US Ghost Adventures

What’s US Ghost Adventures?

US Ghost Adventures is a tour company that makes a speciality of the macabre — places where people were murdered or sites which might be believed to be haunted. It enlists freelance tour guides, paying $25 to $50 per 90-minute tour.

How it really works

Individuals who wish to apply to be tour guides here must live inside 15 miles of a US Ghost Adventures location. (You’ll be able to check locations here.) You should give you the chance to pass a background check and be willing to work no less than three days every week.

To “audition” for the post, you’ll memorize a script and submit a video of you performing that “tour” online. These online auditions are aimed toward seeing whether you’ll be able to relay the knowledge within the script in an enticing and animated way.

Assuming you pass this test,  you’ll be asked to sign a contract and learn a script for one in every of the ghost tours in your city.

You aren’t paid to learn the script. And is not going to be offered a paying job until after you complete an unpaid “supervised tour.”

After that, you’ll submit your work availability for the next month. Work assignments are based on that, so you may have some say in setting your schedule.

US Ghost Adventures review

For those who love drama and are good with people, giving ghost tours with US Ghost Adventures may very well be a fun strategy to earn a bit money. Nonetheless, like many acting jobs, you’re not paid to learn the script nor to perfect your delivery. That’s done on your personal time. And this unpaid “training” could take two weeks.

Once you begin giving paid tours, the positioning says it normally pays guides $50 per 90-minute tour. You furthermore may get 100% of the client suggestions. With large groups, those suggestions may very well be substantial.

But the corporate will schedule tours which have as few as 2 customers, so you’ll be able to’t count on suggestions. And there’s a caveat concerning the per-tour pay, too. (See “Pay” below.)

The job

Tours are generally walking tours that traverse a couple of one-mile circle. It is advisable to be in good-enough shape to handle talking loudly and dramatically, while walking.

Most tours are given at night — typically between 5 and 9 p.m. That could make this a pleasant after-work side hustle for individuals with a 9-5 job.

Guides are expected to be available to work no less than three days/nights every week. And so they typically work with a single script or tour. But guides who do well could potentially pick up more varieties of tours in large cities where US Ghost Adventures offers multiple options.

The tours are year-round, and aren’t necessarily cancelled for weather.

Pay

Guides are paid every two weeks via direct deposit. And pay is available in three parts: Base pay; bonus pay; and suggestions.

The bottom pay is mostly $25 per tour.

The bonus is one other $25 per tour. In response to the US Ghost Adventures contract, the $25 bonus is paid for “attendance and skilled conduct.” For those who no-show for any of the tours during that two week pay period, you don’t get the bonus pay for all the tours done during your complete pay period.

Indeed, whether a guide gets the bonus pay is as much as the discretion of Zaal Ventures (US Ghost Adventure’s parent company). It is just not guaranteed.

Suggestions aren’t guaranteed either. Nonetheless, the positioning encourages them by providing each guide with a business card that patrons can use to Venmo a tip to the guide directly, in the event that they don’t have money. The cards also encourage patrons to review the tour and the guide.

The location doesn’t reimburse tour guide expenses, unless they’re pre-approved by the corporate.

Requirements

Guides might want to pass a background check; in addition to passing the in-person and online audition.

You should be a great public speaker. And, US Ghost Adventures prefers individuals with acting and customer support experience. This is just not a job for introverts.

You should also purchase a $15 t-shirt and a $5 ID badge.

Concerns

Contractors provide their work availability to US Ghost Adventures by the 18th of the month prior to the month that’s being scheduled. That’s roughly 45 days upfront, which is a protracted time upfront to book your schedule.

And, should you can’t work one in every of the times that you just’re scheduled, you’re imagined to discover a alternative to fill in for you, in line with the contract. For those who can’t discover a alternative, it’s unclear whether this may affect your “professionalism” and skill to gather the $25 per-tour bonus.

The location’s contract also says that guides may sometimes be expected to take a last-minute tour that clashes with their availability. In response to the contract: Contractor agrees to be available to offer a tour when called on in 24hrs notice, no matter their stated availability, not more than twice a month within the event they’re needed for a final minute emergency, including on holidays.

Tour guide reviews

Tour guides generally love or hate this company. Some say they thoroughly benefit from the opportunity and earn great money — mainly due to suggestions. Others say they’re mistreated and underpaid.

It seems likely that tour guide experiences will differ markedly depending on the town where you’re employed.

In big tourist areas, corresponding to Los Angeles, Recent Orleans, Miami, Boston and Honolulu, tours are more likely to be more heavily populated and more likely to generate nice suggestions. In Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska, there are fewer tours and, likely, fewer customers to tip. Furthermore, the year-round nature of the tours makes it likely that you just’ll suffer in bad weather for some lightly-populated tours. And, on condition that the one guaranteed portion of the pay is the $25 base (for 90 minutes), that would make you’re feeling mistreated and underpaid.

Recommendations

For those who’re an extravert who loves people, history, and the macabre, this may very well be a fun side hustle during warm-weather months. You’ll be able to sign up with US Ghost Adventures here.

You could also want to ascertain out ToursByLocals and Viator, which each will let you create and list tours on their sites in exchange for a portion of the revenue. But, bear in mind that US Ghost Adventures’ contract has a non-compete clause that permits you to work for a longtime competitor, but doesn’t will let you start your personal ghost tour for no less than a yr after leaving US Ghost Adventures.

What their staff say (from Indeed)

I absolutely love being a tour guide for US Ghost Adventures. The time commitment is low and I could make great money in only just a few hours. In addition they gave me the choice to do more tours and expand.

A really perfect job for the mature, responsible, self-motivated person. Maximum freedom to do your job well; good communication and support from experienced supervisors.

I actually enjoy my time with US Ghost Adventures. There’s plenty of wonderful locations to explore, training opportunities, fun props, and a supportive work environment. I like to recommend it often.

This is actually a job for somebody who likes to work on their very own and with people. You’ll make most of your money in suggestions, so at all times have a great attitude.

Never dull

Never a dull day touring a bunch of individuals! Walking tours allowed me to maintain physically fit and entertained. Watching my audiences’ faces react, as they find out about history and ghosts, is priceless.

For those who are going to think about this profession or job, crucial thing is to be obsessed with the material. You’re required to learn lots of information in a brief time frame. Nonetheless, should you love what you might be talking about it is going to come easier.

I’ve at all times desired to try tour guiding as a profession. US Ghost Adventures allowed me to showcase my performance skills and knowledge of a city I like. My passion for ghosts and the paranormal were encouraged. While the tours I gave were at night, I normally had enough advanced notice before giving a tour.

Weather

The toughest a part of the job is coping with the weather! Bad weather means no work!

They need you to offer tours even in a dangerous thunderstorm because they don’t want to offer refunds.

The tours are given year-round so be prepared to work in the course of the winter. Management is great and does its best to work along with your schedule. They were supportive and I felt like they did their best to make things easier for me when giving a tour.

Assistance is AWOL

For those who are on the lookout for a fun and exciting work experience with this group, you might be extremely dissatisfied. They lack communication, organization, and follow through and leave us hanging in case of emergency on tour. They offer you a number to call “customer support” and nobody answers. The HR department can be horrendous with pay. I even have needed to submit my checking account numbers 3 times before they properly obtained the knowledge and I used to be paid.

Their contract for guides is terrible, please be certain you read.

Working for this company has been a nightmare. There is no such thing as a local management, leaving you in an embarrassing bind at any time when a difficulty arises. Essentially the most common issue is that the tour is about to start out in the course of a busy market, making it difficult for guests to seek out. This immediately makes things awkward once you first manage to have interaction with guests. Management is aware of this issue and has done nothing to deal with it.

Disappointing

If the management issues aren’t bad enough, the advertised pay and gratuities are also greatly exaggerated. The concept of walking away with over $200 an evening is laughable. I’ll be taking my leave from this company soon, and I like to recommend that everybody stir clear of them. It has been a disappointing experience from starting to finish, because it never got here near living as much as what they promised from the onset.

(from Glassdoor)

Good pay, good suggestions, fun job