How do NZ tour operators plan tomorrow's drivers and vans?

By the DayRunner team · 19 October 2026

Most small NZ tour operators plan tomorrow by hand, every evening. Someone exports tomorrow's bookings from Rezdy or FareHarbor, matches drivers and vans to each run in a spreadsheet or on a whiteboard, then texts guests their pickup times and emails suppliers to reconfirm. We estimate it takes 2 to 3 hours a day, and most of it lives in one person's head.

Below is how that evening usually runs, where it goes wrong, and how to make it quicker, with or without software.

The usual evening, step by step

We've talked to NZ operators and read their job ads for operations coordinators. The routine looks like this:

1. Export tomorrow's manifest from the booking system into a sheet.
2. Put a driver and a van on each departure.
3. Check licences and hours. Does this driver have a P endorsement? Does the Coaster need a class 2? Did they do a long day today?
4. Work out pickup order and times from the hotel list.
5. Message every guest their pickup time, usually one by one on WhatsApp or SMS.
6. Reconfirm suppliers: the lunch stop, the cruise, the tasting.
7. Brief the drivers, often in a WhatsApp group.
8. Log hours and mileage.

Then a late booking lands at 9pm and you do some of it again.

How long it takes

Our estimate, from operator interviews and job ads, for a typical day with about 25 guests:

At six operating days a week that's an estimated 14 to 20 hours. These are estimates, not measurements. Yours will be different, so time yourself for a week.

Where it goes wrong

• Late changes. You plan at 5pm, then a booking moves hotels at 8pm and the pickup order is wrong.
• Hours from memory. A driver did a long Milford day today and you've put them on an early start tomorrow. NZ work time rules cap a work day at 13 hours, and the rest gap between days matters too.
• Licence mismatches. The only free driver doesn't hold the class for the bigger vehicle.
• Typos in pickups. The same hotel spelt two ways becomes two stops.
• Missed messages. Thirty WhatsApps sent one at a time, and one guest doesn't get theirs.
• Silent suppliers. The lunch stop never replied, and you find out at 11am.

Make it quicker, with or without software

A few habits claw back a fair bit of time:

• Pick a cut-off. Plan once at a set time, say 5pm, then only re-check what changed after it.
• Keep a driver sheet: licence class, P endorsement and expiry, the days they work, and hours worked in the last fortnight.
• Keep a vehicle sheet: seats, licence class needed, WOF or COF due date, and extras like child seats or a tow bar.
• Fix your stop order. Write down the pickup order for each product once, and stop working it out every night.
• Use templates. One pickup message and one supplier email, with gaps for name, time and numbers.
• Give suppliers a reply-by time, and check it before bed, not at 8am.
• One person signs off. Whoever plans the day owns the final check.

Where software fits

Your booking system is built to sell seats. It knows who's coming tomorrow. It doesn't know that one driver only has a class 1 licence or that another is close to their hours.

DayRunner reads tomorrow's bookings from Rezdy, FareHarbor, Rental Car Manager or a CSV. It puts a driver and vehicle on each run, checking licence class, seats, hours, NZ work time and who's available, and puts pickups in your stop order. Guest messages, supplier reconfirmations and driver briefs are drafted for you. You get a short list of the things that need a decision, and nothing sends until you approve it. How it works walks through each step.

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