London City Bus Tours is a London sightseeing operator and reseller established in 1984, running open-top hop-on hop-off routes past the city's main landmarks alongside black-taxi tours, themed night tours and guided day trips to Stonehenge, Windsor, Oxford and the Cotswolds, selling its own product and third-party experiences together. For operators, it brings first-time and international visitors, families and group bookings who want landmark coverage plus countryside excursions from a single London seller, including Christmas Day visitors when public transport stops running.

Connecting London City Bus Tours to Ventrata syncs your availability and prices and delivers bookings, changes and cancellations with tickets issued automatically. London City Bus Tours uses Ventrata as their primary ticketing system.

To learn more about partnering with London City Bus Tours, visit londoncitybustours.com.

Primary website	londoncitybustours.com
Tags	Operator Reselling Others · Sightseeing & Hop-On Hop-Off · Ventrata Client
Destination markets	🇬🇧 UK
Source markets	🌎 Global
Specialties	London landmarks plus countryside day trips from one seller
Connection features	Availability Sync · Pricing Sync · Bookings Sync · Custom Questions Sync
Ventrata Booked GMV (last 12 months)	US$100k+
Ventrata Booked Suppliers (last 12 months)	5+
Developed by	Ventrata (using Ventrata's OCTO API)

This reseller connection lets you sell your products through London City Bus Tours without managing availability, pricing and bookings by hand. Features of this connection include:

Availability Sync – London City Bus Tours checks your live availability in Ventrata.
Pricing Sync – London City Bus Tours gets your prices from your reseller pricing in Ventrata.
Bookings Sync – bookings, updates and cancellations from London City Bus Tours are created in Ventrata instantly, and customers get Ventrata tickets.
Custom Questions Sync – custom booking questions are synced between Ventrata and London City Bus Tours.

Creating the London City Bus Tours Connection

🔐 Required Role Permissions: See Connections, Modify Connections, See Connection Key

Before you begin:

You have a commercial agreement with London City Bus Tours for them to sell your products.
London City Bus Tours is created as a Reseller in Ventrata, with retail and wholesale/commission pricing set up.

London City Bus Tours runs on Ventrata, so this is a Ventrata-to-Ventrata connection. You create a Ventrata Reseller Connection for London City Bus Tours and securely share its API key. London City Bus Tours then connects and maps your products in its own Ventrata account.

In the Ventrata Dashboard, go to Connections > Connections, press + New Connection and search for Ventrata Reseller Connection.
Select London City Bus Tours as the reseller. If needed, allow or disallow destinations and products on the connection, then press Create Connection.
Press the eye icon to reveal the API key, copy it and securely share it with your contact at London City Bus Tours.
London City Bus Tours adds you as an operator with Ventrata (Operator Backend) as the backend, then connects and maps each product. Ask them to make a test booking, and check that it appears in your bookings table.

📗 TIP

For every step with screenshots, see Ventrata: Reseller Connection. London City Bus Tours follows Ventrata: Operator Backend.

Managing the London City Bus Tours Connection

Allow or disallow products: limit which destinations, products and options London City Bus Tours can access. See how to allow or disallow products.
Rename the connection to tell several London City Bus Tours connections apart.

Connection Features Detailed

This section is for anyone who wants to know exactly how the London City Bus Tours connection works: which Ventrata OCTO API calls London City Bus Tours makes (through Ventrata's certified integration), when it makes them, and what that means for you. Each call links to Ventrata's API documentation.

In short: London City Bus Tours pulls everything it needs from Ventrata. It reads your products, checks your availability and prices, and sends bookings and cancellations. Ventrata doesn't push changes to London City Bus Tours, so anything you change in Ventrata reaches London City Bus Tours the next time it checks.

Timings are typical for London City Bus Tours and rounded, and they can change if London City Bus Tours changes how it syncs.

Product Mapping	✅	London City Bus Tours maps your products to its own in its Ventrata account. On each backend-connected product, London City Bus Tours picks the matching product, option and units from your account on the product's Mappings tab. Products that aren't mapped correctly are highlighted in red, and bookings for them fail. See Ventrata: Operator Backend.
Content Sync	❌	London City Bus Tours doesn't read your product content from Ventrata. London City Bus Tours uses the descriptions, images and other content set up on its own side, so update your content with London City Bus Tours directly.
Availability Sync	✅	London City Bus Tours checks your live availability in Ventrata. Ventrata doesn't push availability changes to London City Bus Tours. This works as follows: Availability Check (`POST /availability`) – London City Bus Tours sends a product, an option and a date or date range. Ventrata answers with each bookable day or time slot, its status (`AVAILABLE`, `LIMITED`, `SOLD_OUT`, `CLOSED` or `FREESALE`), the remaining vacancies, the booking cutoff and an `availabilityId`, which London City Bus Tours needs to book that slot. Availability Calendar (`POST /availability/calendar`) – returns one summary per day instead of every time slot, typically to show which dates are open in a date picker. Check at booking – when a customer books, Ventrata checks capacity again before it creates the booking, so London City Bus Tours can't overbook a slot that has just sold out, even if its stored availability is slightly out of date. Typically with London City Bus Tours: Availability Check: London City Bus Tours checks your products throughout the day, usually starting today and covering a single day per request, looks up to about 2 months ahead and re-checks the same product and dates about every 3 hours. Availability Calendar: London City Bus Tours checks your products throughout the day, usually starting today and covering a single day per request, looks up to about a year ahead and re-checks the same product and dates about every 3 hours. Checks are spread through the day with no strong peak, which suggests a mix of scheduled syncs and live customer searches. What this means for you: when you close a date, change capacity or sell out in Ventrata, London City Bus Tours shows it after its next check. For dates it checks regularly, that's within about 3 hours. Dates further ahead are usually checked less often.
Pricing Sync	✅	Your prices come back with every availability check, once London City Bus Tours asks for them with the octo/pricing capability. This works as follows: Typically with London City Bus Tours: 📗 TIP – If prices on London City Bus Tours look wrong, check the London City Bus Tours reseller's pricing in Ventrata first: that's what London City Bus Tours reads. London City Bus Tours can take your prices with Backend Pricing on its product, or set its own prices in its account.
Promotions Sync	❌	Your Ventrata promotions don't apply on London City Bus Tours. Prices on London City Bus Tours don't include promotions you create in Ventrata. Set up any promotions with London City Bus Tours directly.
Bookings Sync	✅	Bookings and cancellations made on London City Bus Tours are created in Ventrata instantly, and customers get Ventrata tickets. This works as follows: Hold: Booking Reservation (`POST /bookings`) – when a customer starts checkout on London City Bus Tours, London City Bus Tours sends the product, option, chosen slot (`availabilityId`) and one unit item per person. Ventrata checks capacity again and creates an `ON_HOLD` booking, which holds the places while the customer pays. If there's no longer room, Ventrata rejects the hold. Confirm: Booking Confirmation (`POST /bookings/{uuid}/confirm`) – once payment goes through, London City Bus Tours confirms the hold, with its own booking reference and the customer's contact details. The booking becomes `CONFIRMED` in Ventrata, and Ventrata sends back your booking reference and the tickets (one per person) or a voucher (one per booking), depending on how your product is set up, each with a QR code and a PDF link. London City Bus Tours gives these to the customer, who shows them at your entrance like any Ventrata ticket. Expire: if the customer doesn't finish paying, London City Bus Tours never confirms, and the hold expires on its own and frees the places. Cancel: Booking Cancellation (`POST /bookings/{uuid}/cancel`) – when a customer cancels on London City Bus Tours, London City Bus Tours cancels the booking in Ventrata. Ventrata accepts this only if the booking can still be cancelled and the option's cancellation cutoff hasn't passed. Otherwise it rejects the request, and London City Bus Tours has to contact you. Change: London City Bus Tours doesn't use Booking Update (`PATCH /bookings/{uuid}`), so a change most likely reaches Ventrata as a cancellation plus a new booking. Typically with London City Bus Tours: London City Bus Tours doesn't set a hold time, so the default hold time applies. A typical London City Bus Tours booking is for about 3 people. It's normal to see more holds than confirmed bookings: holds from customers who don't finish paying simply expire. London City Bus Tours also checks the bookings it has made, with Get Booking (`GET /bookings/{uuid}`) about every 30 minutes, for example to reconcile its records. ‼️ IMPORTANT – Bookings sync one way, from London City Bus Tours to Ventrata. If you cancel, change or rebook a booking from London City Bus Tours in Ventrata, for example in the Dashboard, London City Bus Tours isn't notified. Contact London City Bus Tours so the booking is cancelled or changed on their side too, or ask the customer to cancel through London City Bus Tours.
Pickups/Dropoff Sync	✅ / ❌	London City Bus Tours sends pickup details with its bookings. This works as follows: `octo/pickups` capability – London City Bus Tours can see which options offer pickup and their pickup points, and send the customer's pickup point or hotel with the booking. If a hotel doesn't match one of your pickup points, Ventrata saves it with the booking so you can arrange the pickup. Typically with London City Bus Tours: London City Bus Tours sends pickup details with its bookings.
Custom Questions Sync	✅	London City Bus Tours sends answers to your booking questions with its bookings. This works as follows: `octo/questions` capability – London City Bus Tours reads the questions set on your products and sends the customer's answers with the booking, where you see them in Ventrata. Typically with London City Bus Tours: London City Bus Tours sends answers to your booking questions.
Extras Sync	❌	Extras and add-ons can't be booked through London City Bus Tours. Customers can only book your main products and options on London City Bus Tours. Sell extras separately, for example on arrival.
Redemption Sync	❌	Redemptions aren't reported to London City Bus Tours. Ventrata doesn't notify London City Bus Tours when a ticket is scanned or redeemed. London City Bus Tours only sees a redemption if it reads the booking back from Ventrata.
Pass Walkup Scanning Sync	❌	London City Bus Tours pass holders can't be scanned at your entrance without a booking. Customers from London City Bus Tours need a booking made through London City Bus Tours before they visit.
Gift Card Sync	❌	Ventrata gift cards can't be sold or redeemed through London City Bus Tours. Gift cards bought in Ventrata can't be used on London City Bus Tours, and London City Bus Tours can't sell Ventrata gift cards.

✅ supported · ✅ / ❌ limited · ❌ not supported

Good to know: limits and details of the London City Bus Tours connection

Delays: availability and prices reach London City Bus Tours only when it checks, so there's always a short delay after you change something in Ventrata.
Cancellation cutoff: London City Bus Tours can cancel over the API only before your option's cancellation cutoff. Later cancellations have to be agreed with you.
What London City Bus Tours can see: only the destinations, products and options allowed on the reseller and the connection, and enabled for sale on the Direct API source. See how to allow or disallow products.
Tickets: London City Bus Tours issues the Ventrata tickets or voucher it gets on confirmation, so your usual scanning and redemption work as normal.
Test bookings: London City Bus Tours can send test bookings while it sets up the connection. Test bookings don't use your availability and aren't invoiced.

FAQs

No products are displayed on the connection page.

Verify which destinations, products, and options are allowed on your reseller and connection. Next, confirm that your products and options are enabled for sale on the Direct API source. If the issue persists, contact our Technical Support.

My Ventrata products use Booking Size fares, and pricing isn't working correctly on London City Bus Tours.

After every fare change, update the product mapping to ensure the partner tier counts are synced with Ventrata. Ensure the fare is enabled for sale over Direct API.

📚 More about Ventrata connections

Partner Information

LONDON CITY BUS TOURS LIMITED

6th Floor, Manfield House, 1 Southampton Street

London, England, WC2R 0LR, United Kingdom

londoncitybustours.com

Ventrata Partner ID: 5417b721-1ae6-40ff-9724-460ca3ee6eee

Ventrata Ltd

55 Baker Street

London, W1U 7EU, United Kingdom

ventrata.com

Ventrata Partner ID: a6a2a406-088a-4466-b87c-7fcc17770b71

London City Bus Tours: Reseller Connection