Preparing for the 2025 Booking Boom: Essential Tips to Maximize Early Bookings

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In just one month, we will have stepped boldly into 2025 ─ and directly into peak travel selling season. These next few weeks are a key time for travel advisors to evaluate how their business fared this year and regroup and strategize for a profitable new year. What follows are actionable tips and insights to help advisors prepare for and thrive during the anticipated booking boom.
1. Organize and automate
Heather Schramm, owner and travel professional, Infinite Moments Travel, says that organization and automation are priority strategies for her agency. “These help us as agents, but also give our clients phenomenal customer service. Specifically, we use client workflows to help us keep track of our clients, and automate the follow-up process for each client wherever they are in their travel journey. We have a workflow for following up on leads; several different workflows for clients that are planning for specific destinations; and we even have a workflow for clients that have already traveled, to keep them top of mind for future travels. Since we have created this process and automated it, we take comfort in knowing our clients are taken care of every step of the way.”
Jessica Luniewski, office manager, Riverdale Travel, explains how the agency she works for helps advisors manage high demand: “We utilize Outlook templates and have pre-set descriptions of resorts we can re-use to save time. Advisors also must know their own capacity; know how to delegate tasks to others; prioritize clients who are looking to travel soon; and prioritize repeat and referral clients.”
2. Maximize your CRM
“High season brings unique challenges for travel agents, adding pressure to an already demanding role,” says Suzy Camenzind, owner, The Vacation Company. “To navigate this period successfully, having a reliable CRM system and using it effectively is essential. It can significantly alleviate stress by streamlining processes and keeping your workflow organized.”
She continues: “One of the most important aspects of client management is truly listening to their wants and needs. Maintaining detailed notes for current and future bookings ensures you can deliver personalized service every time. Staying organized and communicating promptly with clients should be a top priority. Streamlining your communication by setting up reminders to follow up before, during, and after travel is crucial. Many CRMs, such as Travel Joy, make this process easier, and we’ve found success with this system. The role of a travel agent is never-ending, so staying organized and streamlining processes is vital.”
Schramm uses Tern as her agency’s CRM. “Using this system helps our clients have ‘one-stop shopping’ and a place to communicate with us,” she says. “It also allows us to collaborate with other agents in our agency for maximum efficiency. It also allows us to automate some of our processes to help effectively manage our clients.”
3. Streamline processes with AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been the most talked about game-changer in the travel business this year. And it is not going away. Advisors who want to thrive are experimenting with and learning how to implement AI in their businesses.
Schramm explains several ways her agency is successfully using AI: “I started using AI because I didn’t like finding emojis to sprinkle into social media captions, but our use has grown significantly as we have learned to leverage the true power of the tool. I have used AI to help our agents have a consistent brand voice that represents us well by creating an agency-specific chatbot that helps everyone fine-tune their copy for their communication on social media or blogs while using agency specific calls to action. We use AI to help us optimize for algorithmic SEO as well.
“We have also used AI to help streamline our internal communication by having a script update a repository of agency resources to share with clients. Our agents can search the repository for any resource and easily share the link with clients when necessary. In addition to our own use of AI, our client management system has AI built in so we can take advantage of it for efficiently communicating with our clients. We also use AI as a virtual assistant whenever we need small tasks done or organization cleaned up and presented in a more effective way.”
Luniewski’s agency is also applying AI: “We have recently started using AI to assist in writing templates for quotes, as well as some standardized responses that come from clients. Chat GPT provides helpful descriptions of hotels/cruise lines, as well as a comparison tool to help clients decide what options they’d like to proceed with booking.”
4. Reinforce relationships with top suppliers
“Our supplier relationships have been the most impactful in educating us as travel agents, so we are knowledgeable in the trips we are presenting to our client,” notes Schramm. “Knowing how to use the booking platform and how to leverage promotions in their favor has been a great source of savings for our clients and allows us to showcase our value as travel agents. Having trusted individuals we can reach out to with specific suppliers has helped us provide top-tier service for our clients without spending unnecessary time on hold.
“Some of our supplier partners have also been instrumental in guiding our marketing plans for peak season. Our supplier relationships have also been instrumental in helping our clients because our suppliers communicate directly with us to inform us of promotional offerings. We also use our travel consortia to leverage travel perks and special rates for our clients with preferred suppliers.”
Luniewski relays that Riverdale Travel “prefers to use vendors that have live inventory, or who we have contacts with who can answer questions. When we need urgent support, we rely on our supplier partners to help.”
Camenzind describes how “important it is to stay up to date on policies, procedures, and industry trends ─ and to keep your clients informed as well. Building relationships with suppliers, hoteliers, and industry colleagues makes you a more well-rounded agent. Scheduling webinars and training sessions to learn about updates from top-selling brands ensures you’re always ahead of the curve. Having these connections not only boosts your confidence in selling products, but also reassures your clients, enhancing their trust in your expertise.”
5. Optimize group bookings
To help optimize group bookings during peak season ─ and create lifelong clients from groups ─ Schramm says: “We have used our client management system to consistently communicate group information to each client traveling as part of a group with group workflows. This communication helps with disseminating information to ensure everyone knows the plan for travel. We also use CRM and spreadsheet organization to ensure we are taking care of group travel components in order of priority.
“This organization and communication are enough to bring repeat groups because the burden of group travel doesn’t fall on a traveler anymore. Relieving that strain has people wanting to return to us to plan the next big getaway. Strong organization and clear communication build trust with our clients, encouraging them to return not only for group trips, but also for their individual travel needs.”
For Camenzind, the first few weeks of the new year are especially busy because she manages a large corporate group that travels annually in January. She reports: “Despite the demands of the season, I always make time to travel with them. Being present allows me to answer questions on-site, assist with events, and strengthen relationships, leading to repeat business and referrals. To ensure success, I work smarter by negotiating future contracts well in advance. This preparation helps us secure inventory and lock in favorable rates for this growing company, keeping them coming back year after year.”
6. Bolster marketing efforts
To boost sales during high season, Camenzind suggests for advisors to “revisit past bookings and proactively reach out to clients who have previously traveled during similar periods. Email and social media campaigns are highly effective tools for our business, particularly when promoting vacation deals around upcoming holidays. These campaigns often inspire clients to start planning their next trip, bringing in additional business.”
Schramm says: “During peak season, we consistently use social media to market our offerings and expertise. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube have been something we have collectively attempted to take advantage of consistently. Most recently, we have team members dabbling in Pinterest and LinkedIn. Every agent feels comfortable with their preferred platform, so our agency has a presence on multiple social media platforms.
“We also use Google to direct traffic to our website. We regularly post blogs to showcase the expertise of our agency and share travel advice for our potential and current clients. In addition, we leverage our email list to keep our clients informed about our offerings and expertise through the use of MailerLite. Each of these approaches is built into our marketing plan well ahead of time, so we can be sure to continue marketing during busy times, but without sacrificing the customer service we consistently provide.”
7. Be consistent every day
“Consistency is the biggest value you can bring to your business,” advises Schramm. “Show up every day in every way to try to be better than you were yesterday. Realize that the to-do list will never be exhausted if you are striving to gain more success. Continue to reprioritize that to-do list, because your priorities will change as you implement better practices for your business.
“Consistency in education, marketing, and client care are three great categories to focus on. Education helps you understand your product, so you can provide your clients with opportunities to enjoy their vacation, but also provides an opportunity to upsell. Marketing is a consistent effort that every business owner should be focusing on. Client care is the absolute best marketing you can get. Happy clients make repeat clients and refer their friends. You cannot buy this kind of loyalty, and it is the absolute best marketing that exists.”
8. Energize yourself with other travel advisors
Finally, Schramm’s best tip for her fellow advisors is: “Surround yourself with a great group of other travel advisors. Find people that educate you, inspire you, and encourage you. I think our biggest win as an agency is the willingness of everyone to help each other succeed. The positive vibe I feel when I’m on a team Zoom is always energizing and refreshing.”
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