Does this sound like you? Take our free career test to find out if travel agent is one of your top career matches. Travel agents work indoors in an office or cubicle, year-round.
They spend long hours on the telephone or in front of computer terminals, making travel arrangements and researching travel destinations for their clients. Agents employed by large travel agencies typically adhere to a regular hour work week, though some opportunity for overtime may occur during peak travel seasons.
Independent contractors have a more sporadic schedule, working less during the off season and more nights and weekends during holidays and over the summer to meet the demands of vacationing clientele. In order to perform the required research for their jobs, travel agents keep up with travel magazines, books, journals, and online travel publications.
In some instances, agents will travel domestically or abroad to obtain first-hand experience of select destinations, and then relay that information to their clients. Travel agents rank in the 45th percentile of careers for satisfaction scores. Please note that this number is derived from the data we have collected from our Sokanu members only. While traveling, the days can get long. With discounts come expectations, aka receiving business from your clients in return. Holidays are the most stressful time of the year for travel agents, since so many of your clients will be traveling.
A post shared by Tara Milk Tea taramilktea. Every travel agency has access to a program called Global Distribution System, which lists options for airfare, hotels, car rentals, and so on.
So, yeah, it can take a while to get familiar with it. A post shared by Justine Skye justineskye. United States. If you're wondering how many travel agents make money by charging a fee, you'll want to take a peek at our you can find HAR's complete fee survey archive here!
Charging a fee helps agents boost their bottom line and discourage 'tire-kickers' price shoppers. For agents hesitant to charge fees, some agents implement a 'look-to-book' fee—an up-front fee for research, which is applied to the booking when its made. Some agencies charge a straight up non-refundable fee for consultations.
You can see more info on the graph below! Mass market trips like cruises, all-inclusive resorts, or group bus tours around Europe aren't for everyone.
When you want an itinerary built just for you, travel agents call that an FIT trip Flexible Independent Travel — in plain-speak, you'd call that a custom itinerary. But why be simple like that when you could come up with an acronym, right?! Custom itineraries are more time intensive and may involve booking places that don't pay travel agent commissions. FIT travel agents make money not only through the fees mentioned above, but agents may also make money through net pricing mark-ups and commissions from the different vendors they're booking.
There's no one-size-fits-all fee when it comes to custom itineraries. But if you're curious about learning more on what kind of fee would make most sense for your niche, check this out:. Let's first define what a big travel agent is before we talk about how they make money.
When we're talking a 'big player', we're talking about an agency that has tens of millions of sales revenue. There isn't really a cut-off on when you hit this threshold. The reality is that if you're in this circle, you'll know it. While most agencies earn commission based on their sales tiers, these 'big players' can earn overrides based on their revenue.
When they meet a pre-determined sales goal or move market share, the vendor compensates them. These overrides can come from any number of vendors including airlines, GDSs, cruise lines, tour operators, car rental companies, and more.
Now that you're aware of how travel agents make money, you've got to be ready to start making money as a travel agent, stat! Our daily emails for a week will walk you through the process of what you need to get your agency off the ground and running.
If that's where you're at right now, great. That was my goal. Feel free to ask any other questions about how the land of travel agencies work in the comments below. I grew up in the travel industry and have worked with many agents to start and grow their travel agencies. If you still have questions, drop us a line , join the conversation in the comments below, or connect with me on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn or Instagram. Editor's note: This post was originally published in July and has been updated annually to keep up with current data.
Do your own research first, and come up with a list of activities that you want to do. Once you have that list, pass it along to your travel agent to see if they can rustle up any deals as they book. One of the best ways to find a reputable travel agent is to get referrals from your friends and family. Anyone that has used that travel agent for a previous trip and enjoyed their service is someone worth checking out.
As with anything, I always suggest talking to at least two different travel agents to see who you feel most comfortable with. Remember, they are there to work for you. Know your travel budget before you reach out to a travel agent. Likely, this will be the first question they ask you and will help steer them toward the best destinations for that budget. They will usually have the best deals and relationships with hotels and activity companies in that area.
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