Every CRM vendor will tell you their platform has 500+ features. What they won't tell you is that you'll use maybe 20 of them. This guide cuts through the noise.
Every CRM vendor will tell you their platform has 500+ features. What they won't tell you is that you'll use maybe 20 of them—and the 480 you won't use are inflating the price and cluttering your interface. This guide cuts through the noise to identify which CRM features actually drive revenue for travel agencies and which are expensive distractions.
CRM shopping is overwhelming. You sit through demos where sales reps click through screen after screen of capabilities: AI-powered this, machine-learning that, integrations with platforms you've never heard of.
By the end, you're thinking "this does everything!"—which usually means "I have no idea what I actually need."
Here's the truth: most travel agencies use less than 10% of their CRM's features. The rest is bloatware that slows down your system, confuses your team, and costs you money.
After working with hundreds of travel agencies, these are the features that consistently drive results. If a CRM doesn't nail these, nothing else matters.
What you need:
What you don't need: Social media profile aggregation, AI-powered personality analysis, automatic LinkedIn scraping. These sound cool in demos but rarely add value for travel agents.
What you need:
What you don't need: AI-predicted close probabilities, multi-pipeline hierarchies, complex weighted scoring systems. Keep it simple—you need to see what's hot and what's going cold.
What you need:
What you don't need: Complex proposal builders with dozens of template options, video embedding, interactive elements that clients struggle with.
What you need:
What you don't need: Sophisticated email sequences, A/B testing, send-time optimisation. These are marketing tools, not CRM essentials.
What you need:
What you don't need: Project management features, Gantt charts, resource allocation tools. A CRM isn't a project manager.
What you need:
What you don't need: Full accounting capabilities, multi-currency reconciliation, commission hierarchies. Connect to your accounting software for that.
What you need:
What you don't need: 100+ pre-built reports, complex BI dashboards, data warehouse integrations. Start with 5 reports that tell you what's working.
What you need:
What you don't need: Offline mode with full functionality, GPS tracking, voice-to-text transcription.
There's a reason the most successful travel agencies often use simpler tools. Complex CRMs create problems:
The 80/20 Rule: 80% of your results come from 20% of the features. Focus ruthlessly on that 20%.
These features dominate CRM marketing but rarely deliver value for travel agencies:
The pitch: "AI automatically prioritises your hottest leads!"
The reality: With the volume most travel agencies handle, you can prioritise leads yourself in seconds. AI scoring adds complexity without meaningful benefit until you're handling hundreds of enquiries daily.
The pitch: "See all your customer's social activity in one place!"
The reality: Rarely useful for travel sales. You need to know their travel preferences and booking history, not their Instagram posts.
The pitch: "Automate complex multi-step processes with visual builders!"
The reality: Most agencies need simple automations (booking confirmations, payment reminders). Enterprise-grade workflow tools add complexity you don't need.
The pitch: "Assign leads by geography, industry, or custom rules!"
The reality: Useful for enterprise sales teams with hundreds of reps. Overkill for a 5-person travel agency.
The pitch: "Build custom dashboards with drag-and-drop widgets!"
The reality: You need 5 reports, not 500 possible report configurations. Most "advanced analytics" goes unused.
Before looking at any CRM, document how your team actually works today. What happens when an enquiry comes in? How do you create quotes? How do you track payments? Map your real processes, not ideal ones.
Where does work fall through the cracks? What takes too long? What frustrates your team? These are the problems your CRM needs to solve—not theoretical problems vendors invent.
Based on your workflows and pain points, create a short list of absolute requirements. This shouldn't be more than 10 items. Everything else is nice-to-have.
Don't let vendors show you perfect demo data. Import your actual customer list and test real scenarios. How does it feel to create a quote for a real client? Can you find information quickly?
Include your team in the evaluation. The people who'll use the CRM daily should have input on the decision. Their buy-in dramatically increases adoption success.
🚩 "You'll grow into the features" — If you don't need them now, don't pay for them now.
🚩 Confusing pricing tiers — If you can't understand what you're paying for, that's intentional.
🚩 Long implementation timelines — A CRM shouldn't take months to set up.
🚩 Required professional services — If you need consultants to make it work, it's too complex.
🚩 Feature-focused demos — Good vendors focus on your problems, not their features.
The best CRM isn't the one with the most features. It's the one your team actually uses, every day, to serve customers better and close more bookings.
Focus on the fundamentals: contact management, pipeline visibility, quote creation, and payment tracking. Get those right, and everything else is gravy.
Don't let feature checklists drive your decision. Let your actual workflows and pain points guide you to a tool that fits—not one that overwhelms.
SimpTrav is designed specifically for travel businesses—with the features you need and none of the bloat you don't. Visual pipeline, integrated quotes, payment tracking, and clean reporting. No enterprise complexity.
See how SimpTrav can save you 52-68% compared to piecing together multiple tools.
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