About Outset

The short version of what this site is, how a booking works, and who is behind it.

What Outset is

Outset is a booking marketplace for local activities: jet skis, skydives, fishing charters, kayak and boat rentals, escape rooms, karting, cooking and pottery classes, spas, ranges and the rest of the things people normally have to phone about. A listing shows the business's own prices, hours, age rules and policies, taken from its own website, and a guest picks a time and books. We never invent a price, an opening time, an age rule or an open slot. Where a business has not published a fact, the listing says so instead of guessing.

Every business on Outset is real and runs its own activity. The business sets the price and the rules and delivers the experience. Outset takes the booking, handles the payment and keeps the two sides in touch.

Two kinds of listing

Activity operators, booked on Outset

A jet ski rental, a skydive, a charter, a class. You book on Outset. The business confirms, or it is confirmed at once where the business has switched on instant booking. Owners claim their page from the "List your business" link and edit prices, photos, hours and policies themselves.

Tickets, attractions and tours, booked with a partner

Museums, shows, city tours, theme parks and similar are listed through booking partners, Viator first. The page on Outset carries the partner's own photos, description and from-price under its licence, and the "Book on Viator" button takes you to the partner's site, where you pick a date and pay. Outset earns a commission on that booking, at no extra cost to you, and the page says so. Nothing on a partner listing is sold by Outset directly.

How payment works

Card payments run through Stripe. Outset never sees or stores your card number. When you book, the amount is authorised on your card and held, not charged. When the business accepts, the payment is captured. If the business declines or does not answer in time, the hold is released and nothing is taken. Where a listing is instant-book, the booking is confirmed and charged the moment payment succeeds. The total you see before you pay is the total you pay: the business's price plus one service fee, shown as its own line.

Cancellation

Each business's own cancellation policy applies, and it is printed on the listing before you pay. If the business cancels, including for weather or safety, you are refunded in full, automatically, to the card you paid with. A hold that was never captured is simply released. A booking made on a partner's site follows that partner's cancellation policy. The full rules are in the Terms of Service.

Where the facts come from

Each fact on a listing comes from the business's own website or from the booking partner's licensed feed, one source per fact. A business can change a price or an opening time without telling us, so an owner can correct anything or have the page taken down by writing to us.

Who we are

Outset is run from Waterloo, Ontario.

Questions, corrections and removal requests: hello@onoutset.com.