A list on the coach and a spreadsheet in the office
Your Sicily tour has three optional excursions: a cookery class in Palermo, a boat trip to the Aeolian islands and an evening at the opera in Catania. Before departure, the office emails passengers a list, and replies come back in the inbox: "We'd like the boat trip, and maybe the cookery class." The office logs them in a spreadsheet, takes some card payments by phone, and tells the suppliers approximate numbers.
On the tour, the leader takes more names on the coach, collects cash, and rings the cookery school to add three people. The opera tickets have to be bought in advance, so late decisions cannot be met. At the end, nobody is quite sure whether the office spreadsheet, the leader's list and the supplier's invoice agree.
Optional extras sit outside the booking
Optional excursions look small, but they combine every awkward part of tour operations: bookings, payments, supplier numbers with deadlines, and changes on tour. Because they are handled outside the main booking, each part is done by hand.
- Passengers choose excursions by replying to emails, or on the coach.
- Payments are taken by phone, in cash on tour or not at all.
- Supplier deadlines for numbers are known to the office but not to passengers.
- The leader's list and the office list drift apart.
- Excursion income and costs are not shown against the departure.
Lost income and awkward moments on tour
Passengers who would have booked an excursion in advance do not get round to replying to an email, and by the time they are on tour it is full or the deadline has passed. Cash collected on the coach is hard to reconcile. Suppliers invoice for numbers that do not match either list. And the leader spends time on the coach acting as a sales desk instead of looking after the group.
Passengers also dislike uncertainty. Knowing before they travel that the cookery class is booked and paid is part of the anticipation.
Optional excursions as part of the booking
We build optional extras into the pre-departure process.
- Each tour's optional excursions are set up with description, price, supplier, minimum and maximum numbers, and the deadline by which the supplier needs numbers.
- Passengers see the options for their departure on their booking or details page and can add them, paying through a secure link (for example with Stripe) or on their balance.
- Choices are written to the passenger's booking, so they appear in their final documents.
- Before each supplier deadline, the system sends the supplier the confirmed numbers and names if needed, and reminds passengers who have not decided.
- Excursions below the minimum by the deadline are flagged so you can decide whether to run them, and passengers are told either way.
- The tour leader's briefing shows who is booked on each excursion. Late additions on tour are entered on the leader's phone, with payment recorded, and the supplier notified.
- Excursion income and supplier costs appear on the departure costing.
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Booking to departure | Passengers add excursions and pay online |
| Supplier deadline | Numbers sent, undecided passengers reminded |
| Below minimum | Flagged for a decision, passengers told |
| On tour | Leader adds late bookings on the phone |
| After the tour | Supplier invoice checked against bookings |
Excursions handled before the coach leaves
Passengers add excursions when they fill in their travel details. By the supplier deadline, the boat trip has twenty-two confirmed and paid, and the operator gets the number. The opera night has fourteen, tickets are bought, and the four undecided passengers were reminded the week before. On tour, two more people join the cookery class through the leader's phone.
When the supplier invoices arrive, they match the bookings, and the departure costing shows what the excursions contributed.
The leader spends the coach journeys talking about the places ahead rather than taking names and counting change.
Do optional excursions run on spreadsheets?
- Passengers choose excursions by email reply or on the coach.
- Cash for excursions is collected by the tour leader.
- Suppliers receive approximate numbers.
- The leader's list and the office list do not always agree.
- You cannot see excursion income per departure.