

Ask HN: Rate this (offline) business concept: Off-campus college tours - keiferski

I'm considering this side-business idea. Let me know what you think:<p>----<p>The problem: college-sponsored tours aren't very good. Among other things, they've overcrowded, overly-formal, generic, and only include on-campus areas. The lack of off-campus information is even more noticeable at an urban school (like mine).<p>I've proposed the idea on college message boards, and there seems to be some interest. I've also run into (around town) a number of visitors who would find such a tour useful. I'm aiming at $30 for a 1.5 hour tour; you'd book it online and then meet at a specific location for the tour.<p>The "pitch page" would be something like this (with better copy and formatting, obviously):<p>----<p><i>Why book a tour with OffCampusTours?</i><p>&#62; It’s personal and informal; only you and your family are on the tour. Feel comfortable asking questions.<p>&#62; It’s customized just for you - Fill out the “interests” form, and we’ll craft your tour specifically to your interests.<p>&#62; It’s not included in official tours - Official campus tours only show you the campus and university buildings, not the surrounding area.<p>&#62; Moving off-campus is inevitable - Most students move off campus in their sophomore or junior years. Why not familiarize yourself with the area now?<p>&#62; Supports local residents and businesses - Our tours are led by students and residents of the area. Plus, you’ll find hidden local restaurants and shops.<p>&#62; Find the necessities - We’ll show you where grocery stores, laundromats, banks, pharmacies, and other essential places are located, and how to get there.<p>&#62; Safety - As in all urban areas, some parts of town can be dangerous after dark. We’ll show you the safe      and unsafe areas of town<p>------<p>A few potential problems:<p>1. The university may not be too excited about the project. Some of the off-campus areas aren't very pretty.<p>2. Marketing/sales: I don't have a direct sales channel, and my marketing strategy would essentially be posters on bulletin boards and word-of-mouth. The university could be an excellent referrer of customers, but again, they might not be very enthusiastic about the project.<p>3. I'm not technically a student, any more. I'm taking the upcoming semester off to save some money, take classes at the local community college, and work on my programming skills. My solution is: plenty of non-students live around here, so I can give tours without issue. Plus, I have plenty of student friends willing to give tours.<p>----<p>So, if you read that entire thing, thanks! Any thoughts, suggestions, or questions? Would you consider paying for such a tour, if you were visiting the school?
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martey
I am too old to be interested in visiting colleges, and too young to have
children of college age, so I personally would not be interested in such a
tour.

At my alma mater, a group of former students created their own tour:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hahvahd_tour> As far as I know, their business
model is different that yours in that their focus is on history and tourists,
as opposed to campus life and prospective students.

I also think that you are considering charging too little for what is
essentially a private tour by an experienced guide. The Hahvahd people seem to
charge about $10/person for their public tours, but I remember seeing groups
of 50+ tourists being led by a single guide.

~~~
keiferski
Thanks for the link, I did not know of them. Unfortunately, we don't get many
tourists around here (not that I'm surprised...heh.)

You are probably right on the cost, though. I didn't want to make my post any
longer, but I've also considered having 2 types of tours: a group (up to 10
people) standardized tour with a pre-planned route, for $10 a person, or a
private, customized tour for $25-$30 per person.

That would work out to:

$50 for a 5 person public tour

$75-90 for a 3 person private tour

Which is a bit more reasonable.

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tnorthcutt
_I'm aiming at $30 for a 1.5 hour tour_

 _only you and your family are on the tour_

Does that mean you'd only collect $30 per tour? If so, the most you could ever
make is $20/hour. After factoring in time between tours, unbooked time, etc.,
it would probably be a lot less. That doesn't leave much to pay your tour
guides with.

~~~
keiferski
Correct, $30 per tour.

You are right, though. The slight difference would be that we wouldn't lose
money on the non-booked time; there's no commute or overhead, other than the
website and some printed materials. I, or my tour guides, wouldn't have any
significant prep time for each tour.

I mentioned it in another comment, but perhaps a split model would work
better: $10/person public generic tour vs. $30/person private customized tour.

~~~
gte910h
I think you're waaaaay undercharging for the private customized tour.

This is a decision worth thousands of dollars. Have a set tour you do with
dates, and have a private tour option that is X per private tour at a much
higher rate.

