Your journey with Jess.Travel as an independent, personal travel planner begins with using our preferred Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, Traveljoy. CRMs are just databases where you input all your customer and trip info. There are many different kinds used in the industry. Most look like a clunky mess from the 90s. Traveljoy is not one of those. A Traveljoy agency subscription costs $10/month.
Traveljoy allows you to:
Input client info and create trips
Create reports and track commissions/payments
Create tasks
Create custom proposals/itineraries
Create custom forms to be signed by the client
Bill for your service fees & collect their credit card info
Manage large group bookings
Below, I'll post some videos that I think you should watch before getting started. These will show the ins and outs of the system including logging your commissions. They're also available on the left sidebar of TravelJoy to watch at any time.
The main TravelJoy help forum is here. If we don't know the answer, they are very quick to respond to facebook messages.
Setup Wizard
At first you will go through a Setup process. There, you'll upload your logo, and answer questions about your business. You will also link your bank to Traveljoy so that clients can pay you for your service fees, but you don't actually need to use it. Feel free to use square, venmo, paypal or accept checks. If you have any issue with adding your bank automatically, they will ask you send in bank statements. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly, and you won't need to do this step.
Every month, we will log into your account and view your expected commissions. Usually, within 30 days of your client's trip we will receive a check from the suppliers and distribute your portion to you via check or direct bank transfer.
Types of TravelJoy invoices
There are two types of invoices you'll be dealing with when using TJ. Direct Invoices and Supplier Invoices. Direct invoices are straightforward. If you want to use Traveljoy to charge for your travel planning fee, you'll send a direct invoice to your client, they'll pay it, and it'll show up in your bank account. You don't have to use TJ. You can use Venmo, Paypal, or accounting software like Quickbooks. But it's a nice option, and the fees are pretty much the same.
Logging a commission with a Supplier invoice
A Supplier Invoice is what you'll send to clients to collect their credit card authorization to make charges on their behalf for certain items you'll be booking for them like tours, hotels, rental cars etc. These are those commissionable items on the portals we speak about. You will need to itemize those out on this supplier invoice so your client can see what they're paying for. This invoice is also where you'll log your commission info (provided by the portal), so that we can mark it paid when we get your commission check from the supplier e.g. Expedia. Here's a step by step guide on how to make a supplier invoice and log your commission, but also watch the video below. You only need one supplier invoice per trip, technically. You can add/subtract/modify the invoice as you go. Having fewer invoices, as opposed to having an invoice per item, helps us to find the item and mark it paid.
Delivering an Itinerary - Client Application
Traveljoy has an iOs and Android app that your client should install before they leave on their trip. It's called "Itineraries by Traveljoy." This is the way you will deliver your Traveljoy itinerary to them if you choose to do the itinerary creation on Traveljoy. You and your client can also directly communicate via the app.
Long Webinars (Deep dives)
Intro to Traveljoy
Itinerary and Smart Proposal Creation - Advanced Class
Group Booking
Quick Explainers
Intro and Dashboard
Setting up Traveljoy - add your logo and your own branding.
Trip Basics
Invoices
Templates - add your own verbiage and branding to your forms.
Groups
Communicating with a group.