Twelve tabs open for one family holiday
A client wants a fortnight somewhere warm in the October half term, with a family room, flights from their local airport and a transfer. Or a honeymoon with two centres. Or a tailor-made trip combining a city stay, a rail journey and a beach. You price it the way every independent and homeworking agent does: the tour operator's agent site, a bed bank, a flight consolidator, a transfer company, maybe the hotel direct, and an email to a specialist supplier.
Twelve tabs later, you copy prices into a Word document or an email, work out the total and your margin on a calculator, and paste in hotel descriptions and photos. The client asks for a different hotel. You do it again. Two days later, they want to go ahead, and the flight price has changed. You are not sure which figure in the quote was net and which was your selling price.
Why quoting is so manual
- Each supplier has its own system, and most do not talk to each other.
- Prices move, and option or hold expiry dates are noted, if at all, in your head.
- Net cost, commission and your selling price are mixed up in the same document.
- Alternatives for the client mean duplicating the whole quote.
- An accepted quote has to be retyped into your booking records.
Tour operator packages are simpler, because the supplier does the maths. Tailor-made and dynamic packages, which are often where independent agents add most value, are where quoting hurts.
What slow quoting costs
Clients who wait for a quote often shop around in the meantime, and the online travel agents are very fast. Time spent on formatting is time not spent on the next enquiry. Arithmetic errors can leave you absorbing a shortfall. And quotes that are hard to change encourage you to offer fewer alternatives than the client would like.
A quote builder that keeps the sums straight
- Each quote is a set of components: flights, accommodation, transfers, car hire, excursions, insurance referral, extras. Each component records supplier, supplier reference or option number, net cost or commission, your selling price and any option expiry.
- Where a supplier offers an API or a structured export, component details and prices can be pulled in. Otherwise you enter them quickly on a form, with hotel descriptions and images reused from your own library.
- Totals, deposit, margin and price per person are calculated automatically. You can hold alternatives, such as two hotel options, in the same quote.
- The client receives a clean, branded quote as a web page or PDF, showing what they need and none of your net figures, with a way to accept or ask questions.
- Option expiry dates for held components appear on your dashboard, so you know when a price hold is about to lapse.
- When the client accepts, the quote becomes the booking record with every component and supplier reference already in place.
| Field | Seen by you | Seen by the client |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier and reference | Yes | No |
| Net cost or commission | Yes | No |
| Selling price | Yes | Yes, as totals or per person |
| Option expiry | Yes | Only as a quote validity note |
| Descriptions and images | Yes | Yes |
Quoting that feels like selling again
You spend your time on the part clients pay you for: knowing which hotel suits them and which flight times work with small children. Changing a hotel is a matter of swapping a component, not rebuilding the document. The quote looks consistent and professional, and your margin is visible to you on every version.
When the client says yes, nothing is retyped. The accepted quote becomes the booking with its suppliers and references ready for confirmations, deposits and balance reminders.
Does quoting slow you down?
- You build quotes by copying from supplier sites into Word or email.
- Margin is worked out on a calculator or spreadsheet.
- Option holds have expired before you noticed.
- Offering alternatives means rebuilding the quote.
- Accepted quotes are retyped into your booking records.