A proposal is how you pitch a trip to a client and how they eventually book it. This article walks the whole lifecycle — creating the trip, building the proposal, publishing it, and sharing the link — so you can see how the pieces fit together. For the mechanics of adding sections and components inside a proposal option, see Build a Basic Proposal.
The lifecycle at a glance
Every proposal moves through the same five stages:
Create the trip: set up the trip record for your client.
Build the proposal: add one or more proposal options, with sections, components, and pricing.
Configure proposal-level settings: traveler assignments, display preferences, and other option-level configuration.
Publish: take a snapshot of your current content and make it visible to the client.
Share the link: send the client their trip link so they can review, select, and pay.
One of the most important concept in this whole flow is Save vs Publish. Everything you do while editing a proposal is saved automatically, but none of it is visible to your client until you click Publish. See this FAQ for details, or jump to the Publish section below.
Step 1: Create the trip
Start from the client's profile (or the Trips list) and create a new trip. Give it a name and rough dates — you can refine everything else later. TripLoft creates the trip with its first proposal option ready to build out.
Step 2: Build the proposal
Open the trip and you land in the proposal editor (Proposal Options workspace). This is where you do the actual work:
Add proposal options: a trip can hold more than one proposal option — e.g. "Luxury Package" vs. "Budget Package" - each shown as its own tab. Use the + button next to the option tabs to add another.
Add sections and components: within an option, add lodging, flights, cruises, tours, car rentals, and other components. See Build a Basic Proposal for the full mechanics of this step.
Configure pricing: set per-component pricing so the client sees an accurate total. See Configure Pricing for Proposal Components.
Every edit you make here — adding a component, changing a price, uploading a photo — saves automatically. There's no manual "Save" button to hunt for in the main editor; the only thing that requires a deliberate click is Publish (see below).
Step 3: Configure proposal-level settings
Beyond the content itself, each proposal option has its own settings - traveler assignments, which components are optional vs. required for the client, and other display preferences. Walk through these before you publish so the client sees exactly what you intend. See Edit Proposal Settings and Add and Manage Proposal Options for the full walkthrough.
Step 4: Publish
When the proposal is ready, click Publish in the workspace header. This takes a snapshot of the trip as it stands right now (options, components, pricing, and travelers), and that snapshot becomes what the client sees at their link.
A few things to know about Publish:
It's a snapshot, not a live view: after you publish, any further edits are saved to your working copy but won't reach the client until you publish again. A small red dot on the Publish button flags whenever you have unpublished changes, so you always know if the client is seeing something out of date.
Publish and Unpublish apply to the whole trip: publishing makes all of the trip's current content visible; unpublishing pulls it back to agent-only, so the client sees nothing.
You'll be prompted to notify the client: right after a successful publish, TripLoft opens a "trip updated" email, pre-filled with the client's trip link, so you can tell them new content is ready in one step.
Note: the Preview button (next to Publish) always shows your latest saved content, published or not, use it to check your work before you publish. It's agent-only and never seen by the client. |
Step 5: Share the link
The Share button only becomes active once the trip is published. Click it to choose how to send the client their link:
Via Email
Copy Trip Link
Group trips share slightly differently - the options are "Trip Link" and there's an additional "Landing Page Link" option for the public group landing page.
What happens after you share
Once the client has their link, here's what happens on their end (covered in full in The Client Portal: What Your Traveler Sees):
They sign in with a one-time code received on their email, so there's no password to set up.
They review the published proposal: options, pricing, photos, and details, exactly as they looked the last time you published.
They make any choices you left open to them: selecting a room or cabin, picking between activity options, or adding optional add-ons.
They approve the itinerary or request a revision.
They see an Authorize Payment prompt once bookings are ready for payment. It shows how many items are pending (for example, "2 items pending") and walks them through authorizing the charge on file.
If you make more edits after sharing, a new activity, an updated price, a swapped photo, remember- the client won't see any of it until you click Publish again.
Related articles
The Client Portal: What Your Traveler Sees
Why Isn't My Client Seeing My Latest Changes? (Save vs Publish)