Software from the agency desk.
Payana started in 2025 inside a Chennai travel agency, as an internal tool to stop losing WhatsApp leads. The agencies next door asked for it. Then their friends did.
Most travel software is built for OTAs and global TMCs, then squeezed down until it sort of fits an eight-person agency in Kochi. The economics never work: per-seat pricing punishes growing teams, the workflows assume a call center, and WhatsApp — where Indian travel actually happens — is an afterthought.
We went the other way. Payana is built up from the desk of an independent agent: the WhatsApp ping at 11pm, the Canva itinerary that takes an evening, the notebook with advance amounts in the margin. Every module replaces one specific improvisation.
Four beliefs we build by.
The agency is the hero, not the platform
Travelers should remember their agency, not Payana. That's why the traveler app wears your brand, Discover sends enquiries to you directly, and we take zero commission on bookings.
Never in the money path
Payments settle from your customer to your bank. We read status, we never hold funds. A software company holding agency float is a conflict of interest waiting to happen.
India-first is a feature, not a market label
GST at 5% vs 18%, TCS thresholds, Razorpay settlement timing, WhatsApp session rules — these are core engineering, not localisation tickets. Get them wrong and the product is useless here.
Your data leaves whenever you want
CSV export of everything, full-account ZIP, no exit fees. Retention should come from the product being good, not the data being stuck.
We're a small team. Talk to us.
The people who answer support build the product. Write to us, or come see the product on a call.