How to choose a tour guide system: testing, logistics and real cost

In a catalogue, two tour-guide systems can look almost identical. At nine in the morning, with six flat receivers and a group waiting, they stop looking alike. That is why the purchase should begin on your route, not in a specification sheet.

Start with the route, not the catalogue

Write down where you work: thick-walled interiors, narrow streets, a coach, an open site or a mixture. Record the longest tour, normal and peak group size, simultaneous languages and points where people spread out.

Check local rules too. Girona, Venice, Palma, San Sebastián, Toledo and the Alhambra, for example, apply different limits to groups or amplification. Audio equipment does not make an oversized group legal.

Demand a trial on your route

A range figure on a specification sheet does not reproduce a stone corner, crypt or crowded street. Test with the guide in their normal position and someone sweeping the group. Walk, turn, enter and leave buildings, and speak over real background noise.

During the test, record:

• ◆dropouts, delay and lost intelligibility;
• ◆useful distance at the worst point, not in an open field;
• ◆interference when other groups are operating;
• ◆how easily channels can be changed;
• ◆what happens when a receiver is switched off and on again.

Do not buy a range number. Buy a repeatable result on your route.

Review a full day's operation

Battery life should cover use, breaks and delays with a margin. Ask how long a full charge takes, how staff see each battery's state and what happens after hundreds of cycles. Get prices and lead times for replacement batteries, receivers, earphones and chargers.

Simulate opening and closing:

• ◆unpacking, switching on and issuing every unit;
• ◆explaining volume and channel;
• ◆handling a silent receiver;
• ◆collecting, counting and finding a missing unit;
• ◆cleaning reusable parts;
• ◆charging everything for the next departure.

Staff time belongs to the system even when it is absent from the invoice.

Accessibility: never assume the earpiece works for everyone

Ask about personal earphones, volume control, telecoil or neckloop use, and options for hearing aids and implants. Compatibility must be tested with the devices your audience uses; the word “Bluetooth” is not enough. Apple maintains a specific list of Made for iPhone devices, while Android documents ASHA as a particular hearing-aid audio protocol, not universal compatibility.

Prepare a text alternative for essential information and a procedure for visitors who cannot use the standard receiver.

Request quotes you can genuinely compare

Do not rely on a generic per-person price. Request dated quotes for your country, volume and season. Calculate:

Cost per tour = rental or depreciation + transport + setup + cleaning + support + loss and breakage.

For a purchase, divide the investment by a cautious number of tours and add spares, storage and renewal. For rental, include delivery, minimums, idle days, deposits and penalties. Calculate a bad month too: a solution is sustainable only if it can survive the real variation in your business.

When dedicated hardware is the better choice

Hardware is often more predictable when you need to control every receiver, the audience does not use smartphones, the operating day is long, several groups run together or staff already understand the logistics. It also avoids depending on visitor phone batteries and settings.

When to trial a phone-based system

Phones can reduce issuing and collection when visitors bring a suitable device and earphones and agree to use them. Joining, battery, permissions, accessibility and network capacity still need testing. On iPhone, Apple says the number of hotspot connections depends on the model and carrier. Do not treat it as unlimited.

Echoris uses a local network for a live tour and is worth evaluating if you want to avoid dedicated receivers. Apply the same test you would demand from hardware: two devices first, then your real group size. A desk demonstration does not certify a tour.

The decision sheet

Before signing, write down:

• ◆the route and worst point covered;
• ◆number of listeners actually tested;
• ◆observed battery life and charging plan;
• ◆simultaneous channels required;
• ◆accessible options and no-audio alternative;
• ◆setup and closing time;
• ◆spares, support and replacement lead time;
• ◆total cost per tour with your assumptions;
• ◆fallback when the system fails.

Take this sheet to every supplier and apply the same questions to any phone-based alternative. If a system cannot demonstrate how it will work on your route, you do not yet have a buying decision.

Sources

• ◆Apple Support — Personal Hotspot connections and limits by model and carrier.
• ◆Android Open Source Project — Hearing aid audio support using Bluetooth LE.
• ◆Girona City Council — group and amplification-device restrictions.
• ◆City of Venice — rules for accompanied tourist groups.