PEAK 15

Best Multi-Day Tour Operator Software in 2026

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 16:55:00 GMT

A single multi-day tour can involve dozens of supplier confirmations, multiple lodging nights, sequenced transport segments, guest readiness documents, and trip-level financial reconciliation. Coordinating that work across sales, operations, and finance teams using spreadsheets and disconnected tools is a common source of operational drag, margin leakage, and booking errors for tour operators and destination management companies (DMCs).

Multi-day tour operator software exists to consolidate that workflow into a shared system of record. These platforms support multi-stop itineraries, bundled services like lodging and transport, supplier coordination, guest readiness, and financial tracking across the full trip lifecycle.

This category is designed for multi-day tour operators, group travel operators, and DMCs whose sales, operations, and finance teams need the same trip and guest data. A strong solution typically connects inquiry intake, itinerary building, reservations, supplier booking workflows, guest management, and accounting so teams do not rely on spreadsheets or disconnected point tools.

This article covers a shortlist of multi-day tour operator software options and compares them using consistent selection criteria.

How We Evaluated

The evaluation is based on publicly available information from each vendor, including product and solutions pages, published workflows or methodology descriptions, integration documentation, and customer-facing case studies or testimonials. Criteria focus on whether those materials demonstrate the ability to run multi-day, multi-component tour operations end to end. Scores reflect documented evidence rather than hands-on product testing.

End-to-End Trip Lifecycle Coverage (Inquiry to Reconciliation): Whether the firm describes a connected workflow that supports multi-day trip operations from lead/inquiry intake through quoting, booking, operational execution, and post-trip financial reconciliation.
Multi-Day Itinerary, Package, and Costing Depth: Whether the firm documents robust multi-day itinerary building that supports bundled services (lodging, transport, activities), sequencing, revisions, and margin-aware pricing and costing.
Reservations, Availability, and Departure Management: Whether the firm describes how it manages inventory and availability across scheduled departures and/or custom FIT trips, including capacity controls and booking workflows tied to real operational constraints.
Supplier Contracting and Service Booking Workflows: Whether the firm covers supplier management features needed for multi-component trips, including service booking tracking, confirmations, and supplier cost handling.
Guest, Rooming, and Document/Readiness Management: Whether the firm describes guest-level operational management for multi-day travel, including manifests or rosters, rooming, traveler readiness, and required document collection.
Automation, Configurability, and Role-Based Operational Workflow: Whether the firm documents configurable workflows and automation that map to an operator’s real processes across sales, ops, and finance.
Integration Ecosystem (Accounting, Payments, CRM/Marketing, and APIs): Whether the firm describes integration depth for common operator systems, especially accounting, payments, marketing and CRM tooling, and website and booking experiences.

Where a vendor offers a broader platform, this review covers only the features and use cases relevant to multi-day tour operator software.

At a Glance

PEAK 15 — Best for Multi-day tour operators and DMCs that want a single system of record across CRM, trip planning, operations, and accounting with configurable workflows and documented integrations.
Kaptio — Best for Multi-day travel operators and travel providers (tour operators, DMCs, cruise operators, rail operators, FIT providers) with reservations, sales, and operations teams managing complex itineraries and high-volume bookings.
Lemax — Best for mid- to large-sized tour operators and destination management companies (DMCs) in travel and tourism.
Softrip — Best for Multi-day tour operators and travel companies (including those working with travel agencies) needing an all-in-one system for reservations, operations, CRM and marketing, and travel-specific accounting, scaling from about 5 to 500 users.
TourCube — Best for established multi-day tour operators and DMCs, typically teams of 10+, including operations managers and sales and fulfillment teams managing inquiries, proposals, bookings, and departures.

1. PEAK 15

PEAK 15 is a cloud platform built for multi-day tour operators and DMCs that need connected workflows across marketing, sales, trip planning, operations, and accounting. The platform is built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and is positioned as a single system of record for multi-day travel businesses running both scheduled departures and custom FIT trips. It supports itinerary and proposal creation, booking management, supplier and service coordination, and financial workflows tied to trip execution. A typical scenario is managing inquiry intake through trip planning, then using the same booking record to drive manifests, operational itineraries, document collection, and actual-versus-quoted cost tracking. PEAK 15 also documents integrations for common operator systems including accounting tools, marketing platforms, and GDS connectivity through partners.

What Sets PEAK 15 Apart

PEAK 15 is documented as a Microsoft Dynamics 365-based platform that connects CRM and trip operations in one data model for multi-day travel. It documents an API-first integration approach plus Zapier support for extending workflows without relying only on exports. It also documents operator-specific operations coverage including room assignments, roommate management, manifests, and readiness-related document collection.

Key Features

Trip templates and cloning: Enables teams to standardize repeatable itineraries and reduce rebuild work for common programs.
Supplier service library: Centralizes supplier content so planners can add or replace services without rebuilding trip components.
Margin-aware budgeting: Supports fixed, variable, and tiered costing scenarios tied to group size and profitability targets.
Operational manifests and rosters: Generates trip-ready guest lists to support on-trip execution and handoffs.
Document creation and collection: Tracks traveler information plus readiness items such as dietary and medical details.
Accounting exports and multi-currency invoicing: Supports invoicing and payment workflows with export paths to external accounting systems.

What Customers Say

Published testimonials cite productivity gains from automation and ongoing account management support. Other testimonials reference responsive support with honesty and transparency and describe consolidation of business processes into more structured workflows.

Best For: Multi-day tour operators with sales, operations, and finance teams that need configurable, end-to-end coverage from inquiry through reconciliation inside a single system of record.

2. Kaptio

Kaptio provides a Salesforce-based platform for selling and operating complex, multi-day travel experiences. It is positioned for travel operators that need tools for FIT and tailor-made itinerary building, group tour inventory controls, and an online booking engine for direct-to-consumer flows. It also offers a payments module aimed at enabling global transactions and improving reservation workflows. A typical scenario is using the itinerary builder to produce a customized proposal, then managing inventory, bookings, and payments in a connected workflow supported by Salesforce.

What Sets Kaptio Apart

Kaptio is built on Salesforce, which can align with teams that already standardize on Salesforce administration and CRM data structures. It documents product modules for sell-side workflows and operations, plus a dedicated payments capability. It also documents an SDK and API approach for connecting third-party inventory sources for live search and reservations.

Key Features

Kaptio Sell: Supports selling workflows with real-time inventory and workflow steps tied to reservations.
Kaptio Ops: Reduces manual operational work through structured operational processes.
Kaptio Pay: Supports payment collection for global transactions across regions and card types.
FIT and tailor-made itinerary builder: Speeds up building custom quotes and itineraries for bespoke trips.
Group tours inventory and pricing controls: Centralizes controls to maintain consistent rates across channels.

Best For: Best for multi-day travel operators and travel providers (including tour operators, DMCs, cruise operators, rail operators, and FIT providers) with reservations, sales, and operations teams managing complex itineraries and high-volume bookings.

3. Lemax

Lemax is a software platform for travel agencies, tour operators, and destination management companies that automates workflows across sales, operations, and finance. It is positioned as a back-office system for multi-day tour businesses that need packaging, reservations, supplier communications, and accounting process automation. The product also describes online booking capabilities and distribution workflows for selling tours through resellers and OTAs. A typical scenario is building and packaging multi-day products, then using the same system to manage reservations and automate supplier ordering and communications.

What Sets Lemax Apart

Lemax emphasizes distribution and connectivity, including APIs and named OTA integrations for selling through multiple channels. It also lists a wide set of payment provider integrations, which can matter for operators that need flexibility in payment processing. It documents ISO standards in its security and service management posture, which may be relevant for buyers with vendor risk requirements.

Key Features

Tour packaging management: Supports building and managing packages, inventory, and group travel logic.
Reservation workflow automation: Helps teams manage reservation steps with less manual coordination.
Online booking capabilities: Supports a web booking experience for customers.
Supplier ordering automation: Automates supplier ordering and supplier communications tied to bookings.
Accounting process automation: Streamlines finance workflows and supports cash flow management.

Best For: Best for mid to large-sized tour operators and destination management companies (DMCs) in travel and tourism.

4. Softrip

Softrip is an end-to-end platform for multi-day tour operators to manage reservations, product management, operations, CRM and marketing, reporting, payments, and accounting in one system. It describes packaged travel support for departures, custom groups, and more flexible trip-building models. It also documents travel-specific accrual accounting and P&L visibility at the trip and reservation level. A typical scenario is managing bookings and documents in the reservation flow, then using operations tools to generate deliverables like rooming lists while finance tracks trip-level performance.

What Sets Softrip Apart

Softrip documents travel-specific accounting as a core product area rather than a separate external dependency. It also documents API connectivity for third-party shopping and booking, including scenarios where partners shop and book operator inventory. It positions scalability across a wide user range, which can fit organizations with multi-team workflows.

Key Features

Reservations: Supports booking workflows that include documents and payment handling.
Product management: Enables package creation while tracking supplier costs and pricing.
Operations: Automates customer communications and operational deliverables like rooming lists.
Payments: Supports multiple payment types including ACH plus scheduled or installment payments.
Accounting: Provides accrual-based travel accounting with trip-level and reservation-level P&L.

Best For: Best for multi-day tour operators and travel companies (including those working with travel agencies) needing an all-in-one system for reservations, operations, CRM and marketing, and travel-specific accounting, scaling from about 5 to 500 users.

5. TourCube

TourCube is a cloud-based business management platform for multi-day tour operators and DMCs that supports workflows from marketing and itinerary planning through booking, operations, and accounting. It is positioned for operators running scheduled departures, custom itineraries, or hybrid models that combine both. TourCube describes booking management, trip and departure management, proposals for FIT and groups, and accounting and payments tied to booking data. A typical scenario is using itinerary management and proposals to respond to an inquiry, then managing departures and tying payments and accounting activity back to trip records.

What Sets TourCube Apart

TourCube documents a guest portal, which can support traveler self-service and reduce operational follow-up workload. It also lists integrations across marketing, payments, accounting, and CMS, which can help operators connect TourCube to existing front-end and back-office tools. It positions itself around managing the full tour operation in one platform across both scheduled and custom models.

Key Features

Trip and departure management: Centralizes control of multi-day departures and operational execution.
Itinerary management: Reduces duplication between operational itineraries and website content.
FIT and group proposals: Standardizes proposal output and shortens turnaround for quotes.
Guest portal: Enables traveler self-service for trip-related information and workflows.
Accounting and payments management: Ties financial transactions to booking and departure data.

Best For: Best for established multi-day tour operators and destination management companies (DMCs), typically teams of 10+, including operations managers and sales and fulfillment teams managing inquiries, proposals, bookings, and departures.

Comparison Table

What to Look For When Choosing Multi-Day Tour Operator Software

Coverage across the full trip lifecycle reduces operational handoffs.

Buyers typically benefit when inquiry intake, quoting, booking, operations, and reconciliation steps share one system of record. This matters most when sales and operations teams need the same trip and guest data, and when finance needs actuals tied back to what was sold.

Itinerary and costing depth drives margin control on multi-component trips.

Multi-day operators usually need more than a presentation itinerary. Buyers often evaluate whether pricing logic, templates, service libraries, and revision workflows are built for frequent changes without creating manual rework or costing errors.

Departure and availability controls prevent downstream fulfillment issues.

Scheduled departures and capacity constraints require inventory logic that sales teams can trust. Buyers often look for shared visibility into availability plus modification handling that stays aligned with operations constraints.

Supplier and service booking workflows determine how much work lives outside the system.

Multi-component trips rely on confirmations, status tracking, and cost updates across many vendors. Buyers typically assess whether supplier booking activity is structured in the platform or handled through emails and spreadsheets.

Guest readiness, rooming, and document collection affect trip execution quality.

Multi-day trips often require room assignments, manifests, and readiness tracking across payments and traveler details. Buyers usually evaluate whether the system supports these operational controls at the guest level, not only at the booking level.

Integrations and APIs shape long-term workflow fit.

Many operators still need to connect to accounting, payments, marketing, and distribution systems. Buyers typically evaluate integration documentation, supported connectors, and whether the vendor supports API-based workflows for data consistency.

Disclaimer

This list is based on independent research and publicly available information at the time of writing. Product capabilities, pricing, integrations, and plan structures may change. We recommend verifying details directly with each vendor before making a purchasing decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Power of Community

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 21:20:00 GMT

The travel industry relies heavily on community, whether it’s building relationships with clients, collaborating with vendors and partners, or sharing stories. Connection is at the heart of this industry.

At PEAK 15, we believe in the power of community to foster long-term growth for our customers. We recognize that these connections drive progress, so we actively engage with our customer community to guide our product development and ensure we’re meeting the real time needs of multi-day travel operations.

Collaboration is central to who we are. By understanding the challenges our customers face, we create solutions that strengthen their operations and enhance their guest experiences. We realized early on that in person connection is crucial to community, which led to the annual PEAK 15 Summit.

The Annual PEAK 15 Summit: Community in Action

“ You can attend any number of general business conferences to learn about topics like marketing or AI. And you can attend any number of travel industry events where you can network with your peers. But there is only one event where you can sit down with a group of your peers who are using the same technology platform you are and learn in detail how they have “slain the dragon.” That event is the PEAK 15 Summit. ” -James O’Leonard Founder & President of PEAK 15

In 2017, the first annual PEAK 15 Summit was held. Since then there have been five total PEAK 15 Summits, all taking place in Southern California. The Summit is a three day event designed around real conversations happening in the travel industry. It’s a gathering where PEAK 15 community members come together face-to-face to learn, exchange ideas, and strengthen relationships.

“It wouldn’t be PEAK 15 without the Summit” – Melissa Hordych, Micato Safaris

The highlight each year is our customer-led presentations. Here, the experts are not our team, they are you. Community members showcase how they use PEAK 15 in innovative ways, sparking ideas and inspiration for everyone. Each session is shaped by feedback from customer surveys and an agenda is built around what our customers want to see most, ensuring everyone leaves the summit with actionable insights they can apply to their own operations. Along with our customer-led presentations the PEAK 15 Summit also includes panel discussions with our partners, PEAK 15 led sessions and hands on training, so attendees get a well rounded experience.

“The client-led sessions are great; I always find myself inspired by how others are using the system and overcoming challenges.” -Renee Bonjour, Holiday Vacations

Shared breakfasts, lunches, and evening receptions create the space for meaningful connection. Conversations flow naturally whether it’s swapping business ideas, comparing tools, or simply enjoying time with fellow travel professionals who understand the travel industry’s unique challenges.

“I feel much more capable now to tackle our challenges.” – Kelly Kimple, Adventures in Good Company

The entire PEAK 15 Support Team and all Customer Success Managers attend the PEAK 15 Summit as well, offering valuable opportunities for collaboration. It’s a rare chance to talk through the system’s features, uncover new ways of doing things and discuss new ideas with the PEAK 15 team face-to-face.

“It has been very beneficial to my role, to learn through the training sessions giving me a broader understanding of the system.” – Lauren Lemke, Stubborn Mule Travel

Joining PEAK 15 Means Joining a Community

Becoming part of PEAK 15 opens the door to a new community of travel professionals, people who share your passion, your challenges, and your commitment to growth. Our customers’ needs shape our roadmap and inspire our future. When you join PEAK 15, your voice becomes part of something bigger.

Want to learn more about our PEAK 15 Community and how you can be involved? Contact Us today.

Too Much Loyalty, Too Little Growth?

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 20:21:00 GMT

For multi-day tour operators and travel companies, high repeat traveler rates are seen as marks of success. Having a consistent client base traveling with you year after year is something every travel company dreams of. But what happens when that group of loyal guests begins to shrink?

One travel company recently expressed their concerns with PEAK 15. Their current base of loyal travelers were “aging out” and not enough emphasis was being placed on attracting new guests. This begs the question, what is an optimal repeat traveler rate and how do you balance nurturing loyalty while also expanding your client base?

Loyalty Benchmarks

According to Exploding Topics’ most recent article on customer retention rates, the average retention rate for the travel industry is around 55%. However, the travel industry measured covers a broad spectrum because it includes the hospitality industry as well. It’s not necessarily reflective of specific industries like multi-day travel.

In such a specialized space, with distinct destinations and travel offerings, can we even apply a single “repeat traveler rate” as a benchmark?

The challenge also lies in how travel companies define “repeat travelers.” Not all repeat guests are the same. A traveler who returns annually demonstrates a different kind of loyalty than one who books again after a five-year gap.

That’s why it’s important to establish clear and quantifiable criteria to measure your repeat traveler rate. For example, at PEAK 15, we define the “repeat traveler rate” as the percentage of travelers in a given period of time who have also traveled with the same company any time previous to that period. Ultimately, the “right” repeat traveler rate depends on your business model.

We know loyal guests provide predictable revenue and reinforce your brand identity. But there are also some risks, including stagnation and aging demographics, which can lead to eventual decline.

The Demographic Shift in Travelers

In PGAV’s 2025 Voice of the Visitor, a national benchmarking study conducted among U.S. leisure-attraction visitors, for the first time, the 18-34 age group surpassed the 55+ age group in travel. “As Baby Boomers reduce leisure travel with age, millennials and Gen Z are expected to dominate the travel market. Projections suggest that by 2030, these younger generations will account for over half of U.S. leisure trips. These groups prioritize unique, adventurous, and eco-conscious travel experiences.”

The Adventure Travel Trade Association also echoed this pattern in their most recent research. In the 2025 Adventure Travel Trends & Insights: State of the Adventure Travel Industry , “most (66%) of 2024 adventure travelers were between the ages of 29 and 60,” and those that traveled to countries in Central America, Caribbean, the Pacific, and Africa, trended towards an overall younger age compared to previous years.

New Expectations

It’s not just who is traveling that’s changing, it’s how . Younger generations have different expectations when booking travel. They are looking for fast, easy online booking with real time availability. Mobile friendly platforms, personalized content, unique itineraries, and honest reviews are also integral to the experience of this demographic.

To meet these new expectations and capture the bookings of these travelers, your systems, processes, and marketing must evolve.

Identify and Engage Guests with PEAK 15

Do you know who your ideal client is? Reporting through PEAK 15 allows you to segment your current travelers by things like age, type of trips booked, and spending habits.

Maybe a certain age group consistently books one itinerary. Why not promote it more heavily to similar travelers or add related trips to your catalog?

Are your repeat travelers all from the same demographic? Do you know which guests are more likely to spend on add-ons and upgrades? Organizing this data highlights trends that will then fuel your future marketing campaigns.

Marketing Integrations

Once you know your ideal traveler, it’s time to reach them. PEAK 15 supports marketing integrations with Marketo, Hubspot, Mailchimp, and Constant Contact which will help you capture new leads and nurture them into lifelong clients.

Customer Spotlight: Senior Discovery Tours

Senior Discovery Tours is leading the way with their loyalty programs by including both a referral (growth) and a rewards (loyalty) aspect to them. Current offerings include:

Discovery Rewards : A program based on the number of tours guests complete.

BlueSky Referrals : A referral system where referrers earn $300 when they refer someone who completes a tour. The referral also receives a gift.

Insider Club Benefits : A program where clubs and associations earn a 4% commission for every member who books, with no minimum bookings required.

This is a great example of how balance can be achieved between incentivizing both your loyal and new travelers. Senior Discovery Tours leverages PEAK 15 to monitor their loyalty programs, generating reports on which travelers are taking advantage of their rewards.

Balance is Key to Loyalty & Growth

The loyalty of your legacy travelers helped build your brand, and PEAK 15 helps you understand who’s next. With the tools to understand your audience and automate your processes, you can reach new travelers while still nurturing your loyal ones.

Embracing Change: Simplifying Software Integration for Multi-Day Tour Operators

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 19:32:00 GMT

Even for the most experienced multi-day tour operators, change is intimidating. The idea of overhauling systems or adopting new technology feels overwhelming because current processes, even with their own set of flaws, feel familiar and safe.

But staying in that comfort zone limits growth. Embracing digital tools is the path to scalability, efficiency, and better guest experiences. You know digitization is the next step forward in your business, and the key is finding the right partner to guide you through the journey.

That’s where PEAK 15 comes in. With years of experience in the multi-day tour operator industry, PEAK 15 team members can help you make the shift to new software not just manageable but genuinely rewarding.

Pain of Change

For multi-day tour operators, positive guest experiences drive business results. Integrating a new software system interrupts workflows, takes time, and adds cost. There is an emotional and operational toll of switching or adopting new systems, especially in the beginning.

But continuing to operate with processes that are “just getting by” is hurting your business and hindering your ability to scale operations. The pain of current system slowness, limited integrations, and general disorganization leads to guest dissatisfaction, and plateaus a scalable business.

Change is the only way forward, and it’s worth it.

Keeping your current workflows and systems due to comfort is not good enough. Change is the only path forward, and others are already doing it. It’s not a matter of if , it’s a matter of when .

The PEAK 15 Approach: Making Change Simple

In onboarding, the Crawl, Walk, Run methodology is emphasized daily to new PEAK 15 customers. “It’s about replacing what you currently do, and then building on it later” says Rich Nicolosi, VP of Operations. “PEAK 15 has an infinite number of possibilities, but the key to a successful and smooth transition is keeping things simple at go live.”

Your PEAK 15 Journey at a Glance

So, what can you expect when you partner with PEAK 15?

After your kickoff call with PEAK 15, you will be given a clear roadmap through our onboarding management platform, Guide CX, highlighting all the necessary tasks to reach your go-live date within 120 days. This gives you complete visibility into every step of the process, helping your team track progress in the transition.

You’ll attend six 1.5-hour training sessions to build a strong foundation. Then, after completing tasks like system configuration, workflow building, itinerary templates, and web integration, you’ll begin using PEAK 15 to power your own business.

And you won’t be alone.

Meet Julia Boston, your dedicated onboarding specialist. With over 10 years in the travel industry, including working for a flagship operator that utilizes PEAK 15, Julia understands your business. She’s been through onboarding, training, development, and daily operations for years and will be with you every step of the way.

The Key to a Smooth Transition

Now that you have a brief overview of what to expect from the PEAK 15 onboarding experience, what actions can you take to ensure its success?

Assign a dedicated team member : Ideally, this person can dedicate 12-15 hours a week during onboarding and make decisions on calls about the way PEAK 15 is structured for your business.

Stay open-minded: The exciting part of adopting new software is the opportunity to change processes. Being open to a new way of doing things will allow your team to utilize PEAK 15 in the best way to streamline operations and grow business.

Trust PEAK 15 to be your guide : PEAK 15 is more than just software—it’s a team that understands the travel industry and is dedicated to your success every step of the way.

Measuring Success

Is the fear of change still holding you back from adopting new technology? Here are some ways you can measure success after implementing PEAK 15.

Time saved : PEAK 15 centralizes your data. Instead of balancing QuickBooks with Excel, Mailchimp, Google Sheets etc., PEAK 15 is the single source of truth, saving your team time moving from one system to the next. Along with other time-savers like automated emails, and pre-formatted itineraries, seemingly small tasks add up. This gives your team more time to focus on what is important; guest experiences.
Revenue Growth: For most businesses, scaling means hiring more employees, which increases costs significantly. However, partnering with PEAK 15 can grow your system without hiring more people–keeping your bottom line steady while continuing to grow your top line. One PEAK 15 customer recently doubled their sales with only a 10% increase in headcount.
Guest Satisfaction : With the attention being shifted from manual processes to personalizing guest experiences, your team will be able to provide exceptional travel experiences, fueling guest loyalty and referrals which will drive business exponentially.

Change is hard but staying stagnant is harder

In the multi-day tour operator industry, we know change is hard. But staying stagnant is even harder. Outdated systems limit your potential and hold your business back. Now that you know what to expect, it’s time to take the first step forward.

Let PEAK 15 guide you, talk to an expert today.

“Change can be very daunting for any organization. Fortunately, PEAK 15 was well prepared to assist in getting us up and running and produce the positive changes we were seeking. The PEAK 15 team was dedicated, helpful, and flexible during the on-boarding process to cultivate the synergies with our business and to help with the vast amounts of data that needed to be migrated. They were very fast and responsive during the onboarding process with our questions, training and service needs ensuring a smooth transition”

Philip Khoury

Executive Director of Sales

Linda Andersson

Manager

“PEAK 15’s onboarding and support team provided great help and insight in how to make the best use of all parts of the system to consolidate our business processes. We are now able automate many manual tasks and reports, which will ensure our focus on enhancing our customer service experience and boosting sales.”

AI: A Powerful Tool for Multi-Day Tour Operators, But Not the Whole Solution

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 21:37:00 GMT

Artificial intelligence has rapidly changed the game in many industries, and the hype of AI in the travel industry is no different. From itinerary planning to customer service automation, AI has a number of realistic applications in the multi-day tour operator space. But will AI plateau at a more modest and supporting role just like other emerging technologies or will it have a more profound and lasting impact on how we do business? The Gartner Hype Cycle provides useful insight on where AI currently stands in its journey.

The Gartner Hype Cycle outlines five key phases in a technology’s evolution: Technology Trigger, Peak of Inflated Expectations, Trough of Disillusionment, Slope of Enlightenment, and Plateau of Productivity.

Although still up for debate, according to Gartner.com , AI now appears to be shifting past the Peak of Inflated Expectations towards the Trough of Disillusionment–a pattern seen with many past technologies such as chatbots, virtual reality, and 3D printing. There is an initial overhype followed by more realistic and simple use cases of the technology.

So, where does AI truly fit in specifically for multi-day tour operators? Let’s take a deeper look at how AI can serve not as a replacement, but as an assistant in enhancing multi-day tour operations and guest experiences.

The Role of AI in the Travel Industry

Will AI replace travel planners some day? Short answer is no. However, it can significantly help with task automation and efficiency.

A 2024 USTOA-PWC survey found that:

75% of USTOA members agreed GenAI helps staff by automating routine tasks.
65% believe AI enhances their ability to improve operations and personalize itineraries.

AI Tools Shaping the Travel Industry Today

Below are some real-life ways businesses in the travel industry are currently taking advantage of the efficiency AI brings to their own daily operations.

CV Villas (vacation villa rentals) uses AI in their own marketing strategy:
- Perplexity AI analyzes client profiles to create detailed personas and rank marketing messaging effectiveness.

Adido (digital marketing agency in travel) uses multiple AI tools to enhance their communication efficiency and effectiveness:
- Relevance AI monitors and flags relevant client calls for employee reviews, saving time and improving training.
- Heygen.com + Zapier creates personalized AI videos and automates email follow-ups after form submissions.
- Otter AI captures and records customer calls, reducing administrative work and improving itinerary personalization.

Vamoos (a mobile app for custom tour operators and a PEAK 15 partner) recently launched “ Imsert ,” an image-sourcing tool that speeds up itinerary building by pulling relevant images from stored files, saving hours of time to create visually appealing itineraries.

Globus Journeys (international multi-day tour operator) developed an automated chatbot to prepopulate reservation details which increases the speed of the self-service option in their own travel agent portal.

Collette (multi-day tour operator) uses AI to review guest surveys and flag items that can influence changes to current tour offerings. As of 2024, this company also created a dedicated AI committee to oversee the use and implementation of AI tools to ensure its accuracy.

Travel Deliciously (multi-day tour operator focused on culinary trips) utilizes ChatGPT to analyze contracts, which saves hours of manual time for their employees.

Why AI Isn’t the All-in-One Solution

While AI offers several benefits as seen above, it has limitations. The travel industry thrives on human expertise, and over-reliance on AI for multi-day tour operators could lead to an impersonal experience for guests.

A 2024 Contiki survey revealed that while Gen Z travelers embrace AI for travel research (56% use it to discover local activities, 60% for discounts), only 7% would trust AI to book an entire trip . This highlights the importance of the human touch in trip planning. AI is a technology that should be embraced to improve efficiency but will never fully replace the operations of a multi-day tour operator.

PEAK 15’s Take: The Balance of Technology and Personalization

At PEAK 15, we see AI as a powerful asset when used strategically. Our own software is designed to support multi-day tour operators, helping them save time so they can focus on delivering exceptional guest experiences. The same idea applies to AI.

Founder & President, James O’Leonard speaks to the rise of AI in the travel industry.

“AI is simply a tool–start with the problem and then find the best solution. There are many pragmatic uses of AI and though saving 10 minutes on one task may seem insignificant at first, multiplied across teams and over time, it can change your business. However, always make sure you are prioritizing the guest experience. A solution that saves your business time but leaves guests frustrated isn’t worth it—just look at the many failed AI chatbot examples”

At the 2024 annual PEAK 15 Summit , we explored the future of AI in our software specifically with tools like Zapier and Claude AI. Practical applications for PEAK 15 include improving online help, streamlining automation, and organizing data more efficiently.

As a software company, we at PEAK 15 embrace the simple uses of AI for multi-day tour operators while also maintaining integrity with the human connections and expertise that make travel experiences unforgettable.

AI is Here to Assist, Not Replace

AI is transforming the travel industry, and multi-day tour operators have the chance now to take advantage of it. AI should be embraced strategically; used to enhance efficiency, automate routine tasks, and personalize itineraries, which then leaves more room to focus on creating incredible travel experiences.

Want to learn more about PEAK 15’s integrations? Contact us today.

Best Practices for Building the Perfect Itinerary Proposal

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 11:03:00 GMT

Understanding What Is a Travel Itinerary

As a travel professional, you already understand that a travel itinerary is a comprehensive plan detailing the logistics of a trip. It outlines destinations, activities, and schedules to ensure a seamless travel experience. However, creating a compelling and efficient itinerary proposal requires a strategic approach that blends precision, thoroughness, aesthetic appeal, and customization.

Here are some best practices to help you craft an effective itinerary proposal for your clients:

Accurate

Accuracy is crucial in any itinerary proposal. Ensure all details are precise, including dates, times or times of day, locations, and activities. An accurate travel itinerary helps build trust with your clients and ensures their trip goes smoothly without surprises.

Detailed

A detailed itinerary proposal covers all aspects of the trip, from the big picture to the most minor details. When clients know exactly what to expect, they can better anticipate and enjoy their experience. Ensure your travel itinerary includes specifics on transportation, activities, dining options, and free time.

Beautiful

A beautiful itinerary proposal captivates the client from the first glance. Use high-quality images, attractive fonts, and a clean layout to make the travel itinerary visually appealing. At most, two or three images per page can keep it from feeling cluttered, ensuring a pleasant reading experience.

Unique

Every travel itinerary should be unique and tailored to the client’s interests and needs. Avoid generic, cookie-cutter plans. Instead, personalize the itinerary proposal by including special touches or unique activities that reflect the client’s preferences. Additionally, ensure that your brand is clearly reflected in the proposal’s look and feel.

What a Travel Itinerary Should Look Like

Attention-Grabbing Cover Page with Your Brand

Start your itinerary proposal with a cover page that prominently features your brand. This sets the tone and immediately signals professionalism.

One-Page Summary

A one-page summary is essential for those who may not have time to read the entire travel itinerary. This summary should highlight the key aspects of the trip and entice readers to delve deeper into the details.

Great Images

Include high-quality images to illustrate the journey. Limit this to no more than 2 or 3 images per page to maintain a clean and engaging look.

Consistent Text Style and Voice

Maintain a consistent style and voice throughout the itinerary proposal. Focus on describing the experience rather than the logistics. This approach makes the travel itinerary more relatable and exciting for the client.

Accommodation Highlights

Include a section that highlights where clients will be staying each night. Ensure at least one picture per accommodation is included to give a clear idea of the lodging experience.

About Us Section

Remind clients who you are as an organization and introduce the person crafting the itinerary. Explain how you stand out from the competition, reinforcing the personal touch you bring to the travel itinerary.

Clear and Simple Pricing

Include clear pricing information in your travel itinerary. Keep it simple and straightforward to avoid overwhelming the client with too many figures.

Why PEAK 15?

PEAK 15 Systems allows you to respond quickly while achieving these best practices. With PEAK 15, you can efficiently create an itinerary proposal that is accurate, detailed, beautiful, and unique. The software streamlines building a travel itinerary, ensuring each proposal is customized and professional.

Using PEAK 15 , you can easily manage high-quality images, maintain a consistent style, and present transparent pricing, all within a user-friendly platform. This makes it easier for tour operators to deliver exceptional travel itineraries that captivate and satisfy clients.

What Software Do Travel Agents Use? Discover The Best Software for Your Travel Agency

Fri, 31 May 2024 11:52:00 GMT

In the dynamic world of travel, having the right tools and software is crucial for success. Whether you’re a corporate travel manager or a leisure travel agent, choosing the best tour agency software can significantly improve your efficiency and customer satisfaction. This guide will explore the best options for travel agents, ensuring you have the tools to excel in this competitive industry. Let’s discuss what software travel agents use, functional websites, and other tools that might help your operations.

What Software Do Travel Agents Use ?

Travel agents rely on various software solutions to manage their operations efficiently. Some of the most common tools used by travel agencies are ClientBase for the front office, TRAMS for the accounting and back office, Word and Excel, and a Global Distribution System (GDS) such as Sabre, Apollo, and Amadeus. These tools help streamline tasks, manage customer relationships, handle bookings, and integrate various services into a cohesive system. Let’s delve into some of the most common software travel agents use today.

Standard Tools for Travel Agencies

ClientBase is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool for travel agencies. It helps manage client information, track interactions, and automate communication.

TRAMS (Travel Agency Management Solutions) provides comprehensive accounting and back-office functions, ensuring your financial operations run smoothly.

Word and Excel are essential for creating documents, spreadsheets, and managing data. They provide basic yet versatile functionalities that support various administrative tasks.

Systems like Sabre, Apollo, and Amadeus are critical for booking flights, hotels, and car rentals. Global Distribution Systems (GDS) offer real-time availability and pricing, allowing travel agents to provide instant service to their clients.

What Websites Do Travel Agents Use ?

Travel agents frequently use specific websites to facilitate their work. These sites provide information about booking systems, industry news, and resources for planning and managing travel.

Gartner for Corporate Travel Management Software Reviews

This website offers reviews and insights into the best software solutions for corporate travel management companies (TMCs). It’s a valuable resource for making informed decisions about technology investments.

Amadeus , Travelport , and Sabre for GDS Services

These websites are integral for agents relying on GDS to book and manage travel services. They provide access to tools and resources tailored to retail travel agents.

The Common Needs of Travel Agencies

When selecting tour agency software, it’s essential to consider the everyday needs of travel agencies:

Ease of Use

The software should be intuitive and easy to navigate, minimizing the learning curve for new users.

Accessibility

It’s crucial to be able to access the software from anywhere. Cloud-based solutions ensure you’re always connected, whether in the office, at home, or on the road.

Automation of Repetitive Tasks

Automating routine and time-consuming tasks frees up travel agents’ time to focus on more strategic activities, such as customer service and business development.

Best Software for Different Types of Travel Agencies

The best software solution often depends on the specific needs of your travel agency. Let’s explore options for different types of agencies:

Business/Corporate Travel Agencies (TMCs)

Corporate travel agencies, also known as Travel Management Companies (TMCs), require robust solutions to manage complex travel itineraries and corporate accounts. According to Gartner, some top-rated corporate travel management software includes:

SAP Concur
Egencia
TravelPerk

Leisure Travel Agencies:

Retail Travel Agents

Retail travel agents focus on selling travel packages and cruises created by others, earning commissions on sales. The GDS software provided by platforms like Amadeus, Travelport, and Sabre is typically sufficient for their needs. These platforms offer comprehensive tools for booking and managing travel services.

Tour Operators

Tour operators who create their multi-day, multi-destination travel packages have unique needs beyond what traditional travel agency software can offer. Key requirements include:

Deep Customer Relationship Management Tools

Managing detailed client information and preferences is essential for personalized service.

Robust Supplier/Vendor Relationship Management Tools

Managing relationships with suppliers and vendors is critical for creating comprehensive travel packages.

Flexible Itinerary Builder and Rapid Quoting Tools

The ability to quickly build and modify itineraries and generate quotes provides a competitive edge.

Powerful Automation Engine

Automating complex processes saves time and reduces the risk of errors.

Embedded Payment Processing

Integrating payment processing within the software streamlines transactions and enhances security.

Integration with Websites, Marketing Tools, and Accounting Software

Seamless integration ensures a smooth workflow and consistent data across different platforms.

Are You a Travel Agency or a Tour Operator?

The lines between travel agencies and tour operators are increasingly blurred in today’s evolving travel industry. Labels are less important than the tools and strategies you use to grow your business. Whether you identify as a travel agency or a tour operator, having the right software and support is crucial.

At PEAK 15 Systems , we understand these challenges and offer tailored solutions to meet your needs. Our platform provides the advanced tools to manage complex travel operations, from customer relationship management to supplier coordination, itinerary building, and beyond. With PEAK 15, you’re not just getting software; you’re getting a partner dedicated to your success.

Choosing the right software for your travel agency is vital to achieving operational efficiency and business growth. By understanding the standard tools and needs and by selecting the best solutions tailored to your specific type of travel agency, you can position your business for success. Whether you’re asking, “What software do travel agents use?” or “What websites do travel agents use,” the answers lie in selecting comprehensive, user-friendly, and integrated systems that meet your unique requirements. With the right tour agency software, you can streamline operations, enhance customer satisfaction, and ultimately grow your business.

A Guide to Finding the Best Tour Operator Software

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 17:17:00 GMT

Leveraging the right technology can differentiate between success and stagnation for tour operators, travel agencies, or Destination Management Companies (DMCs). Tour operator software streamlines operations, enhances customer engagement and drives growth. But with so many options available, how do entities find the best tour operator software for their business? This comprehensive guide from PEAK 15 is here to help you navigate through essential features and considerations of what to look for when choosing the best tour operator software.

Understanding Tour Operator Software

What is Tour Operator Software?

Before discussing the best tour operator software, what is it? At its core, tour operator software is a comprehensive platform designed to facilitate the complex operations of travel businesses. These travel businesses include tour operators, travel agencies, Destination Management Companies (DMCs), and other business entities planning multi-day, multi-destination trips or travel programs. The best tour operator software encompasses a range of functionalities, from itinerary planning and booking management to customer relationship management (CRM) and financial reporting. The goal is to simplify the day-to-day tasks of tour operators, enabling them to focus on delivering exceptional travel experiences.

The Impact of Tour Operator Software

Using top tour operator software can transform a business in several key ways:

Operational Efficiency: Tour operators can increase efficiency by automating time-consuming tasks like bookings, payments, and itinerary creation, allowing businesses to handle more customers with less effort.
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Provide accessible, personalized travel experiences thanks to detailed customer profiles and communication tools.
Business Growth: Access to detailed analytics and reporting tools gives insights into the tour operators’ business performance, helping these entities to make informed decisions that drive revenue and growth.

The Importance of the Right Fit

Finding the best tour operator software depends on the tour operator business, and what works for one business may not suit another. The size of the operation, the types of tours being offered, the client’s customer base, and even future growth plans should influence the client’s choice of software. It’s not just about having the most features; it’s about having the right features that meet specific business needs.

Essential Features of Top Tour Operator Software

When searching for the best tour operator software, it’s crucial to consider a set of core features that cater to the multifaceted needs of travel businesses. Here are the key functionalities that distinguish top-tier software:

Comprehensive Itinerary Planning : The top tour operator software should have a feature that offers detailed itinerary planning. This allows for the creation of precise and customizable itineraries. When considering the top tour operator software, look for tools that enable easy adjustments and real-time updates, ensuring travelers have the most current information at their fingertips.

Booking and Reservation Management : Efficient management of bookings and reservations is essential. The best software offers streamlined processes for handling customer bookings, including automated confirmations, payments, and cancellations, reducing manual workload and minimizing errors.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) : A robust CRM system helps maintain detailed customer profiles, track interactions, and personalize communication. This fosters stronger relationships and loyalty, key to repeat business and referrals.

Financial Management and Reporting : Access to financial tools for invoicing, expense tracking, and generating comprehensive reports is vital. These features aid in monitoring cash flow and profitability, helping businesses make strategic decisions based on accurate financial data.

Ease of Use and Customization : The software should have an intuitive interface that staff can easily navigate, reducing the need for extensive training. Customization options allow businesses to tailor the software to fit their business’s unique processes and needs.

Integration Capabilities : Top software solutions offer seamless integration with other tools and platforms, such as payment gateways, email marketing services, and social media, enhancing efficiency and expanding marketing reach.

Scalability and Security : As the business grows, the software should be able to scale with the business, accommodating more customers, tours, and data without compromising performance. Equally important is the security of tour operator data, with robust measures to protect sensitive information.

Evaluating Software for Business Needs

Selecting the best tour operator software involves compiling a list of potential software options that meet basic operational requirements. Utilizing tour operator software reviews can provide a wealth of information and user experiences to help narrow down choices. An often overlooked but vital aspect of selecting software is its ability to integrate with the systems businesses already have. Whether it’s accounting software, email marketing platforms, or customer relationship management tools, ensuring seamless integration can significantly impact the efficiency and smoothness of business operations. Explore how each software might fit into daily operations; it is a red flag if the vendor doesn’t spend time understanding your business.

Another critical factor in decision-making should be the level of customer support provided. The availability and quality of support can significantly affect guests’ experience with the software, especially in times of need. When evaluating support options, consider factors like email responsiveness and the helpfulness of the support team. These aspects can significantly influence your decision-making process

Lastly, a thorough understanding of the pricing structure and contract terms is essential before committing. It’s important to be clear on all costs, including initial setup fees, monthly or annual subscription costs, and potential charges for additional services or users. This clarity ensures that the software chosen fits within the budget and meets financial planning requirements.

Making the Right Choice for Your Business

As you decide which tour operator software to integrate into your business, it’s crucial to ensure that your choice addresses your current needs and is a catalyst for future growth. The decision-making process is a culmination of aligning potential software options with your overarching business goals and understanding the practical and strategic benefits they offer. It’s essential to involve key players of your team in this process, as their daily interactions with the software will be pivotal to its success within your organization. Additionally, a demo will allow your team members to provide tour operator software reviews and feedback. Their insights, drawn from hands-on experience during demos, can provide invaluable perspectives that might take time to be apparent.

The implementation phase and the availability of training resources are also critical factors to consider. The ease with which your team can transition to using the new software and the support you receive during this period can significantly impact the return on your investment. A smooth implementation process, coupled with comprehensive training programs, ensures that your team can leverage the software’s full capabilities from day one.

Overall, selecting the right tour operator software is a nuanced process that extends beyond mere feature comparison. It involves a deep dive into how each option can serve your immediate needs, facilitate growth, and enhance operational efficiency and customer service. By meticulously evaluating your choices against these criteria, you can decide what positions your business for success in the competitive travel industry .

PEAK 15 Systems Is the Right Choice

Tour operator software is an effective tool that streamlines operations, elevates customer engagement, and catalyzes growth. PEAK 15 offers a suite of tour operator software solutions designed to meet the multifaceted needs of today’s travel businesses. With our focus on innovation, integration, and impeccable customer support, we’re here to help you navigate the complexities of the travel industry easily and confidently.

PEAK 15 takes a unique approach to demos. We focus on a detailed initial discovery session upfront to understand our clients’ businesses thoroughly. This allows us to create personalized demonstrations explicitly tailored to their needs. Visit PEAK 15 today to discover how our software can transform your business operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive growth. Request a demo, explore our features, and dive into our tour operator software reviews from satisfied PEAK 15 customers who have found their perfect software solution. The best tour operator software is here at PEAK 15– let’s achieve greatness together.

Travel APIs – If you built it, will they come?

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 19:09:00 GMT

Short answer: Maybe. : )

Our founder and president, James O’Leonard, shares his perspective on where the Packaged Tour Operator business is with API adoption and offers some practical tips on where we go from here. Join the conversation by reaching out to us at https://peak15systems.com/contact

The post Travel APIs – If you built it, will they come? appeared first on PEAK 15 .

PEAK 15 Practices That We Live By

Thu, 21 Apr 2022 06:08:00 GMT

Fifteen PEAK 15 principles to live by that we’ve found over the years:

Understand profitability intimately

Taking the time to build a detailed budget for each trip is critical. Even more important, though, is having a mechanism to easily compare actual vs. budgeted amounts.

Anticipate exceptions

One of our users once told us, “this business is all about the exception.” How true. Your organization should embrace the exception because every customer, every booking is truly different.

Enter information once

How many times is someone in your organization re-entering information into one system that already exists in another? Cutting down on double entry not only saves time, but it also reduces errors. Accounting is especially prone to the data re-entry problem.

Share information freely

A travel company should not operate like the CIA, except perhaps when it comes to highly sensitive information like credit card data. Only restrict people from seeing information if there is clear reason why they should not see it. When people have access to information, they make better decisions.

Create checks and balances

Not only should you distribute information freely in your organization, but also power. However, create a system of checks and balances that ensures consistency and accuracy.

Reward profit making behavior

Once profitability is understood throughout the organization, it presents a golden opportunity to provide people with incentives to make decisions that take advantage of that information.

Know your customers

The more you know about your customers, the more you can understand what they want, why they want it and who else might want it too.

Personalize your communications & offerings

By personalizing your communications you create a stronger relationship with your clients. By personalizing your offerings, by for example, offering FITs, you become a market of one.

Reuse, Recycle

Just because you personalized an itinerary for one client, doesn’t mean you can’t reuse that FIT for someone who wants the same or a very similar trip.

Garbage in, garbage out

Your customer data is your greatest asset. Don’t pollute that asset by not taking the time to make sure contact records are not duplicated or complete information is provided. This will only create a massive clean up effort later on.

Information is power

When it comes to negotiating rates and payment terms with your vendors, come to the table with a wealth of data about how much business you do with them, what your clients think of their offering and what types of terms other vendors are offering you.

Target your marketing

By segmenting your market you can target your marketing communications rather than blasting the same message or mailing to your whole database.

Manage exposure

When you make a reservation with a vendor for space, you may be gambling on how many bookings you will ultimately end up with on a given departure. Manage that exposure by keeping a close eye on bookings as well as critical decision points such as cancellation deadlines.

Chase A/R

Because travel is often purchased well ahead of its consumption, you’ve got long accounts receivable cycles to deal with. Make chasing A/R everyone’s job, not just accounting.

Analyze marketing ROI

Return on investment analysis requires that you first capture which of your marketing activities was responsible for some action on your clients part. And yes, this is sometimes a hard thing to track. Make sure everyone understands the importance of tracking sources of new leads to the organization.

Automation via software in the tour operator industry – promise and peril

Sun, 20 Sep 2020 23:29:43 GMT

Here at PEAK 15 we’ve never been big believers in technology for technology sake. The tour operator industry has always been about people at the end of day. It is those personal relationships that build trust and loyalty with your customers. So it is understandable that many are reluctant (or at best conflicted) by the promise of using software to automate certain activities in your business. The peril is that doing so could cause you to lose that personal connection with your customers.

We believe it is key to take a balanced look — not at how software can eliminate people but instead how it can free them up to actually spend more time building relationships with your customers, travelers and suppliers. Take, for example, collecting payment from customers. Purpose-built software such as PEAK 15 is able to understand the nuances of payment terms and conditions in our industry such as the fact that payment must be collected at booking for certain pieces such as airfare or travel protection and send reminders and alerts internally or directly to the customer. For customers that opt-in, there is even an auto-pay feature. This allows your customer facing teams to spend less time chasing payment and more time getting them ready and excited for their trip or thinking about their next trip.

Another aspect of this balanced approach is to acknowledge that not everything can or should be automated. There will always be exceptions to any rules or processes you define and people need to be inserted when those exceptions occur. Booking cancelation policies is a good example. When a customer needs to cancel a booking a person is in a much better position to learn why they are cancelling and possibly change their mind or offer a solution that is better for everyone.

PEAK 15 has been helping our community navigate the promise and peril of automation for over 15 years. Reach out to learn more about how we can help your organization.

How to Tell if Your Tour Operator Business Has Outgrown Microsoft’s Excel Software

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 16:02:01 GMT

When PEAK 15 started almost exactly fifteen years ago, we were amazed at how dependent tour operators of all sizes were on Microsoft Excel software. Many had #macgyvered the heck of out Excel to make it do some really creative things. Kind of like this guy did by taking a perfectly good tool (a hand held flash light) and trying to make it serve a purpose it was never intended for:

Excel is an amazing tool in part because it is so cheap and so flexible you could in theory make it do almost anything. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should, right? Now, Excel is a good place to start in many cases, so you just need to recognize when you’ve outgrown it and should consider upgrading to a purpose-built system like PEAK 15. Here are the top 6 that we’ve picked up from customers over the years:

“Hey Sue, can you email me your latest version of that excel spreadsheet?”
Sure, you can save excel spreadsheets to a network drive or cloud drive or use Google Sheets, but this is a sign that your organization is growing and different people need real time access to the same information.
“Darn it. Someone broke the formula and these numbers are totally wrong.”
We’ve heard some horror stories on these theme. Many companies use Excel as their primary budgeting/pricing tool, so errors in formulas or someone tweaking a formula and not realizing how it connects to other things can lead to lost sales if you overprice or, even worse, a sale where you underpriced and lost a lot of money.
“Excuse me, IT person, can you link this Excel sheet up to <insert other data source here>?”
Common examples of other data sources include information on suppliers or vendors such as descriptions/images/business terms, contracted rates for services from suppliers, counts of guests who traveled on a departure and how much they were invoiced, or how much you actually paid vendors. If you are lucky to have access to a good and inexpensive IT person they might be able to do it, but this is a sure sign you are trying to use excel for something you shouldn’t.
“Gosh. Wouldn’t it be so helpful if this excel spreadsheet could send me an email when x, y or z happens or doesn’t happen?”
When information is stored in a structured way in a real system, it opens up so many opportunities to automate things that will save you time. But good luck getting your Excel sheet to do that.
“Dear Microsoft support – is there some way to bulk edit multiple Excel spreadsheets at once?”
Another classic. If each tour budget is its own spreadsheet and you realize you need to change a formula or update a value across multiple files you are out of luck. Get ready for the joy of making the same change over and over and over again.
“I need to send a beautiful looking itinerary via Word. Do I really have to enter the same information twice and manually keep them in sync?”
Indeed, Word ranks right up there with Excel as software that is inexpensive and really flexible but doesn’t easily connect to anything – including it’s cousin Excel.

If you’ve heard one or more of these in your organization, then contact us and we will guide you through a detailed assessment of your situation a

Quasar Expeditions is T+L World’s #1 Small-Ship Ocean Cruise Line

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 23:35:41 GMT

Quasar Expeditions is T+L World's #1 Small-Ship Ocean Cruise Line

Ker & Downey is T+L World’s #1 Tour Operator

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 23:36:58 GMT

Ker & Downey is T+L World's #1 Tour Operator

PEAK 15

Best Multi-Day Tour Operator Software in 2026

How We Evaluated

Contents

At a Glance

1. PEAK 15

What Sets PEAK 15 Apart

Key Features

What Customers Say

2. Kaptio

What Sets Kaptio Apart

Key Features

3. Lemax

What Sets Lemax Apart

Key Features

4. Softrip

What Sets Softrip Apart

Key Features

5. TourCube

What Sets TourCube Apart

Key Features

Comparison Table

What to Look For When Choosing Multi-Day Tour Operator Software

Coverage across the full trip lifecycle reduces operational handoffs.

Itinerary and costing depth drives margin control on multi-component trips.

Departure and availability controls prevent downstream fulfillment issues.

Supplier and service booking workflows determine how much work lives outside the system.

Guest readiness, rooming, and document collection affect trip execution quality.

Integrations and APIs shape long-term workflow fit.

Disclaimer

Frequently Asked Questions

The Power of Community

The Annual PEAK 15 Summit: Community in Action

Joining PEAK 15 Means Joining a Community

Too Much Loyalty, Too Little Growth?

Embracing Change: Simplifying Software Integration for Multi-Day Tour Operators

Philip Khoury

Linda Andersson

AI: A Powerful Tool for Multi-Day Tour Operators, But Not the Whole Solution

Best Practices for Building the Perfect Itinerary Proposal

What Software Do Travel Agents Use? Discover The Best Software for Your Travel Agency

A Guide to Finding the Best Tour Operator Software

Travel APIs – If you built it, will they come?

PEAK 15 Practices That We Live By

Understand profitability intimately

Anticipate exceptions

Enter information once

Share information freely

Create checks and balances

Reward profit making behavior

Know your customers

Personalize your communications & offerings

Reuse, Recycle

Garbage in, garbage out

Information is power

Target your marketing

Manage exposure

Chase A/R

Analyze marketing ROI

Automation via software in the tour operator industry – promise and peril

How to Tell if Your Tour Operator Business Has Outgrown Microsoft’s Excel Software

Quasar Expeditions is T+L World’s #1 Small-Ship Ocean Cruise Line

Ker & Downey is T+L World’s #1 Tour Operator