Travel Proposal Template Checklist: Everything a Client-Ready Proposal Includes

Updated October 2026.

The checklist

Copy this list and tick it off before you send. Each item is followed by why it matters.

The opening

• A cover with a strong image and the trip's name. The first impression is of the destination, not of paperwork.
• The client's name and the dates. It shows the proposal was made for them.
• A short personal introduction. Two or three sentences linking the trip to what they told you. This is where you show you listened. See the discovery questions to ask first.

The trip itself

• A day-by-day itinerary, with each day's plan, timings that matter, and travel between places.
• Accommodation, with the property's name, location, room type, board basis and a photo.
• Transport and transfers, including who meets the client and where.
• Experiences and tickets, noting which are booked and which are suggestions.
• A map or route overview, if the trip has several stops. See multi-city itinerary planning.

The money

• The total price and the per-person price, with the currency and the group size it assumes.
• What is included, in a list.
• What is not included, in a list. Flights, insurance, meals and tips are the usual surprises.
• Options and upgrades, clearly separate from the base price.
• The payment schedule, with amounts and dates. See how to design a payment plan.
• How long the price is held. Prices change; say until when this one stands.

The protections

• Terms and conditions, in plain language.
• The cancellation and change policy. See how to write it.
• Travel insurance advice. Recommend it, and say who arranges it.
• Entry requirements note, advising the client to check passports and visas for their nationality, unless you handle them.

The close

• One clear next step. "Accept and pay your deposit here" is better than three options.
• Your contact details, and how fast you reply.
• A way to ask questions without leaving the proposal.

Order matters

A proposal reads like a story with a decision at the end. A reliable order is: dream, plan, price, protection, action. The client sees where they will be, how the days work, what it costs, what protects them, and what to do next. Putting the price on the first screen makes the trip feel like a bill; putting it after the dream makes it feel like an offer.

Making it easy to read

Do	Avoid
Short sections with clear headings	Long unbroken paragraphs
Photos of the places they will stay	Stock images unrelated to the trip
One idea per day	Packing every hour with detail
Plain language for terms	Dense legal wording

Before you hit send

1. Read it on a phone. Most clients will.
2. Check the names, dates and numbers against the supplier confirmations.
3. Check that the total equals the sum of its parts.
4. Make sure the next step works: the link, the acceptance and the payment.
5. Ask someone else to read the price section only. If they cannot say what is included, the client will struggle too.

Template versus tool

A document template saves time on layout, but every proposal still needs rebuilding by hand: dates, prices, photos and terms. A proposal tool keeps your hotels, activities and terms ready to drop in, and gives the client a link they can read on their phone, accept and pay from. Story of a Trip is built for that, and shows you when a client has opened it. See how to create proposals that convert.

A worked example (illustrative)

Take a week in Lisbon and Porto for two. A thin proposal says "Lisbon: 4 nights, hotel, tours. Porto: 3 nights. Total 3,200." The client has no idea which hotel, what is included, when to pay or what happens if plans change, so they ask six questions and then ask a competitor.

A complete proposal opens with a photo of the river and a line that says "Built around your wish for slow mornings and one great dinner in each city". It lists the two hotels with their photos, room type and breakfast, gives the days in short paragraphs, and notes the train between cities with the time and class. The price section shows the total and the per-person figure, a short list of what is included, and a shorter list of what is not: flights, insurance, lunches. Below it sits the payment schedule and the cancellation policy, then a single button to accept and pay the deposit.

It is not longer in words, only better organised. The client can answer their own questions, and the questions that remain are the interesting ones: which restaurant, which view.

Common gaps agents find when they audit old proposals

• No statement of what the price excludes.
• Hotel names with no explanation of why they were chosen.
• Dates without day-of-week, causing mistakes around transfers.
• Terms placed in a separate document the client never opens.
• A next step that is buried or missing.

Pull out your last three proposals and tick the checklist against each. Most agents find the same one or two items missing every time, and fixing those lifts every future proposal.

Adapting the checklist to the kind of trip

The checklist is a base. Different trips weight it differently. A honeymoon proposal spends more space on atmosphere, privacy and the special touches you arranged. A family trip needs ages, room layouts, child policies and the pace of each day. A group or corporate proposal needs clear per-person pricing, minimum numbers, and a section on how changes are handled. A multi-stop trip needs a route overview and realistic travel times.

Add the sections that your clients ask about most. If every family asks about luggage and strollers on trains, put it in. If business clients always ask for invoices, say how they will receive one. The best template is the one that already contains the answers to the questions your clients ask every week, so you stop answering them one by one.

Finally, keep a record of which proposals converted and which did not, and compare what the winners have in common. You may find that the ones with a photo of the actual hotel room and a plain-language price section close more often than the rest. That is evidence you can use to refine the template.

One last habit helps more than any template: send yourself the proposal before the client sees it. Open it on a phone, on a slow connection if you can, and read it as someone who has never heard of the trip. Anything that makes you pause, whether an unclear price, a missing date or an odd photo, will make the client pause too.

Key takeaways

• Open with the dream and the client's name, not with paperwork.
• State clearly what is and is not included.
• Put the payment schedule next to the price, and terms before the booking step.
• End with one clear next step.
• Check it on a phone before it goes.