Travel agencies
Payroll software for travel companies and tour operators
Pay the booking counter, the drivers on your rolls and the guides hired for the season from one monthly run, with days on tour counted, advances recovered and payslips on every phone.
In short
SimpleERP is payroll software for travel companies. Attendance and leave feed a monthly run that pro-rates seasonal tour guides, recovers salary advances, applies the deductions you set and posts salaries to the books.
Illustration of a payslip with Basic salary, Allowances, Bonus and net pay of 4,440.
A payroll day at Table Bay Holidays
Table Bay Holidays has nine people on the rolls all year: four at the booking counter taking every enquiry and hotel booking, two in accounts and three drivers for its own minibus and two shuttle vans. Between October and January it adds three tour guides who travel with safari groups and are let go when the season ends.
A guide who joins on 12 October and spends nine days on a Kruger tour still has to be paid correctly for a part month. One driver took an $800 advance for his daughter's school fees, to be recovered at $200 a month. Salary day is the 25th, and the owner wants it done in an afternoon.
Salary structure
What goes into a travel company's salary structure?
Most agencies use a short structure: basic pay and an allowance, with income tax and other deductions where they apply. A daily tour allowance for guides on the road can be its own component, added to the payslip for the days they travelled.
| Component | Counter executive | Tour guide (seasonal) |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $1,400 | $1,100 |
| Transport allowance | $150 | None |
| Tour allowance | None | Added per run for days on tour |
| Income tax withheld | Set per employee | Set per employee |
| Unemployment insurance or pension | Where it applies | Where it applies |
Illustration of a payslip with Basic salary, Allowances, Bonus and net pay of 4,440.
Attendance
How are days away on a tour counted?
A guide on a safari tour is working, not absent. Mark those days present or work from home on the daily sheet, or let the guide check in from the phone on the road; payroll then counts them as paid days without anyone keeping a separate register.
- Check in from the phone through employee self-service, wherever the group is.
- Half days and leave counted at the right fraction in the run.
- Night shifts that cross midnight stay on the day they started.
Illustration of the daily attendance sheet on a phone with a Mark all present button.
Seasonal staff
How do we pay guides who join mid-month and leave after the season?
Add the guide with a joining date and the run pro-rates their first month automatically. When the season ends, record the termination date on the employee; the record, payslips and attendance stay on file for next year.
- Joining mid-month pro-rated by paid days over working days.
- Salary advance recovered in fixed monthly amounts until settled.
- Bonus or arrears added to a payslip before you approve the run.
- Payroll journal posting salaries and deductions payable to the ledger.
One system
Where payroll connects
Attendance and leave feed the run; the approved run posts salaries and statutory dues to the ledger, and drivers' fuel and toll claims come through expenses.
Travel agencies
Enquiries to quotations, package and commission invoices, advances held on account and hotel payables in one ledger.
See howAccounting for travel agencies
Customer advances, hotel and transporter payables, commission income and the month-end checks on one ledger.
See howInventory for travel agencies
Most agencies skip stock; the ones that keep travel kits, brochures or prepaid vouchers can track them at average cost.
See howPayroll
Salary structures, monthly runs and payslips with your earnings and deductions, posted to the books.
See how
Honest limits
What payroll for travel agencies leaves out
- Income tax withholding is not computed from government tables; you set the deduction per employee
- Social security, pension and end-of-service amounts are components you set, not statutory calculations
- No biometric device integration: attendance is marked on the phone or entered by HR
- No per-trip or per-tour pay calculation: a tour allowance is entered on the run, not worked out from bookings
- No GPS or route tracking for drivers and guides
Getting started
Start with payroll
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 your people
Add the counter team, drivers and seasonal tour guides with their joining dates and salary structures, and invite them to self-service by email.
Run the first payroll
Attendance and leave feed the run; payslips post to the books and staff see them on their phones.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can a tour guide see their own payslip?
Yes. Invite them to employee self-service by email. They see their own attendance, leave, payslips and claims and nothing else in the business.
How do drivers claim fuel and toll money spent on a tour?
They submit an expense claim from their phone with a receipt photo. It goes from submit to approve to reimburse, and each step posts to the books separately from salary.
Do we have to deduct pension or insurance for a three-month guide?
That depends on your country's rules and the guide's contract, so confirm with your accountant. In SimpleERP each deduction is a component you include or leave out per salary structure.
Can we pay a guide a tour allowance only for the months they travelled?
Yes. Add the allowance on the payslip in that month's run before you approve it, as a bonus line. Months without a tour simply leave it out.
Related
Keep reading
Travel agencies
Enquiries to quotations, package and commission invoices, advances held on account and hotel payables in one ledger.
Read moreAccounting for travel agencies
Customer advances, hotel and transporter payables, commission income and the month-end checks on one ledger.
Read moreInventory for travel agencies
Most agencies skip stock; the ones that keep travel kits, brochures or prepaid vouchers can track them at average cost.
Read more
See how payroll works in SimpleERP for travel agencies
Seven days free. No card. Your first invoice in minutes.