Three Products, One Name, Zero Syncing

Anthropic calls its AI Claude. It also calls its terminal tool for developers Claude Code. And it calls its desktop app Claude Cowork. Same word up front, three separate products, and none of them share anything with each other.
Three products, one name, zero syncing

Three Products, One Name, Zero Syncing

This is part fourteen of our Putting AI to Work in Your Tour Business series. Watch the full series here and read part one here.

Anthropic calls its AI Claude. It also calls its terminal tool for developers Claude Code. And it calls its desktop app Claude Cowork. Same word up front, three separate products, and none of them share anything with each other.

That is not a minor detail. It is the thing that trips people up first, and it is worth getting straight before you touch a single setting.

Claude.ai is the web chat. Open a browser, have a conversation. If you have used ChatGPT or Gemini, you already know how this works. It syncs across the phone app and the browser.

Claude Code runs in a terminal window. It is built for people writing software. If that is not you, you can safely ignore it for now. Kelsey mentions it only so the name does not confuse you later.

Claude Cowork is the desktop app. And here is the useful part: Cowork and Claude Code are more or less the same tool underneath. Cowork is a friendlier wrapper around the same capability.

“Claude Cowork is really Claude Code, but for the rest of us.”

Now, the piece that catches people. Your Cowork sessions and tasks do not sync to Claude chat. Your Claude chat projects do not appear in Cowork. A connector plugged into Claude.ai is not automatically plugged into Cowork. Three distinct products, three sets of settings.

It takes some adjustment. The trade-off is a lot more capability.

Privacy First, Before Anything Else

Open the menu at the bottom left, click your name, and you are in account settings. Head to privacy.

Two toggles matter here. Turn off location metadata. Turn off help improve Claude. That second one keeps your chats and your work from being used to train future models. If you are about to load a folder with your pricing, your client list, and your operating context into this thing, that is a five-second decision with a long shelf life.

Usage: The Setting You Will Care About More Than You Expect

Billing lets you move between plans. Usage is where things get practical.

Cowork runs on a five-hour window with a usage allowance, plus a weekly limit. Both are measured in tokens. Once you start building an AI brain, creating tasks, and spinning up agents that take action for you, those limits stop being abstract.

A practical pattern: use Opus to build the plan or tackle something complex, then switch to Sonnet to execute. Sonnet is the more efficient model, so you can run it far longer before you hit a ceiling.

“Use Opus to create the plan. Use Sonnet to do the execution.”

There is also an extra usage toggle that keeps Claude running past a limit. Useful when something is genuinely high priority. Also a fast way to spend more than you meant to. You can switch it off entirely, or set a monthly spend cap.

If you are in the brain-building phase, watch this screen. Some operators upgrade a plan temporarily while they build out their brain and connectors, then drop back down afterward.

Capabilities and Connectors

Under capabilities, turn on search and reference chats, turn on generate memory from chat, and give it most of what is offered below.

Then connectors. These are the nervous system of your AI brain.

“Connectors are like the nervous system to your AI brain.”

A connector gives Cowork the ability to reach into a piece of software, read information, and in many cases change things and take action for you. Each one is managed individually, so you can start conservative and require permission before anything happens. That is where we recommend starting.

As you get more comfortable, you give it more room. Kelsey now grants a fair amount of independent action, and still asks Cowork to check in or break a project into steps when it matters. Control does not disappear because capability grew.

Hit the plus icon and browse connectors. Viator and TripAdvisor are already there. Scroll down and you will find the desktop extensions, which are permissions for tools sitting on your actual computer. iMessage, Apple Notes, Google Chrome. The PDF extension is worth adding for anyone who handles a lot of documents.

Build Your AI Brain: Context Engineering for Tour Operators

What an MCP Server Actually Is

Picture two sides. On one side, every piece of software in the world, each speaking its own language through its own API. On the other side, the AI models. They cannot talk to each other directly.

An MCP server sits in the middle as a translator. It lets software on one side communicate with an AI model on the other, so Claude can pull information from your tools, work with it, and act inside them.

The Zapier MCP server is one worth knowing. Zapier has already spent years learning to speak the language of thousands of applications. Connect a Zapier account, spin up an MCP server, and Claude can reach anything you have wired into Zapier.

There is a cost. Zapier acts as a middleman, and that means additional token usage. Which is why more companies are now building their own MCP servers so models can connect directly. Expect booking software in the tour and activity sector to follow. In the meantime, if you are stuck connecting a piece of technology, Zapier MCP is your best friend.

“If you don’t empower the AI to talk to your tools, you’ll be pretty limited in what you can accomplish.”

Skills, Plugins, and the Difference Between Them

A skill is a workflow. Specific instructions, specific tools, clear rules on what to do and what not to do, so you get consistent output every time you run it.

Anthropic and its partners publish skills you can add from the browse skills menu. Install the skill creator first. It exists because Anthropic knew people would want to build their own workflows, and it makes every skill you build after it better.

Plugins are the next size up. The data plugin, the productivity plugin, and for business owners, possibly the legal plugin.

Here is the analogy that made it click. A skill is an SOP. Narrow scope, specific outcome, defined process. A plugin is a bundle of skills, closer to a role. Eventually these bundles may become full agents. Spin up a sales role. Spin up an operations role. Underneath, it is still a stack of skills.

“A skill is an SOP. A plugin is almost like a role.”

You can also download skills from the growing number of skill databases online. Be a little careful here. A skill is ultimately a text file with instructions, and it is going into your brain. Kelsey stays conservative about dropping downloaded skills straight in. You can always ask your AI to analyze a skill before you install it.

The One Folder Rule

Scroll to the desktop app settings and you will find toggles for running Cowork at startup, keeping your computer awake so it can work while you sleep, and letting it access your browser. Most of these start switched off. Come back to them when you are ready.

Then go to new task, and pay attention to the folder.

Always use the same folder. Every single time. Use the dropdown arrow and hit the star to make it your default.

You will hear other Cowork tutorials suggest different folders for different work. We recommend against it, and the reason is simple. The AI Brain Builder prompt creates a full folder structure that holds your memory, your instructions, and the deep context about your business. Point Cowork at a different folder and none of that comes with you. No instructions. No context. A powerful tool with amnesia.

“If we’re using different folders, you’re not going to have that context.”

Same logic applies to Cowork projects. Each project spins up its own separate folder, which is exactly what we are trying to avoid. Yes, you can still run projects. They just all live in the one central folder.

Build Your AI Brain: Context Engineering for Tour Operators

Scheduled Tasks and What to Watch While It Works

Scheduled tasks live in the menu, though you can also just ask inside a task to schedule something. The menu is useful because it shows what is running and what is active.

Click new task and you can set frequency: manual, hourly, daily, weekdays, weekly. Point it at the same folder. Give it permission to change files inside that folder, otherwise it cannot do the work. Choose your model, bottom right. Sonnet will handle most scheduled work fine.

Once a task is running, the right-hand panel is where the real value sits. The progress section breaks complex work into steps, and you can watch multiple agents working at once. Below that is your sync folder, showing every file it referenced, read, or created.

That panel is how you verify. Did it actually open the business context files? Did it use the connector you asked it to use? Expand any section with a chevron and you see the work. Kelsey uses this constantly to confirm the AI actually knows what it is talking about before trusting the output.

At the bottom, context shows which skill and which tools were used. Outputs get quick links so you can open a file in Finder or a browser.

A Workstation, Not a Lock-in

If you have followed this series and built your brain, Cowork becomes your workstation. It is where the capability we cover in the videos ahead actually gets used.

You do not need to be technical. Ask Cowork how to use Cowork. Kelsey does this daily. It breaks things into bite-sized pieces without making you feel stupid.

And the brain itself stays portable. It is markdown and text files. If a better tool arrives next year, the brain moves with you.

“Once we’ve created the AI brain, it’s just text files. We can move it to another tool whenever a better one shows up.”

If you are nervous about setting this up, or you got stuck partway through, book a free strategy call with one of our coaches at https://guestfocus.com/checkin. We will get you unstuck and show you what members are doing with it.

A GUEST FOCUSED APPROACH: LEARN FROM THE EXPERTS

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Avital Ungar is the founder and owner of Avital Food & Drink Experiences, a culinary company that hosts in-person and virtual events for corporate team building, client entertainment, and conferences. Her mission centers on deepening human connection through storytelling, food, and drink.
Ungar’s passion for the finer points of life began while living in Paris and the quaint town of Aix-en-Provence in Southern France, where she embraced the cultural norm of afternoon wine and explored the countryside’s culinary offerings. Upon returning to the United States, she pursued formal wine education and is now a certified sommelier.
A Phi Beta Kappa UCLA graduate, Ungar studied Art History, French, and Mandarin Chinese, though she jokes she wishes she could have majored in Chocolate. After living in Shanghai and working in the Chinese Contemporary art market, she returned to her hometown of San Francisco to pursue her professional interests in art and food.
Since April 2011, Ungar has operated Avital Food & Drink Experiences, offering progressive dining food tours in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City, where each course is served at a different restaurant. The company also provides dining experiences, conference activations, and interactive meals in 12 cities nationwide. Her virtual offerings include culinary experiences with ingredient delivery featuring award-winning chefs, bartenders, and sommeliers, along with virtual mixology classes, cooking classes, water tastings, and aperitif hours.
In September 2022, Ungar launched Edible Architecture, which creates innovative holiday products including Charcuterie Chalet Kits – savory gingerbread houses made from charcuterie and cheese board items, complete with “Salami Shingles” and “Parmesan Snow.”
Ungar has been featured in The New York Times, served as a judge at the Good Food Awards, International Chocolate Salon, and Best of The West Rib Competition, and has appeared on the Travel Channel, CNN, and in USA Today.
Midgi is the owner and Chief Eating Officer for Juneau Food Tours and Taste Alaska! She has lived in Alaska for more than a dozen years and got her start in the culinary industry as a food writer and blogger. Her tour company opened in 2014 and has hosted thousands of hungry visitors in Alaska’s capital city. In spring 2020, Midgi launched Taste Alaska!, a subscription box service to ship shelf-stable Alaskan food gift boxes.
The pandemic also presented the opportunity to create www.globaltoursconnect.com, an online boutique marketplace for food, history, and cultural tours.
Her passion for food and telling the story of Alaska have been noted in the New York Times, Washington Times, Washington Post, Vogue.com, Forbes.com, AARP, as well as countless blogs and international and national television shows, including All the Best with Zita and Gordon Ramsey: Uncharted.
Gez Hamer is an entrepreneurial leader with extensive experience building and scaling businesses from startup to growth phases. He possesses strong strategic decision-making abilities and hands-on leadership skills, with experience across startups securing Series A investment, scale-ups obtaining continued funding, and post-acquisition companies ranging from SMEs to publicly listed global players.
Since June 2025, Hamer has owned Nautica Collective, a company reshaping luxury yacht travel for the new generation of travelers. Nautica Collective offers curated, boutique yacht experiences designed for over-30s millennials seeking connection, culture, and comfort through small groups, hidden anchorages, and chef-hosted dinners under the stars. The company operates routes in Mallorca, Greece, the Caribbean, and beyond, positioning itself as “aspiring luxury meets authentic adventure.”
In January 2025, Hamer co-founded Transcend Consultancy, which helps businesses navigate growth challenges with cost-effective solutions. The consultancy works with founders to streamline operations and expand into new markets, specializing in the transition from startup to scale-up with strategies built for today’s fast-changing business landscape.
Previously, Hamer served as Chief Operating Officer at ExperienceFirst from November 2022 to December 2024, Interim Chief Commercial Officer at Bundl from July to November 2022, and CEO/Management Consultant at GJH Consulting from October 2016 to November 2022. His diverse background spans consulting, operations, and commercial leadership across multiple industries and business stages.
Akila McConnell is a dynamic entrepreneur and cultural historian who owns Unexpected Virtual Tours and Training, and Unexpected Atlanta Tours & Gifts. She creates radically creative cultural training sessions for remote teams and immersive tours for visitors to Atlanta.
Since 2020, her virtual tours company has been featured in The New York Times and Forbes, specializing in cultural awareness events around Juneteenth, Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, and Pride. Her Atlanta tours business, operating since 2015, has been named one of Conde Nast’s 16 best things to do in Atlanta and National Geographic’s top tour in the city.
As a freelance culinary historian and writer since 2009, McConnell contributes to major publications including Conde Nast Traveler, USA Today, and National Geographic Traveller. Her book “A Culinary History of Atlanta” was a finalist for Georgia Author of the Year in History in 2020. She also hosts “Savory Stories,” a food-focused podcast on WABE, Atlanta’s NPR affiliate.
McConnell specializes in sharing stories of disenfranchised and minority populations through food, history, and immersive experiences that challenge the perception that cultural education has to be boring.
A Colorado native, Staci left a job she loved designing dental offices and funeral homes, to accompany her husband on a job transfer to the Central Coast of California in 2009. At the height of the Great Recession, jobs in an area known for its high density of retirees – let alone jobs in her industry – were scarce to non-existent.
After a couple unsuccessful years trying to resurrect her thriving career, someone mentioned a Food Tour. In a few short months she researched, built, and launched Carmel Food Tours (CFT). Now in its 12th season, CFT is expanding and rebranding to Enjoy Carmel, offering more than just food tours. CFT employs 6 guides, and plans to grow the staff by 50% in 2023.
In her free time she enjoys traveling, pickleball, and Pilates with her husband, and tossing a tiny ball at the beach for her fluffball Chuck.
Simon began his career in tourism as a tour guide with Fat Tire Tours – Paris. As a trained social studies teacher and a dual FR/US citizen, this job fits like a glove! After three years as a tour guide with Fat Tire and side-hustling as an independent motorcycle guide, Simon returned to FTT – Paris to create its human resources department.
Specializing in local compliance and talent acquisition, Simon took over the hiring strategy for FTT’s European operations in autumn of 2019. With a new group of trainees set to begin work in several cities, COVID required an immediate 180 degree turn for everyone. After a decade of building tour leader teams, Simon combined his two passions and started a motorcycle sidecar tour business, and welcomed his first guests in Paris in spring of 2022.
Born and raised in Charleston, SC, Catherine began her 18-year career in tourism waiting tables while in college at one of Charleston’s busiest restaurants. What started as just a fun job that paid the bills and allowed for many social outings with friends, had turned into something that made her realize that working in hospitality was the only industry she ever wanted to be in.
After graduating from the College of Charleston, she came to work at Bulldog Tours in 2007. Serving as Operations Manager, Catherine oversees a staff of 50+ tour guides and customer service members. The best part of the job for her is seeing guests experience and love Charleston in the same way the staff does. When she’s not working, she enjoys playing volleyball, going to the beach and spending time with her husband and two super adorable daughters.
Chad is an experienced tour leader, trainer and tour business consultant. He’s been the go-to-guy for developing world-class training programs and leading global teams for tour operators such as G Adventures and many small to medium tour and activity businesses. Chad also comes from a background of startups in the tech industry, having worked for Adventure.com, Airbnb Experiences and other great companies.
Live the life you dream of living… That’s Chad’s mantra and he does his best to bring it to life every single day. Chad’s a big fan of micro adventures and spending quality time in the wilderness, sailing, hiking and camping with his wife Julia, daughter Cali and friends.
John founded Bulldog Tours in 2001 as a hobby with a goal of helping preserve his hometown. This sustainable tourism model has raised over $4M to help preserve many of Charleston’s most historical landmarks. Bulldog Tours offers a variety of history, food, pub and ghost walking tours with over 50 tour guides.
John is the Chairman of the Charleston Area CVB’s Travel Council and on the Advisory Board for the College of Charleston’s Hospitality Tourism Management Department.
Ralph Velasco is the founder of Continental DRIFTER® Experiences, where he has developed more than 200 once-in-a-lifetime travel experiences since 2008. He specializes in travel product development, researching and vetting local partners in destinations worldwide, conducting scouting trips with local operators, and creating unique itineraries that guests remember for a lifetime.
Velasco has personally led small group tours (4-10 participants) to more than 30 destinations including Antarctica, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Cambodia, Lapland, Vietnam, India, Bhutan, Romania, Mexico, Morocco, Turkey, Iceland, the Baltics, and the Adriatic. As founder of Continental DRIFTER®, he handles every aspect of the business from branding and trip design to marketing, social media management, contract negotiations, and client follow-up.
Since December 2018, Velasco has expanded his expertise through The Continental DRIFTER® YouTube channel, which features more than 75 videos offering travel advice, photography tips, destination guides, and interviews with locals. The channel targets GenX and Baby Boomer travelers and serves as the hub for his international tours. He conceives and films all content, oversees channel branding and optimization, writes scripts, records voiceovers, and manages social media distribution to increase viewer engagement.
Through his comprehensive approach to travel experiences and content creation, Velasco combines his extensive international travel expertise with practical advice for mature travelers seeking authentic, well-curated adventures.
Yaron’s love for travel turned into an 18-year career building one of Israel’s most successful travel companies. What started as personal wanderlust became Abraham Tours and Hostels – a business he co-founded and grew from scratch into a powerhouse serving 100,000 travelers annually.
As CEO from 2010 to 2022, Yaron learned how to turn great experiences into profitable business. The early years weren’t profitable despite rave reviews – they focused on creating amazing content without understanding business fundamentals. Once they cracked variable pricing, team management, and operational efficiency, everything changed.
Yaron and his team built systems that let him step away from answering every email. He developed bonus schemes that kept their best guides and drivers loyal for years, reducing industry turnover. Most importantly, he learned how to scale across multiple destinations while maintaining quality and profitability.
After stepping down as CEO in 2022, Yaron spent eight months traveling before launching his consulting practice. Now he works with the Israeli National Parks Authority on major system overhauls and helps tour operators worldwide through Guest Focus coaching, as well as other consulting projects.
Yaron brings this scaling experience to operators ready to grow beyond the one-person show, helping them delegate, systematize, and make data-driven decisions that improve both profits and personal freedom.

Accomplishments:

  • Co-founded and grew Abraham Tours & Hostels from startup to serving 100,000 tour participants and 200,000 hostel guests annually

  • CEO from 2010-2022, scaled company to 4 hostel locations plus a multi-destination tour operations

  • Established Israeli Hostel Association 17 years ago, served as general manager and chairman

  • Developed variable pricing schemes and team management for 100+ subcontractors/guides

  • Successfully exited as CEO in 2022, now consulting & mentoring various businesses in Israel and globally

After receiving his Applied Degree in Ecotourism & Outdoor Leadership from Mount Royal University in Alberta, Canada, Dave Kratt has made a living for the past 20 years in the alternative tourism industries as a guide, researcher, instructor, teacher, facilitator, manager, business owner, and naturalist. He has worked in many world regions including Central America, Australasia, Asia, and North America, applying his skills and training to various tourism, cultural, and environmental initiatives.
Kratt has been fortunate to find success through starting a number of businesses, which he tailors to achieve a more personal work/life balance. Recently, he made the significant decision to sell his farm and offload all personal and business assets, relocating his family (wife, daughter, and two dogs) to be more present in aiding his aging parents. This transition has provided him with the opportunity to share his business expertise through new and exciting channels.
In addition to his regular business coaching role with Guest Focus, Kratt recently started a consulting business called Wild Kratt Tourism Consulting Ltd. The two operations complement each other and have helped him find ways to share his passions for recreation, tourism, travel, and nature while enabling others to engage in these activities safely and consciously toward their potential social, economic, and environmental impacts.
Klaudija packed her bags in Slovenia 20 years ago with no plan except to see the world. A travel rep job in Turkey was supposed to be temporary – just long enough to fund the next adventure. Instead, it launched a global career building tour businesses from nothing and selling them for profit.
Her biggest win came with Urban Adventures, joining when it was just an idea without a brand. Over 10 years, she helped grow it to 500,000 passengers working with 170 tour operators worldwide. She spearheaded expansion into experiential products and negotiated one of the industry’s first media partnerships with New York Times Journeys.
Klaudija also built and sold two tour businesses in Ljubljana and London. Not many coaches have walked the startup-to-exit path.
Now she’s Head of City Experiences at TUI, leading an experimental department testing new products. This year her team achieved 75% revenue growth and 50% growth in passenger numbers.
Klaudija brings startup grit and corporate scale to Guest Focus coaching. She specializes in sales strategy, marketing optimization, and distribution channels. Her coaching clients particularly value her website development expertise – she’s guided three members through complete overhauls.

Accomplishments:

  • Grew Urban Adventures to 500,000 passengers working with 170 tour operators worldwide over 10 years
  • Negotiated one of industry’s first media partnerships with New York Times Journeys
  • Built and sold two tour operating businesses in Ljubljana and London
  • As Head of City Experiences at TUI: achieved 75% revenue growth and 50% passenger growth in one year
  • 20 years in travel industry across multiple roles: rep, guide, marketing, sales, managing director

Angela Shen is a proven business builder with deep roots in entrepreneurship and brand management.

Angela founded Savor Seattle in 2007 and grew it to a $1M business in under 5 years without outside investment. During the COVID shutdown in 2020, she pivoted the business from food tours to curated food boxes and grew revenues more than 2x her best tour year! Angela was named in Puget Sound Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40, and started a second tour business Savor the Wild Tours in 2023.

Angela’s expertise in business strategy and operations hails from the consumer packaged goods sector where she previously worked in brand management at PepsiCo and looked after iconic brands including Quaker Oatmeal and Life Cereal. Angela is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business and serves on the board for Visit Seattle.

Ana stumbled into tourism backwards in the 1990s—first as a guide in remote Northwest Argentina mostly because she spoke English where few others did. As a horse rider, mountaineer, and fitness trainer, she naturally fell into adventure guiding, learning the hard way by doing first and studying later.

Everything began to click when she attended her first ATTA Adventure Travel Trade Summit in 2014. Suddenly, the entire structure of the travel industry made sense—the difference between operators and travel advisors, how B2B relationships actually work, or how marketing for a B2C audience is so different. That clarity saved her years of trial and error.

Since then, Ana has built her own travel company, Adentrando, initially as an active inbound tour operator for Northwest Argentina serving multi-day B2B clients, and since 2023 as an Argentina DMC and also operating trips in Latin America, working together with trusted partners. She’s become an ATTA trainer, developed Adventure Travel Guide Standards, and spoken at major industry events about responsible tourism and community partnerships.

Ana brings her hard-earned industry knowledge to Guest Focus members, particularly those starting out or pivoting their business models. Her specialty is multi-day trip design—creating itineraries that tell a story and have a positive impact, rather than just connecting attractions. She helps operators avoid the mistakes that cost her years of learning, turning complex industry relationships into clear, actionable strategies.

Accomplishments

  • First woman adventure travel guide in Northwest Argentina, driving Land Rovers across deserts
  • Been an ATTA trainer since 2016, traveling to Jordan, Chile, Colombia working with suppliers
  • Co-creator of Adventure Travel Guide Standards (2015) – one of 15 people who developed industry standards
  • ATTA business partner since 2012 and trainer for their Adventure EDU program
  • Speaker at major industry events like Pure, Lata in London, ATTA World Summit, Adventure Elevate on responsible tourism and adventure travel product design.

Casey spent 14 years at Zegrahm Expeditions, climbing to VP of Marketing Communications where she managed a million-dollar budget. Through her leadership, Zegrahm increased business with travel advisors by 10% and cut direct mail costs by 23% – real money when working with those numbers.

After Zegrahm, she spent a decade at the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), growing net revenue by 30% and profit margins by 60%. Through COVID and its recovery, as President of the ATTA maintained a 90% team retention rate by keeping people engaged and motivated.

Now running Casey Hanisko Coaching and Consulting in Seattle, she’s doubled her own revenue in one year while becoming ACC certified through the International Coaching Federation. She’s also Dare to Lead and DISC and EQI assessment certified, bringing structured tools to her approach.

Casey specializes in strategic planning and getting tour operators out of the daily grind so they can work on their business instead of in it. She helps solo entrepreneurs and small teams document knowledge, define roles, and build growth systems. Her Guest Focus clients have hit major milestones – one reached a million in revenue, others doubled income, and several Guest Focus members have brought on new team members, consultants, and partners.

She’s passionate about supporting women leaders and purpose-driven operators focused on responsible tourism.

Accomplishments:

  • Grew ATTA net revenue by 30% and net profit margins by 60%
  • Maintained 90% team retention rate during COVID challenges
  • At Zegrahm Expeditions: managed million-dollar marketing budget, increased travel advisor business by 10%
  • Cut direct mail costs by 23% (significant savings on million-dollar budget)

Jess quit her high school teaching job for what she thought would be one fun summer guiding bike tours around Paris. Eleven years later, she’s still there. Turns out, trading lesson plans for tour routes was the best career move she never planned to make.

She worked her way up from tour guide to director at Fat Tire Tours, learning every role – designing tours, training guides, managing ticketing, overseeing operations. This ground-up experience taught her what works for staff. She now works as Europe Head of Retail, as well as overseeing Paris/Versailles operations.

Her biggest win? Maximizing operational efficiency while keeping the human element intact. She redesigned scheduling systems to reduce labor costs and spoilage, automated data processes, and streamlined operations without losing Fat Tire’s family-friendly culture.

What she’s most proud of is her team development approach. Using her teaching background, she focuses on staff satisfaction and growth, helping guides and managers build confidence. Many told her the training changed not just their work performance, but their lives outside the company.

Jess brings this dual focus – operational efficiency plus people development – to Guest Focus coaching. She works with operators from solo startups to multi-million dollar companies, helping them increase profitability while maintaining authentic culture. Her coaching clients especially appreciate her reminder to take breaks and prioritize self-care.

Accomplishments:

  • Worked way up from tour guide to director at Fat Tire Tours over 11 years
  • Maximized operational efficiency – redesigned scheduling systems to reduce labor costs and spoilage
  • Automated data entry processes and streamlined operations without losing company culture
  • Developed team management systems with 60+ guides, created buddy system and quarterly reviews
  • Created staff retention program with traditions, events, and ‘dominate’ t-shirt recognition system

Fieldbook focuses on one thing: simplifying all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into delivering a tour.

The Fieldbook platform makes it easy to:

  • Publish stunning, interactive itineraries digital and paper itineraries
  • Equip guides with a comprehensive run-sheet
  • Streamline supplier management and track reservations and rooming lists
  • Bring all your tours into one connected workspace

Unlike other platforms, Fieldbook is simple and easy to use. And because it’s a small business just like you, you’ll get the kind of support big software companies can’t offer. That means getting up and running in days, not weeks.

If you want to give Fieldbook a try for your next tour, you can sign up here or if you want to have a chat feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected].

More About Fieldbook

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That’s when they partnered with ResmarkWeb – a digital marketing agency that specializes in the tour industry.

ResmarkWeb’s solution delivered:
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What sets ResmarkWeb apart? They understand tour operators. Their team walks you through every step, from understanding your vision to optimizing for conversions.

Nathan’s takeaway: “Don’t wait until you’re burned out. ResmarkWeb helped us grow without compromising our values.”

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