Viewtravel vs TourKnife: from a good quote to a well-managed group
Viewtravel has made a name for itself helping agents present trips and itineraries that win clients over and close more quotes. If you’re comparing it with TourKnife, the useful question isn’t which is better, but what your business needs: to convert your quotes better, or to manage your group travel end to end. They’re different things, and here we explain where one ends and the other begins.
We’re writing from TourKnife, software for selling and managing group travel. What we say about Viewtravel comes from what its website describes and from the feedback of agencies that have used trip-presentation tools. Viewtravel does what it promises very well; the point is to see whether that’s all you need.
Viewtravel’s strength: presenting and converting
Viewtravel sums it up in one idea: present your trips and itineraries in an inspiring way, with video and photo content of destinations, hotels, cruises and activities, and pull PNR information to build the proposal fast. Its value promise is about conversion —it highlights that a high proportion of the quotes sent end up closing, and that it cuts the time to prepare the itinerary. For an agency whose challenge is sending attractive proposals and closing them, it’s a highly focused, effective tool.
What a group trip needs, beyond that
A well-presented quote is the beginning of selling a group, not the end. When the traveller says yes, the work that determines whether the group goes well begins: selling place by place and operating the departure. That work is in a different category, and it’s TourKnife’s.
Selling the group place by place. A group fills up traveller by traveller, each with their own booking, their optional extras, their room arrangement —including shared rooms— and their payment plan. TourKnife is built for that selling with all its flexibility, beyond presenting and closing a quote.
Seeing the whole group and acting on it or on a booking. Knowing at a glance how the departure is going —places, data, payments— and being able to communicate or change something for the whole group or for a single traveller, always in a personalised way.
Allotments per supplier. Places depend on the inventory contracted with the coach company, hotel or airline; controlling it prevents overselling and being left with unsold places.
Chained multi-service and departure operations. Coordinating the services of several suppliers under one tour and closing out with rooming lists and documentation for hotels, the airport and guides.
How to decide between the two
Since TourKnife also presents the trip and generates the booking page, keeping both a presentation tool and a group-management tool usually means paying twice for what overlaps. The sensible decision is to choose. If your business is presenting and converting quotes for one-off or bespoke trips, Viewtravel is a very finely tuned choice. If you organise group travel, the better option is TourKnife: it covers presentation, place-by-place selling and operations in a single tool. A tool specialised in presentation may achieve a flashier audiovisual finish; TourKnife, in return, stays with you beyond the quote, until the group travels.
Frequently asked questions
Is Viewtravel good software?
Yes, very good for presenting trips attractively and improving quote conversion. If that’s your main goal, it’s a great option. What we point out is that presenting and closing the quote is only one part of managing a group trip.
If I convert quotes well with Viewtravel, why would I want TourKnife?
Because in a group, after the client’s yes, the most labour-intensive part remains: selling it place by place with its casuistry and operating it (allotments per supplier, group communication, rooming, documentation). Viewtravel isn’t built for that; TourKnife is, and it presents the trip too.
Does TourKnife only manage, or also sell and present?
It sells, presents and manages. TourKnife presents the trip, sells place by place with all the flexibility of a group and operates the departure. Selling and presenting aren’t add-ons, they’re part of the core.
Which should I choose?
Presenting and converting quotes for bespoke travel: Viewtravel. Selling and operating group travel end to end: TourKnife. If you’re unsure about your case, we’ll give you our honest opinion.
If you’d like to look at it calmly, get in touch with us with no commitment for an informal chat, and we’ll tell you honestly what fits your way of working. We can run a demo based on one of your real tours. You’ll find the detail on the features page, or go back to the group travel software comparison.