Nearly every report in TripWorks lets you choose which date to organize the numbers by — Date Created or Activity Date. They answer different questions, and picking the right one is the difference between a report that reconciles and one that looks "wrong."
In this article
- Date Created — when the booking or payment was entered (the sale date).
- Activity Date — when the tour or experience actually runs.
So if a guest pays on January 1 for a trip on January 7, that booking shows a Date Created of January 1 and an Activity Date of January 7. Same booking, two different dates — and it lands in a different place depending on which one your report is using.
Which one should I use?
It depends on the question you're asking:
- "How much did we sell?" → Date Created. This is the marketing and cash-flow view. If you spent on ads today and it drove bookings for trips months out, you want to see that revenue land today, when the sale happened — not spread across future activity dates.
- "How much did we earn?" → Activity Date. This is the finance/operations view — revenue recognized when the experience is actually delivered. It's also the right lens for staffing and capacity, since it tells you what's running on a given day.
A useful way to remember it: Date Created follows the money in; Activity Date follows the trips out.
How to switch a report between the two
Open the report and use the date-type dropdown at the top — set it to Date Created or Activity Date, and the report re-groups your data by that date. The date range you choose then applies to whichever date type is selected.
Because the same booking can fall in different periods under each date type, two reports that look like they should match won't — unless they're both using the same date type over the same range. When totals don't tie out, check the date type first.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between Date Created and Activity Date?
Date Created is when the booking or payment was entered (the sale date). Activity Date is when the tour or experience actually takes place. A trip booked January 1 for January 7 has a Date Created of January 1 and an Activity Date of January 7.
Which date should I use for my sales numbers?
Date Created. It reflects when the sale happened, so it's the right view for marketing performance and cash flow — especially when you sell well in advance and want the revenue to land on the day it was booked.
Which date should I use for earned revenue or accounting?
Activity Date. It ties revenue to when the experience is actually delivered, which is usually how finance recognizes earned revenue and how operations plans staffing and capacity.
Why don't my two reports match?
Most often because they're using different date types (or different date ranges). The same booking falls in different periods under Date Created vs Activity Date, so always confirm both reports use the same date type over the same range before comparing.
Does this setting apply to every report?
Nearly all of them. Most reports show a date-type dropdown at the top so you can switch between Date Created and Activity Date. A few single-purpose reports are fixed to one date type where only one makes sense.
Which date does a report use by default?
It varies by report, and the dropdown at the top always shows the current selection. Don't assume — glance at the date type before reading the numbers, and switch it if you need the other view.
Related
- Daily executive summary report
- Exporting data from TripWorks
- Reseller revenue & commission reporting
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