How an operator gets on this site

"153 operators vetted, and not all of them accepted" sits at the bottom of most pages here. This is what vetted means — six checks, each one something we can actually verify, and what fails each of them.

1. 1

   An Icelandic company, with a licence to operate

   We look the company up in the Icelandic company register and on Ferðamálastofa's list of licensed tour operators and travel agencies before we sign. 143 of our 153 operators show their registration number on their Bókun record; where one is missing we ask for it.

   What fails: A "tour company" that is one person with a car and no licence. They exist, they are cheaper, and they are not here.

2. 2

   A Bókun contract we hold directly

   Every tour is sold under a direct seller contract between the operator and us on Bókun. That is what lets you see their real availability, pay their real price and get their own confirmation code — and what lets us cancel or move a booking without asking an intermediary.

   What fails: Inventory relisted through a second reseller. We cannot promise a refund flow we do not control.

3. 3

   Guests rate them well over time, in public

   We read the company's Google reviews — not a curated feed, all of them, sorted newest first. 97 of the 117 operators with a Google rating are at 4.5 or above; 115 are at 4.0 or above. A lower score with a good explanation (a hard product, a bad season) can pass. A pattern of no-shows or unanswered complaints cannot.

   What fails: A 4.9 from eleven reviews written in the same week. A 3.8 with complaints about pickups that nobody answered.

4. 4

   They cancel for weather, and refund when they do

   Their cancellation terms are published on Bókun so we can show them on every tour page before you pay. 1269 of our 1717 tours carry an explicit free-cancellation window; 1184 (69%) give you at least 24 hours. Operators who run a boat into a gale to avoid refunding are not operators we can back.

   What fails: "Non-refundable, weather permitting" on a January northern-lights tour.

5. 5

   Their descriptions match their tours

   We compare what the Bókun listing says with what the reviews describe: group size, pickup, what "easy" means on a glacier, whether the lunch is included or a stop at a petrol station. Where the copy oversells, we rewrite our own page honestly or leave the tour out.

   What fails: "Small group" on a 60-seat coach. "Guaranteed sightings" on anything alive.

6. 6

   They answer

   We contact every operator before listing and note how long the reply took. A company that cannot answer us in a quiet week will not answer you when a road closes.

   What fails: No reply in ten working days. It happens more than you would think.

What we have turned down

We do not publish a list of companies we refused — this is a small country and that would be unfair to people who may improve. The categories are these:

• Operators whose pricing to resellers assumes we add a hidden fee to the guest — we sell at the operator's own price, and a contract that only works with a markup is not one we sign.
• Companies with a pattern of taking bookings and passing guests to a different operator on the day without saying so.
• A small number of companies we have simply decided not to deal with, after our own experience of them. We do not name them; we also do not list them.

What being listed does not mean

It does not mean every tour is good for every person. A glacier hike rated 4.8 is still wrong for a six-year-old, and a whale boat in November will still turn back some days. The tour pages say who each one is not for, and the guides pick sides between similar tours. Vetting gets a company through the door; the honest page is what you get after.

When an operator falls short anyway

Tell us. We answer within one working day, and within four hours when your tour starts within 48 hours. If an operator let you down we take it up with them ourselves and sort out the refund or the alternative — and an operator with a pattern of it comes off the site. The promise in full is on the terms page.