Travel Agencies Edition

A complete how-to for the cruise, tour, and package agent workflow. From entering a booking to printing the IC's check, plus migrating from QuickBooks Desktop without leaving history behind.

Enabling the Edition

The Travel Agencies edition is included with the Pro tier and above. There's nothing to install separately — it's a feature flag that gets switched on by your license.

You'll know it's active when ✈️ Travel Bookings appears in the left sidebar of the app. If you're on Starter and don't see it, upgrade your license from Settings → License Management.

Setting Up Suppliers and Agents

Suppliers

Suppliers are the cruise lines, tour operators, and wholesalers that pay you commission. Add them under Settings → Tracking Dimensions → Supplier. You can group them under parent categories (Cruises, Land Tours, Insurance, etc.) so the Gross Sales by Vendor report rolls them up the way you'd want.

Agents (Independent Contractors)

Each IC is a Sales Rep. Add them under Settings → Sales Reps. Required fields: Name, Initials, Default Commission Percent (typically 80, 85, or 90 per tier).

Entering a New Booking

Go to ✈️ Travel Bookings → make sure the New Booking tab is highlighted. Fill the form top to bottom:

1. Supplier (required) — picks from the dropdown. If a default rate is on file for that supplier, the commission auto-calculates.
2. Agent / IC (required) — the rep who earned the commission. Their tier auto-populates the Agent split %.
3. Guest name — last name, first name. If new, just type — Kantivo adds them to your client list automatically.
4. Booking reference — supplier's confirmation number. Useful for lookups.
5. Travel date — when the trip departs.
6. Commission period (optional) — for grouping by payout cycle. Reports filter by travel date, so this field is optional.
7. Gross trip cost — the full trip value. Tracked as a stat, doesn't post to revenue.
8. Commissionable amount — what the supplier pays commission on. Often same as gross.
9. Commission earned — auto-fills from supplier rate × commissionable. Override if the supplier's confirmation states a different amount.
10. Agent split % — defaults to the agent's tier. Override per-booking if needed.

Click Save Booking & Post Commission. Kantivo posts a four-line journal entry — Dr Commissions Receivable, Cr Commission Income, Dr Agent Commissions Expense, Cr Commissions Payable — all in one shot.

Scanning a Supplier Confirmation PDF

At the top of the New Booking tab is a 📄 Scan a confirmation card. Drop or pick the supplier's PDF (or photo) and click Scan & pre-fill. Kantivo extracts supplier, guest, dates, gross, commissionable amount, and commission in 3–6 seconds.

Supplier name auto-matches your supplier list. Agent name auto-matches your sales rep list. Every field stays editable — review before saving.

Receiving Commission from a Supplier

When the supplier's commission check (or ACH) arrives in your bank:

1. Travel Bookings → Bookings tab.
2. Find the row for the booking the check is paying. Filter by Status = Booked to focus the list.
3. Click 💰 Receive on that row. Fill in deposit account, date received, amount, payment method, reference.
4. Click Record Receipt.

The booking's status flips to Received. Kantivo posts a JE — Dr Bank, Cr Commissions Receivable — for the amount.

When One Supplier Check Covers Multiple Bookings

Common case: a supplier sends one check for several of your guests' trips. Handle it cleanly via Undeposited Funds:

1. Receive each booking individually. In the deposit account dropdown, pick Undeposited Funds instead of the bank account.
2. Once all the receipts on the same supplier check are entered, go to 🏠 Dashboard → Deposit Undeposited Funds.
3. Check the receipts that are on the same check. Pick the bank account. Set the deposit date. Click Make Deposit.

One bank deposit on your books equal to the supplier's check total. Each individual booking still tracks separately for the agent payout report. Your bank statement and Kantivo will reconcile line-for-line at month-end.

Paying Your Independent Contractors

Travel Bookings → Pay Commissions tab.

1. Pick the Agent.
2. Set Travel month from and Travel month to (the trip's travel month, not the month you're cutting the check).
3. Click Show eligible bookings. A table appears listing every Received booking for that agent in that period, with agent-owed per row. All boxes checked by default.
4. Uncheck any booking you want to defer to a future run.
5. Optional: add adjustment rows for bonuses, deductions, or prior-period catch-ups.
6. Fill bottom: bank account, payment date, method, check number, optional notes.
7. Click Post Payout & Print Check.

What Happens When You Print the Check

A confirmation dialog appears with the payee, amount, check number, and date. Click OK to open the printable check pre-filled, positioned to print on your pre-printed check stock. Your browser's print dialog fires automatically.

800 milliseconds later, the itemized voucher stub also opens in a separate tab — lists every booking on this check (date, guest, supplier, commission, agent percent, payout) plus any adjustments and the total. Print it alongside the check. Hand or mail both to the IC.

Travel Reports

Travel Bookings → Reports tab. Set the date range (or leave blank for all-time) and click Apply.

• Sales by Rep — agent leaderboard for the period. Gross sales, commission earned, agent owed per rep.
• Gross Sales by Vendor — supplier roll-up grouped by parent category with subtotals.
• Monthly Commission Report — per-agent payout statement with base + bonus split per booking.

All three filter by the trip's travel month — so a May trip appears under "May to May" regardless of when you cut the check.

Travel Activity on a Client's Card

When you open a customer in the Client Center, a ✈️ Travel Activity panel appears for any client who has bookings on file. Shows gross trip total, commission earned, agent share, and your keep, plus a table of every booking.

For clients with no travel bookings (your vendor / non-traveler customers), the panel is hidden. For Starter-tier users, the panel doesn't render at all.

Editing a Booking

Click ✏️ Edit on any booking row. The modal lets you edit Supplier, Agent, Commission amount, Agent split %, Gross trip cost, Commissionable amount, Travel date, Commission period, Booking reference, Status, and Notes.

Fixing Mistakes — the Reversal Chain

Kantivo unwinds work in the opposite order you did it. Each level is its own click; the system blocks dangerous skip-a-step reversals.

• Wrong booking, not yet received: delete it. The original commission JE reverses cleanly.
• Wrong receipt amount, agent not paid yet: click ↩ Reverse on the booking row, then 💰 Receive again with the right amount.
• Wrong receipt amount, agent already paid: Pay Commissions → History → click Void or 🗑 Delete on the payout run, then reverse the receipt, then re-record, then Pay Commissions again.
• Wrong check number on a payout you just posted: Pay Commissions → History → 🗑 Delete the run (removes it from history, reverses the bank entry, returns bookings to eligible), then re-run Pay Commissions with the right check #.

QuickBooks Desktop Migration

If you're switching from QB Desktop, run the standard import phases first (chart of accounts, customers, vendors, opening balances, transactions). Then the travel-specific migration:

1. Utilities → Import Sales Reps from QuickBooks. Upload your QB Sales Rep List (IIF or CSV). Optional: tick "Also create matching 1099-NEC vendors."
2. Utilities → Travel: Backfill Sales Reps & Synthesize Bookings:
   • Step 1: Upload your QB Custom Transaction Detail Report (with a Rep column added). Kantivo tags each transaction with the right sales rep.
   • Step 2: Click Preview Bookings. Kantivo clusters tagged transactions into proposed Travel Bookings rows. Review, then Commit.
3. Utilities → Travel: Backfill Gross Trip Cost from QB Invoices. Recovers gross trip values from your QB invoice totals onto the synthesized bookings.

Year-End 1099-NEC

Every commission check you cut through Pay Commissions is tagged with the IC's linked vendor record. At year-end, open Reports Studio → 1099 Summary — every IC's payouts are summed automatically and ready to file.

If you skipped the "create matching vendor" step when adding an IC, edit the rep record now and create the vendor link. Past payouts re-link automatically when the vendor is set.