How a tour agency uses inTusell: daily operations guide

In the first article, you trained the inTusell AI: you uploaded your knowledge base, marked your sales conversations, and configured the persona and response rules. Training was a one-time setup. Now the real work begins: how does a tour agency use inTusell, that is, how does a tour agency’s day-to-day use of inTusell actually work? This article walks through, step by step, what the assistant you trained does in the field over a full workday: from the incoming DM to a booking, from payment to handing off to a human.

This article is the second part of the tourism section of our sector-by-sector "how to train your AI" series. The first part, how to train the inTusell AI, covered the setup; this one covers turning that setup into daily operations.

Quick answer

A day in the flow

The typical day of an agency that has set up inTusell is very different from before. In the old days, the operations lead would come in each morning and go through dozens of unread DMs one by one. Now, the messages that came in overnight are already answered, leads are categorized, and some options are already held. The backbone of a day works like this:

The team now spends its time on conversations that genuinely require a decision, not on scanning messages.

Who is it for?

This usage model especially makes sense for agencies that:

• Receive heavy demand via Instagram and WhatsApp: those who can’t keep up with dozens of "how much is it?" messages a day.
• Lose after-hours demand: operations that miss sales because they respond late to questions coming in the evening and on weekends.
• Have a fixed product catalog: those who sell Umrah, Hajj, cultural, and holiday packages through recurring questions.
• Manage many channels with a small team: firms forced to track DMs, WhatsApp, comments, and web chat separately.

If your demand is more than one salesperson can keep up with, inTusell meets it like a senior salesperson.

Incoming request: the customer asks about a tour, the AI suggests a suitable one

The flow starts when the customer sends a message. Imagine someone writes via Instagram DM: "We’re thinking about a Black Sea tour in November, 2 adults 1 child." The AI reads this message, scans the tour terms in your knowledge base and the packages in your catalog, and suggests a tour that fits the customer’s need.

An important point: the AI responds in whatever language the customer writes in. For foreign tourists this is critical: a Cappadocia inquiry that comes in English gets an English reply, with no extra configuration needed. Fixed system messages go in Turkish to Turkish speakers and in English to everyone else.

If you added the "ask about the need before quoting" response rule during training, the AI first clarifies the departure point, the date range, and the number of passengers. That rule keeps the quote from being random; it’s based on the customer’s real need. We explain separately how all these channels come together in a single inbox in the Instagram and WhatsApp automation article.

Price and availability: the AI quotes from the price matrix

This is the most sensitive point for tour agencies. The AI does not invent the price. This flow runs on the tour module (beta); it quotes only from the price matrix in your catalog. The matrix works across three axes: departure point × hotel class × room type. Child and infant prices also come from this matrix:

On a "2 adults 1 child" request, the AI asks the child’s age, applies the child price if it’s below the age threshold, and gives the total quote in one go. The default currency is USD.

If someone asks for a combination that isn’t in the matrix, a departure point you haven’t defined, for example, the AI doesn’t invent a price. It hands the conversation to your team, and the handoff lands on the Decisions page. That keeps you from giving the customer a wrong price and then having to correct it, and that is the foundation of trust.

You’ll find a detailed account of how the catalog is fed through the KolayTurum integration, a website import or by hand, and how the price matrix is built, in the tour catalog and KolayTurum integration article. If KolayTurum is connected, a nightly sync (around 05:00 Turkey time) keeps the matrix current; for an urgent change, "Sync now" pulls it right away. An Excel or CSV price list you upload to the knowledge base is read as a document; quotes, seats and payment always run from the catalog’s matrix.

Option and booking: the seat ledger and overbooking

When the customer likes the quote and says "can we reserve it?", the booking lifecycle kicks in. The flow proceeds in a clear sequence:

quote
  → option_hold (option: seat temporarily held)
  → awaiting_payment
  ↔ partially_paid
  → fully_paid
  → confirmed
  → departed → completed

Cancellation, refund, and no_show branches are also inside this cycle. The exchange rate is frozen when the quote is given: the price you gave the customer stays fixed for that quote even if the exchange rate moves.

When an option is held, the seat ledger kicks in. Seat allocation is a single locked transaction: even if two customers want the last seat at the same time, the system allocates it to only one. If you use KolayTurum, seats sold there are deducted from capacity too. When a departure is full, the AI does not open a new booking; it hands the request to your team. This prevents the most common mistake of manual Excel lists: selling the same seat twice.

Payment: bank transfer/IBAN by default, iyzico optional

When the customer reaches the awaiting_payment stage, the payment step begins. You have two options here:

• Bank transfer/IBAN (default): Requires no integration. The AI sends the amount, the IBAN and the booking’s reference code in one message, and the booking lands in the receivables ledger. When the customer sends a receipt, your team approves it, and only then does the status become partially_paid or fully_paid. The AI never says "your payment has been received" before that approval.
• iyzico (optional): If you want to take card payments, you connect iyzico; the AI sends the customer a card payment link, and the payment goes to the agency’s POS.

In both cases the core rule stays the same: the seller is always the agency. Payment goes directly to the agency’s account, and the invoice is issued in the agency’s name. inTusell never steps in or takes the seller position at any stage. For product and pricing details, see the solutions and pricing pages.

KVKK notice and the contract

A tour booking is the performance of a contract; under KVKK the customer must be informed. The system does this at two points:

1. Information notice: At the payment step the customer receives your agency’s own KVKK notice link, and the fact that it was shown is recorded. inTusell never sends its own KVKK page to your customers.
2. Contract acceptance: When the customer accepts the tour contract, the acceptance is recorded with a SHA-256 digest, so the "I accepted" statement can be technically proven.

Personal passenger fields are stored encrypted in the database and can only be opened by an authorized team member through a logged action.

This lets you answer the question "what did the customer accept, and when?" with proof in the event of an audit or dispute.

Following up with the quiet customer: proactive follow-up and CRM

In tour sales, most leads are lost to customers who say "let me think about it" and disappear. inTusell doesn’t forget these leads. A customer who goes quiet after a quote receives up to 3 follow-up messages written by the AI; wait times are set by sector, and messages leave only within business hours (otherwise 09:00-21:00 local time) on WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram. Follow-up stops when the customer replies, pays or says "don’t write". Every conversation is logged into the CRM, so the customer’s history, which tour they were interested in, and what stage they’re at all stay on record.

This way, when you sit down to operations in the morning, it’s clear which lead is hot and which is awaiting follow-up. You don’t need to keep a manual reminder list.

Handing off to a human: working modes

You decide how much the AI does on its own. There are three account-wide modes (My business › Instructions › AI Settings › "Advanced AI Settings"):

In every mode, the AI hands a visa question it can’t answer, an off-matrix price request or a full departure to your team. The handoff lands on the Decisions page with the full conversation history, so the customer doesn’t have to start over. To treat a single conversation differently, switch it to Approval, Shadow or Paused. You can change the account mode at any time.

What it isn’t

To place inTusell in the right category, let’s clarify what it isn’t:

• It’s not a simple chatbot. inTusell is an AI sales assistant and CRM that answers messages on WhatsApp, Instagram and web chat, books appointments and opens orders, and follows each customer through the sales pipeline.
• It’s not a booking engine / GDS. It doesn’t provide flight or hotel inventory; it uses your catalog and your price matrix.
• It’s not a collection agent. Payment goes to the agency’s account; inTusell is not a seller or an intermediary.
• It’s not a tourism-specific priced product. Plans differ only by messages, voice minutes and storage and don’t change by sector; channel count is never charged. The tour module can be enabled on any plan.

Keeping these boundaries clear from the outset saves you from starting with the wrong expectation.

Frequently asked questions

Does the AI complete a booking on its own?

With the tour module (beta) on, the AI quotes, opens an option, and takes the customer all the way to the payment step. Seat allocation is a single locked transaction; a bank transfer is recorded once your team approves the receipt, a card payment once it completes. In risky or off-matrix situations, it hands the conversation to your team. Final approval can always stay with the agency.

Who receives the payment?

Payment always goes to the agency. The default method is bank transfer/IBAN, which requires no integration: the AI sends the amount, IBAN and reference code in one message, and your team approves the receipt. If you wish, you connect iyzico and the AI sends the customer a card payment link. inTusell is never the seller at any step; the seller and the invoice holder are the agency.

Can overbooking happen?

Seat allocation is a single locked transaction: two simultaneous requests cannot take the same last seat. Seats already sold in KolayTurum are also deducted from capacity. If a departure is full, the AI does not open a new booking; it hands the request to your team.

Can a customer be connected to a human?

Yes. When the AI is unsure or a conversation needs a person, it hands off to your team; the handoff lands on the Decisions page with the full conversation history. You can take over any conversation at any time, or switch just that conversation to Approval, Shadow or Paused.

What happens to a message that comes in at night?

The AI responds 24/7. A tour inquiry that arrives at 02:00 gets a quote from the price matrix; if the customer wants, an option is opened. When you open up in the morning, ready leads and quotes are waiting for you. Follow-up messages, on the other hand, go out within business hours, not at night.

Which tour types are supported?

Every tour package you add by hand or import from your website runs on the same engine: domestic, international, cultural, holiday, Umrah and Hajj. The KolayTurum sync pulls Umrah, Hajj and cultural tours. Every package has its price matrix, child/infant pricing and booking flow in the same system.

Next step

If you haven’t trained your assistant yet, start with the how to train the inTusell AI article: the foundation of this operation is built there. To go deeper on the channel side, move on to the Instagram and WhatsApp automation article, and for the catalog and price matrix, to tour catalog and KolayTurum integration. The whole series is on the all articles page.

To see live how it would work at your own agency, request a demo or write directly to hi@intusell.com. In a short session, we’ll open your inbox together and test the first quote in the system.