Travel agencies
Inventory software for travel agencies: do you need it?
Most agencies sell trips, not goods, and can leave stock switched off. If you hand out travel kits on pilgrimage tours or resell bought-in items, SimpleERP tracks them the same way a shop does.
In short
SimpleERP keeps inventory optional for travel agencies. Tour packages and bookings are services with no stock, while travel kits, printed brochures or resold items can be tracked by quantity at weighted average cost with a reorder level.
Illustration of stock on hand by warehouse at average cost, with a low-stock row highlighted and a movement ledger.
An inventory day at Vaigai Holidays
Vaigai Holidays keeps very little stock. What it does keep is real money: 400 pilgrimage travel kits with a shoulder bag, cap and water bottle bought ahead of the Sabarimala season, 2,000 printed tour brochures, and a carton of branded luggage tags given to every tour package customer.
Before SimpleERP, the office counted kits in the storeroom before each group left and still ran short twice. Now the kit is a product: the purchase bill from the supplier in Sivakasi adds 400 to stock, each group's invoice or issue takes its share, and the count left is on screen.
First question
Should a travel agency track stock at all?
If everything you bill is a tour package, a hotel booking or a cab reservation, no. Those are services and never touch inventory. Turn stock on only for physical things you buy and then sell or give away, where losing count costs you.
- Services have no stock: no quantity on hand, no cost of goods.
- One godown by default; extra warehouses stay hidden until you add one.
- Goods and services side by side on the same invoice when a kit is sold with the trip.
What to track
Which items are worth putting in stock?
Items that are bought in bulk before the season and run out mid-season are the ones to track. Set a reorder level on each so the stock list shows what is running low while there is still time to order before the next group departs.
| Item | Unit | Reorder level | Comes in on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilgrimage travel kit (bag, cap, bottle) | Nos | 80 | Purchase bill from the kit supplier |
| Printed tour brochure | Nos | 300 | Purchase bill from the printer |
| Branded luggage tag | Nos | 150 | Purchase bill |
| Prepaid hotel voucher booklet, if you buy and resell them | Nos | 10 | Purchase bill from the hotel |
Illustration of stock on hand by warehouse at average cost, with a low-stock row highlighted and a movement ledger.
Cost
What does each kit really cost the business?
Each purchase bill updates the weighted average cost of the item, so when kits bought at ₹210 and later at ₹240 are mixed in the storeroom, the cost on the next tour's invoice reflects both batches and the gross profit on that trip is honest.
- Stock value as of today, at weighted average cost.
- Stock adjustment with a reason when kits are damaged in transit.
- Movement history per item: every bill, invoice and adjustment.
One system
Where stock connects
Purchase bills raise stock and the payable; invoices lower stock and post the cost of goods in the same step.
Travel agencies
Enquiries to quotations, SAC-coded package invoices, advances held on account and hotel payables in one ledger.
See howGST billing for travel agencies
Tour package and booking fee invoices with SAC codes, the 5% or 18% option, and advances applied to the bill.
See howAccounting for travel agencies
Customer advances, hotel and transporter payables, commission income and the month-end checks on one ledger.
See howInventory
Stock on hand by warehouse at weighted average cost, with a movement ledger and a low-stock list.
See how
Honest limits
What inventory for travel agencies leaves out
- No batch, lot, serial or expiry tracking, and no barcode scanning
- Weighted average cost only; there is no FIFO
- No automatic reorder suggestions: the reorder level shows what is low, you decide what to buy
- No seat, room or ticket inventory: hotel rooms and bus seats are not stock items
- No allotment tracking for blocked hotel rooms or group air seats
Getting started
Start with inventory
Sign up with your phone
Name, phone number and a password. No card for the seven-day trial, and email is optional.
Tell us about the business
Type your GSTIN and the state fills itself. Accounts, GST rates, units, roles and numbering are seeded for you.
Add products and opening stock
Add only the goods you keep, such as travel kits and brochures, with their opening count and cost. Packages and bookings stay as services.
Post a bill and an invoice
Stock rises on the purchase bill and falls on the invoice, at weighted average cost, with nothing to count by hand.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can I track hotel rooms I have blocked for the season?
No. Rooms, seats and tickets are not stock in SimpleERP. Record the hotel's deposit as a payment to the supplier and bill the rooms as services when you sell them.
We give a travel kit free with every pilgrimage package. How is it recorded?
Add the kit as a zero-priced goods line on the package invoice, so stock falls with the sale, or reduce it with a stock adjustment that gives the reason. Either way the count stays right.
Can I import my brochure and kit list from Excel?
Yes. Products can be imported from a CSV file with their units and opening stock.
Will turning on stock make billing a package slower?
No. A package is a service, so its invoice never asks about stock. Only lines for goods check the quantity on hand.
Related
Keep reading
Travel agencies
Enquiries to quotations, SAC-coded package invoices, advances held on account and hotel payables in one ledger.
Read moreGST billing for travel agencies
Tour package and booking fee invoices with SAC codes, the 5% or 18% option, and advances applied to the bill.
Read moreAccounting for travel agencies
Customer advances, hotel and transporter payables, commission income and the month-end checks on one ledger.
Read more
See how inventory works in SimpleERP for travel agencies
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