Presentation: Chris Ronneseth - Adventure Experts!
Many people are unclear about the travel industry. Travel agents are often thought to be the same as real estate agents. Becoming a travel agent or more specifically a travel agent with offices at home is a exciting career change or retirement option. Some people do it full time, while many do as a part-time business. A travel agent books travel for customers and suppliers are paid a commission on the reservation. For bookings that suppliers do not pay a commission to a travel agent may also charge the customer a service fee for your time. An example is that if you were to book a hotel for a customer, a hotel, then send a check to the agency after the client checked out. Most hotels pay 10% of hotel price before taxes and fees. One night hotel booking $ 100 per mean $ 10 per night for the travel agent who made the booking. This hotel would cost the same whether the customer uses a travel agent or book through the hotel directly. In many cases, the travel agent can get a better price. It costs nothing to the client to use the travel agent unless the travel agency charges a service fee. Can anyone do this? To work with suppliers, you must have an account set up with the supplier. Most require an agency to hold an IATAN, CLIA or ARC number. IATAN stands for International Airlines Travel Agent Network. Represents CLIA Cruise Lines International Association. ARC means Airline Reporting Corporation. Each of these memberships requires different things, including sales, money in the bank, experience or training in the industry, and membership fees. Many require errors and omissions insurance of $ 1,000,000 or more. For the average travel agencies, membership is not a possibility with some organizations so the agent will join an agency and work as an independent agent or a foreign agent. There are also advantages of working with an agency because most travel agents can not make enough in sales with a particular supplier to obtain higher commission levels and bonuses. Working with an agency with many agents can increase the agent's commission rates obtained due to the joint sale of all staff of the agency. Support is also a very important aspect of being a successful agent. Agents who do not work with others tend to feel more isolated and have to learn to do everything alone. Since no agent can have the experience of being in all parts of the world or staying at every hotel or resort, with others you can get really useful advice. The future of travel agencies is always questioned. The truth is that the industry has changed in many ways. Some changes were for the better, some worse. Many airlines have cut commissions for travel agents. However, there are many other vendors who are paying travel agents more than they were ten years ago. Cruises can be booked only for the rich and now on all cruises accounting result. Each year, more and more going on cruises. Most people say they want to go on a cruise at least once and many who go home the first ever want another book. You can earn commission on many travel reservations. Hotels Rental cars Tour Packages Cruises Some airline tickets International airline tickets Travel Insurance Ground transportation including limos Attraction Tickets Train tickets People need all the travel arrangements at some point in time. Those who take road trips need hotel reservations. Those who need to travel for business inputs needed for airlines, car rental and hotel reservations. Families want to experience the holidays with their loved ones. People visit family and relatives. Most people who make money they say they are going to go take a vacation. Newlyweds go on their honeymoon. You're not selling something that is difficult to sell. People contact you for help, you are calling or approaching them trying to sell something you do not want. Public education is the most important thing any travel agent must do. Most people put travel agents in the same category as real estate agents. They believe that the additional costs to use a travel agent. This is false. In many cases, a travel agent can get a better price than the general public through the suppliers who work only with travel agents. Many people do not know all the options to book a holiday. A good travel agent does. Once people are educated on how a travel agent gets paid, who are more willing to work with travel agents. If a person knows that if he or she lets you book a hotel and it will cost the same price regardless, he or she will work with you. It is important that people know how you can help save time and money on their travel arrangements. So how do you get into the industry? Many people think they should go to school or certification. This is not true. You can enter the industry and begin training. I do not recommend anyone spend thousands on a travel school until he or she knows that this is a race that he or she really wants to. The truth is that they have to spend thousands of people to receive training. There are many courses free to travel agents from suppliers. There are also organizations such as ICTA (Institute of Certified Travel Agents) who offer courses as more years of experience in the industry. CLIA also offers courses. There are some agencies that offer training. Even if you decide this is a career you'd like to accomplish, it is not necessary to spend thousands to become a travel agent educated and competent. There are many courses you can take with suppliers and organizations to get a better education in travel. I really think that a hand "in approach is the best way to become a better travel agent. Learning to work with suppliers and how to find the information your customers need is an important part of becoming a good travel agent. How can you find an agency to work? There are many organizations dedicated to independent travel agents. NACT and OSSN are the main organizations. NACT stands for National Commissioners Association of Travel Agents. Means OSSN Outside Sales Support Network. You can also search online for travel agent programs at home. I would never recommend anyone spending a lot of money to start this business. Key to the first try and see if it is something you really want to make and receive training before investing too much money on it. Involved in the industry's first and see if it is a career that is best for you. Dugan Jennifer Dugan CTA Owner Travel Travel since 1993 [http://www.duganstravels.com] Copyright 2004 Jennifer Dugan
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