In this guide 6 sections
Ask whether the software issues tickets or only records them, and how one trip file holds every booking. Then ask how refunds are followed, how corporate invoices are built, and who opens passport data. GullySystem’s Travel Agency Management Software answers these in writing. A one-person desk issuing a few tickets a week may need none of it.
Is it a reservation system or a back office
Start here, because vendors blur the two. A reservation system searches fares and issues tickets. A back office records what was booked, what was paid and what is owed.
Ask the vendor to show a ticket being handled. If the executive still books on the consolidator portal and records the PNR, it is a back office. That is often what an agency needs, but know which one you are buying.
Ask too which supplier connections are included and which are scoped separately.
Does one file hold the whole trip
A client sees one trip. Your desk sees an air booking, two hotel vouchers, a visa appointment and an insurance policy from different portals. The software should hold all of it in one file.
Bring a messy real trip to the demo. A date change, a name correction and a cancelled hotel night will show quickly whether the file keeps up.
- Can any executive resend a voucher from the office?
- Are quotation revisions kept with their dates?
- Do changes made mid-trip stay on the file?
- Can the file show what it earned?
What happens to refunds and supplier dues
Refunds are where agency money goes quiet. An airline refund applied for in April may never be checked again. Ask how the software records the charge, the amount applied for and the date it was credited.
An uncredited refund should stay on a list, with its age, until the money lands. Supplier dues work the same way in reverse. Ask to see what is owed to each consolidator and hotel by due date.
How corporate clients are billed
Corporate clients pay monthly and query lines they do not recognise. Ask whether every invoice line points back to the booking it came from. Ask whether the credit limit shows before the next booking is taken.
Tax lines vary by service and client. The question for the vendor is whether the invoice can carry the treatment your accountant specifies. Which rate applies is for your accountant to settle.
- Monthly invoice built from bookings and changes
- Service fee shown on its own line
- Tax lines set up with your accountant
- Ageing on every corporate bill
- Export your accountant can post into Tally
Who sees passport data, and who owns the records
Passport scans often sit in chat threads today. Ask how the software stores them and who can open them. A sensible answer limits documents to the executives working that trip.
Then ask about leaving. Who owns the records, and how is a full copy handed over? Get that written into the proposal, along with how open files and balances move in at the start.
Ask about cost last. Where no price is published, ask for it in writing.
Travel software vendor question sheet
A two-column sheet listing the questions above, with space for each vendor’s answer and whether they showed it or only said it. Bring one real trip file to every demo. Compare vendors on what they showed.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Can sub-agents be given a login and a credit wallet?
Not in this product. Logins are for your own executives, and credit limits are kept for corporate clients. A portal for outside agents with a wallet is a separate build.
Should the software connect to every supplier portal?
Not necessarily. Where a consolidator or hotel supplier offers an API or a booking export, that can be scoped separately. Otherwise the executive records the confirmation and attaches the voucher.
What should we bring to a software demo?
One real trip with a change and a refund in it, and one corporate client’s month of bookings. Watch whether the vendor can run both without workarounds.
Can two branches share one system?
Yes. A hosted system lets both branches work on one enquiry list and one supplier list, with each desk seeing what its logins allow.