Define what the departure must prove
A new departure should have a clear customer, a reason to choose it and an operating model the company can deliver. Interest alone does not establish a viable selling price or manageable supplier exposure.
State the decision in one sentence: ‘Open sales if 14 paying travellers support the target margin and the hotel holds 18 rooms through 30 November.’
Check five gates
The departure is ready for a sales commitment when each material gate has evidence or a deliberate, bounded assumption.
- Demand: a defined audience and evidence of interest
- Product: a coherent itinerary, inclusions and traveller promise
- Supply: capacity, availability and responsibilities confirmed
- Finance: group-size scenarios, break-even and cash exposure understood
- Operations: an owner, critical dates and unresolved questions visible
Choose the stage that matches the evidence
Use pre-registration when you need a demand signal and the final offer is not ready. Open booking when the traveller can see a price, inclusions, dates, material conditions and a real path to register.
Keep planning when a missing supplier fact could materially change price, capacity or delivery. That pause is a decision, not a failure to launch.
Set the next decision date
A departure left indefinitely in planning consumes attention. Set a date and the evidence required for the next decision: launch, revise, postpone or stop.
Record why. The note becomes useful evidence when the company evaluates similar departures next season.
Put the lesson to work
Give one real departure a calmer home.
Bring the spreadsheet, supplier emails and next actions together, so the answer is there when you come back. Viabasis is invitation-only during the pilot.