Running a hiking tour company is about creating unforgettable outdoor experiences. It is not supposed to be about chasing spreadsheets, remembering who to follow up with, or wondering whether a booking enquiry slipped through the cracks.
But for many growing travel businesses, that is exactly what happens.
Hiking New Zealand, a small but ambitious tourism company, reached a point where passion and manual processes were no longer enough. As enquiries increased and marketing campaigns started generating more leads, the team needed structure. That is when they partnered with Team CloudSource for a full HubSpot CRM setup for travel agency operations.
Before HubSpot, Hiking New Zealand did not have a formal CRM for sales management of hiking tours. Enquiries were coming in through the website and booking forms. Marketing campaigns were running. But there was no structured pipeline to manage the journey from enquiry to confirmed booking.
Sales activities were handled offline. Follow-ups depended on memory and manual reminders. There was limited visibility into which stage a lead was in, who was responsible, or how many bookings were nearing close.
These are common travel agency lead tracking problems, especially for small tourism operators.
The team did not need a complicated enterprise system. They needed the best CRM for travel agencies that was intuitive, scalable, and easy for a small team to adopt.
Success for Hiking New Zealand meant introducing a structured CRM to manage all sales enquiries. They wanted a clear travel booking pipeline in HubSpot that reflected their actual booking journey.
They needed to automate travel leads HubSpot style so that every new enquiry was captured, assigned, and actioned without delay. Marketing activity needed to connect directly to sales. And most importantly, the system had to support a team of fewer than 10 people without overwhelming them.
In short, they needed practical, small tourism business CRM tools that made life easier.
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We approached this project in phases.
First, we implemented Sales Hub Professional to establish a strong foundation. Ali worked closely with the client to align the CRM structure with their revenue goals and booking model. From there, the implementation focused on simplicity.
We designed a custom pipeline that mirrored the real-life booking process, from initial enquiry to confirmed trip. This became the backbone of the HubSpot CRM implementation for tourism operations.
Workflows were introduced carefully. We created a HubSpot workflow for travel booking leads that automatically assigned new enquiries to the appropriate sales representative and generated follow-up tasks. No more guesswork. No more forgotten leads.
Once the sales structure was stable, we introduced Marketing Hub Professional to connect campaigns directly to the pipeline.
Website forms were rebuilt and connected directly to HubSpot. Every booking enquiry now flows automatically into the CRM.
Meta ad accounts were integrated so marketing leads were visible in real time. Instead of exporting spreadsheets from ad platforms, the team could track performance and follow up in a single system.
Qualification workflows were built to filter and prioritise inbound leads. HubSpot sequences were set up so new leads received timely, structured follow-ups without requiring manual emails for every step.
This is how to properly set up HubSpot for a small travel agency. Start with clarity. Automate where it helps. Keep it simple.
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The impact was immediate.
The manual, unstructured approach to bookings was replaced with a clear and trackable pipeline. Response times improved because leads were automatically assigned and followed up.
Marketing and sales became aligned. Ad campaigns were no longer just generating clicks. They were feeding directly into the CRM, where performance could be measured against actual bookings.
For a small team, this meant confidence. They could see exactly where enquiries stood, which trips were close to confirmation, and where to focus their attention.
HubSpot for small travel business operations proved that structure does not need to mean complexity. It means visibility.
We did not over-engineer the solution. We respected the reality of a small team. Automation was designed to support, not overwhelm. Sales came first. Marketing followed once the foundation was stable.
HubSpot setup services for travel business clients are most effective when they mirror the actual booking journey rather than forcing a generic process.
Today, Hiking New Zealand operates with clarity. Enquiries are tracked. Follow-ups are automated. Campaign performance is measurable. And the team can focus on delivering exceptional hiking experiences instead of managing admin.
For growing travel and tourism businesses, the right CRM is not just software. It is operational peace of mind.
If your agency is still managing bookings manually and struggling with inconsistent follow ups, a phased HubSpot approach could be the simplest step toward scalable growth.