Key takeaways
- Decide based on your own criteria and ask to see them on screen: be wary of any table where one brand describes the limits of another.
- A digital proposal tells you if the client has opened it and allows them to accept and pay on the spot; an attached PDF does neither.
- The package travel contract and pre-contractual information are mandatory in Spain: check what documents the software actually generates.
- The special regime for travel agencies taxes the margin, not the gross sale: your tool must understand this.
Tourwriter alternatives: what do you really need?
If you are looking for Tourwriter alternatives, it is likely that your agency has reached the point where Word and Excel no longer support your volume of itineraries. Tourwriter is an itinerary and quoting platform focused on producing bespoke trips. It might be a perfect fit or it might be overkill, and that doesn't depend on the tool in the abstract: it depends on where your bottleneck is.
A warning before we continue: you won't find a table here claiming what price, language, or limitations another brand's product has. We cannot verify that; it changes with every version, and if a reader knows the product and sees that the table is lying, they stop believing the rest. What you will find are the criteria for deciding and how we respond to each one.
Because the underlying problem is rarely the design of the itinerary. It is that you send a quote and don't know if they have opened it, that the client cannot pay from the document itself, and that the follow-up ends up in a WhatsApp thread. A software for creating travel itineraries that only solves the visual part will leave everything else the same.
Criteria for choosing the best itinerary software
When evaluating options, don't get carried away by the design. A professional tool must solve profitability and paperwork, not just aesthetics. These are the criteria you should bring to every demo:
| Criterion | What to ask in the demo | Manglar's approach |
|---|---|---|
| Language and support | Is the interface, help, and support in English, or is it automated translation? | Product and support in Spanish, made in Spain. |
| Proposal format | Does the client receive a web page they open from their phone or an attached PDF? | Digital proposals with your branding and notifications when the client opens them. |
| Margin | Does it calculate profit on the supplier's net, including taxes and fees? | Net price per supplier and margin per file. |
| Legal paperwork | Does it issue the package travel contract (required under Spanish law) and collect the signature? | Contract with digital signature from the booking itself. |
| From yes to payment | Can the client accept and pay without leaving the proposal? | Partial payments; Stripe, PayPal, and Redsys gateways from the Business plan. |
| Price | Are the prices published? Is there an implementation fee or contract term? | From €39/month, public prices, and a 30-day trial without a credit card. |
Do not take any of these boxes for granted in any tool, including ours: ask for it in writing or ask to see it working. And if you want to start with the numbers, the margin calculator is free and requires no registration.
Why Manglar fits agencies selling in Spanish
Manglar is made for the Spanish-speaking agency that needs agility more than a production department. With the tool, you can create digital proposals that the client opens on their mobile like a website, with your branding, your photos, and the day-by-day itinerary.
But the proposal is just the entry point. Behind it is the CRM: you see when the client opens it, the system creates the follow-up task for you, the package travel contract is generated from the booking itself with a digital signature, and payment is made from the same file. That is where you recover hours: by not typing the same thing three times. If you also want to refine the commercial process, our free guide for travel advisors explains how to structure follow-ups to close sales without being pushy.
The importance of automation in follow-up
A lead that goes cold is the most expensive hole in an agency, and it is almost never lost because of price: it is lost because no one called back. Good software doesn't just design the itinerary; it also tells you when it is time to resume the conversation.
In Manglar, when the client opens the proposal, you receive a notification and the follow-up task is generated automatically. If the client has questions, they leave them on the proposal itself instead of starting another email thread. If you want to see it with your own case, request a personalized demo and we will set it up with one of your quotes.
Margin management and real profitability
There are agencies that sell a lot and earn little, and the cause is usually the same: the margin is calculated at the end, by eye, and on a separate sheet where it is easy to forget an expense or make a mistake with a currency exchange. When the calculation lives outside the file, it is always too late.
With the margin inside the system, you know what you have left after paying suppliers, file by file, while the trip can still be adjusted. And it is worth remembering that in Spain, the special regime for travel agencies taxes the margin, not the total sale amount: if your tool calculates based on gross billing, your numbers will be wrong even if the arithmetic is correct.
How to decide based on your agency type
If you are a boutique agency that takes care of every detail, what you need is speed to customize without losing visual quality. If you handle groups, what eats up your time is rooming, collecting passport data, and individual payments: for that, we have published the free group kit.
And if you are looking for a tool that grows with you, speaks your language, and doesn't require an initial investment out of your reach, Manglar starts at €39/month with public prices and a 30-day trial of the Business plan without a credit card. Test it with your last complicated quote and time it: that is the comparison that truly decides.
Frequently asked questions
What are the advantages of itinerary software over Word or Excel?
Three, above all: data is entered only once and from there, the proposal, contract, and invoice are generated; you know if the client has opened the proposal and when; and the client can accept and pay without leaving the document. With Word and Excel, all three things depend on someone remembering to do them.
Is the travel contract legally mandatory in the proposal?
In Spain, the sale of a package trip requires providing specific pre-contractual information and formalizing a contract with the content set by regulations (Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, following Directive (EU) 2015/2302). It is not something that depends on your software, but software that generates it saves you from putting it together by hand. If you operate outside of Spain, check the equivalent obligation in your country.
How much does it cost to implement management software for agencies?
It varies a lot depending on the provider, and the difference is usually in the implementation rather than the fee. At Manglar, prices are public: from €39 per month on the Starter plan, with no implementation cost or contract term, and a 30-day trial of the Business plan without a credit card.
How do I know if my agency is ready to switch software?
Count a normal week. If the time you spend copying data, redoing PDFs, and chasing quotes prevents you from selling and attracting new clients, you are ready. If the volume is low and you manage the process from memory without errors, it might not be worth it yet.
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Who publishes this
This blog is published by the team behind Manglar CRM, the management software for travel agencies. Articles are prepared with the help of AI tools and published under the team's name — and the team stands behind everything they say.
If you spot a figure that doesn't add up, something that's out of date or a mistake about another tool, write to us at contact@manglarcrm.com or through the contact page and we'll fix it. Thank you.
