This page sets out where the information on the site comes from, how the site makes money, and what it will never say. Which tours appear, and in what order, is set by the selection rules on a separate page.
Where our information comes from
Four kinds of source, in this order of weight:
- The Viator listing for each tour. Inclusions, the meeting point, pickup, group size, the price unit, the refund rule and the operator’s own description. When a page and a listing disagree, the listing wins and the page is corrected.
- Official sources. The Department of Conservation for the national parks, the road authority for the Milford Road, the national forecaster for weather. These back up any factual claim about a place.
- Traveller videos. Full transcripts read for each kind of trip, used for what the day is actually like: timings, queues, what was cold, what went wrong.
- Review counts and ratings as Viator reports them, combining Viator and Tripadvisor reviews.
General knowledge, such as how long a fiord is or when a road closes, is checked before it goes on a page. If we can’t check it, the page tells you to ask the operator instead.
How we’re paid
We earn a commission from Viator when you book a tour through a link on this site. It’s a share of what Viator earns on the booking. You pay the same price you’d pay booking that tour on Viator directly, and the commission doesn’t change it.
That’s the only money the site makes. Operators don’t pay us to be listed, to appear higher on a page, or to be named in Our pick. A tour’s place on a page comes from the selection rules and our comparison. The commission is a share of the price, so a dearer tour earns us more. That’s why every Our pick box names a trip we’d skip, and why the page tells you when the cheaper option is enough.
The booking links to Viator are marked as sponsored links in the page code, as search engines ask. Every page also carries one short line at its foot saying we earn a commission, so you don’t have to come here to find out.
We don’t take payment, free trips or gifts from operators in exchange for coverage.
What we’ll never claim
- That we took the trip. We compare and we watch. We don’t write “we went” or “we tried”, because we didn’t.
- A price in the text. Prices change too often. Live prices sit on the tour cards and come from Viator each time the page loads.
- A review we didn’t read. No invented reviews, testimonials or quotes, and no review text presented as ours.
- A person, a credential or a count we can’t back. Every number on the site comes from the listings or our own research files.
- Urgency. No countdown timers, no “only two left”. Where a trip really does sell out, the page names the weeks and the reason.
- A best price guarantee. We don’t set prices and can’t promise one.
How traveller videos and reviews are used
A detail from a traveller’s video is credited to their channel by name, in the sentence that uses it, with a link to the video. Counts are given as counts: “5 of 6 travellers”, not “most people”.
- Operator and brand channels are labelled as operators, and their videos are used for routes and formats, not as reviews.
- A video the creator was paid or hosted for is labelled next to the detail it supports.
- Prices mentioned in videos are never repeated.
- Times, distances and seasons from a video are one person’s observation, checked against the listing before use. Where two travellers disagree, we give both.
- We don’t use frames or stills from anyone’s video, or photos from other sites. Tour photos come from the operators’ Viator listings; other photos are licensed or our own.
Review text from Viator is quoted only when it bears on a factual claim, such as a meeting point problem or a mismatch with the listing, and it’s attributed to Viator reviews, never to a named reviewer.
How the pages are made
The research for each page, the transcript reading and the first drafts are done with AI assistance. Every page is then reviewed by the ScalePact team before it’s published, and every fact on it traces back to a listing, an official source or a named video.
Each page carries the date its listings were last checked. Listings are rechecked every quarter, and a page changes when a listing does.
Corrections and contact
If something on a page is wrong, tell us at hello@southernlakestours.com. We reply within 3 business days. When we fix an error, it goes on the corrections page with the date, the page and what changed.
For anything about a booking you’ve already made, contact Viator or the operator; the booking help page says which. We can’t change or refund a booking.