Everything You Need to Know About Zuru: A Guide for Tour Operators & Activity Providers

What Zuru is, in one sentence

Zuru is the payment and booking platform for Africa's tour and activity providers. We help operators accept multi-currency, multi-method payments and drive direct bookings.

Who Zuru is for

If you run guided tours, day activities, multi-day expeditions, safaris, water sports, cultural experiences, or anything in between, Zuru is built for you. It works just as well for a one-person operator running an hourly sailing trip as it does for a larger outfit running multi-day safaris with a full team. Tour operators across South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania already use Zuru to manage their bookings end to end.

What you get when you sign up

Your own operator page

When you join Zuru you get a fully branded operator page that's ready to accept online payments from day one. Your guests can pay with credit or debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, EFT, Mpesa and even buy now, pay later through our flexible payment options. You can preview what a finished operator page looks like here: https://zurudemo-marketplace-staging.tryzuru.com/

Listing on the Zuru marketplace

Every operator who joins Zuru has their experiences published on the Zuru marketplace. That means travellers actively looking to book activities and tours can discover and book your experiences directly, on top of any leads coming through your own channels. You don't pay extra for marketplace exposure. It's part of being a Zuru operator.

Quotes and proposals

Zuru replaces the back-and-forth of Excel sheets and bank-link emails with clean, branded quote and proposal links your guests can pay on directly. When a guest accepts your quote, the booking and payment flow through Zuru without you having to chase anything. You can see the quote workflow in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYcyxhgDOAY

Booking and operations management

A single dashboard handles your bookings calendar, customer details and reporting. As you grow you can plug in more capabilities without changing systems, so Zuru keeps up with you whether you're doing five bookings a month or five hundred.

How payments work

Zuru processes payments through Peach Payments, one of the leading payment gateways in Africa. You sign up for your own Peach Payments account during the Zuru onboarding flow, and that account is linked to your Zuru operator page. When a guest pays, the money settles into your Peach account and pays out to your bank.

Multiple payment methods are supported out of the box, including card payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, EFT, and buy now, pay later, so guests can choose what's easiest for them. International cards are also supported, which makes it simpler to take bookings from overseas travellers.

You can start your Peach Payments registration here: https://app.pipefy.com/public/form/BjIK9QTd?peach_rep=302162112

What you need to qualify

To accept payments through Zuru you need to be set up with Peach Payments. As part of Peach's onboarding process you'll be asked to confirm that you're a registered tour guide, or that your business is registered with a recognised tourism body such as SATSA. Having those credentials handy when you start makes Peach onboarding much faster. If you're not sure whether your registration qualifies, get in touch with us and we'll help you check before you begin.

What Zuru costs

Zuru pricing is straightforward and is set out in detail on our pricing page. You can review the current plans and see what's included in each tier here: https://www.tryzuru.com/pricing/
There are no hidden charges and no setup fees for getting your operator page live. You can start on the plan that fits your stage and grow into a higher plan as your bookings grow. Card processing fees are charged separately by Peach Payments based on transaction volume and method, and Peach will share their rates with you during your account setup.

How to get started

Getting going on Zuru takes three steps.

First, sign up for a Zuru operator account at https://operator.tryzuru.com/signup. We'll email you a verification link as soon as you start, and once you've verified your email you'll be guided through a short onboarding flow that captures the basic details we use to build your operator page.

Second, complete your Peach Payments registration at https://app.pipefy.com/public/form/BjIK9QTd?peach_rep=302162112. This is what enables your operator page to accept online payments.

Third, add your experiences and go live. Our team is on hand to help you upload your tours, set your pricing, and polish your page so your first booking can come through with confidence.

Ready to start?

Sign up for Zuru at https://operator.tryzuru.com/signup.
Alternatively, email support@tryzuru.com if you have any questions