From trip questions to tickets and vouchers
The steps the Travel pack's booking workflow takes, from trip questions and a quote through passports, terms and deposit to tickets and vouchers.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Travel businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Launching soon. The Industry CRM add-on described in this article is launching soon. This article describes it as it will work at launch.
"Can you price Zanzibar for four of us in December?" Between that message and the moment the client holds their vouchers, a surprising number of things must happen in the right order. Ask the right questions. Quote. Get the passports. Check visas. Have the terms accepted. Take a deposit. Confirm every flight and hotel. Issue the tickets.
Miss one, and the cost lands later: a quote built on the wrong dates, a ticket issued in a name that does not match the passport, a hotel that was never actually confirmed. Experienced consultants carry the sequence in their heads. New ones learn it by getting it wrong.
The booking workflow in the Travel pack of Achekam's Industry CRM puts the sequence on the booking itself. This article walks through it step by step.
The sequence at a glance
A booking in the Travel pack carries its travellers and its itinerary legs. Its workflow:
- sends the client trip questions and a travel quote
- requests passports and visas
- has the booking terms accepted electronically
- invoices the deposit
- confirms every leg
- issues tickets and vouchers
A workflow in the Industry CRM creates its tasks stage by stage, so the consultant sees the next thing to do rather than a list of everything at once. Where a step sends the client a request for documents or a document to sign, the client's answer moves the task on.
Trip questions, then the quote
The first step sends the client trip questions. This is where good quotes are made. Dates and flexibility, who is travelling and their ages, the budget, the kind of accommodation, special occasions, mobility needs: the answers shape everything that follows.
Sending the questions in writing has a second benefit: the answers come back in writing too, which helps when the client later remembers asking for a sea view.
The travel quote follows from those answers. Prices in the Travel pack are typed in by your staff from the supplier; there is no live flight or booking-system feed. So the quote is only as current as the moment a consultant checked availability. Say so on the quote, and give it a validity period that reflects how quickly your suppliers' prices move.
Passports and visas: requested, not applied for
Once the client is serious, the workflow requests passports and visas. In practice that means asking each traveller for their passport details and, where the destination needs one, their visa.
The pack applies for no visas. It asks the client for the documents and tracks whether they have arrived; making the visa application remains with the traveller, or with whatever separate service your agency offers. Make that clear to the client early, especially for destinations where visas take time.
The request goes from the workflow rather than from a consultant's phone, and the client's answer is what moves the task on. Check names against the passports at this point, before anything is ticketed.
Terms accepted before the money moves
Next, the workflow has the booking terms accepted electronically. The terms go to the client as a document to sign, using Achekam's e-signing: signature and initials fields, signers in order or at once, an expiry and reminders, and the signed PDF and completion certificate filed back into Documents.
Every contract or agreement in the industry packs, the booking terms included, is marked as starter wording that the business must review before use. Read the starter terms against your own, with your adviser, before the first client signs them. If you already have settled terms, standard booking terms filled in for each traveller explains how to send them with each booking's details filled in.
Getting the terms accepted before taking the deposit is the right order. A client who has paid but not accepted the terms is in a grey area if the trip later changes.
The deposit invoice
With the terms accepted, the workflow invoices the deposit. That invoice is what turns a quoted trip into a committed one for most agencies, and it is often the point at which the agency commits money to suppliers.
Keep the deposit and the balance due date consistent with the terms the client just accepted. A deposit invoice that asks for a different amount from the one in the signed terms is the kind of small mismatch that causes a large argument. For South African agencies, section 17 of the Consumer Protection Act sets when a supplier may take a reasonable deposit for a booking and what cancellation charge it may keep if the client cancels.
Every leg confirmed, then tickets and vouchers
Before anything is issued, the workflow confirms every leg: each flight, transfer, hotel night and activity on the booking. Because statuses are entered by staff from the supplier, "confirmed" means a consultant has received the supplier's confirmation and recorded it, not that a system has assumed it.
Only then are tickets and vouchers issued. The order matters. A voucher for a hotel that has not confirmed is a promise you cannot keep, and a ticket issued with a misspelt name can be expensive to correct.
When a step stalls
Most bookings that stop moving are waiting for the client: trip questions unanswered, a passport not sent, terms not yet signed. Because the client's answer is what moves those tasks on, a booking stuck at the same step for days tells the consultant exactly what to chase. A phone call usually unblocks it faster than a third e-mail, and it is also the moment to ask whether the client is still travelling at all. A quiet client is sometimes a client who has booked elsewhere, and finding out early frees the supplier space you may be holding.
Using the workflow from day one
Run your next new enquiry through the workflow from the first message, and notice which steps your consultants used to skip. Then review the starter booking terms with your adviser before the second. For where each booking sits while it moves through these steps, see bookings and traveller profiles, and for the checks just before departure, pre-departure checks and supplier commissions.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
