Overview
Agency Suppliers in Tern allow agency admins to create and manage a list of suppliers for their advisors. This feature helps streamline the booking process by prioritizing agency-preferred suppliers in search results, ensuring consistency in supplier details across bookings. To set up a supplier’s profile, including agency preferred status, tags, contacts, resources, and policies, see Agency supplier profiles.
Where to Find Agency Suppliers
Admins and owners: go to the Back office tab (leftmost in the top navigation), then Suppliers (under the General group). Agency suppliers also remain viewable under Library → Agency suppliers. Everyone in your agency can view suppliers here.
If you have the Manage suppliers permission, you can add and edit suppliers from either place. If you don’t, both are view-only.
Agency admin's view from the Back Office:
When you export your supplier list to CSV, each row includes a direct link back to the supplier's page in Tern. Click the link from your spreadsheet to jump straight to that supplier. Archived suppliers are included in the export.
Creating a New Agency Supplier
Go to Back office → Suppliers and click New supplier.
Search for an existing supplier within the Tern network as a starting point or create a new supplier.
Adding a supplier you book through a Tern integration? For Arch RoamRight, Faye, Chubb, or Trawick International, search for the name and choose the result marked Official. That's the entry the integration uses. Don't pick a look-alike such as "Faye Insurance," and don't create the supplier from scratch. Either one leaves your agency supplier unconnected to the integration, and those bookings won't submit to your agency.
Fill in the supplier and customize the details to match your agency's preferences, including:
Category
Supplier ID
Website
Status (Active or Archived)
Agency Preferred
Tags
Description (including booking and contact details, login information, and other relevant notes for advisors)
Click Save.
Editing an Existing Agency Supplier
Open the supplier, then click Actions, then Edit, or use the edit link on the section you want to change
If you change a supplier’s name or details, every existing booking that uses that supplier shows the change. For example, if you rename Hyatt, all existing Hyatt bookings show the new name. On lodging and cruise bookings, the name shown can come from the property or ship instead of the supplier.
If you change a supplier’s terms and conditions or cancellation policies, Tern saves a new version. New bookings get the new version. Existing bookings keep the version they already have.
Editing a supplier doesn’t change which Tern supplier it’s connected to. That connection is set when the supplier is created. If an integration booking asks you to add a supplier that’s already in your list, contact Tern support to reconnect it.
Archiving a Supplier
If a supplier is no longer relevant to your agency, archive it instead of deleting it. You can archive in either of these places:
From the supplier list, click the three dots on the supplier’s row, then Archive supplier.
From the supplier’s profile, click Actions, then Archive supplier.
Archived suppliers don’t appear in the supplier picker on new bookings. Bookings that already use the supplier keep it.
How Advisors Use Agency Suppliers
In the supplier picker
When advisors choose a supplier on a booking, the picker shows suppliers in this order:
Agency suppliers, grouped by agency. If your agency is under a host agency, the host agency’s suppliers appear above your own agency’s suppliers.
All Suppliers. This is Tern’s global supplier list.
Within each agency’s group, agency preferred suppliers are listed first and show a gold star (★). The star only highlights the supplier. It doesn’t stop advisors from choosing others.
Advisors can also search by tag. Searching “river cruise” returns every supplier with that tag.
The picker shows up to 25 results. If a supplier doesn’t appear, type more of its name.
Requiring advisors to use agency suppliers
To require that advisors book only with your agency suppliers:
Go to Back office.
Open Agency controls.
In Booking requirements, check Agency supplier.
Once this is on, a booking can’t be marked as booked unless its supplier is one of your agency suppliers. This applies to bookings made through Tern integrations too, such as insurance policies. For those, your agency supplier must be connected to the exact Tern supplier the integration uses. See Agency Booking Requirements and Integration Bookings.
If your agency is under a host agency, two more settings affect which suppliers advisors can use.
Your agency’s supplier restriction. In Back office → Agency controls → Advanced settings, check Restrict bookings to agency-approved suppliers when using host credentials. This only works if Agency supplier is also checked under Booking requirements. When both are on:
the supplier picker shows only your agency’s suppliers on every booking, not just host-credential bookings;
advisors can’t create a new supplier from the picker;
bookings made on host credentials must use one of your agency suppliers.
Your host agency’s Agency supplier requirement. If your host agency requires agency suppliers, bookings you make on the host’s credentials must use either a host supplier or one of your agency suppliers that’s mapped to a host supplier. If your agency also has the restriction on, it must be a mapped agency supplier. An unmapped supplier triggers the error when the booking is marked as booked. See How to Map Agency Suppliers to Host Suppliers.
Marking a Supplier as Agency Preferred
Agency admins can designate specific suppliers as agency preferred — a way to highlight the suppliers your agency works with most often and recommends to advisors.
In Library → Agency Suppliers, anyone in your agency can turn on Preferred suppliers only or filter by Tags.
Supplier Terms and Cancellation Policies on Bookings
Where policies save
Policies added on an agency supplier’s Policies tab belong to the agency. Everyone in the agency can use them, including members of its sub-agencies.
Policies added to a supplier from Tern’s global list belong to the advisor who added them. They’re private to that advisor.
Policies added from a booking with Add New Policy belong to the advisor, even when the supplier is an agency supplier.
To add or update T&Cs and cancellation policies: Admins add a supplier’s terms and conditions and cancellation policies on the supplier’s Policies tab.
Tip: link to the supplier's policy page rather than typing out the policy text. If the supplier updates their page, your advisors always see the current version without any manual updates in Tern. For policies that vary by booking type, paste the link and add a short plain-text summary of the key cancel-by date or refund condition for that specific booking.
Which policies an advisor can choose from
On a booking, the policy options are every policy your agency has saved for that supplier, including your host or parent agency’s, plus your most recently saved personal policy for that supplier. Older personal policies don’t appear.
How a policy is selected on a booking
When an advisor selects a booking supplier, Tern checks the trip owner’s saved policies for that supplier:
If one policy is available, Tern selects it automatically.
If two policies are available and exactly one is agency-owned, Tern selects the agency-owned one.
If two agency-owned policies are available, or three or more in total, Tern doesn’t select one. Choose the right policy from the Select policy dropdown on the Booking & Pricing tab.
Advisors can also add their own terms or cancellation policies on top of the agency’s.
Common Issues
Why there are multiple entries for the same supplier
The supplier list in Tern is populated by advisors across the platform. When you search for Royal Caribbean, you may see entries labeled "Royal Caribbean NRD," "Royal Caribbean Trip Protection," or entries created by other agencies.
Duplicates appear over time. The practical approach is to pick one entry and use it consistently. That way, your saved terms carry forward reliably.
If your agency has marked a supplier as preferred, you will see a gold star next to it in the picker. Using a preferred supplier means your agency's saved terms and conditions will be available on the booking.
Why linking to a URL is better than typing out a policy
If you paste a link to the supplier's official cancellation policy page rather than typing the policy, any updates the supplier makes to that page are reflected automatically. You do not need to go back and update your booking.
For policies that vary by booking type (refundable versus non-refundable deposits, for example), one approach that works well: paste the link, then add a single line of plain text summarizing the key cancel-by date or refund condition for that specific booking. Clients see the important detail at a glance, and the full current policy is always accessible through the link.
If your terms are not saving between sessions
First, confirm you are selecting the exact same supplier entry each time. Even entries with nearly identical names may behave differently.
If you have been consistent with the same entry and terms are still not carrying over, contact support. Include the supplier name and the specific entry you are using.
I’m getting an error when marking a booking as booked that says “Must be a supplier for [agency].” What do I do?
Your agency requires bookings to use a supplier from its supplier library, and the supplier on this booking isn't one of them. You have two options:
1. Ask your agency admin to add the supplier to your agency's supplier library, then select it on the booking. If you book under a host agency, the admin may also need to map it to a host supplier. See How to Map Agency Suppliers to Host Suppliers.
2. As a temporary workaround, change the Accreditation to "None (Independent Booking)" to mark it booked now. The booking won't be submitted to your agency while it's set to independent. You can change the Accreditation back later, as long as no commission payment has been recorded on it.
My booking came in through a Tern integration and says "Ask your agency admin to add [supplier] to [agency]'s supplier list," but the supplier is already there.
On insurance policies purchased through a Tern integration, the integration sets the supplier, and you can't change it on the booking. If your agency supplier is connected to a look-alike entry in Tern's supplier list (for example, "Faye Insurance" instead of "Faye"), the integration can't match it. Contact Tern support with a link to the booking. We'll reconnect your agency supplier, and your waiting bookings will update automatically. See Agency Booking Requirements and Integration Bookings for details.
I can’t find a supplier in the supplier picker.
Type more of the name. The picker shows up to 25 results, so a short search can push the supplier out of view.
If the picker says “No suppliers found” and there’s no All Suppliers section, your agency limits bookings to its own supplier list. Ask your agency admin to add the supplier. This setting is on your own agency, not your host agency.
If the supplier was archived, it doesn’t appear on new bookings. Ask your agency admin.