Evolving
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Company Profile
Detours is a premium adventure travel company based in Canada, known for curated small-group experiences and highly personalized service. Since its founding in 2012, the company has built a loyal international community of travelers who return year after year.
As the business grew, so did operational complexity: bookings, payments, cancellations, loyalty rewards, referrals, and customer service interactions were expanding beyond what manual coordination could sustain.
Detours needed more than a CRM. They needed a fully integrated travel commerce engine.
The Challenge
As Detours scaled internationally, several operational pressures emerged:
Manual Booking & Payment Coordination
Website bookings and payments required monitoring across systems. Payment confirmations, follow-ups, and exceptions demanded manual oversight.
Complex Cancellation Policies
Travel cancellations involve layered timing rules, deposit transferability, and non-refundable thresholds. These policies were difficult to enforce consistently without automation.
No Automated Revenue Protection
Failed payments, partial payments, pending carts, and overdue balances required manual tracking, increasing financial risk and administrative workload.
No Structured Loyalty or Referral Ecosystem
While Detours had strong repeat customers, there was no automated system to reward loyalty, manage tier levels, or track referral performance.
Fragmented Communication & Notifications
Booking confirmations, reminders, requirements follow-ups, cancellation notices, discount codes, and payment receipts required coordinated communication, but lacked a centralized automation strategy.
Growing Team Collaboration Needs
As operations expanded, internal notifications and coordination required real-time visibility without adding operational noise.
Detours needed an intelligent system capable of managing revenue, automation, and customer engagement at scale.
The Solution
Detours partnered with Evolving Consulting to architect a fully integrated Salesforce ecosystem that unified:
Website bookings
Stripe payment processing
Automated revenue logic
Cancellation rule engines
Loyalty and referral automation
Service workflows
Slack-based internal alerts
This was not just a CRM implementation.
It was the construction of a travel operations backbone.
THE TRANSFORMATION
The transformation went far beyond visibility; it directly impacted revenue protection, customer retention, and operational scalability.
Fully Automated Stripe Revenue Engine
Detours now operates a robust Stripe integration that:
Automatically processes charges
Tracks payment status in real time
Flags failed transactions
Supports automated charge logic
Enables reconciliation between bookings and payments
Revenue collection moved from manual monitoring to system-driven automation: significantly reducing financial leakage and administrative intervention.
Intelligent Cancellation Automation
A fully automated cancellation rules engine now:
Evaluates cancellation timing
Applies deposit transfer percentages
Determines non-refundable windows
Automatically allocates loyalty points when applicable
Sends structured cancellation communication
This removed subjective decision-making and ensured consistent enforcement of policy, protecting both customer trust and revenue integrity.
Custom Loyalty Program with Tier Logic
Detours now runs a structured loyalty ecosystem inside Salesforce:
Points awarded automatically per trip
Tier-based multipliers (Bronze, Silver, Gold logic)
Automated tier reassignment
Points expiration automation
Redemption tracking
Discount code generation
The loyalty engine transformed repeat travel into a measurable retention strategy, not just a marketing concept.
Referral Program with Automated Rewards
A referral framework now:
Generates unique referral codes
Tracks referred bookings
Awards referral-based loyalty points automatically
Connects referrals directly to revenue outcomes
This turned word-of-mouth into a scalable acquisition channel.
End-to-End Booking Automation
Website bookings now:
Create real-time Salesforce records
Sync payment data instantly
Trigger automated confirmation emails
Send reminders
Track trip requirements
Notify hotels automatically
Generate invoices
Trigger follow-up workflows
The entire lifecycle, from booking to post-trip engagement, is now orchestrated by automation.
Smart Customer Service & Escalation
Case management now includes:
Automated response tracking
Escalation timing controls
Urgency flag indicators
SLA visibility
Centralized booking/payment context within cases
Support moved from reactive email handling to structured service management.
Slack Automation for Operational Awareness
Automated Slack notifications now provide:
Booking alerts
Payment issue notifications
Cancellation updates
Opportunity wins
Referral triggers
This allows the team to act in real time without living inside Salesforce.
BUSINESS IMPACT
Detours transitioned from a high-touch but manually intensive travel operator to a scalable, automation-driven organization.
Revenue Protection Improved
Automated Stripe tracking and charge logic reduced missed payments and manual follow-ups.
Cancellation Risk Managed
Policy-driven automation protects deposits and enforces fairness consistently.
Customer Retention Strengthened
Loyalty tiers and referral automation incentivize repeat business and organic growth.
Administrative Overhead Reduced
Automation replaced manual monitoring across bookings, payments, and communications.
Scalability Achieved
Detours can now increase trip volume without proportionally increasing operational complexity.
STRATEGIC POSITIONING
Detours now operates on a Salesforce-powered commerce infrastructure that connects:
Sales
Payments
Customer Experience
Loyalty
Referrals
Service
Internal Collaboration
All inside one intelligent ecosystem. They are no longer just managing trips. They are running a fully automated travel revenue platform.