Umrah booking software: 12 features an agency should insist on

An Umrah season is decided in a few weeks: Ramadan, school holidays and Hajj bookings arrive at the same time, often by phone and message. The software you choose has to absorb that peak without creating mistakes. Here are the twelve features to check, in the order they matter.

Departures and seats

1. A reliable seat counter. Two advisers must never be able to sell the same last room. Ask how the software holds a seat while a booking is confirmed.
2. Fixed-date groups and tailor-made trips. A Ramadan group and a family choosing its own dates should live in the same tool.
3. A waiting list. A full departure should not lose its visitors: they leave their details and are told when a seat frees up.

Prices

1. A grid per room and per age. Quad, triple, double, single; adult, child with or without a bed, infant. This is how pilgrims compare, and generic travel software rarely handles it. See our guide to prices per room.
2. A total shown before the request is sent. The family should see the exact price for its party, not just a “from” price.
3. Prices published later. Hajj prices are not known when bookings open: you need pre-registration without a price.

Payments

1. Deposit, balance and due dates. Every morning the software should show who still owes what. See our guide to deposits, balances and cancellations.
2. Offline payments. Bank transfer, cash at the counter, cheque: they belong in the booking record, not in a notebook.
3. Cancellations and refunds. A fee scale, an amount to refund and follow-up until the refund is made.

Pilgrims and compliance

1. One record per pilgrim with the passport. The name as written on the passport, the expiry date, and an alert when it expires too early for the visa.
2. Mandatory documents. In Europe, the standard information form must be given before booking. See what that form must contain.
3. Data protection. A pilgrimage booking reveals a religious belief: explicit consent and passport security are not optional. See our guide to pilgrims’ data.

Online platform or a plugin on your own website?

Two families of tools exist. Online platforms host bookings with the vendor, often on an address different from the agency’s, with a monthly subscription and sometimes a cap on pilgrims. WordPress plugins install on the agency’s own website: the data stays with the agency and the customer never leaves its site.

For a small or medium agency that already runs WordPress, or is about to, a plugin is the simplest and cheapest option. Qafilo is one: free, in English, French and Arabic, it covers the twelve points above. Try it on the live demonstration.

Frequently asked questions