Tour Enquiries to Departure: Offers, Orders and BotMarketing

A multi-day tour enquiry can stall on one twin room: the guests want to travel, but the hotel has not replied. Calling the booking confirmed at that point puts the conversation ahead of the arrangements. This article sets out an enquiry-to-departure process, with an offer checklist, stage table and communication calendar you can use alongside BotMarketing.

Start with an offer you can check against actual arrangements

State dates and overnight stops, where the tour starts and ends, the group format, accommodation, activity level and price basis. Describe the departure’s current position: accepting enquiries, checking suppliers, or confirmed by the operator. A manager updates these words in the description; they do not automatically reflect hotel or transport availability.

A three-day offer with clear inclusions

All names, dates, prices and arrangements below are fictional teaching examples. “Three Days by the Lake”, 20–22 November, includes two adults sharing one twin room. The total is $1,300 for both guests. That price applies to this room arrangement, rather than every possible two-person booking.

• Included: two nights at the agreed hotel, two breakfasts, scheduled group transport, three guided visits with the entry tickets named in the itinerary, and operator support during the trip.
• Excluded: travel to and from the starting city, lunches and dinners, personal spending and activities outside the itinerary.
• Separate arrangements: a room upgrade, single occupancy, an early arrival or a transfer outside the group programme.
• Before payment: checked supplier and service details, an itinerary version, final total, payment dates and the applicable change/cancellation terms.

Guests should be able to identify their additional expenses before accepting the offer. Authentic Vacations’ FAQ, for example, separates specified included meals and transport from excluded expenses and discusses room arrangements. Use the actual terms of your own programme; another operator’s inclusions, guaranteed departures or payment deadlines are not yours.

Give every enquiry stage a concrete next action

An enquiry is not sold inventory. The operator checks travellers, rooms, transport and departure arrangements together. Assign a person and an action date in your team’s working calendar, then tell the guest what answer to expect and when.

When the hotel offers a different room

Explain the differences and price implications before accepting a replacement. “Equivalent accommodation” does not tell guests whether separate beds, the location and included breakfast remain unchanged. Send a new itinerary version and wait for their decision.

For enquiry L20, the hotel has not confirmed the twin room. It has offered one room with a double bed at the same total price of $1,300. That changes the accommodation, so I have not accepted it on your behalf. I can also check another hotel. Which option would you like me to explore? I will send itinerary v2 with the exact arrangements after your reply.

Where an offer has an expiry, state the date, time and time zone. A message does not hold a room: any supplier hold must be arranged and tracked separately.

Use BotMarketing for the guest conversation and agreed order

1. Create the programme card. Add route details, photographs, inclusions, exclusions and price basis to the catalogue. For the fictional fixed package, create a service called “Three Days by the Lake, two adults, twin room” priced at the full $1,300. Keep ordering disabled while checking arrangements and direct guests to bot support. A different party or room arrangement needs its own checked quote.
2. Take the enquiry through support. Connect your Telegram bot and share the catalogue/Mini App link. Ask for the programme, date, adults and children, room preference, joining point and a suitable time for your answer. The message appears in customer requests, where a manager takes it into progress and replies. A first question does not require passport copies.
3. Check suppliers and send the offer. Keep the guest conversation in the request; maintain supplier replies, accepted traveller counts and deadlines in your separate working records. BotMarketing does not provide tour-specific stages such as “hotel pending” or “offer expires”. Its request statuses are new, in progress, and closed with or without a result.
4. Record the agreed fixed package as an ordinary order. First align the card name, description and price with the accepted itinerary version. Once it is ready, enable ordering and ask the guest to order one service at the full two-person price. Open the resulting order, verify the party and total, take it into processing, save the agreed itinerary version in the internal note and send written confirmation through the order conversation. Creating the order does not reserve hotel rooms, transport or group places. Time-slot reservations suit a separate consultation; they are not tour inventory.
5. Support the order through delivery. Send short operational messages in its conversation using the calendar below. Check payments and supplier replies separately. Mark the order fulfilled after the completed trip; its history helps with the guest’s next enquiry.

If this bot only handles tours, leave time bookings disabled in the bot settings. The service can then become an ordinary order without inviting guests to choose an excursion slot. If you also sell private excursions through the same bot, check both journeys; our tour-guide booking article explains time versus places. Accommodation availability needs its own checks, discussed in the guide to small-hotel direct bookings.

A deposit is not full payment

In the fictional offer, an agreed 30% deposit is $390, leaving $910 of the $1,300 total due on 13 November. Record the amount actually received and its payment reference in your ledger, with a short summary in the order note. Do not mark the whole order paid after only the deposit. BotMarketing does not automatically calculate travel instalments, and a balance reminder does not change the order total.

Plan messages around trip readiness

The dates below illustrate a departure on 20 November. They are not universal travel deadlines. Put them in the operator’s calendar and assign someone to check the facts and send each message manually. This example does not configure an automatic “14 days before departure” campaign.

Different operators use different communication routes. Starostin.travel describes a manager helping with programme questions and booking instructions after an initial enquiry. Your own dates and payment arrangements must follow your actual offer. For a long itinerary, send a link to the current briefing; an order message supports up to 1,000 characters.

A change after joining instructions were sent

Name the old and new arrangements in a separate message, send the revised briefing and ask for acknowledgement. For example: “In itinerary v2, the 20 November gathering moves from 08:00 at the station to 08:30 at the hotel’s main entrance. This is destination local time; I am sending the map pin. Please reply to confirm you have seen the change.” Insert the actual location and time-zone name. The organiser checks replies manually and contacts anyone missing; delivery alone does not show acceptance of a change.

A future departure needs a separate conversation

First deliver promised materials and deal with feedback. Then let guests choose whether they want news of similar routes and which dates interest them. Keep their response in your working records and respect it when contacting them again. A lead guest paying for two people does not automatically give permission to market to the other traveller. BotMarketing’s order history supplies context; the next offer still needs fresh supplier and availability checks.