You know the message. “Hey, can I still get picked up for the 10am tour?” It’s 9:48.
In theory, you want to say yes. In practice, your driver’s already gone. Your staff are juggling phone calls. And you’re suddenly stuck between delivering great customer service and not derailing the rest of your schedule.
The tension between customer convenience and operational sanity
Last-minute bookings are great for filling empty seats. But they come at a cost. Especially for operators offering hotel pickups, managing those late changes often means:
- Calling drivers mid-route
- Rearranging pickup stops
- Delaying other customers
None of it is ideal. And while most customers don’t mean to create chaos, the option to select a pickup close to departure time opens the door to real issues.
The new pickup blackout setting
That’s why we’ve added a small but mighty feature: the pickup blackout.
Operators can now set a lead time before departure, after which customers can no longer select a pickup location. It could be two hours, 12 hours, or a full day, depending on what fits your operation.
This means:
- fewer awkward refund conversations
- less scrambling for your ops team
- no more pickups getting requested when they’re no longer logistically possible
Why it matters
According to Arival, over 38% of tour bookings happen less than 48 hours in advance. And for mobile-heavy audiences, that number is even higher.
That flexibility is a strength, but it needs guardrails. Otherwise, it creates stress for your team and unpredictability for your guests.
A simple pickup blackout helps protect both. It keeps your customer promise intact while still supporting last-minute sales.
Want to set up pickup blackouts for your tours?
Log in to Palisis and add your preferred cutoff now.