How the platform works
Read the first two sections once to get the mental model. After that, use the sidebar — or the search box below — to jump to whatever you're doing right now. Every feature says what it does and when to use it.
The big picture
A trip lives in one record its whole life. What you see and what the client sees changes automatically based on where the trip is in its journey.
The single most important rule in V2.7:
- The trip is Confirmed.
- The plan hard-locks (rates, items and cancellation policies freeze).
- The trip appears in Vouchers Studio as a job, ready to ticket.
You never press a "convert to booking" button. Payment is the switch.
Two studios, one link
V2.7 split the old single builder into two focused apps. They share the same trip and the same client link.
✍️ Proposals Studio design
Where you design and sell: build the itinerary, set net & sell rates, cancellation policies, methods of payment, and the payment schedule. This is the commercial contract.
🎫 Vouchers Studio fulfil
Where you deliver once a trip is confirmed: issue tickets, confirm hotels, arrange transfers & VIP meet-and-greet, and track every booking to done.
1 · Proposals Studio
Design the trip and set the commercial terms. Everything here is fully editable — until a payment locks it (see §3).
Core features
🧩 Build line items
Pick a type, fill the details, set a net (your cost) and sell (client price). Flights accept a pasted GDS/PNR (Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo) and build segments instantly. Hotels support multiple rooms, and an AI look-up fills name, address and photos.
Example: paste a Galileo entry → the KWI→MLE Qatar Airways segment, logo and dates fill automatically; you type the Business-class sell of KWD 1,800.
🛑 Cancellation policy (per item)
Each item (and each hotel room) carries its own cancellation policy: Free until a date, Non-refundable, or a custom penalty. The client-facing summary is built automatically from these. Use 🛑 Apply default policy to all to stamp one policy across every item.
💳 Payment schedule
Add installments (e.g. Deposit 40% = KWD 1,380, Balance 60% = KWD 2,070). Each installment gets a KNET / card payment link you can copy or send by WhatsApp. The schedule shows whether it matches the trip total.
📊 Proposal status
A simple dropdown: Draft → Shared with Client → Approved by Client (or Declined / Revision Requested). Once Approved, the client portal link and payment schedule unlock so the client can pay.
👥 Group trips & 💾 versions
Toggle Group Trip to split invoices and give each traveller their own portal. Every save is version-stamped, so you can review or restore earlier drafts from Version History.
2 · Getting paid & confirming
This is the hinge of the whole system. A trip is confirmed by payment, not by a status click.
Two ways a payment gets recorded
🌐 Client pays online
The payment posts back automatically. The installment flips to Paid and the trip confirms — no action needed from you.
💵 You record it offline
In the Payment Schedule, press 💵 Record Payment (ad-hoc amount) or ✓ Received on an existing installment. Enter the amount + method (bank / cash / cheque). Done.
3 · The plan lock
Once money is in, the agreed plan is protected. This prevents accidental (or unauthorised) changes to a trip the client has already paid on.
| Locked (frozen) | Stays editable |
|---|---|
| Line items (add / edit / delete) | Recording further payments |
| Net & sell rates | Proposal status |
| Cancellation policies | Generating / sharing the portal link |
| Trip dates, package, travellers | Everything in Vouchers Studio |
Changing a locked plan — the approval flow
Sometimes a confirmed trip genuinely needs to change (client wants an extra night, a room upgrade). That requires top-management approval:
4 · Vouchers Studio
Where confirmed trips get delivered. Every confirmed trip lands here automatically as a job — no manual import.
Core features
⚡ Auto-activation
The trip becomes a job here with its flights and hotels (dates, room type and all) already imported from the proposal. You just add the real-world confirmation details.
🎫 Import GDS Ticket PDF
On a job, click 🎫 Import Ticket PDF and upload the GDS "Travelling Itinerary" PDF. It's read right in your browser (no upload to any server) and auto-fills PNR / Galileo reference, ticket numbers, seats and baggage for every passenger — you review a summary first, then apply it to the flight cards.
Example: a 3-passenger Kuwait Airways PDF → Galileo H351LZ, tickets …104/105/106, seats 43A/B/C, baggage 2PC, all filled in one click.
✈ Flight ticketing — staged
Each flight walks through three stages: 1) Ticket issued (PNR, seat, e-ticket number, baggage) → 2) Schedule check (status confirmed, no changes) → 3) Pre-departure (on-time, gate, client reminded). The badge shows Stage 1/3, 2/3, 3/3.
🏨 Hotel confirmation checklist
A checklist from reservation received (with the HCN / confirmation number) through letter sent, hotel acknowledged, check-in confirmed, preferences sent, and a final check the day before.
🚌 Transfers · 🎁 VIP Meet & Greet · 🌐 Entry requirements · ＋ Extras
Add transfers, VIP airport meet-and-greet, visa/entry requirements, and any extras — each with its own supplier, reference and status. Add them even if they weren't line items on the original proposal.
🔔 Reminders & departing-soon
The dashboard surfaces Action Required Now, Departing in 7 days, and reminders due, so nothing slips before a ticketing deadline or departure.
💰 Costs & Margin (actual net)
A panel on every job showing the net cost for each booking — pre-filled from the proposal's net, so you don't re-enter what you already set. Update a line only if the actual supplier cost differed. It shows the live margin (sell − net) and feeds that cost straight into Finance — so the accountant never re-keys it and the P&L margin is accurate.
Example: sell KWD 3,450, actual net KWD 2,800 → margin KWD 650 (18.8%), shown here and on the invoice in Finance.
5 · Finance Suite
Confirmed trips and their payments appear here automatically for invoicing and the books.
What Finance sees automatically
- Every confirmed proposal, in the Proposals Studio Queue, ready to invoice.
- Every payment you record (online or offline) — reflected against the receivable, so the collect buttons grey out once paid.
- Live Receivables, Cash Flow, and Profit & Loss.
6 · The client link
One link, the whole journey. It changes automatically as the trip progresses — you never send a second one.
| Trip stage | What the client sees on the same link |
|---|---|
| Shared / Approved (no payment yet) | The proposal / quote — itinerary, prices, and buttons to accept & pay the deposit. |
| Deposit received onward | Their "My Trip" page — live itinerary with booking badges, confirmation numbers, downloadable documents, and the remaining balance to pay. |
The three booking badges
Pending — not yet confirmed with the supplier · Confirmed — booked & confirmed (hotels, services) · Ticketed — flight fully issued
Full scenarios
Three complete, realistic walk-throughs from start to finish.
A client approves a Maldives trip and pays the deposit online.
- Design in Proposals Studio: build the QR flight + Soneva Jani hotel, set sell prices, add a cancellation policy, and a payment schedule (Deposit 40% + Balance 60%). Set status to Shared with Client.
- Client reviews the link, clicks Approve, then pays the Deposit 40% via the KNET button on their portal.
- Automatically: the trip confirms, the plan locks, and it appears as a job in Vouchers Studio. It also lands in the Finance queue.
- In Vouchers Studio, open the job: issue the ticket (enter PNR
QR7X4L2, seat, e-ticket number → Stage 1 done), confirm the hotel (enter HCN → Confirmed). - The client's link now shows the flight Ticketed and hotel Confirmed, plus the balance still due.
- Nearer travel, collect the balance; keep the flight moving through Stages 2 & 3 (schedule check, pre-departure reminder).
Same trip, but the client sends a bank transfer instead of paying online.
- Client transfers the deposit to the agency bank account and sends you the receipt.
- In Proposals Studio's Payment Schedule, press ✓ Received on the Deposit installment (or 💵 Record Payment for an ad-hoc amount). Choose method bank.
- From here it's identical to Scenario A — the trip confirms, locks, activates in Vouchers Studio, and reflects in Finance. The client link shows Partially Paid.
After paying, the client asks to add a night in Dubai — but the plan is locked.
- In Proposals Studio you see 🔒 Plan locked. Click ✎ Request change from management and type the reason: "Client wants to add a night in Dubai."
- The status changes to ⏳ awaiting approval. A manager opens Agency Hub and sees the request in Plan-Change Approvals.
- The manager clicks ✓ Approve. The plan is now unlocked for one editing session.
- You reopen the proposal, add the Dubai night / adjust the rate, then press 💾 Save & re-lock plan.
- The plan re-locks; the client link and Finance re-sync with the new details.
Quick reference
Which app do I open?
| I want to… | Go to |
|---|---|
| Build a quote, set prices & policies, take a deposit | Proposals Studio |
| Issue tickets, confirm hotels, arrange transfers/VIP | Vouchers Studio |
| Invoice a confirmed trip, see receivables & cash flow | Finance Suite |
| Approve a plan-change request (managers) | Agency Hub |
| See exactly what the client sees | Client Portal (their link) |
Trip lifecycle at a glance
| State | Meaning | Plan editable? | Client link shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft / Shared | Designing / sent to client | Yes | Quote |
| Approved | Client said yes; awaiting payment | Yes | Quote + pay buttons |
| Confirmed (deposit in) | Locked & live in Vouchers Studio | No — needs approval | My Trip (live status) |
| Unlocked (approved change) | Editing session granted | Yes — one session | My Trip |
Key buttons
- 💵 Record Payment — log an offline (bank/cash) payment → confirms the trip.
- ✓ Received — mark a scheduled installment paid offline.
- ✎ Request change from management — ask to edit a locked plan.
- 💾 Save & re-lock plan — after an approved edit, save and re-freeze.
- 📋 Invoice (Finance) — generate the invoice for a confirmed trip.
FAQ
Do I still send the client a separate "booking" link after they pay?
No. It's the same link the whole time. It becomes their live "My Trip" page automatically once a deposit is recorded.
The client paid only a small token amount — is the trip really confirmed?
Yes. Any recorded payment confirms the trip and locks the plan. That's deliberate — it protects the agreed terms the moment the client commits money.
I need to fix a typo / price on a locked trip. Do I really need approval?
Yes — any change to the plan (items, rates, policies) needs a manager to approve the unlock. Payments, status and everything in Vouchers Studio remain editable without approval.
A trip I confirmed isn't showing in Vouchers Studio.
It auto-activates when a payment is recorded. Confirm the payment actually shows as Paid in the schedule, then reopen Vouchers Studio — the job appears on load.
Where's "Operations Centre"?
Renamed to Vouchers Studio. Old links redirect automatically.
Can the client see our net cost / margin?
Never. Net cost, supplier and margin are agent-only. The client sees sell prices and booking status only.
App reference — every function
A manual for every app in the suite. Use the search box at the top to jump to any function by name. Proposals Studio and Vouchers Studio are covered in full in the workflow chapters above.
Agency Hub
The home screen and command centre — where everyone starts the day. It launches every app and surfaces what needs attention.
🚀 App launcher
Tiles link to every app in the suite (Proposals Studio, Vouchers Studio, Finance, Client Registry, and so on). Your available tiles depend on your permissions.
🔔 Priority alerts
Live warnings pulled from across the system — overdue flight confirmations (→ Vouchers Studio), client passports expiring within 60 days (→ Client Registry), overdue receivables (→ Finance), and concierge cards needing refresh. Click an alert to jump straight to the fix.
🔓 Plan-Change Approvals managers
The approval queue for locked-plan change requests. Approve to unlock a plan for one editing session, or deny. See The plan lock.
🔍 Global search
One search box across proposals, clients, tasks and partners — type a name, reference or package and jump to the record.
📊 Analytics
Booking patterns, most-booked hotels and airlines, ticket-class breakdown, concierge-library counts, and overall fulfilment progress.
Finance Suite
The full accounts system — invoicing, receivables, payables, cash flow and statements. Confirmed trips and recorded payments flow in automatically (see workflow §5).
📋 Dashboard
Total Sales (YTD), Total Cost, Gross & Net Profit with margin, Receivable / Payable / Refund Due, Bank & Cash, plus Monthly Performance, Cost-vs-Profit and Sales-by-Destination charts.
🗓 Daily Update
The day's finance to-dos and movements to review and clear. The badge shows how many items are waiting.
⊕ Proposals Studio Queue
Every confirmed proposal, ready to Invoice. Line items and the client's paid deposit are already attached.
↓ Receivables
Accounts Receivable with due dates and ageing, client payment reminders, and one-click Sync from Ledger to apply a confirmed UPayments payment to an invoice.
↑ Payables
Accounts Payable to hotels/DMCs/airlines, plus Credit with DMC tracking.
≡ Customer Ledger & Suppliers / DMC
Running statement of everything invoiced, paid and outstanding for a given client or supplier.
≈ Cash Flow
Expected inflows (receivables) vs outflows (payables) over time.
∑ Profit & Loss · Balance Sheet
Monthly P&L (revenue, cost of services, gross profit, operating expenses, net profit) with editable FX rates and Excel export; plus a Balance Sheet.
✎ Invoice Maker · Invoices
Build a manual invoice, or browse Live Invoices — every invoice from Invoice Maker and from Proposals Studio confirmations, always current.
📈 Sales History
The historical sales database (cross-matched from the master invoice records) feeding the P&L trailing-12-month figures.
🎯 Real margin from operations
The actual net cost an agent records in Vouchers Studio flows in as each invoice's cost, so gross/net profit reflect real supplier cost instead of an estimate. On an invoice you'll see the cost line "actual net from Vouchers Studio". A manually-entered net cost always overrides it.
⚙ Settings
Shared ops inbox & default agent email, weekly FX-rate overrides, and data export/import.
Client Registry
The single source of truth for who your clients are — contact details, travel documents, family, and a persistent client ID (ETID) that links them to their trips and portal.
👤 All Clients & New Client
The full client database. Each client gets an ETID that ties together their proposals, portal and history.
🛂 Travel Documents
Store passport and visa numbers with expiry dates — these drive the expiry reminders below and the alerts in Agency Hub.
👨👩👧 Family & Companions · Loyalty Programs
Link family members and companions to a client, and record airline/hotel loyalty program numbers.
🔴 Reminders
Urgent (action-required) and Upcoming (90-day) lists — chiefly passports about to expire — so you can prompt clients in time.
🎂 Birthdays & Anniversaries
Upcoming client birthdays and anniversaries for concierge outreach.
⇅ Import / Export · Linked Proposals
Import/export the client database, and see every proposal linked to a client.
Client Portal
The client-facing page (see workflow §6 for how it switches by status). This is what the client can do on their link.
🗺 Your Full Journey
The full itinerary with a live status badge on each item — Pending / Confirmed / Ticketed — updated live from Vouchers Studio.
✈ Flight Tickets · 🏨 Hotel Confirmations
PNR and e-ticket for flights; HCN / confirmation number for hotels — with any voucher documents to download.
🎯 Activities · 🛂 Visa & Documents · 📎 Uploaded Files
Experiences, visa/entry documents, and any files the agent uploaded for them.
💳 Pay & download receipts
Pay a deposit or balance via KNET/card straight from the payment schedule, and download the invoice and payment receipts. Paying here confirms the trip automatically.
🔐 Secure login
Confirmed trips are protected by a phone-number + last-name gate; the original quote opens directly from the shared link.
People & Culture (HR)
Staff management — employees, departments, payroll, and the logins that control who can use the system.
👥 All Employees & Add Employee
The staff directory with personal details, role, department and documents.
🏢 Departments · 🔐 Permissions Matrix
Organise staff by department and control app-by-app access in the permissions matrix.
🔑 Staff Logins
Create and manage the staff accounts used to sign in to the whole platform. This is where system access is granted or revoked.
💰 Payroll Tracker
Monthly per-employee breakdown of pay; feeds the payroll figure shown in Finance.
🔔 HR Reminders
Alerts for staff passport/visa expiries.
🙋 Self-service
My Details, My Payslips and My Documents for each employee.
Concierge Desk
Your destination knowledge base — curated recommendations per city that can be attached to a proposal and shown to the client.
🌍 Destination Cards
A card per city holding restaurants, beach clubs, hotels and activities you recommend. Link cards to a proposal (in Proposals Studio) and they appear on the client's portal under “Concierge”.
＋ New Destination Card
Create a card and fill its recommendations by hand, or…
📄 Import from Document / Upload PDF
Upload a PDF for a city and let the system extract recommendations into a card automatically.
♻ Needs Refresh · ⬇ Export
Cards not updated in 6+ months are flagged for refresh; export all cards for backup.
Task Board
Team task tracking so nothing falls through the cracks between sales, operations and finance.
✅ My Tasks · Assigned to Me · Created by Me
Filtered views of tasks by your relationship to them.
＋ New Task & Task Detail
Create a task, assign it to a colleague, set a due date, and track it to done with full detail.
Partner Directory
Your suppliers and partners in one place — the people you book through.
🗂 All Partners & filters
Browse all partners or filter by type (Hotel, DMC, Airline, and more).
＋ Add Partner
Add a partner with contact details, type and notes for the whole team to use.
UPayments
The payment gateway — create and track KNET / card payment links. Payments made here flow into Finance and confirm the trip.
💰 Collect Payment Now
Generate a KNET/card payment link for an amount, to send to a client. (Card links add the standard surcharge the client covers.)
🔗 Recent Payment Links
See links you've created and their status (sent / paid), shared with Finance and the proposal's payment schedule.
Version log
Update this table every time a feature is added or changed, then redeploy the handbook.
| Version | Date | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 2.7 | 15 Jul 2026 | Split Travel Studio into Proposals Studio (design) + Vouchers Studio (fulfilment, formerly Operations Centre). Deposit-triggered confirmation (any payment). Offline payment capture. Plan hard-lock with manager approval via Agency Hub. Client link now reflects live per-item booking status + PNR/HCN. First edition of this handbook. |
| 2.7.1 | 16 Jul 2026 | Expanded from a workflow guide into the full System Handbook: added a live search box and an App reference section documenting every function of Agency Hub, Finance Suite, Client Registry, Client Portal, People & Culture, Concierge Desk, Task Board, Partner Directory and UPayments. Handbook linked in every app's nav; real captured screenshots embedded. |
| 2.7.2 | 16 Jul 2026 | Phase 6 — real margin loop. Vouchers Studio gained a Costs & Margin panel (actual net cost per booking, live margin); the total syncs to the proposal and Finance uses it as the invoice's cost, so P&L margin is accurate with no re-keying (manual net still overrides). |
| 2.7.3 | 16 Jul 2026 | GDS ticket-PDF parser. Vouchers Studio can import a Galileo/Travelport e-ticket PDF and auto-fill PNR / Galileo ref, ticket numbers, seats and baggage per passenger — parsed offline in the browser (pdf.js, no server/API), with a review step before applying. |
| 2.7.4 | 16 Jul 2026 | Fix: Vouchers Studio's Costs & Margin panel now pre-fills each booking's net from the proposal (flights & hotels) instead of showing blank fields — so agents aren't asked to re-enter net cost they already set in Proposals Studio. They adjust only if the actual supplier cost differed. |
This file is self-contained — edit the relevant section and the Version Log, then redeploy alongside the apps.