Travel Quotation Format That Converts (+ Free Template)

Short answer: A converting travel quotation format includes a clear trip summary, day-wise itinerary, hotel details, inclusions and exclusions, per-person and total pricing with GST/TCS, validity dates, payment terms and your cancellation policy. Send it fast, make it readable, and you'll close more bookings.

I've seen agents lose bookings because their quotation arrived three days late, buried the price in paragraph four, or read like a terms-and-conditions document.

The enquiry was hot. The itinerary was good. But the quotation killed it.

A quotation is not just a price list. It's the last thing a customer reads before they decide to pay you or call the next agent. Get the format right and you convert more enquiries without discounting.

What makes a travel quotation format work

Your quotation must answer three questions in 30 seconds: where are we going, what's included, and how much does it cost?

Everything else supports those three.

Start with the trip summary at the top. Destination, duration, travel dates, number of travellers. One or two lines. If the customer forwards your quotation to their spouse or travel companion, that person should know what trip this is without scrolling.

Then the day-wise plan. Not a full itinerary with timings and activity descriptions, save that for the detailed PDF. Just the day number, city and key activity. Day 1: Arrival in Kochi, check-in, Kathakali show. Day 2: Munnar, tea gardens, Eravikulam National Park. Enough that they see the flow.

Hotels go next. Name, location, room type, number of nights. If you're quoting a 4-star, say so. If it's a boutique property on a hill, mention that. The hotel often matters as much as the destination.

Inclusions and exclusions in bullet points. What's covered: accommodation, meals, transfers, sightseeing, permits. What's not: flights, travel insurance, personal expenses, monument entry fees if they're excluded. Be specific. "All meals" is different from "breakfast and dinner." Vague inclusions breed arguments at billing time.

Pricing. Show the per-person cost and the total cost for the group. Break out GST and TCS as separate lines if applicable, customers want to see the base price and the tax. If you're quoting a family, show a child rate if it's different.

Validity. Quote valid until a date, usually 7 to 15 days. Hotel rates and availability change. Protect yourself.

Payment terms. Advance amount and due date, balance due date. If you take instalments, list the schedule. Link this to your cancellation policy so they know what happens if they cancel after paying the advance.

Cancellation policy. When you refund how much, and what you retain. If airline tickets are non-refundable, say so. I've seen agents skip this, then fight with customers over a cancelled trip because "we thought we'd get everything back."

Your contact details and company GST number at the bottom.

Complete tour package quotation format: a worked example

Here's a full quotation for a 5-night, 6-day Kerala family trip. The numbers are illustrative, adjust for your own margin and supplier rates, but the structure is what you should follow.

Section	Details
Trip Summary	Kerala Family Tour | 5 Nights / 6 Days Travel Dates: 15 Dec 2026 to 20 Dec 2026 Travellers: 2 Adults + 1 Child (8 years)
Day-Wise Plan	Day 1: Arrival in Kochi, check-in, Kathakali performance Day 2: Kochi sightseeing (Fort Kochi, Chinese nets, spice market) Day 3: Drive to Munnar, tea gardens, evening at leisure Day 4: Munnar (Eravikulam Park, Mattupetty Dam, tea museum) Day 5: Munnar to Alleppey, houseboat check-in, backwater cruise Day 6: Houseboat check-out, drop at Kochi airport
Hotels	Kochi: Eighth Bastion Hotel (Deluxe Room) — 2 nights Munnar: Tea County Resort (Valley View Room) — 2 nights Alleppey: Premium Houseboat (2 Bedroom AC) — 1 night
Inclusions	• Accommodation as per itinerary • Daily breakfast; lunch and dinner on houseboat • All transfers and sightseeing in private AC vehicle • Driver allowance, fuel, parking and tolls • Kathakali show tickets • Eravikulam National Park entry
Exclusions	• Airfare / train fare to and from Kochi • Lunch and dinner (except on houseboat) • Entry fees to monuments not mentioned • Personal expenses, tips, laundry • Travel insurance • Anything not mentioned in inclusions
Pricing	Adult: ₹24,500 per person × 2 = ₹49,000 Child (with bed): ₹18,500 × 1 = ₹18,500 Subtotal: ₹67,500 GST (5%): ₹3,375 Total Package Cost: ₹70,875
Payment Terms	Advance (40%): ₹28,350, due by 25 Nov 2026 Balance (60%): ₹42,525, due by 10 Dec 2026
Cancellation Policy	• 30+ days before travel: 10% of package cost • 15–29 days: 25% of package cost • 7–14 days: 50% of package cost • Less than 7 days or no-show: 100% of package cost Airline/train tickets, if booked, follow carrier policy (usually non-refundable).
Validity	This quotation is valid until 5 Nov 2026. Rates subject to availability.
Contact & GST	Bliss Holidays Vaibhav Khandelwal +91 98765 43210 | vaibhav@blissholidays.in GSTIN: 07ABCDE1234F1Z5

Copy this structure into a Word template or a Google Doc. Fill in your own trip details. You'll have a quotation that reads clearly and closes faster than a paragraph-style email.

Common mistakes that kill conversions

Sending the quotation too late. The customer may have called other agents by then. Speed matters more than perfection. Get a draft out quickly, refine it if they're interested.

Burying the price. I've seen quotations where the total cost appears on page two, after six paragraphs about your company and terms. Put the price in the top half. If it's out of budget, you both save time. If it's within range, they keep reading.

Vague inclusions. "All transfers" doesn't tell me if that's a shared coach or a private car. "Sightseeing as per itinerary" doesn't say whether monument tickets are included. Spell it out.

No validity date. Hotel rates change. Flights get costlier. If you quote today and the customer books in three weeks, you might be holding a loss. A 7-day or 10-day validity is standard.

Ignoring GST and TCS. A ₹70,000 package becomes ₹73,500 after GST, and if the customer is spending over ₹7 lakh in a year on foreign tours, TCS applies. Show the breakup so there's no surprise at invoice time. We have a full guide on GST invoicing for travel agencies if you need the current rates and rules.

Skipping the cancellation policy. Customers assume they'll get a full refund if they cancel a month in advance. Your hotel might have a 15-day cancellation window. State your policy upfront.

Sending a plain-text WhatsApp message instead of a document. A paragraph in a chat gets lost. A PDF or a web link looks professional and can be forwarded to family without retyping.

How to make a travel quotation faster with a CRM

If you're building quotations in Word or Excel, each enquiry can take significant time. You copy an old file, change the destination and dates, recalculate the pricing, export to PDF, then send it on WhatsApp.

A travel agency CRM with an itinerary builder does this in under 10 minutes.

You create the itinerary once, day plan, hotels, inclusions, and the CRM generates the quotation from it. Change the travel dates and it recalculates the number of nights. Change the hotel and it updates the pricing. Pick a design template and share it as a web link or a PDF.

We built TripClap CRM this way because I got tired of watching agents lose enquiries to whoever replied first. You can copy an itinerary from your library, tweak it, and send a branded quotation quickly.

The itinerary builder pulls Google details for hotels and sights, so you don't retype addresses. You drag events from your saved library into the day plan. The pricing section calculates GST automatically if you've entered your rate. The quotation goes out as a link the customer can open on their phone, or as a PDF you attach to WhatsApp.

Plans start at ₹14,999 a year for the Growth plan. You can start the 7-day free trial and build a few quotations to see if it fits your workflow.

TripClap CRM does not include a built-in phone dialler, and WhatsApp Business integration is available on the Enterprise Elite plan at ₹24,999 a year.

Should you show cost breakup or just the total?

Depends on the customer.

Corporate clients and group organisers usually want the breakup: hotel cost per night, vehicle cost per day, guide fees. They're comparing multiple quotes and they want to see where the money goes.

Leisure families often just want the total per person. Too much detail makes them second-guess each line item. "Why is the vehicle ₹8,000 for the day when I can rent a sedan for ₹4,000?" But now you're defending your margin instead of closing the booking.

I usually show a simple breakup for the customer, adult rate, child rate, GST, and keep the supplier-level detail in my costing sheet. If they ask, I explain. If they don't, the quotation stays clean.

Templates vs custom quotations

A template saves time. You keep a Word or Google Docs file for each popular destination, fill in the dates and traveller names, adjust the hotels if needed, done.

The risk is that every quotation looks identical. If the customer is comparing you with two other agents and all three of you sent the same Manali itinerary, the one who personalised it wins.

Personalisation doesn't mean rewriting everything. It means reading the enquiry and tweaking two or three things. They mentioned they're celebrating an anniversary? Add a line about a candlelight dinner or a room upgrade. They're travelling with elderly parents? Mention that the hotels you've picked have lifts and the vehicle will be a comfortable SUV, not a tight sedan.

A travel quotation template gets you 80 per cent there. The last 20 per cent is listening to what the customer actually said.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best format for a travel quotation?

A table or a structured document with clear sections: trip summary, day plan, hotels, inclusions, exclusions, pricing with GST, payment terms, cancellation policy and validity. Avoid long paragraphs. Make it easy to scan in 30 seconds.

Should I send the quotation as a PDF or a Word file?

PDF. A Word file can be edited, and you don't want the customer changing your pricing or terms and forwarding it as if you quoted that. A PDF is final and looks more professional. If you're using a CRM, a web link works even better because it's mobile-friendly and you can track when they open it.

How do I show GST and TCS in a tour package quotation format?

Show the base package cost, then add GST as a separate line (5 per cent for most domestic packages, check current rates for international and specific services). TCS applies when a customer's total outbound tour spend in a financial year exceeds ₹7 lakh, show it as a line if applicable, or mention that it will be collected as per Income Tax rules at the time of invoicing. Read our GST invoicing guide for the latest rates and compliance rules.

What should I include in the cancellation policy?

Refund percentages based on how many days before travel the customer cancels: for example, 30+ days (retain 10 per cent), 15–29 days (25 per cent), 7–14 days (50 per cent), under 7 days or no-show (100 per cent). Also state that airfare and train tickets usually follow the carrier's policy, which is often non-refundable. Adjust the percentages based on your supplier terms and your own risk.

How quickly should I send a quotation after an enquiry?

Within a few hours if possible, same day at the latest. The first agent to send a clear, professional quotation has a much higher chance of closing the booking. Speed matters more than perfection, send a solid draft, refine it later if they're interested.

Can I use a travel CRM to generate quotations automatically?

Yes. A travel CRM software guide will show you how modern CRMs with itinerary builders can generate branded quotations from your day plan in a few clicks. You build the itinerary once, the CRM calculates pricing and inclusions, and you export it as a PDF or web link. It can significantly reduce the time needed to create a quotation.

My honest take

Agents can lose bookings when the quotation is messy or arrives too late. Your quotation is a sales document. Make it fast, make it clear, make it easy to say yes.

Use the template above as a starting point. Adjust the sections to match your style and your market. If you're quoting luxury tours, add a section on exclusive experiences. If you're doing group tours, show a per-person breakdown with a discount for larger groups. The structure stays the same.

If you're still building quotations manually and it's taking too long, try a CRM with an itinerary builder. TripClap CRM has a 7-day free trial with no credit card required, and you can build quotations to see if it fits your workflow. It does not include a built-in phone dialler, and WhatsApp Business integration is available on the Enterprise Elite plan. You can start the 7-day free trial and see for yourself.

---

About the author: GG is the founder and CEO of TripClap, which runs a family travel marketplace and TripClap CRM for travel businesses. He has 18+ years of experience building travel and SaaS products, including at IndiaMart’s HelloTravel, and holds an MBA from IIM Lucknow. Connect on LinkedIn.