How to Win More Credit Card Disputes as a Tour and Activity Operator
This is the third of our three-part series on credit card disputes. Tune in to the first part of the series here.
At a recent tour operator conference, hundreds of business owners gathered to share their experiences with credit card disputes. The room quickly became what one attendee called “a circle of trauma”—operators who had lost thousands, and in some cases tens of thousands of dollars, despite having overwhelming evidence that guests had booked and participated in their tours.
Even more concerning: data from booking software providers shows that at least four-fifths of the time, even with strong evidence, tour operators are likely to lose if the dispute goes through the entire process.
The Reality of Credit Card Disputes
As a tour operator, you’re likely familiar with the gut-wrenching feeling of receiving a dispute notification. Despite photographs of guests enjoying your tour, signed waivers, and detailed booking records, banks frequently rule in favor of their cardholders. This isn’t because you’ve done anything wrong—it’s simply because banks prioritize their cardholders, who are ultimately their customers.
Making Smart Decisions About Disputes
When you receive a dispute notification from your booking software, you have two primary options. You can accept the dispute and move on, which means not submitting an evidence packet and letting the process play out. While you’ll almost certainly not win in this case, sometimes accepting a dispute and redirecting your energy elsewhere makes more business sense.
If you choose to fight, your booking platform should send an immediate dispute notification and provide a form for collecting evidence. They should have already compiled a minimum viable evidence packet. Sometimes submitting just this basic packet is enough or the right choice to make.
Critical Timeline Understanding
The dispute process follows specific timelines you need to know:
- Evidence submission window: 7-10 days
- Bank review period: 60-90 days
- Final resolution: Up to 120 days
The Power of Direct Communication
The most effective strategy for winning a dispute comes from reaching out to get customers to withdraw their dispute with their bank. While this doesn’t change the timeline—you still won’t have access to the money for 90-120 days—it provides very strong evidence in your favor. When both the customer and you submit evidence that the dispute has been withdrawn, your chances of success increase significantly.
Remember that verbal agreements aren’t enough—you can’t submit recordings of phone calls or conversations. Everything needs to be in writing. Many disputes stem from simple misunderstandings or forgotten charges. Having someone on your team dedicated to reaching out for dispute withdrawals can be valuable.
Building Your Evidence Package
Your booking software should help compile essential evidence, including:
- Booking details and confirmation
- Signed waivers or check-in records
- Cancellation policy
- Relevant email correspondence
- Written documentation of dispute withdrawal
- Photos of customers on the tour premises or during the tour
- Staff notes or incident reports
Understanding the Customer Perspective
The dispute process is often just as frustrating for customers. They may not understand the process, might struggle to contact their bank, or be unclear about where their money is or why they don’t have it yet. When reaching out, you can often help provide clarity about the situation and process. You might even be able to offer alternative solutions that aren’t limited to the formal dispute process.
However, there will be times when you can’t reach someone, or when fraud or bad intentions are clear. In these cases, while you should do your best to win the dispute, maintaining perspective is crucial.
Maintaining Perspective
While losing hundreds or thousands of dollars to disputes hurts, consider how your time might be better spent. Building new partnerships, improving website conversion rates, developing new products, training your team, or enhancing customer experience often generate thousands or even hundreds of thousands in new recurring revenue – far outweighing dispute losses.
Moving Forward Productively
Yes, implement the prevention best practices. Yes, fight disputes when it makes sense. But make conscious decisions about your approach:
- Consider submitting just the minimum viable evidence package directly from your booking software
- Always try to reach the customer and get a written withdrawal of the dispute
Don’t let disputes consume your precious energy, time, resources, and focus. Accept that banks usually side with customers, even faced with overwhelming evidence. Put this in the large bucket of things we can’t control as business owners.
Instead, ensure your prevention systems are solid, follow the best practices we’ve shared for handling disputes, but most importantly, focus your time and energy on what you do best—wowing and delighting as many guests as possible while growing your tour business.
