Travel agencies
ERP software for travel agencies and tour operators
Turn every enquiry into a priced quotation, take the advance before the trip, bill the tour package or the booking commission with the right tax, and pay hotels and transporters from the same books.
In short
SimpleERP is ERP software for travel agencies and tour operators. Enquiries become deals and quotations, package and commission invoices carry the right tax, customer advances wait on account, and hotel and transporter bills sit on one ledger.
Illustration of the CRM pipeline with four stages and a list of follow-ups due today.
A day in a travel agency
An agency of eight to fifteen people sells trips it does not run itself, so the work is pricing fast, collecting early and paying hotels and transport owners on time.
At Table Bay Holidays in Cape Town, the phone starts at nine. A school in Stellenbosch wants a three-day Garden Route trip for 40 students, a family from Paarl asks for a Kruger safari with a minibus and driver, and a corporate client needs two hotel rooms in Johannesburg for next week. Each enquiry needs a quotation by evening or the customer books elsewhere.
By noon the owner is chasing a $3,000 advance for the school trip, the lodge near Knysna wants its deposit before it holds twelve rooms, and the shuttle transporter has sent last month's bill for six airport runs. In the peak season two extra tour guides join for three months and have to be paid, then let go.
SimpleERP keeps that work on one ledger. The enquiry becomes a deal and then a quotation, the advance is a payment that waits on account, the invoice carries each service at its own tax rate, and the hotel and transporter bills land in payables beside it.
CRM
Every enquiry has an owner and a follow-up date
Phone, walk-in and referral enquiries are logged as leads in seconds. The serious ones become deals with a value and a stage, and today's follow-ups open first, so a family waiting for a revised quote hears back the same day.
- Lead source on every enquiry, such as walk-in, referral or website, to see where trips come from.
- Stages you rename to suit the trade, such as enquiry, quoted, advance pending, confirmed.
- Quotation from the deal, with each revision linked to it.
- Lost reason when a customer books elsewhere, so you learn whether price or speed lost the trip.
Illustration of the CRM pipeline with four stages and a list of follow-ups due today.
Billing
Bill the package or the commission at the right rate
Save each thing you sell as a service with its tax rate: a full tour package, a hotel booking fee, a shuttle reservation charge. Picking the service fills the price and the tax, and you change the rate on the line when a trip falls under a different rule.
- Services without stock, so a package never touches inventory.
- Quotation to invoice in one step once the customer confirms.
- Tax summary by rate on the print, with your bank details for the balance.
| Service | How it is often taxed |
|---|---|
| Tour package sold in your own name | The standard rate, or a special margin scheme for tour operators in the EU and UK |
| Hotel booking for a customer, your fee or commission | The standard rate on your fee |
| Flight, rail or bus booking, your service charge | The standard rate on your charge; the fare itself is often zero-rated |
| Tour guide service sold on its own | The standard rate |
Illustration of tax invoice INV-2026-0213 to Northside Retail with tax 10% and the amount in words.
Payments
Take the advance now, apply it when the trip is billed
Customers pay before they travel. Record the advance by card, bank transfer or cash against the customer; it stays on account until the invoice is posted, then you apply it and only the balance stays open. Some countries tax an advance when it is received; SimpleERP does not post tax on the receipt, so your accountant accounts for it.
- Advance on account shows on the customer's statement until it is applied.
- Credit notes when a trip is cut short or a room is dropped, refunded in cash or to the bank.
- Receivables ageing for corporate clients who travel now and pay in 30 days.
Illustration of receivables ageing: 2,441 to collect across 5 buckets, with customer totals.
Purchases
Know what you owe each hotel and transporter
Each hotel, lodge and shuttle owner is a supplier. Their bills go in as purchase bills with the tax you can reclaim, deposits you pay ahead stay on account against them, and supplier payments settle the oldest bills first.
- Payables ageing by supplier, so the lodge that holds your peak-season rooms is paid first.
- Supplier statements to check against the hotel's own ledger.
- Tour guide and driver expenses, such as fuel, tolls and parking, as staff claims with receipts.
People and payroll
Pay the office team and the seasonal guides
Add a seasonal guide with a joining date and a salary structure, and they are paid pro rata for the days they worked. Attendance, leave and salary advances feed the monthly run, and the payslips post to the books.
- Deductions such as income tax or pension on the salary structure, where they apply.
- Salary advances recovered in monthly instalments by payroll.
- Self-service on the phone for attendance, leave, payslips and claims.
Illustration of a payslip with Basic salary, Allowances, Bonus and net pay of 4,440.
By job
Travel agencies by job
Inventory for travel agencies
Most agencies skip stock; the ones that keep travel kits, brochures or prepaid vouchers can track them at average cost.
Read moreAccounting for travel agencies
Customer advances, hotel and transporter payables, commission income and the month-end checks on one ledger.
Read morePayroll for travel agencies
Monthly salaries for the counter team, pro-rated pay for seasonal tour guides, salary advances and the deductions you set.
Read more
One system
The modules that do this work
A won deal becomes a quotation and an invoice; the invoice posts the receivable and the tax, advances and supplier payments settle against it, and payroll posts salaries to the same ledger.
CRM
Leads, a deal pipeline, today's follow-ups and conversion to customer and quotation.
See howInvoicing & tax
Tax invoices with VAT, GST or sales tax on every line, numbered by fiscal year and posted in one step.
See howPayments & receivables
Receipts and payments allocated oldest first, receivables and payables ageing, and statements.
See howPurchase
Purchase orders, supplier bills that receive stock, debit notes and payables.
See howPayroll
Salary structures, monthly runs and payslips with your earnings and deductions, posted to the books.
See howExpenses
Business expenses with receipts, and staff claims from submit to approve to reimburse.
See how
Honest limits
What SimpleERP does not do for travel agencies yet
SimpleERP bills in one currency. These limits matter to most agencies, so here they are first.
- Multi-currency billing or forex sales. Every document is in your base currency.
- Margin schemes for tour operators are not calculated. Ask your accountant how to bill packages under one.
- No booking engine and no GDS, airline or hotel channel link. Tickets and rooms are booked outside and billed here.
- No per-traveller itinerary, rooming list or ticket inventory.
- Advances are recorded payments applied later; there is no separate advance receipt voucher with its own tax.
- Bank feeds. Receipts and payments are entered by hand.
Getting started
Start with your first invoice
Sign up with your email
Name, email and a password. No card for the seven-day trial.
Tell us about the business
Pick your country and, if you are registered, type your tax number. Accounts, tax rates, units, roles and numbering are seeded for that country.
Add what you sell
Add what you sell as services, such as tour packages, hotel booking fees and shuttle reservation charges, each with its tax rate. There is no stock to load.
Post your first invoice
Pick the customer, add lines and save. Your first invoice can be out within 10 minutes of signing up.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Which tax rate applies to a tour package?
It depends on your country. Many charge the standard VAT, GST or sales tax rate on packages sold in your own name, the EU and UK use a special margin scheme for tour operators, and booking fees and commissions usually carry the standard rate on the fee alone. In SimpleERP you set the rate on each service. Rates differ by country and change, so confirm the rate for your goods with your accountant or tax authority before you rely on it.
Can we sell packages priced in another currency?
Not as foreign-currency invoices. SimpleERP bills in your base currency only and has no forex, so price the package in your own currency. It suits agencies that sell and get paid in their home currency.
How do we record the advance a customer pays before the trip?
Record a payment from the customer by card, bank transfer or cash. With no invoice yet, it stays on account. When you post the invoice for the trip, apply the advance to it and only the balance remains due.
Can it book hotels, flights or buses?
No. There is no booking engine or GDS link. Book on the airline, hotel or bus portals as you do now, then bill the customer and record the supplier's bill in SimpleERP.
Related
Keep reading
CRM
Leads, a deal pipeline, today's follow-ups and conversion to customer and quotation.
Read moreInvoicing & tax
Tax invoices with VAT, GST or sales tax on every line, numbered by fiscal year and posted in one step.
Read morePayments & receivables
Receipts and payments allocated oldest first, receivables and payables ageing, and statements.
Read moreAccounting for travel agencies
Customer advances, hotel and transporter payables, commission income and the month-end checks on one ledger.
Read moreEvent management
A quotation per event, staged advances, tax invoices, vendor payables and an equipment register.
Read more
Run your whole business from one simple place.
Seven days free. No card. Your first invoice in minutes.