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TRAVELLERS HELP

Booking an experience

How can I find an experience?

You may browse tourism experiences by several categories such as City Tour, Car Tour, Excursion, Dance Lesson, Relaxation, and much more. In the homepage, just select the type of activity you are looking for and click on Explore. We will display all the registered experiences that match with your expectations. To know more about a particular experience, just click on it.

How do I create a wishlist?

You may store your favorite experiences in a wishlist by clicking on the little heart shown in every activity. To access your wishlist, first log in using your credentials and go to My Account, on the top right of any page, and click on Wishlist.

How do I book an experience on Tour Republic?

Our safe booking system guarantees the realization of the experience you requested or your money back! Just click on the Request Booking button displayed in the experience page and submit your billing information. Don´t worry! We won´t bill you until the booking request is confirmed.

Can I book an experience as an US traveler?

Yes, most of our experiences fall within the general licenses approved by OFAC, especially under the Support for the Cuban People general license. However, it is your responsibility as a traveler to ensure that your schedule, including our experiences, are permitted under the license that you're using when traveling to Cuba.

What is Instant Booking?

Instant Booking is a term that means that a reservation for a particular experience is immediately effective on certain dates. That is, there is no need for a booking request since the local has free schedule for such particular dates.

How much time does a local have to respond to my booking request?

Locals have up to 48 hours to respond to a booking request due to the technological limitations in Cuba. Nevertheless, our team and the locals will work hard to answer you as quickly as possible.

How do I know if a local has accepted my booking request?

You will receive and email from Tour Republic within 48 hours confirming or declining your booking request.

If confirmed, you will receive the itinerary summary of the requested experience along with a Booking Number that you must preserve and give it to the local just before performing the experience.

What happens if my booking request is denied or expires?

If the booking request is denied, Tour Republic will try to please you offering similar experiences with other locals. However, you have no obligation to book the suggested activities and won’t be billed for the denied booking request. In any case, you are more than welcome to keep exploring Tour Republic and find another experience that meets your expectations.

How can I get in contact with a Local to obtain more information about the experience?

You can ask any question you have about the experience through the Tour Republic messaging system. We work as a bridge between locals and travelers to facilitate a more effective communication.

Why can’t I call or email a local before booking?

To ensure the safety and quality of the transaction, Tour Republic must function as a bridge between the local and the traveler. Even though we cannot facilitate direct phone calls and emails, you can message the local through the Tour Republic communication system as much as you need.

How can I receive and send messages to locals?

First, log in using your credentials. Then, go to My Account, on the top right of any page, click on Inbox. From there you can send direct messages to locals as much as you need.

What happens if I receive an inappropriate message?

You must report it to Tour Republic immediately so we can deal with the issue in no time. Please, send us an email to support@tourepublic.com providing the following:

  • Local’s name
  • Title of the experience
  • Booking date
  • Copy of the inappropriate message

Payment

Is the displayed price the final price?

Yes, the displayed price is the final price you will pay, including service fees, commissions or any other applicable fees.

How does Tour Republic process payments?

Once your booking request is confirmed, we will charge you the applicable price.

However, we don’t immediately send the money to the local. Instead, we hold the transaction for up to 24 hours after the experience has taken place to verify that everything went according to the booking schedule and itinerary.

When do I pay?

You submit your billing information when requesting the experience in Tour Republic’s website.

When will I be charged?

You will be charge when the local confirms your booking request.

Will I be charged if my booking request is rejected?

You won’t be charged unless your booking request is confirmed.

What is a Booking Number?

A Booking Number is a number that Tour Republic provides you once your booking is confirmed. You must preserve and give it to the local just before performing the experience. Giving this number to the local is of the upmost importance because it will confirm that the experience took place and the local may collect the payment.

Which payment methods are accepted?

You may pay using your credit card or through PayPal. Please, notice that you don’t need to create a PayPal account to pay for your requested experience. If you have any issue while paying, please send us a message to support@tourepublic.com providing the following:

  • Title of the experience you are interested in
  • Description of the issue or question you have

Can I pay in any currency?

You must pay in American dollars.

Why should I use your payment system to pay the local?

Our payment system guarantees the safety of the transaction. We will take care of the money issues so you can relax and enjoy your vacation. Our safe booking system guarantees the realization of the experience you requested or your money back!

What if a local asks me for more money than what I paid on the site?

You do not have to give the local more money that what you already paid. Tips are completely voluntary. If the local asks you for more money, simply say no and notify us to support@tourepublic.com providing the following:

  • Local’s name
  • Title of the experience
  • Booking date
  • Description of the issue

Cancellations, Changes and Refunds

What is a Cancellation Policy?

Our Cancellation Policy is a set of guidelines to request and process cancellations of listed experiences in Tour Republic. Please, read our Cancellation Policy for more details.

Will I be charged if I cancel my booking request?

You may cancel an experience with a complete refund if you do so 14 calendar days before the booking date.

However, please notice that confirmed bookings may affect the local’s business since he/she already reserved a date for you, probably declining requests from other travelers.

That’s why we strongly encourage you to discuss other options with the local through our messaging system.

Please, notice that if you decide to cancel the confirmed experience within 14 calendar days from the booking date, you may not receive a refund. Please, read our Cancellation Policy for more details.

Can I change the booking date?

Yes, you can. Send us an email to support@tourepublic.com providing the following:

  • Title of the booked experience
  • Local’s name
  • Booking date
  • New requested booking date

We will cancel your previous order and make a new one for you. No extra charges will be made if you are interested in the same experience.

How do I cancel a booking request?

To cancel your booking request, please send us a message to support@tourepublic.com providing the title of the experience you want to cancel.

The local cancelled my experience, what happens now?

If a local cancels a confirmed experience, you be notified immediately by email. Since we understand how this unexpected cancellation may affect your travel plans, we may penalize the local in order to prevent this behavior again.

Tour Republic may attempt to please you offering similar experiences with other locals. However, you have no obligation to book the suggested activity. In any case, you are more than welcome to explore Tour Republic and find another experience that meets your expectations.

If you do not wish to book another experience, we will process a full refund within 5-7 business days from the cancellation date. Please, read our Cancellation Policy for more details.

How do I get a refund?

You may get a refund if you cancel your booked experience 14 calendars days before the booking date or if you suffer a Travel Issue. A Travel Issue means any of the following:

  • No-show: the local failed to arrive within 20 minutes of the scheduled start time for the experience.
  • The description of the experience is materially inaccurate regarding the real duration, itinerary, or physical location.
  • The experience depended on certain weather conditions that were not met and prevented the experience from taking place on the booking date.

If you suffered a Travel Issue, please reported it to support@tourepublic.com within 24 hours from the day the experience took place. In your report, please provide the following:

  • Title of the experience
  • Booking date
  • Description of the experienced issue

For more details, please read our Refund Policy.

Booked experiences

Can I get in touch with the local?

You can get in touch with the local through our message system and send him as many messages as you need. We will function as a bridge between the traveler and the local to ensure the quality and safety of the communication and the transaction.

How will I recognize the local when we meet?

The profile picture of the local will help you recognize him/her. The local will be also able to recognize you if you include a profile picture in your profile.

Additionally, you may use our messaging system to communicate with the local and ask him/her for more details that will help you identify him-her.

What happens if the local doesn’t appear for the experience?

If the local doesn’t show up, you must notify Tour Republic as soon as you can. Your money will be fully refunded.

How do I report that something was wrong during the experience?

You are more than welcome to send us an email to support@tourepublic.com and we will help you solve the experienced issue. Please, provide the following:

  • Title of the experience
  • Booking date
  • Description of the experienced issue

Please, do it within 24 hours from the day the experience took place so you could be entitled to a refund, if applicable.

Will there be other people during the experience?

Due to the requirements for a particular experience, you may participate with other travelers. In no way should this affect the quality of the activity and even in some cases you may end up having more fun, like in dance classes. However, sometimes you might end up enjoying an experience all by yourself. It all depends on the experience requirements, the booking date and the number of booking requests for a particular date.

What are some helpful tips for traveling to Cuba?

If you are in search of helpful tips for traveling to Cuba, you are welcome to surf our blog, where you will find everything you need to know to plan a memorable trip to Cuba.

Reviews

How do reviews work?

After you enjoyed the experience, we encourage you to write a review about it to help other travelers decide what to do on their Cuba vacations.

To leave a review, first log in using your credentials. Then, go to My Account, on the top right of any page, and click on Bookings. Then go to Reviews and select the experience you want to review.

What are the Tour Republic’s review guidelines?

Travelers may review the experience they have attended. Published reviews must be true, clear and useful for Tour Republic and the users. Travelers may not be obliged or coerced to give opinions in a specific sense. If this occurs, please report it by sending an e-mail to support@tourepublic.com providing the following:

  • Title of the experience
  • Booking date
  • Description of the experienced issue

Please, notice that reviews will not be removed or edited unless there are clear violations to our Terms and Conditions.

What do the stars mean?

Starts are the rating system Tour Republic uses to validate an experience, 5 stars being the maximum and 1, the minimum.