Jamie Biesiada
Technology purpose-built for travel advisors has exploded in recent years. That blistering pace hasn't slowed in 2026.
It's a rare month that goes by without me hearing from someone who has created a new piece of technology for the agency community, and that's a good thing. It's a vote of confidence in the viability of the trade as a distribution channel. And it also puts valuable technology in the hands of advisors to make it easier for them to do what they do best: connect with clients and plan bespoke trips.
With this profusion of tech, though, comes something that is both a blessing and a curse: choice.
I'm going to put choice firmly in the "blessing" bucket here, though. Remember 15 or so years ago, before itinerary builders started popping up? Microsoft Word itineraries, anyone? How far we've come.
"Choice" was part of the mantra when Colorado Springs-based host agency Legato decided to expand its tech partnerships, fully integrating with both Tern and Travefy, said owner and president Jonathan Morris. Legato's 750 advisors now have a choice between the two.
"Talking with our agents, it's kind of like, do you prefer an Apple product or a PC?" Morris said. "There's no wrong answer. What do you prefer? How do you want to work? It's your business, it's your agency, it's your customers, and that's where we take a tech-agnostic approach."
Legato has been integrated with Tern for more than a year now. While Travefy has been a partner in the itinerary-management space for a long time, Morris said the integration with Travefy is new, taking advantage of the new features the company announced last summer, like CRM tools and commission tracking.
From a technical perspective, Morris said it's easy enough to support both. Training and development haven't been a heavy lift, either, because both companies have strong teams in place.
While Legato advisors heavily use Tern today, because that integration has been in place for a while, now they have a choice. Morris encouraged them to sign up for trials with both Tern and Travefy, give each a spin and decide what works best for their business.
All data from Tern and Travefy flows into MontisPro, Legato's proprietary business management system. In the future, the host will look to integrate directly with QuickBooks, enabling a full data flow from top to bottom that's effortless for advisors. The host's strategy, Morris said, is building a turnkey solution.
"Whatever way you want to work, quite honestly, it doesn't bother me either way you want to go," he said. "I can pro-and- con you all day long on it, but it's up to the agent to pick their poison."
The industry as a whole has been moving to become more tech-agnostic in recent years, alongside the profusion of so many tools for advisors. Signature Travel Network and Travel Leaders Network are working to become CRM-agnostic. Just last month, Ensemble entered strategic partnerships with Tern, Travefy and Travel Industry Solutions.
The widespread shift toward a tech-agnostic future is further evidence that the trade is thriving, and developers are taking notice. They're no longer just building for the trade, but they're competing for the business. For an industry that was sorely lacking for so long, being spoiled for choice is a beautiful problem to have.