In this guide 6 sections
Build tour costing from dated vendor rates, not last year’s sheet. Add hotels, transport, guides, entries and meals, then divide by the passengers travelling, with twin, single and child rates side by side. GullySystem’s Tour Operator Management Software keeps that sheet on the departure. An operator running two or three trips a year can use a spreadsheet.
Start from a vendor rate file
Copied sheets are where old rates slip through. A hotel rate agreed last season ends up in this year’s price, and forty seats sell at the wrong figure. Start instead from one file of vendors and their current rates.
Each hotel carries its season rates, room categories and release period. Transporters carry rates by vehicle type, guides by day, and attractions by ticket. Every rate gets the date it applies from.
- Hotels with season rates and room categories
- Coaches and tempo travellers by vehicle type
- Guides, entries and meal rates
- Release periods and payment terms agreed
Separate fixed costs from per-head costs
Some costs do not change with the group size. A coach for the route and a tour manager cost the same for twenty people or forty. Rooms, meals and entry tickets rise with every passenger.
Keep the two apart on the sheet. Fixed costs are divided by the seats you expect to fill, so the per-person price moves when that number moves. Per-head costs are added on top.
Twin sharing, the single supplement and child slabs then sit side by side. Your markup and any agent commission stay visible on the same sheet.
Tie the costing to seats and payments
A costing sheet means little until it sits on the departure itself. Record the capacity, seats sold and seats still open. When bookings fall short of the number you costed for, the fixed costs per head go up.
Traveller advances and balance dates belong on the same file. So do the advances hotels and coach owners ask for before they hold rooms. Seeing both lets you judge a departure before it leaves.
Record extras and on-trip spending as they happen
Costs keep arriving after the group sets off. An added night, a coach breakdown and a guide paid in cash all change the margin. Ask the tour manager to log each one with a photo of the bill.
Vendor bills come in after the trip. Match each to the nights and vehicles actually used before paying. A hotel bill for a room nobody stayed in is caught here.
Compare the sheet with the final bills
Once the last bill is in, set the costing against what was spent. The gap between the two is the real profit for that departure. It also shows which rate was wrong.
Price the next departure from this comparison, not from a feeling. Over a season the sheet becomes more accurate with each trip.
- Rate costed against rate billed
- Rooms booked against rooms used
- Cash spent on the road
- Cancellations and refunds by departure
Departure costing worksheet
A sheet with fixed costs in one block and per-head costs in another, plus seats expected and seats sold. Fill in actual bills in a second column after the trip. The difference column shows where the price needs changing.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Can travellers book and pay for seats online through it?
No. It is not a reservation system, so seats are the ones your desk records. A public tour page with seats left and a payment link is separate work.
Does the software decide our markup?
No. The sheet adds up the rates you hold and divides by the passengers travelling. The markup you add is agreed with you and stays your decision.
Does it connect to hotel booking systems?
No. Requests and confirmations are recorded against the tour file, and your staff deal with each hotel as they do now.
Is a spreadsheet enough for a small operator?
For a few departures a year, a disciplined spreadsheet works. It gets harder once fixed departures run every week or a school trip brings hundreds of payers.