Tern Acquires Lucia + Flexible Dates, Subfolders & More
Episode 44

Tern Acquires Lucia + Flexible Dates, Subfolders & More

Tern announces its acquisition of Lucia, introduces flexible lodging dates, and rolls out major quality-of-life updates—all while sharing the behind-t...


Show Notes

Welcome back to Flight Path, your weekly behind-the-scenes look at what we’re building at Tern! This week is packed with major news, impactful product updates, and a special guest interview you won’t want to miss.

Listen to Office Hours Here

⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/5VoYI891SDJkhlQFpuwuip?si=nIBeINnSQVKo4aJR5IpWFg

00:00 – Intro & chaos avoided

David nearly live-streams the episode by mistake. Molly shares sleep deprivation updates (thanks to a teething baby), and we all express gratitude to Faith, Molly’s mom and Tern hero.

03:08 – A feature that brought tears

Molly recalls a powerful moment where an advisor emotionally responded to the new occupancy rates feature — a reminder of why we do what we do.

03:33 – Major News: Tern Acquires Lucia!

Tern officially welcomes Lucia into the family! Co-founder Grace Van Hollebeke joins the episode to talk about:

Lucia’s origin story (hint: it started as a college class project!) Why vetted freelance co-pilots are essential to ending invisible work Her new role as Head of Marketing and Services at Tern The power of combining humans + tech to remove manual work for advisors Sneak peek at Office Hours podcast and our growing Instagram presence (follow ⁠@ternsoftware⁠)

10:30 – The future of co-pilots in Tern

Brad and Molly lay out the vision for Lucia’s integration:

Context-aware prompts for help (e.g. “need assistance on a group trip?”) Embedded support workflows inside Tern Empowering co-pilots to deeply understand Tern tools

20:05 – Product Highlights:

Subfolders in the Library (finally!): Organize templates, activities, and more with nested folders — complete with emojis. Flexible Dates for Lodging: Let travelers select custom check-in/check-out dates (perfect for destination weddings & FITs). Combine with occupancy rates for dynamic pricing. New “Save to Library” Flow: Save activity templates in 3 clicks instead of 10. Name, folder, and share — all from the itinerary. Copy Confirmation Numbers: Tiny change, big impact. One-click copying for commission tracking. TICO-Compliant Invoices: Add your agency address directly in business settings. New Rich Text Editor in Invoices: The upgraded editor is now PDF-friendly — a big step toward full rollout on trip itineraries.

39:48 – What We’re Working on Next Week:

Performance & Scalability: Optimizing reporting and load times as large agencies import 1,000s of bookings. Trip Funds (early R&D): The team is back in the trenches on payment collection for group trips — but taking it slow and safe. No live release soon, but important foundational work is underway. GTM West: David hits the road to represent Tern at his first GTM event. Let us know if you’ll be there!