How to grow your payments app with trekking and mountain guides
By SendPay Business · · 2 min read
Trekking and mountain guides lead day hikes, multi-day treks, climbs and navigation courses. Many of their clients come from other countries and book weeks or months ahead, paying a deposit and then the balance before the trip, and on longer treks guides pay porters, cooks, huts and transport along the way. International transfers are slow and expensive, and carrying cash in the mountains is risky. A payments app that sends payment links for deposits and balances, takes cards from abroad and helps guides pay their team can win these guides, and every client who pays sees your app.
Talk to trekking and mountain guides
Ask local trekking and mountain guides:
- How do clients from abroad pay deposits and balances, and how long does the money take?
- How much do you lose to transfer and card fees?
- How do you pay porters, cooks, huts and drivers during a trek?
- Do you get bookings through agencies, hostels or guesthouses?
Send payment links for deposits and balances
A payment link sent when a client books, and another before the trip, gets money in on time without waiting days for international transfers.
Help guides pay their team
Paying porters, cooks and drivers by phone means less cash to carry in the mountains and a clear record of what each person was paid.
Grow through hostels, guesthouses and agencies
Guides get much of their work from hostels, guesthouses and local agencies. One respected guide on your app can bring the businesses around them.
Build it
Create your own financial platform.
Pick a template, name it, brand it, preview every page before you pay. Your brand, your users, your fees.
Build my platform →Questions people ask
What about tour guides?
The tour guides guide covers taking bookings from visitors from many countries and taking deposits, payments and tips.
Tour guides →What about bushcraft and survival courses?
The bushcraft and survival courses guide covers day courses, weekend camps and team days, with a deposit to book a place and the rest before the course.
Bushcraft and survival courses →Can I call it a bank?
In most countries "bank" is a protected word you can only use with a banking licence. Call it an account, a wallet, an app or a platform. The accounts and payments behind a SendPay Business platform are powered by licensed partners.
Is there a step-by-step plan I can follow?
Yes. The free launch checklist takes you from picking your people and naming your app to setting fees, going live and winning your first ten customers.
Digital bank app launch checklist →How do I start?
Pick a template, name it and preview every page before you pay. Your platform can be live on your own domain within 24 hours of confirmation.
Build my platform →Read next
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. SendPay Business is a technology company, not a bank, and does not take deposits; regulated services on the platforms are provided by licensed partners. PayPal, Patreon and Substack are named as reference points only and are not affiliated with SendPay Business.