A first-week checklist for new joiners in travel agencies and tour operators

A fresh sales consultant starts at a tour company on the first of a month. By Wednesday she has quoted a Kerala houseboat package to a family of six, using last season's rate sheet, and promised an airport pickup that the ground operator does not run. The error surfaces three weeks later at the arrival hall. The fault is not hers. Nobody told her where the live rates sit, who confirms with suppliers, or what she may promise.

A first-week checklist cuts that risk. This one is built for tour operators, travel desks, pilgrimage organisers and destination firms, with separate lines for the desk, the operations room, the accounts table and the field. Wider questions for operators of every size are gathered at HR for travel agencies and tour operators.

• Is the joiner a desk person (sales, ticketing, visa file, accounts) or a field person (tour manager, escort, driver, local guide)?
• Does she join in the quiet months, or three weeks before a peak departure season?

A desk joiner needs a quote she can defend. A field joiner needs a departure she can run. A joiner in peak season needs a shorter, sharper week and a buddy who can say no to extra tasks. Decide these before Monday and mark the sheet.

Name: ____  Desk (domestic, international, corporate, pilgrimage): ____  Buddy: ____.
Mon 10.00  Seat, system login, shared inbox, phone extension and the WhatsApp group rules for customers.
Mon 11.30  Walk the file trail: enquiry, quote, advance receipt, supplier confirmation, voucher, final payment, closed file.
Mon 14.00  Read three live files end to end, including one that went wrong, with the buddy explaining why.
Tue  Rate sheets: where the current ones sit, how old rates are archived, what markup is allowed without approval.
Tue  Supplier list: hotels, transport, ground operators, with the person who confirms each and their cut-off for changes.
Wed  Shadow two customer calls and write the quote herself for the buddy to correct.
Wed  Cancellation and refund rules by supplier type, stated in plain words, with the credit note routine.
Thu  Passport and visa file handling: copies, photo specs, the safe storage of documents, and who may see them.
Thu  Pay, commission slab, incentive timing and what happens to a booking that cancels after payout.
Fri  Quote one real enquiry alone; manager reviews it before it goes out.
Fri  Owner and joiner talk for ten minutes: what confused her, what to cover next.
Buddy initials daily: ____  Manager signs Friday: ____.

Field staff get a different sheet. Replace Tuesday and Wednesday with a ride-along on a departure: the rooming list, the pax briefing, the airport transfer, the lunch halt, the guide hand-over, the emergency contact card. A tour escort who has never seen a rooming list in use cannot be trusted with one at midnight.

• Never promise a service that is not on a written supplier confirmation.
• Every advance is written in the file and receipted the same day.
• A change after voucher goes through operations, not by a private call to the hotel.
• Customer passports and ID copies are stored in the locked folder or the office system, never in a personal phone gallery.
• Complaints are logged with time and name before they are answered.

1. 1

   Buddy

   Initials each day, and notes one thing the joiner still asks about, usually rate lookups or refund rules.

2. 2

   Operations lead

   Confirms that the joiner has seen a live file reach voucher stage and has read the supplier cut-off sheet.

3. 3

   Accounts

   Explains advances, tax invoices on packages in plain terms, and the day vendor payments go out. This is a briefing on routine, not a filing guide.

4. 4

   Owner

   Goes through the sheet at close of Friday. A blank on supplier cut-offs or refund rules is taught first thing in week two.

Longer-term induction is covered in the employee onboarding process. Yatra desks can compare notes with the pilgrimage organisers onboarding page. If you want a sheet drawn for your own desks, fill the requirements form.

• She can explain the path of a booking file without looking at it.
• She knows which supplier needs notice and how much.
• She has written one quote that the manager would send as it stands.
• She can say what her commission slab is, the payout date and what claws it back.
• She has met the operations room and the accounts table, not just her own desk.

Words to teach on Monday. Desk: PNR, e-ticket, waitlist, tatkal, RAC, voucher, itinerary, layover, airport-meet. Field: pax, rooming-list, meal-coupons, coach-captain, tempo-traveller, houseboat, shikara, sightseeing, darshan slot, dharamshala, pandit, ghat. Trek desk: porter, pony, base-camp, acclimatisation day, helipad queue. A consultant who confuses a waitlist with a confirmed berth, or a layover with a transfer, can strand a family of six.