.ruba.com/signup

4. I don't have an XML feed, can I still list my tours on Ruba?

   Of course! Ruba has an easy to use way for you to enter each tour. Using our web form, you can copy and paste itinerary information for each day of your tour and even upload relevant photos.

   Your tours will be presented in a highly visual way:
   See example tour page here

5. I don't have resources to spare, can Ruba help me collect reviews from my customers?

   Yes! Ruba provides all the technology you need in order to collect your customer reviews. We create a link to a page where your customers can write about their tour experience. The review collection form can reside on your own website (we will give you a short piece of code that will create a form on your site) or we can host a review collection form for you on Ruba.

   Go to www.ruba.com/signup to get started, or email us at feedback@ruba.com

6. How do I know that reviews are really from travelers who took my tours?

   Ruba will only publish reviews written by travelers who are authenticated as having gone on your tour. We present each tour company with a list of names of users who wrote reviews so that you can verify that each reviewer did indeed go on one of your tours before each review is published.

Tour Directors

1. How do tour directors leverage Ruba to get more business or find jobs?

   As a tour director, you may work for one or several tour companies and/or sometimes lead trips on your own. Ruba can help you attract private clients as well as position yourself for a job with a tour company.

   Use your Ruba Profile to introduce your experience & specialties:

   • Share a few tidbits of your knowledge and travel favorites to attract potential customers.
   • Demonstrate your experience and knowledge to get hired by tour companies or individual clients.
   • Display your biography, contact information, blog pages, and/or social networking pages to Ruba's travel audience.

   For example see Backpacker Concierge's profile page

Tour Reviews

1. You verify that everyone who writes a review about a tour has actually been on that tour?

   Yes! All tour reviews on Ruba are written by users who legitimately went on those tours. Prior to Ruba publishing a review for a specific tour, the tour company must verify that that user did indeed go on that tour. However, the tour company cannot see what each reviewer wrote, they simply verify whether each user did indeed go on the tour.

2. Can a tour company control which reviews are published?

   Of course not! That would defeat the purpose of having an unbiased review site such as Ruba. Ruba allows tour companies to verify that reviewers did go on the tours they claim to have been on; However, the tour companies are not privy to what each user wrote prior to the reviews being published. All reviews of tour takers are published irrespective of their positive or negative tone.

Tour Review Writers

1. Why do you ask for my name?

   Ruba asks for your name so that the tour company can verify that you did indeed go on that tour. We make sure that all reviews on ruba.com are from users who really did go on a tour.

2. Can I choose how (and if) my name is displayed beside my review?

   Yes. You can choose how your name is displayed or you can choose to be anonymous. For example: John Smith can be displayed: John Smith, John S., J.S., anonymous.

3. Where is my review displayed?

   Your review will appear on ruba.com. Tour operators may choose to display your review on their website. Remember, you get to choose how and if your name is attached to the review. Your review will help the tour companies improve their service and will help future travelers choose the right tour for them.

General

1. I own some of the content on Ruba.com and I want it taken down.

   We respect copyright at Ruba. We are a user-generated content site, and if you believe that your work has been copied and posted on Ruba.com, please let us know and we'll remove it right away. Please provide us with the following information: (i) a description of the copyrighted work that has been infringed; (ii) a description of where the material is located on Ruba.com; (iii) your address, telephone number, and email address; (iv) a written statement (with electronic or written signature) by you that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.

Bloggers

1. How can I include my travel blog on Ruba?

   Easy. Just send us an email at feedback@ruba.com. Be sure to include the URL of your blog in your message. We are always interested in finding great quality, authentic travel writers. We'll review your blog and get back to shortly if you qualify to be featured on Ruba. Thank you for sharing your writing.

Travel Agents

1. I'm a travel agent. How can Ruba help me?

   Ruba.com helps you get more customers now - for free!! On Ruba, travel agents like you can quickly create sample guides for any city you are an expert in. You can put your contact info (website, email, phone #) right next to your guide so that when users on Ruba look for a destination that you've written about - they will find your guide and can contact YOU to learn more and book their trips.

   Example: http://www.ruba.com/user/BackpackerConcierge.

   It's super fast, and it's completely free. Try it out today - Make a Guide

   Have more questions? See our How-to page for guides.