Billing management for group travels often results in unnecessary waste of time and additional administrative tasks due to the need to create invoices that are very similar to each other. Very often, passengers in a same group travel have very similar itineraries requiring that the same information be re-entered the same way for each new passenger within the group.

Moreover, although some data such as the itinerary may be identical from one passenger to another, it is not uncommon for such passengers to order additional options (travel insurance, hotel room upgrade etc.) which makes that every invoice has to be fully customized for each passenger of that same group travel.

TravelWorks software offers some features such as ‘’temporary files’’ for your group travels that enable you to benefit from the best of both worlds: the ability to duplicate redundant data seizures in your groups while being able to easily customize the invoice for each customer.

Temporary file management in TravelWorks

With TravelWorks, you can create temporary files (a sort of invoice template) that you will be able to re-use for another customer by changing only the coordinates or the other data that would be different from the created standard sample.

To create a temporary, go to the ‘’Invoices’’ section and click on ‘’Add’’ as if you were adding a single reservation.  At the end of the process, you just need to select ‘’Save temporary file’’.

When you save your temporary file, you have to name it in a way that will allow you to quickly know what invoice sample you mean (for example: Departure Chicago).

Then, when you are ready to invoice a new passenger with the same flight information / vendor, you add your new passenger to the temporary file.

You then select that new file and you can add or modify some specific information for that particular passenger if necessary and you click on ‘’Save’’.

Group travel management

Your travel agency deals with a lot of group travels and the management of these causes you worries. By proceeding methodically, you will be able to better track the profitability of each of your groups.

In order to minimize the risk of errors, you can create your products for group invoicing. In these products, you can specify the product description, the cost price and the selling price. You can also create a product for a simple occupancy and a second one for a double occupancy etc.

Double occupancy

Single occupancy

Since version 4.1.6, it is also possible to duplicate an invoice in the same file. Another way to quickly create an invoice and avoid mistakes.

Group reconciliation

While final payment is been made, it is recommended to reconcile your group. The group reconciliation will allow you to make sure that your file is up-to-date…that all payments made to the travel vendor have been accounted for by the vendor…and the net price of all travel providers match in your account (your account vs each vendor’s invoice).

When using the group features in TravelWorks, it is important to identify all the files that you will want to assign to this group. Otherwise, the group history will be inaccurate. Groups can be configured by using the ‘’System Configuration’’ icon and the Passengers groups section.

Your basic group information has to be entered.

If you booked several reservations in the same departure, you must assign each of them to the file.

You will then be able to generate a group history in order to reconcile your group.

In addition to this, you can generate a sales/profit report for each of your groups which will allow you to have a quick overview of each group’s profitability.

To do so, you have to choose the required criteria to create your group report.

Having a clear overview of your revenues and profit within your groups…a crucial element for an excellent travel agency management.

We wish you a lot of success in the management of your group travels.

By François Lacoste, CPA, active user of TravelWorks software

http://www.francoislacoste.com