Why we recommend Rezdy direct bookings (and what it means for backpackers)

How we choose which booking link to show, and how it affects your trip cost.

By Byron Bay Backpackers editorial team

When you click a booking link on one of our operator pages — for kayak tours, surf schools, dive trips — we use a priority order:

1. Rezdy direct (where available) 2. Viator affiliate 3. GetYourGuide affiliate 4. Official operator website

Here's why Rezdy direct is best for the operator AND comparable price for you. Rezdy is the booking-engine that many small Byron operators (Soul Surf School, Go Sea Kayak, Out of the Blue Adventures) use for their own websites. When you book through their Rezdy page, the operator keeps the full booking value minus a small platform fee (~$1-2 per transaction).

When you book the same tour through Viator or GetYourGuide, those platforms charge the operator 15-22% commission. You pay the same retail price; the operator gets less.

For backpackers, the practical takeaway: when you see a "Direct booking via Rezdy" badge on one of our operator pages, that means we're sending you to the operator's own booking infrastructure. Same price, more money to the small business actually running the tour.

We're building partnerships with Rezdy-integrated operators where they'll give us a flat 8-10% referral fee for sending bookings their way — substantially less than the OTA cut. That's how this site funds itself without affecting your tour cost.

If you're an operator reading this and not yet on Rezdy or other channel manager systems, see our operators page.