Vayable combined with Airbnb seems like an awesome, off-the-beaten-track way to travel. I hear people talk a lot about traveling but not wanting to do "touristy" things... Vayable seems like a compelling way to get more authentic experiences while traveling. Can't wait to try this when I'm on my next vacation.
I used Concierge to book a helicopter volcano tour in Hawaii. Worked great! Small outfits like Safari Helicopters rarely provide a seamless booking/reminder service -- Concierge is definitely a great value add.
I love the idea behind Vayable. I would love to be a guide with them. I am a whitewater rafting guide in Denver and could take people down rivers that commercial rafting companies wont go to, but until they offer Liability coverage to guides, I can not comprehend working with them. (and no, having a waiver to give customers is not good enough. I would still get sued).
So Dear Vayable,
Learn from AirBnB's example and offer insurance to guides!!!
Airbnb does not offer personal liability though as part of their Host Guarantee. Since the Vayable experience is under the premise that you're vis-a-vis the guide the entire time that might be a difficult problem to solve?
You're correct they don't. But the Host Guarantee does cover up to $1,000,000 in property damage. Given that there is not property involved in Vayable activities, I think that some type of comparable protection of guides is required. As a "guide" I am legally responsible for the health and safety of guests. If I guide someone on a bike tour through Vayable and they get hit by a car, both Vayable and me the guide are going to get sued.
What if someone offered skydiving lessons through Vayable. They could certainly undersell other skydiving outfits if they didn't need to carry insurance. But as soon as there were an accident, everyone loses.
See my comment buried at the very bottom. I agree with you and this opens up all kinds of professional licensing requirements and property liability requirements. You can quickly go down a rabbit hole of worrying about verification/accreditation and Vayable could basically become known as the best place to work if you're an actuary.
Addendum: This might be a more worrisome problem only in the litigation-happy US and other similar first world countries. The Vayable landing page for me shows a tour of Angkor Wat. The last time I was there, I wasn't too concerned about who I was going to sue if I fell off one of the temples or got sick from eating something not properly cooked.
Because you have travel insurance right? That may be a relevant area for Vayable to get into for the extra income as a reseller (and in itself it's an area that needs disruption).
So at some point I'm guessing they will run into problems with "experiences" in popular destinations or large municipal areas which require licensing( e.g. tourguide/sight-seeing/insert miscellaneous professional requirements). Ah...the challenge of disruption. Probably not terribly different than the problems faced by Airbnb or Uber.
