Getting started
How to start an online travel agency in India
By Idea Holiday team · Updated 26 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Many travel agents in India already sell flights and hotels by phone and WhatsApp. Putting those sales on your own website means customers can search and book at any hour, under your name, without you typing every booking. This guide covers what you need, how the website sells, how customers pay and how to try it before you spend anything.
What you need before you start
- A business that can be verified with a PAN. Agents need a verified PAN before a website can open.
- A short name for your website address, plus your agency name, logo and contact details.
- A decision on what to sell: hotels, flights, fixed-departure fares, or any mix of the three.
What your website sells
Your customers search and book flights, hotels and fixed-departure fares on your website, and you choose which of the three to switch on. They see the net price plus your markup. Your net fares, your markup, your bank details and airline booking references are never shown on the public site.
Your website address
Your site opens at once on a free address of the form yourname.tripzoy.com, with plain page addresses such as hotels and flights. You can also use a domain you own. For agents this is free: you add two records where you bought the domain, a secure https certificate is added when they are found, and this usually takes a few minutes and at most a day.
How customers pay
By default customers pay through Idea Holiday checkout and nothing is taken from your wallet. Once a booking is confirmed, your earning (your markup minus the website fee) is recorded, and it is paid to your wallet the day after the stay or trip ends, or at once if the booking is cancelled.
If you prefer, add your own Cashfree or Razorpay account and customers pay you directly. In both cases, if the hotel or the airline refuses a paid booking, the customer is refunded in full.
What it costs, in plain terms
Online booking on your website needs a yearly plan of 1, 2 or 3 years, paid from your wallet. The longer plans cost less per year. On top of the plan, a website fee is charged on each booking, and it is not refunded if the booking is cancelled later. Plans are not refunded either. The current plan prices, GST and fees are always shown on the pricing page, so check them there rather than in an article.
Try it before you pay
There is a 7-day free trial and no card is needed. You only have to verify your business with your PAN first, and the trial can be used once per account and once per PAN. During the trial, online booking is switched on without a plan fee. The usual per-booking website fee still applies. A plan bought during the trial starts when the trial ends, so you lose no days.
If you do not buy a plan, booking stops when the trial ends. Your website, your content and your free address keep working.
A checklist for your first week
- Verify your business with your PAN.
- Choose a short name for your address and one of the five designs: Classic, Modern, Elegant, Luxe or Vibrant.
- Add your logo and contact details.
- Fill empty sections with sample content, then edit it to suit your business.
- Choose the products to sell and set your markup for each.
- Press Publish, then share the link on WhatsApp or print the QR poster for your office or visiting cards.
Common questions
- Who can open a white-label website?
- Travel agents whose business is verified with a PAN. Flight suppliers can open a website too; for them the plan adds their own domain and selling their fixed fares to the public.
- Can I try it before I pay?
- Yes. There is a 7-day free trial and no card is needed. You only have to verify your business with your PAN first.
- Do I need my own payment gateway?
- No. By default customers pay through Idea Holiday checkout. Adding your own Cashfree or Razorpay account is optional.
- Will my customers see my markup?
- No. They see the net price plus your markup as one price. Your net fares and your markup are never shown on the public site.