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Outbound Group Sales

Outbound group sales allow agents to sell seats on group departures to individual customers. Each sale produces a standard booking that follows the normal lifecycle. This guide covers the full workflow from pricing configuration through to sale creation and management.

Overview

An outbound group is a pre-arranged travel package (typically a tour or pilgrimage) where the agency purchases services in bulk (hotels, flights, activities) and sells individual seats to customers. The group sales workflow handles:

  • Calculating the per-person selling price from total group costs
  • Managing price variations (surcharges and discounts)
  • Tracking flight inventory and expenses
  • Walking agents through a structured sale wizard
  • Creating bookings automatically from each sale
  • Monitoring occupancy to prevent overbooking

Accessing Group Sales

  1. Navigate to an outbound group detail page (from the Groups menu).
  2. The group detail page has a tab bar showing the full workflow:

Itinerary > Passengers > Accommodation > Activities > Transport > Flights > Expenses > Pricing > Rooming > Sales > Invoicing

  1. The sales-related tabs are Flights, Expenses, Pricing, Rooming, and Sales.

Group Selection Cards

On the Groups list page, each outbound group displays a selection card showing:

  • Group name and travel dates
  • Destination
  • Occupancy indicator (sold vs. assumed pax count)
  • Status

Click a card to open the group detail page.

Configuring Group Pricing

Before creating sales, you must set up pricing on the Pricing tab.

Setting the Base Price

  1. Click the Pricing tab.
  2. The system automatically calculates Total Group Cost by aggregating costs from:
  3. Hotels (from the Accommodation tab)
  4. Activities (from the Activities tab)
  5. Transports (from the Transport tab)
  6. Flight blocks (from the Flights tab)
  7. General expenses (from the Expenses tab)
  8. Set the Assumed Pax Count -- the expected number of passengers. This is the denominator for cost splitting.
  9. Set the Margin percentage -- your markup above cost.
  10. The system calculates:
  11. Base Cost / Pax = Total Group Cost / Assumed Pax Count
  12. Base Selling Price = Base Cost / Pax x (1 + Margin%)
  13. Optionally set Max Pax Count to enforce a hard overbooking limit.
  14. Click Save.

Recalculating After Changes

If you modify the itinerary (add hotels, change flight blocks, add expenses), click Recalculate on the Pricing tab to re-aggregate costs from all sources. The base selling price updates accordingly.

Tip: Always recalculate after making itinerary changes to ensure the selling price reflects the latest costs.

Price Variations

Variations are supplements and discounts applied on top of the base selling price. They allow flexible pricing for different passenger types and optional add-ons.

Adding a Variation

  1. On the Pricing tab, scroll to the Price Variations section.
  2. Click + Add.
  3. Fill in the details:
Field Description
Code Short identifier (e.g., SINGLE_SUPPL, CHILD_DISCOUNT)
Description What the customer sees on their pricing breakdown
Type FIXED (absolute amount) or PERCENT (percentage of base price)
Value Positive for surcharges, negative for discounts
Automatic Check to auto-apply for a specific pax type (ADULT, CHILD, or INFANT)
Optional Check for add-ons the agent can select per sale
  1. Click Save.

Variation Examples

Code Type Value Automatic Optional Effect
SINGLE_SUPPL FIXED +800 No No Single room supplement, applied per pax
CHILD_DISCOUNT PERCENT -15 CHILD No 15% discount, auto-applied to children
INFANT_RATE FIXED +500 INFANT No Flat rate for infants, auto-applied
DESERT_SAFARI FIXED +350 No Yes Optional add-on, agent selects per sale

Editing and Deleting Variations

Use the Edit and Delete buttons on each variation row. Deleting a variation does not affect previously created sales.

Flight Blocks

The Flights tab manages group flight inventory -- bulk-purchased tickets for the group departure.

Adding a Flight Block

  1. Click + Add Block.
  2. Enter the block details:
  3. Block Size -- Number of tickets purchased
  4. Cost per Ticket -- What the agency pays per seat
  5. Price per Ticket -- Selling price per seat (for reference)
  6. Minimum Commitment -- Minimum tickets that must be sold
  7. Travel Class -- Economy, Business, etc.
  8. Click Save.

Adding Flight Legs

For each block, define the actual flights:

  1. Click + Add Leg on the block.
  2. Enter the leg details:
  3. Direction -- Outbound or Return
  4. Departure Airport and Arrival Airport
  5. Departure Time and Arrival Time
  6. Airline and Flight Number
  7. For connecting flights, add multiple legs in the same direction.
  8. Click Save.

Flight block costs (block size x cost per ticket) feed into the group pricing cost aggregation.

General Expenses

The Expenses tab tracks additional group costs that are not covered by accommodation, activities, or flights.

Adding an Expense

  1. Click + Add Expense.
  2. Enter the expense details:
  3. Amount and Currency
  4. Category -- Visa, Insurance, Fee, or Other
  5. Description -- What the expense is for
  6. Click Save.

Expense amounts feed into the group pricing cost aggregation. Currency conversion is applied automatically when the expense currency differs from the group currency.

Creating a Sale

  1. Click the Sales tab.
  2. Review the Occupancy Bar at the top showing sold/assumed pax, fill percentage, and remaining capacity.
  3. Click + New Sale to open the 5-step wizard.

Step 1: Customer

  • Use the customer autocomplete to search by name, email, or phone.
  • Select an existing customer from the results.
  • If the customer does not exist, create a new one directly from this step.

Step 2: Passengers

  • Set the number of adults, children, and infants.
  • Enter passenger details for each traveller:
  • Name, date of birth, passport number, passport expiry, nationality
  • All passengers are added to the group's master passenger list.

Step 3: Rooms

  • The system shows available rooms from the group rooming plan.
  • Assign passengers to rooms by selecting from the available inventory.
  • Room assignments determine the accommodation for each passenger.

Step 4: Pricing

The system shows a detailed price breakdown:

  • Base price -- Passenger count x base selling price
  • Automatic variations -- Applied based on pax types (shown pre-checked and disabled; you cannot deselect these)
  • Optional variations -- Shown with checkboxes for the agent to select as needed
  • Adjustments total -- Sum of all variation amounts
  • Final price -- Base + adjustments

To override the calculated price:

  1. Check Override price.
  2. Enter the manual amount.
  3. Provide a reason for the override.

The pricing updates live as you change selections.

Step 5: Confirm

  • Review the complete sale summary: customer, passengers, room assignments, and pricing.
  • Click Confirm to finalize the sale.
  • The system creates a booking with:
  • A GROUP_TRAVEL service line for the group package
  • Hotel service lines per room assignment
  • All passengers from the sale
  • The booking source set to GROUP_OUTBOUND
  • You are redirected to the booking detail page.

Occupancy Tracking

The Occupancy Bar on the Sales tab provides a visual indicator of group fill status:

Fill Level Colour Meaning
Under 80% Green Plenty of capacity remaining
80% - 100% Amber Approaching full capacity
Over 100% Red Overbooked beyond assumed pax count

Overbooking Behaviour

  • A warning appears when the group reaches the assumed pax count.
  • Sales are blocked when the hard limit (Max Pax Count) is reached.
  • If no Max Pax Count is set, the system warns but allows overbooking.

Managing Sales

Viewing the Sales List

On the Sales tab, the sales list shows each sale with:

Column Description
Customer Name The customer who purchased
Pax Count Number of passengers in the sale
Price / Pax Per-person selling price
Total Price Total sale amount
Booking Ref Clickable link to the booking detail page
Status DRAFT or CONFIRMED

Confirming a Draft Sale

Draft sales can be confirmed by opening the linked booking and progressing its status. The group sale status reflects the booking status.

Cancelling a Sale

  1. On the Sales tab, find the sale in the list.
  2. Click Cancel on a DRAFT or CONFIRMED sale.
  3. Enter a cancellation reason.
  4. The system:
  5. Releases room assignments so rooms become available for other sales
  6. Cancels the linked booking (if it was confirmed)
  7. Updates the occupancy count

Bidirectional Cancellation Sync

Cancellation works in both directions:

  • Cancel from Sales tab -- The linked booking is automatically cancelled.
  • Cancel from Booking Detail -- The linked group sale is automatically cancelled, room assignments are released, and occupancy is updated.

This ensures the group and booking records always stay in sync.

Connection to Bookings

Every group sale creates a standard BLM booking:

  • The booking source is set to GROUP_OUTBOUND with the group ID as the source reference.
  • The booking contains a GROUP_TRAVEL service line linking back to the group.
  • The booking follows the normal lifecycle (see Managing Bookings).
  • The booking reference appears as a clickable link in the sales list.

Next Steps