Tools for Travel Agents –  Episode 38

Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Buckle in, because if you’ve been looking for the perfect business tools for travel agents, you’re in the right place!

I’m going to walk you through the systems I use, the ones I’ve tested and ditched, and the ones that are genuinely worth your investment.

This isn’t some theoretical list from someone who’s never booked a trip.

This is real talk from someone who’s been in the trenches for over 10 years and has tried way too many platforms in the process.

Spoiler alert: I’m going to be sharing a ton of tools with you in this article, and some may be affiliate links, which means I earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

It’s part of what helps me keep creating meaningful resources for your travel business.

Thank you in advance for using my links.

Now les’go!

Listen on your favorite platform

Business-Specific Tools for Travel Agents: CRMs and Itinerary Builders

Every travel advisor needs two main things: a solid customer relationship management (CRM) system and a professional itinerary builder.

Over the years, these two things have become one, as major players in the industry have started to create all-in-one solutions, helping to reduce the amount of technology you need to use in your business.

The three main travel agency software players are TravelJoy (affiliate link), Travefy (Use code WAVESANNUAL20 for over $90 savings on your first annual subscription), and Tern (Use code WAVEWEEK for a special promo).

These CRMs handle things like contact information, special dates, invoicing, task lists, payment processing, and terms and agreements.

I personally use TravelJoy for my travel agent group bookings.

I can create polished group landing pages where clients can book themselves into a cabin (technically more of a placeholder, but we won’t get into the nitty gritty).

The beauty of a good travel agency CRM is that it eliminates the back-and-forth emails.

Everything lives in one place where both you and your client can access trip details, make payments, and track progress.

Tess is another one out there and it is more robust with financials and works well if you have independent contractors.

If you’re managing a team or planning to scale your travel agency, the financial reporting features become essential for tracking commissions, splits, and overall agency performance. 

And of course, I can’t mention commission software without also bringing up Sion, which is a newish player in the market, making everything commissions so much easier.

Need a CRM that is a little more customizable and integratable?? 

Then you might consider a general, but incredibly robust CRM like Honeybook (affiliate link). 

It’s actually the CRM I use for Take the Helm and it makes my life so much easier by keeping everything in one place, and also integrating with so many other pieces of technology that I use on a regular basis.

This is not a fully comprehensive listing of all the travel agency specific software that is available for your travel business, but I’d highly recommend you check out our Travel Tech Audio Summit, which produces a new season every year.

You’ll hear from executives at some of the companies mentioned above, as well as others like WeTravel, LUXPages, and FyndTravel that can help in different areas of your business.

Listen to the episode on YouTube

Calendar Management and Communication Systems

If you didn’t know, calendar management saves your sanity.

I use Calendly, and it’s been a lifesaver.

When I became a full time entrepreneur in May 2021, I needed boundaries.

In the beginning, I’d take calls whenever.

Now I limit calls to a couple hours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

I use Calendly for both Take the Helm and my travel agency.

I can block out holidays or travel dates, so people can’t schedule anything while I’m gone, too.

Both Calendly and Acuity have free versions.

I upgraded because the free version doesn’t allow paid calls like consultation hours, but I think most travel advisors can get by with the free. 

You could also try TidyCal (affiliate link) which has a very low one-time payment.

Zoom is my preferred video call technology and it integrates with Calendly.

When somebody schedules, they can choose a video call via Zoom or telephone call.

For cruise night webinars with potential clients, you’ll need a paid Zoom account if you want to be live for longer than 40 minutes.

Always consider your ROI before making an investment.

Video and Content Creation Tools

Video is HUGE for travel advisors right now.

Streamyard is a video streaming platform and has a free version, but you do unfortunately get their branding on your videos that way.

If you have higher-end clientele, that does look pretty cheap, so I might consider temporarily purchasing a monthly plan, but only for the times of year where you would need it.

Descript is an AI that transcribes videos, which is super important for all social media platforms now, as there are many people who watch videos on mute.

Captions also make content ADA friendly.

Another option you might consider is Riverside, which is technically a podcasting software, but can do many of the features of Streamyard and Descript all in one platform.

For basic video editing, I use Canva.

Canva recently announced some upgraded video editing tools, and I’m so excited to dig in, as I do so many things on their platform.

To edit videos like Reels, I mostly use the native Instagram app to keep things super simple for myself. 

Earlier this year, Instagram introduced the Edits App which is meant to be a direct competitor to TikTok’s Capcut.

Inshot is another popular tool for editing reels. 

Then to screen record things like SOPs or itinerary walkthroughs, Loom offers a free version (capped at 25 videos, 5 minutes each).

I use ScreenPal, however, because Loom’s editor was a little buggy, and ScreenPal is a bit more cost effective for me.

What I’m loving about Loom, though, is that they recently added in AI, which can greatly help in the creation of your SOPs. 

Tango is another great option in that realm.

You can see there are a lot of options out there, so you really just have to pick your poison and test a few out to see what really works with your brain better.

Speaking of AI, we can’t finish this video discussion without bringing up AI content repurposing tools like OpusClip or Vidyo, now quso, which can repurpose your horizontal video recordings into incredible short form vertical clips for social media.

Similar, but different is one of my favorites, Castmagic, that can use video or podcast content and repurpose it into multiple other content pieces like blogs or newsletters. 

Marketing your travel agency is becoming so much easier with these incredible AI tools at your fingertips.

Project Management for Your Travel Agency

Project management keeps you and your business on track.

Popular options include Trello (visual boards), Asana (task-based), ClickUp (my choice, highly customizable), and Notion (more database-focused).

Some of these features are even now incorporated into some of the CRM tools. 

The downside of the CRM task lists, is that they focus on the client experience. 

By using a PM tool, you can focus on your business operation as a whole and have different folders, boards, or lists, to keep track of your financial management, marketing, business contacts, and more! 

Project management is necessary if you want to grow because you may not be the only one in your business forever (and if you are, what would happen if you got sick, or were ready to sell your business).

When I became a full-time entrepreneur in May 2021, I realized fast that keeping everything in my head or scattered across notebooks wasn’t sustainable.

I needed systems that could scale with me.

The beauty of setting up project management early is that your processes become teachable. When I add independent contractors or employees, I can tell them everything they need to know about the business is in ClickUp. The learning curve shrinks dramatically and I reduce training time. They can see exactly what needs to happen for each client type, what the deadlines are, and where to find templates or resources.

Inside your CRM, you can build templates for different trip types.

A river cruise client gets a different workflow than a destination wedding client.

Each has specific touchpoints, deadlines, and deliverables.

This means nothing falls through the cracks, and your clients get consistent, professional service every single time.

All of these tools have free and paid versions.

I’m a huge supporter of starting with free, and upgrading when you outgrow the limitations.

Social Media and Marketing Tools

You’ve first got to know which social media platforms your clients are on, to select where you are going to be most active. 

Then you may want to use a scheduler, but many algorithms don’t like schedulers, so you’ll get better reach uploading natively.

Thankfully now, most of the apps have a decent native scheduler, but many have mentioned that live posting is best. 

Caveat to that is…we need sanity and can’t always be focused/on top of social media marketing. 

So you need to do what is sustainable for you.

Consistency beats perfection.

If using a scheduler means you actually post regularly instead of sporadically, use the scheduler.

Popular schedulers include: Meta Business Suite (native for Facebook/Instagram, doesn’t hurt reach, YouTube and LinkedIn have their own), Later, Metricool (really great analytics), Tailwind (Pinterest-focused), and Buffer.

I focus on Instagram and schedule through Meta Business Suite  as much as I can.

The key to social media for travel agents isn’t just posting pretty pictures, but creating content that actually connects with your ideal clients.

Think about what questions they’re asking, what concerns they have, what dreams they’re chasing.

Your content should answer those questions and paint the picture of the experience you provide.

I keep a running list of content ideas in my notes app.

When clients ask great questions or when I have a particularly smooth booking experience, I notate it.

These real moments become the best content because they’re authentic and relatable.

Canva dominates graphic creation and branding, where you can create social media graphics, itinerary templates, presentations, flyers, postcards, etc.

I brand everything in Canva first, then upload to a direct mailer software, like Cardly, for my birthday cards, holiday cards, and monthly postcards.

Direct mail still works in our industry because so few people do it anymore.

When your postcard lands in someone’s physical mailbox, you’re not competing with 47+ other emails.

Canva has free and paid versions.

I started with the free and have graduated to the paid, which is really a no-brainer if you’re using it often.

The brand kit alone saves hours of design time.

Now if social media still feels overwhelming, you may consider a tech like SocialJet AI (formerly Travel Agent Collective), or the Cruise Content Library, to give you a fast pass on those social media posts.

Email Marketing That Actually Works

Email marketing platforms track data like open and click through rates, which will in turn help you track what emails resonate with people.

Top platform picks include: Flodesk affiliate link (paid favorite, beautiful emails, easy automations, unlimited goes away on 11/28/2025), Mailerlite affiliate link (free favorite, similar ease), ActiveCampaign (robust tagging/segmenting, but pricey), and Kit formerly ConvertKit (popular, great analytics, advanced options).

I LOVE Flodesk for the ease of use, but if you need free, go with Mailerlite. 

Know that you should be writing emails on a frequent basis to your clients, but have writer’s block when it comes to getting started? 

My go-to resource is the Email Marketing Membership (affiliate link) by Liz Wilcox which is just $9/month–crazy right? 

She sends a weekly email template every week with a video walkthrough and some samples for inspiration. 

The only reason I’m consistent with my email marketing is because of her. 

If you’re looking for an advisor-specific resource, Kaytee from Moxie and Fourth, is your girl 🙂

Website Platforms: What Works and What Doesn’t

My very first travel agency website was actually hosted on WordPress.

Then I moved to Wix, and quickly found that while easy to use, the SEO is pretty poo poo.

I made a big investment in a new Wix website and never saw the ROI, as search engines can’t properly read Wix’s back end keywords.

The two website hosts I recommend are Showit and Squarespace, in addition to the long-standing WordPress.

Squarespace is easy to set up, while Showit is complicated, yet highly customizable.

Definitely work with a pro on this. 

When I transitioned from Wix to Showit, my search visibility dramatically improved.

Changing my domain registration from GoDaddy to Namecheap also boosted my website speed.

Showit is great because your blog can be hosted through WordPress, which is really the gold standard of blogging. 

If it’s not in your budget to hire a pro, and creating a website from scratch crosses your eyes, consider purchasing the gorgeous Showit templates from In Flow Design Co. (affiliate link). 

At the time of this article going live, they recently launched new templates and you can use my code RITA30 to get 30% off your purchase.

Other Tools You Might Be Missing

QuickBooks handles accounting for travel agency financials–don’t skip this one!

Even if you think you’re too small to need accounting software, you’re not.

From day one, you need to track your income and expenses, separate business from personal finances.

Spreadsheets definitely help, but they just aren’t as intuitive as QBO. 

My go-to pro for all things financial in the travel agency world is Stephanie Cannon.

For podcasting, Windows users should try Audacity (free) and Apple users can use GarageBand.

If you’re thinking about starting a podcast or even just recording audio messages for clients, don’t overthink the equipment.

Start with what you have or whatever is low cost.

Example- your smartphone mic is probably good enough to begin.

For podcast hosting, I use Libsyn for my travel podcast (auto posts to LinkedIn/Twitter), but I absolutely love Buzzsprout (affiliate link), which is where I host the Strategic Travel Entrepreneur Podcast. 

I prefer Buzzsprout for their ease of use, stats, and directory setup.

Podcast analytics matter as they can tell you what content resonates.

Are people finishing episodes?

Which topics get the most downloads?

This data can then inform your content strategy.

For team communication, my top recommendations are Slack (instant messenger) and Voxer (walkie talkie) as both have a free plan and you don’t have to share your personal phone number like on WhatsApp.

When you start working with contractors or team members, having a professional communication channel will also save your sanity, as it keeps business conversations separate from your personal messages and creates clearer boundaries.

Todoist is a free productivity app.

Great starter if full project management seems daunting.

I used Todoist before moving to ClickUp, and it taught me the basics of task management and deadline tracking.

Sometimes you just need to crawl before you walk.

And finally, Zapier integrates different platforms that don’t natively talk to each other.

My dream: client fills out a TravelJoy form and automatically gets added to my Flodesk for weekly newsletters.

That’s what Zapier does, as long as the tech has an open API.

And PS open AI does not cost a penny extra to use, though Zapier might as it’s another one where you can start out free, but the more you use, the more you might need to upgrade to paid.

Such a HUGE time-saver.

The less manual data entry you’re doing, the more time you have for actual travel planning and client relationships.

Some of these automation tools require paid plans, but even saving 30 minutes a week adds up to 26 hours a year, which is almost a full work week you could get back.

The important thing to remember is that these tools are about making your life easier as a travel business owner, not more complicated.

Start with what you need most right now.

Maybe that’s getting your client communication streamlined with a CRM.

Maybe it’s finally getting a handle on your calendar.

Maybe it’s setting up that project management system so you can actually take a vacation without everything falling apart.

For whatever reason, the industry hasn’t fully talked about travel business operations from the lens of entrepreneurship. We really just talk about the job of being a travel advisor. I think more people are starting to realize this though, as you’re seeing so many more resources supporting you 🙂

While marketing is what we need to get clients, there are so many other components to being a travel business owner, and having the right tools and systems in place is just one of them.

There’s sales, lead generation, marketing, financials, client experience, hiring team members, and mitigating risks with contracts and insurance.

The tools for travel agents I’ve shared with you today touch on so many of these areas.

They’re not just about being efficient, but about being professional, providing value to your clients, and building a travel business that actually supports the life you want to live.

So pick one area.

Start there.

Get comfortable.

Then add another tool when you’re ready.

You don’t need everything at once.

You just need to know what’s out there so you can make smart decisions as your business grows.

Resources Mentioned

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