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5% of itinerary requests received by DMCs include services with expired supplier rates*. For Destination Management Companies, that’s not just an operational nuisance — it’s hours lost, quotes delayed, and credibility at risk with every agent waiting on a reply. That’s why TourConnect AI built the new Expired Rates Automation feature in Itinerary Assist AI: to close this gap, manage expired rates from one place, and protect the confidence of both your team members and your partners.

Why this matters for DMCs

Travellers increasingly expect faster responses and DMCs are simultaneously under pressure to optimise productivity without losing the special sauce that retains the advantage over OTAs. We considered these basic truths carefully when developing this new feature.

With Expired Rate Automation within Itinerary Assist, if a service line in an AI itinerary has an expired rate in Tourplan, the DMC team member can now:

Fallback to expired rates – reuse the most recent or last year’s rate when new ones aren’t available.
Apply markups – add marks up to the expired rate.
Refine services with seasonal rates - use expired rates from the most relevant past period to calculate and apply seasonal rates for any service line in Tourplan.
Maintain workflow continuity – keep building quotes and bookings using our AI Copilot, with any changes to rates synced to Tourplan.
Save time across the team – perform even more of the itinerary creation and management process within the TourConnect AI flow.

Screenshot of the TourConnect AI User Interface showing automated correction of expired rates in Tourplan.

What’s new in Itinerary Assist AI?

Here’s what this release adds for destination management companies using Itinerary Assist:

Company settings for custom rates – define whether to use last available rate or last year’s rate, with optional extension windows.
Markup automation – set company-wide markup percentages that are set and then automatically applied to serviced with expired supplier rates.
Clearer availability checks – error messages now show when rates expired, minimum stay issues, or blackout conflicts.
Transparent notifications – whenever a custom rate with markup is used, AI Copilot users are clearly alerted, so DMC staff are aware when they’re working with provisional rates.

By building in these safeguards, the system ensures that every itinerary request receives a dependable response—strengthening client confidence and reducing the chance of missed business.

Can this be used to manage seasonal rates in Tourplan?

Yes, if you would like to apply seasonal pricing to a service line with expired rates, you can now automate this within Itinerary Assist AI.

Once set, AI will apply the custom markup rate to the most relevant date from the expired period. If the expired rates included seasonal and special holiday pricing, these variations to the base rate will be applied automatically.

Use case example: Sunset Harbour Cruise

Let’s imagine that a quote request has come in and it includes a Sunset Harbour Cruise for a group travelling in High season. We know that this service line has seasonal pricing for High, Shoulder and Low periods - but the rates have expired.

In this case, the DMC team member would create a new provisional rate with a safe markup and AI would find and use the most recent expired High season rate as the baseline. The DMC team member saves this new rate and markup. It would be automatically applied to the draft itinerary for the group travelling in the coming High season.

Shortly after, a fresh new quote request comes in. It includes the same Sunset Harbour Cruise - but the travel period is Low season. Itinerary Assist AI will automatically apply the saved markup to the most recent expired Low season rate (closest reference day to the travel date), then add it to the draft itinerary.

How will Rate Automation evolve?

Our Travel AI Copilot for DMCs will soon have additional functionality, so that Tourplan users can work even smarter with Expired Rate Automation. Itinerary Assist users will soon be able to;

Send services to Tourplan without rates – push placeholder services within an AI itinerary into Tourplan even when no rate is found or added.
Adjust current rates and mark ups – AI Copilot users will soon be able to adjust existing markups or rates directly on individual services. This enables DMCs to act proactively before rates expire, or to apply company specified seasonal markups to current rates.
Travel Agent level markups – set tailored margins per travel agent, giving more flexibility to DMCs in pricing.

FIT Travellers enjoying a moment on a private tour of Rio De Janiero

The bigger picture

If 5% of your quote requests are touched by expired rates, the impact adds up fast — perhaps hundreds of consultant hours tied up and ultimately dozens of lost conversions in a month. With Expired Rate Automation in Itinerary Assist AI, rates are updated easily and there’s the ability to make seasonal pricing adjustments. The result is better throughput with perhaps even more special sauce. There’s plenty more to come.

The best way to see if Itinerary Assist AI can support your objectives is to try it using your real quote requests. No slides, no sales deck, just provide us with a few recent FIT quote requests and we will run those through the AI Copilot and provide you with the results. Get in touch with support or request an exploratory meeting now.

Introducing Expired Rate Automation: Smarter Quoting for DMCs using Tourplan

Why this matters for DMCs

What’s new in Itinerary Assist AI?

Can this be used to manage seasonal rates in Tourplan?

How will Rate Automation evolve?

The bigger picture

Case Study: Pacific Destinations and Itinerary Assist AI