Built for travel agencies, tour operators, and DMCs
The travel agency CRM for teams tired of running trips in a spreadsheet, supplier confirms in email, and commissions in a different spreadsheet.
Three travel agency owners told me the same story in September: they built the agency in Travefy or Tern or ClientBase, outgrew the itinerary surface, moved commissions to a spreadsheet, and now spend five hours a week reconciling three systems. Strkr ships trip itineraries, supplier records, deposit schedules, visa task flows, and commission tracking on one client record.
The travel agency CRM category is a specific shape of hell. Travefy and Tern are strong trip-builder surfaces with weak CRM depth. ClientBase is a 20-year-old agent system that still runs on client-server architecture in some installs. TravelJoy is close to right for the IC (independent contractor) segment but thin on multi-agent teams. Tess, TravelContact, Umapped, and the long tail of niche products each solve one slice. The result: most agencies past 5 agents run three tools (one trip builder, one CRM, one commission tracker) and reconcile weekly. The money is leaking because the three systems do not talk cleanly to each other.
Trip builder vs CRM depth
Travefy and Tern end at the itinerary surface.
Travefy and Tern are strong at the trip itinerary surface: beautiful client-facing proposals, PDF generation, supplier catalogs. The CRM depth beneath (client record with full history, pipeline of inquiries, deposit tracking, task flows) is thin. Agencies past 20 trips a month hit the ceiling. The usual next step is bolting on HubSpot or Pipedrive, which creates a two-system split that nobody enjoys. Strkr ships trip itineraries natively on top of a real CRM.
ClientBase is a client-server relic
The incumbent agent system is 1998 technology.
ClientBase (Sabre) remains the dominant agent system across the US ARC-ticketing travel agency base. The user experience is 1998. The data model is strong (ARC integration, GDS connectivity, commission tracking) but the modern UX, mobile access, and API story are weak. Agency owners under 40 almost universally dislike it. Strkr integrates with Sabre, Amadeus, and Travelport on the booking side so you can modernize the agent experience without losing the GDS connectivity.
Commission reconciliation hell
IATA, ARC, consortium commissions in three spreadsheets.
Commission tracking at a travel agency is a weekly reconciliation exercise. IATA numbers come in on a schedule. ARC pays through a different cycle. Consortium bonus commissions (Virtuoso, Signature, Travel Leaders Network) show up quarterly with per-supplier breakouts. Direct-pay suppliers wire monthly. The agency owner reconciles across four or five schedules weekly. Strkr unifies commission tracking into one view with per-trip attribution.
Visa and documentation task flows
The pre-trip 60 to 90 day task list.
International trips carry a 60 to 90 day pre-trip task list: visa applications, passport verification, immunization records (yellow fever certificate for parts of Africa and South America), travel insurance, flight schedule changes, hotel confirmations. The task list is agent-specific per trip, and most agencies run it in Trello, Asana, or a Google Doc separate from the client record. Strkr templates the task flow per trip type with due dates calculated backwards from departure.
Supplier record depth
Preferred suppliers with contact history and bonus visibility.
A travel agency's most valuable asset is the supplier relationship network: BDMs at the major cruise lines, hotel contacts at luxury properties, DMC partners in each destination, tour operators by region. The CRM should hold supplier records with contact history, past bookings, commission structure, consortium bonus overrides, and current preferred-partner status. Most generic CRMs do not model this layer; most travel CRMs model it shallow. Strkr ships supplier records as a first-class object.
Multi-passenger and family record model
The family that travels together.
A travel client is almost never a single person; it is a family or a party. The CRM has to model the primary client plus linked travelers with their own preferences (dietary, mobility, meal, seat), passport data, and emergency contacts. Most generic CRMs force a single-contact model which breaks the moment a family of five books a river cruise. Strkr's client record supports linked travelers as first-class relationships with inherited and overridden preferences.
What a travel CRM should model natively
The eight primitives agencies need on one record.
A travel agency CRM evaluation lives or dies on whether the data model understands the agency's actual working primitives: trips, itinerary components, suppliers, linked travelers, deposit schedules, commission structures, pre-trip tasks, and documentation. The cards below are the shape every agency past 5 agents needs, shipped on every paid Strkr tier.
Trip as first-class record
Itinerary, suppliers, deposits, tasks on one trip object.
A trip in Strkr is a top-level record with the itinerary (day-by-day components), supplier bookings (hotels, cruises, tours, flights, rail, insurance), deposit schedule (initial deposit, interim payments, final payment), task flow (visa, passport, immunization, documents), and commission attribution. The trip rolls up to the client record. The agent opens the trip and sees everything related; the client-facing proposal exports from the trip object directly.
Supplier records with contact history
Hotels, cruise lines, tours, DMCs as accounts with contacts.
Every supplier (Four Seasons, Celebrity Cruises, Abercrombie and Kent, a Peru DMC) is an account record with contacts (BDM, reservation manager, groups coordinator), past bookings, commission history, and current preferred-partner status. The agent researching options for a client pulls up the supplier record and sees the full history: 14 trips booked over three years, 6 percent base commission plus 2 percent consortium override, BDM is Sarah with cell phone on file.
Linked travelers
Family and party members as linked contacts.
The primary client has linked travelers (spouse, children, extended family, friends on the booking). Each linked traveler has their own preferences, passport data, dietary restrictions, mobility needs, and emergency contact. The relationship is first-class so changes to the primary client's mailing address propagate to the family. The group of five booking a Mediterranean cruise has one trip record with five linked traveler profiles.
Deposit schedule tracking
Initial deposit, interim payments, final payment with reminders.
Trip pricing almost never pays in one lump. The schedule is initial deposit at booking, interim payment at some milestone (90 days out, 60 days out), final payment at a specific date. Strkr tracks each payment with status, due date, amount, method, and reminder automation. The client gets automatic reminders 10 days before each due date; the agent sees the deposit dashboard across all active trips.
Visa and documentation task flows
Templated per trip type with due-date math.
A South Africa safari trip template includes passport verification (90 days out), yellow fever immunization certificate (60 days out), visa application if applicable (60 days out), travel insurance confirmation (30 days out), seat selection and meal confirmation (14 days out), 24-hour pre-departure check-in. Strkr templates the task flow per trip type and calculates due dates backwards from departure. The agent sees the pre-trip pipeline for every active trip.
Commission structure per supplier
Base commission, consortium override, bonus structure.
Commission structure varies per supplier: base commission rate, consortium override (Virtuoso bonus on preferred hotels and cruise lines), one-time promotional bonuses, group commissions. Strkr stores the structure on the supplier record and calculates expected commission on each booking automatically. The commission reconciliation report shows expected versus received per supplier, which surfaces the missing payments nobody tracked.
GDS integration where it matters
Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport booking data flows in.
For ARC-accredited agencies, Sabre, Amadeus, and Travelport integration pulls booking data into Strkr automatically. Air tickets, car rentals, GDS-booked hotels, rail bookings all flow into the trip record with PNR, ticket number, fare basis, and commission. The agent does not re-enter booking data. The ARC-sales roll-up matches the GDS roll-up because the data flows one direction.
Client proposal export
Beautiful PDF or web proposal from the trip record.
The client-facing proposal exports from the trip record as a branded PDF or interactive web link. Hotels, excursions, flights, inclusions, pricing, and payment schedule all flow from the trip data. The agent does not maintain the proposal in a separate tool. When the trip changes (hotel swap, additional excursion), the proposal regenerates. Clients view the latest version at a stable link, which is the Travefy and Tern workflow replicated natively.
How agents actually work in Strkr
The day-to-day workflow for a 5 to 50 agent agency.
The honest test of a travel agency CRM is whether the daily agent workflow is faster in it than in the previous stack. Here is what the typical day looks like for an agent at a mid-sized agency on Strkr.
Morning: pipeline review
Open trips organized by departure date proximity.
The agent opens Strkr to a pipeline view organized by departure date proximity. Trips departing in 14 days surface first with the pre-departure task list. Trips in 60 to 90 days surface next with deposit and documentation tasks. Trips in planning show at the bottom. The agent spends 15 minutes checking the top of the list and clearing any blocking tasks. Strkr AI drafts the daily priority summary from the trip states.
Mid-morning: new inquiry
Prospect lands; trip skeleton generated.
A new inquiry lands via web form, email, or phone. The agent captures the inquiry on the client record (new client created automatically if the email does not match). Strkr AI drafts a trip skeleton based on the inquiry details (destination, dates, party size, budget range). The agent reviews the skeleton, researches suppliers, builds the itinerary, exports a proposal. The whole cycle for a straightforward trip runs 90 minutes end to end.
Late morning: supplier call
Reservation call with the hotel BDM.
The agent calls the Four Seasons BDM to secure a complimentary welcome amenity for a VIP client. Strkr pulls up the supplier record showing 14 past bookings, the BDM's name and direct line, the current preferred-partner status, and the agent's notes from the last two calls with this BDM. The context is at hand before the call connects. The outcome logs as a note on the supplier record and on the client trip.
Afternoon: deposit reminder cycle
Automated reminders go out; the agent fields questions.
Strkr fires the automated deposit reminder 10 days before the due date. Most clients pay in response to the reminder. A few call with questions, which route to the agent. The agent handles the exceptions in 20 minutes rather than spending the afternoon chasing deposits across 40 active trips. The deposit dashboard shows green across the board by close of day.
Late afternoon: commission reconciliation
Weekly commission posting against expectations.
Each week the agent (or the back-office admin) posts received commissions against expected commissions per trip. Strkr's commission module shows expected versus received per supplier with the delta highlighted. Missing commissions trigger a supplier follow-up. The reconciliation runs in 30 minutes a week instead of the three to four hours it took in the previous commission spreadsheet.
End of day: next-day prep
Tomorrow's priority list drafted by Strkr AI.
Strkr AI drafts the next-day priority list based on departures, deposit due dates, documentation deadlines, and new-inquiry queue. The agent reviews in 5 minutes. The to-do list for the next morning is written by 5 PM rather than being rebuilt from memory at 8 AM. The weekly cycle feels orderly instead of reactive.
Weekly: team review
Agency owner reviews pipeline and commission posture.
The agency owner runs a weekly team review from the Strkr dashboard: pipeline by agent, deposit status across trips, commission reconciliation delta, new inquiries aging. The review takes 30 minutes instead of the 90 minutes it used to take with three separate tools. Agent-level conversations happen with real numbers rather than vibes.
Quarterly: supplier roll-up
Preferred supplier scorecard for consortium negotiations.
Quarterly, the agency owner pulls the supplier roll-up report: dollars booked per supplier, commission earned, consortium qualification against bonus thresholds, YOY trend. The report arms the owner for quarterly BDM conversations and consortium-level negotiations. Numbers like "we booked 220K through you this quarter, up 18 percent year over year" are at hand instead of needing a half-day of spreadsheet work.
Migrating from Travefy, Tern, ClientBase, or TravelJoy
The honest migration playbook per source system.
Most agencies evaluating Strkr are coming from one of four source systems: Travefy, Tern, ClientBase, or TravelJoy. Each one has a different data shape and a different migration challenge. Here is the honest playbook per source.
From Travefy
Itineraries migrate; client records need enrichment.
Travefy's strength is the itinerary surface; its CRM depth is thin. The migration pulls Travefy itineraries into Strkr trip records cleanly. The client record enrichment (adding supplier contacts, deposit tracking, task flows) runs after the migration as the next phase of adoption. Agencies on Travefy typically complete migration in two weeks with the itinerary archive preserved and the active trips moved to Strkr for ongoing management.
From Tern
Supplier catalog maps; trip templates re-created.
Tern maintains a strong supplier catalog and a cleaner trip-template model than Travefy. The migration pulls supplier records with contact history and trip templates. Active trips move with full itinerary preserved. The commission attribution carries across if the agency set it up in Tern; if not, the migration is an opportunity to establish commission tracking cleanly. Tern migrations typically run three weeks for an agency with 100-plus active clients.
From ClientBase
The multi-month modernization.
ClientBase migrations are the hardest because the data model is deep and the UX is 20 years old. The data export runs through Sabre and takes real work: ARC-ticket history, commission records, client profiles, supplier records. Strkr's migration team handles the Sabre export and the data normalization. Expect six to eight weeks for a full ClientBase migration at a 10 to 25 agent agency. The payoff is a modern agent UX with the GDS connectivity preserved.
From TravelJoy
Clean export; biggest gain is multi-agent collaboration.
TravelJoy is strong for the IC (independent contractor) segment. The migration is clean because TravelJoy supports structured export. The biggest gain in moving to Strkr is multi-agent collaboration: shared pipeline, team-level reporting, agency-owner roll-up. Agencies that grew past the IC segment on TravelJoy and now have 5 to 20 agents typically find the migration pays back inside two months on team-coordination time saved.
From a spreadsheet
Starter template plus structured import.
Agencies that have been running on spreadsheets (surprisingly common at under-10-agent agencies) migrate through a structured import template. Strkr's onboarding team provides the template, the agency fills it with the active-client export, the import validates and loads. The spreadsheet becomes read-only reference and all new work happens in Strkr. Typical timeline is one week for a 50-client import, three weeks for 500-plus.
From Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport (GDS)
Native integration pulls booking data into Strkr.
For ARC-accredited agencies, Strkr's native GDS integrations with Sabre, Amadeus, and Travelport pull booking data into Strkr trip records automatically. The migration from a legacy CRM plus GDS to Strkr plus GDS is cleaner because the GDS stays the source of truth for ticketing and Strkr becomes the CRM layer. ARC-sales roll-up stays correct because the GDS data continues to be authoritative.
Consortium data (Virtuoso, Signature Travel Network, Travel Leaders Network, Internova Travel Group) comes in through consortium portals with bonus commission structures that override base commission. Strkr pulls consortium bookings via API where available and lets the agency reconcile the bonus structure against the supplier records. The quarterly consortium bonus payout stops being a surprise.
Head-to-head
Strkr vs Travefy for mid-sized travel agencies.
Travefy is the most-named trip-builder in the US travel agency segment. For agencies at 5 to 50 agents with real CRM depth needs, the matrix below compares what each tool actually covers.
Feature
Strkr
Travefy (Pro + Teams)
Trip itinerary builder
Native with branded proposal export
Industry-leading surface, strong UX
CRM depth under the itinerary
Full CRM with pipeline, tasks, timeline
Thin; agencies bolt on HubSpot or Pipedrive
Supplier records with contacts
First-class account with BDM contact history
Supplier catalog; shallow contact depth
Deposit schedule tracking
Native with automatic reminders
Manual tracking or external tool
Visa and documentation task flows
Templated per trip type with due dates
Not supported natively
Commission tracking per booking
Expected vs received per supplier
Not supported; separate spreadsheet
GDS integration (Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport)
Native for ARC-accredited agencies
Via import or third-party sync
Consortium bonus reconciliation
Virtuoso, Signature, TLN tracked
Not supported
Multi-agent team layer
Pipeline, reporting, roll-up native
Teams tier with shared trips
Pricing
Flat per seat, all features included
Pro plus Teams tier scales per agent
How teams use Strkr
Real travel agencies running on Strkr.
The agencies that chose Strkr for travel-specific CRM share one trait: they ran into the three-tool wall (trip builder plus CRM plus commission tracker) and realized the reconciliation tax was eating weekly time. The playbooks below are live motions.
Luxury leisure agency, 14 agents
Travefy plus HubSpot plus spreadsheet consolidated.
A 14-agent luxury agency ran Travefy for itineraries, HubSpot for CRM, and a shared spreadsheet for commission tracking. The weekly reconciliation ate four hours of the agency owner's time. The migration to Strkr took three weeks (Travefy itinerary archive plus HubSpot client export plus commission spreadsheet). Post-migration, the weekly reconciliation runs in 30 minutes. The agency owner reclaimed roughly 15 hours a month that now goes to supplier BDM relationships.
ARC-ticketed agency, 22 agents
ClientBase modernization with Sabre connectivity preserved.
A 22-agent ARC-ticketed agency ran ClientBase as the agent system for 18 years. Agents under 40 universally disliked the UX; agents over 50 valued the Sabre connectivity. The migration ran eight weeks and landed on Strkr for CRM plus Sabre for GDS, with Strkr's native Sabre integration pulling ARC-ticket data into trip records. Younger agents adopted immediately. Older agents retained the Sabre workflow with Strkr as the modern layer on top. ARC-sales reporting continued without interruption.
Group tour operator, 8 agents
Group bookings with 60-passenger party records.
An 8-agent group tour operator ran river cruises and small-ship voyages with 40 to 60 passenger parties per trip. The challenge was managing 60 linked traveler profiles per trip with individual preferences, passport data, dietary restrictions, and emergency contacts. Strkr's linked-traveler model with group-level roll-up solved the data shape. Pre-trip task completion time per group dropped 40 percent.
Niche adventure agency, 6 agents
Africa safari specialists with DMC supplier depth.
A 6-agent agency specializing in African safari booked exclusively through DMC partners in Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Supplier record depth was the lead requirement. Strkr's first-class supplier record with contact history, past bookings, commission structure, and preferred-partner status met the shape. The quarterly DMC roll-up (dollars booked per partner, year-over-year trend) arms the owner for quarterly DMC conversations with real numbers.
One record for the trip, the client, the supplier, the commission.
Start a 14-day Strkr trial with trip itineraries, supplier records, deposit tracking, visa task flows, and commission reconciliation on the flat per-seat line. Native Sabre, Amadeus, and Travelport integrations included.
Does Strkr replace Travefy or does it complement it?
Strkr replaces the trip-builder surface in Travefy as a native capability inside the CRM, so most agencies migrate off Travefy entirely during the Strkr adoption. The client-facing proposal export in Strkr is the native equivalent of what Travefy produces, with the advantage that it lives on top of real CRM depth (pipeline, tasks, timeline, deposit tracking, commissions). Agencies that specifically love Travefy's itinerary UX can run a hybrid in year one with the Strkr-Travefy integration syncing itineraries, but most consolidate inside six months.
How does Strkr handle ARC and IATA compliance for ticketed agencies?
For ARC-accredited agencies, Strkr's native integrations with Sabre, Amadeus, and Travelport pull booking data (PNRs, ticket numbers, fare basis, commissions) into Strkr trip records automatically. ARC sales roll up through the GDS; Strkr does not replace the GDS for ticketing. IATA numbers reconcile automatically against the trip records. The compliance posture (ARC reporting, IATA sales reconciliation) is preserved; the agent experience is modernized on top of the authoritative GDS data.
Can Strkr handle consortium bookings and bonus commission tracking?
Yes. Strkr tracks consortium bookings (Virtuoso, Signature Travel Network, Travel Leaders Network, Internova Travel Group) with per-supplier commission structure that includes the consortium bonus override. The commission module shows base commission plus consortium override per booking so the agent sees the expected total. The quarterly consortium bonus reconciliation surfaces missing payments against expected and arms the agency owner for the quarterly bonus-payout conversation with the consortium partner.
What does the migration from ClientBase actually look like?
ClientBase migrations are the longest in the travel CRM category because the data model is deep. Our migration team handles the Sabre export, the data normalization, and the record mapping into Strkr. Expect six to eight weeks for a 10 to 25 agent agency with full historical data (client profiles, past bookings, supplier records, commission history). During the migration you continue operating in ClientBase; on cutover day you move active trips to Strkr and ClientBase becomes read-only reference. The GDS connectivity continues through Strkr's native Sabre integration post-cutover.
Does Strkr handle group bookings with large party sizes?
Yes. Strkr's client record supports linked travelers as first-class relationships. A group tour with 60 passengers is one trip record with a primary client and 59 linked traveler profiles. Each traveler has their own preferences (dietary, mobility, meal, seat), passport data, and emergency contact. The group-level roll-up shows pre-trip task completion across all travelers (passport verified, visa submitted, insurance confirmed). Agencies running cruise charters, incentive groups, or multi-generational family trips use this model heavily.
How does Strkr integrate with industry-specific tools like VAX, TRAMS, or Tess?
VAX (now part of Internova) integration pulls booking data on supported suppliers. TRAMS integration is in development for agencies that specifically need the TRAMS reporting layer; most agencies replace TRAMS with Strkr's native reporting. Tess integration is case-by-case because Tess's data model varies by agency. For niche tools without native integration, we support CSV import on a weekly or monthly cadence as an interim pattern. Our vertical integration posture: critical-path integrations ship native in-house, and we publish an open API for agencies that have specialty tools we have not built yet.
No sales call, no migration consultant, no four-month implementation. Enter your card, get 14 days of the full Pro tier, cancel any time before day 14 with zero charge. Spin up a workspace, import your CSV, and have something useful before lunch.
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