Every hour spent on repetitive tasks is an hour not spent with clients. Discover the 10 tasks successful travel agencies have automated—and how to save 25+ hours per week.
Every hour your team spends on repetitive manual tasks is an hour not spent building client relationships, crafting perfect itineraries, or closing new business. The most successful travel agencies have figured this out—they've automated the mundane so their people can focus on what humans do best. Here are 10 tasks you should automate today.
The manual way: Agent finishes booking, opens email, types confirmation details, attaches documents, sends to client. Time: 5-10 minutes per booking.
The automated way: Booking is confirmed, system instantly sends a beautifully formatted confirmation email with all details, documents attached, and next steps clearly explained. Time: 0 minutes.
Annual time saved: 200+ bookings × 7 minutes = 23+ hours per year. That's nearly 3 full working days.
The manual way: Check spreadsheet for upcoming balances due, compose individual emails, track who's paid, follow up with those who haven't. Time: 30-60 minutes daily.
The automated way: System automatically sends balance reminders at configured intervals (30 days, 14 days, 7 days before departure), tracks payments in real-time, and escalates non-payers to a manager. Time: 0 minutes.
Annual time saved: 45 minutes/day × 250 working days = 187 hours. Plus, agencies report 40% faster payment collection with automated reminders.
The manual way: Monitor for incoming documents from suppliers, download, rename files, create email, attach documents, send to client. Time: 10-15 minutes per booking.
The automated way: Documents are automatically parsed, organised, and delivered to clients via email and customer portal at the right time before departure. Time: 0 minutes.
The manual way: Remember to follow up (or forget), open CRM, find contact, compose email, send. Repeat for every open enquiry. Time: 15-30 minutes daily.
The automated way: System automatically sends personalised follow-up sequences based on enquiry type, engagement level, and time since last contact. Agents get notified only when a lead shows buying signals. Time: 0 minutes (until they're ready to buy).
The manual way: Copy client details from email to CRM, update booking status manually, re-enter payment information from finance system. Time: 20-40 minutes per booking.
The automated way: Web forms populate CRM automatically, booking updates flow between systems in real-time, payment records sync instantly. Time: 0 minutes.
Bonus benefit: Automated data entry eliminates typos, duplicate records, and the "which system has the right information?" problem.
The manual way: Export data from multiple systems, merge spreadsheets, create charts, format report, send to stakeholders. Time: 2-4 hours weekly.
The automated way: Real-time dashboards update automatically, scheduled reports generate and email themselves, alerts trigger when KPIs need attention. Time: 0 minutes.
The manual way: Manager reviews incoming enquiries, decides who should handle each one, forwards or assigns manually. Time: 15-30 minutes daily.
The automated way: Rules-based routing assigns leads based on specialisation, workload, round-robin, or lead value. High-value leads get instant alerts. Time: 0 minutes.
The manual way: Receive rate sheets from suppliers, manually update pricing in your system, hope you don't miss anything. Time: 2-5 hours monthly.
The automated way: Bulk import rates from CSV/Excel, or connect to supplier APIs for real-time pricing. System flags conflicts and validates data automatically. Time: 5 minutes to review.
The manual way: Create calendar reminders for departures, balance dues, document deadlines. Manually track task completion across the team. Time: 30+ minutes daily.
The automated way: System generates tasks automatically based on booking timeline, assigns them to the right people, sends reminders, and tracks completion. Time: 0 minutes.
The manual way: Remember which clients returned recently, compose personal emails asking for reviews, track who's responded. Time: 15-30 minutes daily.
The automated way: System sends personalised review requests 3-7 days after return, follows up if needed, aggregates feedback for analysis. Time: 0 minutes.
Result: Agencies using automated review requests see 3x more reviews than those asking manually—because they actually ask every time.
Let's add it up. For a typical 5-person travel agency:
| Task | Weekly Time Saved |
|---|---|
| Booking confirmations | 2 hours |
| Payment reminders | 4 hours |
| Document delivery | 2 hours |
| Follow-ups | 2 hours |
| Data entry | 5 hours |
| Reporting | 3 hours |
| Lead routing | 1.5 hours |
| Rate updates | 1 hour |
| Calendar/tasks | 2.5 hours |
| Review requests | 2 hours |
| Total | 25 hours/week |
25 hours per week. That's more than half a full-time employee's worth of work—currently being spent on tasks that machines can do better, faster, and without errors.
At average agency wages, that's:
That's £19,500 in productivity gains—before counting the faster payments, better reviews, and fewer errors.
You don't have to automate everything at once. Start with the highest-impact, lowest-effort wins:
Set up automated booking confirmations and payment reminders. These have immediate impact and are straightforward to configure.
Implement automatic lead routing and follow-up sequences. Stop letting enquiries fall through the cracks.
Connect document delivery and task management. Let the system handle the logistics.
Set up automated dashboards and review requests. Get insights without effort.
Here's what automation really gives you: time for the work that matters.
When your team isn't drowning in admin, they can spend time understanding client preferences, crafting perfect itineraries, being available when clients have questions, and building the relationships that generate referrals and repeat business.
No client ever said "I chose this agency because their payment reminder emails were so manually typed." They choose you because you understand them, respond quickly, and make travel planning feel effortless.
Automation isn't about replacing the human touch—it's about freeing your humans to deliver more of it.
SimpTrav includes powerful workflow automation built right in. Automate booking confirmations, payment reminders, follow-ups, document delivery, and more—no Zapier or technical skills required.
See how SimpTrav can save you 52-68% compared to piecing together multiple tools.
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