I had originally scheduled a post on the new struggles of Royal Caribbean today, but one of the lesser known critics commented that I should write about them again. I decided that not only would it be a good idea, but a lot of fun to point out how they’ve completely botched another attempt to point the finger at YTB, but ended up pointing three back at themselves.

It never ceases to amaze me how low some people will stoop in an attempt to slander our fine company and our people. We’ve written at length about the lies, the misinformation, the false speculation, and how they love to distort and deceive in an attempt to tell the general public what’s wrong with YTB. Why they are so afraid of our company, I’ll never know. But even with all the evidence that proves them wrong, they continue to come back for more punishment.

As someone who has been calling a spade a spade for two years now, I make no apologies, nor do I feel the need to excuse how the lies, myths and false information goes against every fiber of my being. What I find most interesting is that instead of answering direct questions or accusations, I’m called names, they poke at my physical appearance, or try to tell me that I’m overreacting and being defensive. Reality is; that type of behavior is designed to get me off the subject at hand and put the focus on me instead of the real issue.

If you don’t like the heat, you should stay out of the kitchen. The hotter it gets, the more I know how much I irritate and frustrate our critics. That’s worth every slanderous comment, false accusation, and punch below the belt, which in turn reflects more on them than it ever will me. While they would love to have me join in the fun, they appear to be doing just fine without my participation. Besides, I would never want to distract them with actual documentation and facts that would highlight how clueless they are on their own turf. 

You may remember today’s subject from a battle won here just last year. While it frustrates our critics that Candi May has remained deaf and mute to any of the critics claims and false accusations, ignoring the jealous crowd of critics has enabled her to continue to build her business and remain quite happy with YTB. Like me, her self respect and self worth isn’t tied to a bunch of overzealous critics who can’t seem to get a life. Those who were at this years Convention probably remember Candi May and her “Travel Like a Rock Star” presentation. She has that same speech on her new blog and when the critics found it, they needed to mix things up, and I got to tell you…they botched it up.

If you either listened to her speak or take the time to read her post, Candi is abundantly clear about her experience in the traditional arena. She’s been travel agent for 24 years and gave examples of her experience as a traditional agent. For the traditionalist who want to keep these perks private however, they took issue with her stance and decided to attack her ethics, intelligence, and character to make it sound like she was deceiving everyone. (Much like they attempt to do with anyone else associated with YTB.

In her post, she states,

“I’ve been in the travel business for over 24 years now and for the 21 years before I was in YTB I was a traditional travel agent and eventually owned three travel agencies in Downtown Louisville. But, 24 years ago I was young, broke and inexperienced in the travel business. We took our first “agent rate” trip to a place called the Don Cesar in beautiful St. Petersburg Beach Florida.”

Sounds pretty clear to me…how ’bout you? Sorry to say, not everyone got that message. According to No Travel MLM’s Candi is called out for deceiving the general public. John writes:

This does sound wonderful, but there appears to be some serious sleight of hand going on here. Is anyone surprised? Well, John Travolta turned 50 in February 2004. And according to another post on Candy May’s blog:

I joined forces with YTB in June of 2006 and that is how this journey began.

John believes he has one of his infamous “gotchas” here with proof that one of our leaders is lying. He’s extracted one line from another post that is totally unrelated to her traditional agent journey and used it in an attempt to throw it back in the face of YTB. But take a look and read her first post in it’s entirety. You’ll find the following statement which can be found smack in the middle of her first blog post when she states:

“I started in the travel business a little over 24 years ago as a traditional travel agent.”

A statement that our critics hope you don’t find in the first post so they can pound their chest and slander someone so they can feel better about themselves and the traditionalist who got away. The only slight of hand here is by John. Either that or he has some sort of disorder that causes memory loss. (More evidence of THAT below.)

Candi also talks about a booking contest with a company that specialized in Mexico. She won that trip by booking lots of travel. She went completely free including round trip air to a beautiful resort called the Royal Hideaway in the beautiful Mayan Rivera.

According to John, Royal Hideaway will not accept a YTB agent on a FAM because YTB has lost their IATAN accreditation. The IATAN requirement for Royal Hideaway might be true…might not. I have to ask however why IATAN is relevant when you win a trip that’s provided by a company the specializes in Mexico? Small detail that again either escaped him or he was holding his breath in the hope that you’d miss that this was a contest provided by the supplier, not something she asked for as travel professional courtesy. But it just might work for the casual reader who is only interested in finding something negative, or a reason hate a company or poeple that are still sticking around after two years of pitching the same tired old line.

Remember the memory loss I eluded to earlier? I find it hilarious that John is trying this line again:

She claimed to have been flown to Minneapolis and wooed by Carlson who wanted her agency to join the conglomerate, yet no one at Carlson has any records of her name or her agency.

Are we to assume the this goof simply forgot that we’ve covered Candi’s affiliation with Carlson with two letters, one signed by Roger Block himself, and the other from Linda Fox that came with a Formal Agreement that was deemed by John as being authentic just last year? These two documents did convince him at one point, but he doesn’t remember that embarrassment now? I think it’s more accurate to speculate that we’re back to the denial phase now that it’s a year later and again crossing our fingers that nobody remembers how badly beaten and bruised he got the first time he pulled the same stunt.

If you say the same lie over and over, maybe it might come true? Maybe you can get someone to believe you this time. Or maybe you simply get caught for the same tired old story because you’re too thick headed to admit you’ve ever been wrong even once.

Not this group. They go on the attack and attempt to deflect in order to save face. We’re overreacting. I’m coming to Candi’s aid as her knight in shining armour to defend her. I’m wearing a man bra!

One of the other chums, who’s can deflect with the best of them attempted to turn the tables and put the burden of proof back on me. The pitch here is hat you actually need an IATAN in order to get an agent rate and since YTB does not have IATA accreditation, we’re not eligible for FAM’s.

Ainsworth tries this little line to intimidate and demand an answer:

Doug, you’re the once coming across as stupid. You’re right in stating that the first paragraph is speaking of Candy’s years being a TRADITIONAL travel agent. The whole blog post is about her years as a TRADITIONAL travel agent, and all the things she got to experience. None of the things she mentions here happened since she joined ytb! What has she gotten to experience like these things in the 3 years that she has been with ytb, hmmmmm? Answer that, Mr. Know It All.

Okay chump, since you asked, I do know of an offer Candi received from YTB THIS year:

Hey my special friends…I have an incredible opportunity for my distinct travel professionals: Check this out…

I am looking for a few of our Travel/Group specialist to join me on a FAM in Cancun late next week. The only cost is for the flight…THAT”S RIGHT!…ALL INCLUSIVE PACKAGE IS FREE!

Oasis Hotels and Resorts is one of my finalists for our Riviera Maya/Cancun and Dominican Republic destinations. They have a scheduled FAM to view 5-6 of their resorts…

If you know of others that focus on Groups, I could extend this to them…

And just how do I know that Candi got this special invite for being a Travel Pro with YTB? Because I got it too.

That’s right! Those of us who produce and book lots and lots of travel like the moral of Candi’s story still get offers.  And note, no magic IATAN is required, no calling the resort, no worries about if we could get in…YTB was invited and for those of us who work hard and book travel, the invitation was passed along to us.

That’s something that Traditional Travel Agents don’t want you to know. Suppliers actually invite YTB just like they do any other agency regardless of accreditation. What suppliers look for is productivity. Suppliers actually consider YTB a valuable source of revenue because we produce. While IATAN certainly provides proof of that with a minimum of $5K in commissions earned, it isn’t really required for the VAST majority of the trips that are offered.

And what would a post from these critics be without the personal insults that Candi couldn’t make it as a “real agent”. I suspect that before long the insult will be that Travel MLM has come up with a far superior product offer for those that are serious about staying in the travel business. (Which is what Candi saw years ago because she’s smart, not some dead beat.)

To prove my point, I have a challenge for the smarter than average critics out there that like spout off that a traditional host is a better alternative.

Provide me documentation of just one Host, one Agency, one single Brick and Mortar that:

• offers 80%-100% commission contracts.
  
• pays cash bonuses of up to $10K when you hit performance levels for travel commissions earned.
• AND completely covers the cost of your Medical Insurance and provides a $150,000 Life Insurance policy.
• Oh, and you need to give me that “hat trick” for less than $500 start up and $49.95 per monthly overhead.

Fact of the matter is that they can’t and that my friends scares the livin’ daylights out of some of the traditionalist who live in La La Land that these traditional host are a better deal. That’s why we have deceptive posts like John’s and the loyal band of thieves to keep up with the charade about YTB being a flawed business model and that Candi couldn’t make it in the traditional arena.

In this current economic climate, coupled with how badly beaten the traditionalist have been from suppliers the internet, and the change to self service, YTB has a safer, more profitable alternative for those who are serious about selling travel bar none.

Spout off all you want about me, Candi, Coach, Scott, Kim or anyone else associated with YTB folks. We already saw this model for what it is. We’re already in and enjoying the best compensation the industry has ever seen. If you want to come along, feel free.

But if you want to spout off, lie and slander based on jealousy…can it. Like so many times before, it’s only going to show that nose of yours is getting bigger by the day.

Oh and John, since you’re big on being the spelling ace…it’s Cand”i”, not Cand”y”. ;-P

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I have to wonder why nobodies talking about AmEx becoming a bank holding company? From what I’ve read about this in Travel Weekly, this idea of any Travel Agency being owned by a bank would be considered an unfair business advantage.

AmEx is asking to borrow $3.5 billion which means that the largest travel agency in the world will now be owned by a bank. Shares of American Express fell $2.35, or 10.5 percent when news first broke, to $20.05 November 11th. Shares continue to fall as the stock closed at $19.64, its lowest point since 1998.

“For decades, from the late ’60s into the ’90s, travel agents fought to keep state and federal banks out of the travel business, regarding them as sources of unfair competition. Agents were often concerned about the competitive impact of cross promotions, whereby a bank might offer a travel benefit to someone opening a new bank account.”

All this fighting, for now at least, seems to have been forgotten. It’s been more than a week, and while I’ve been attempting to follow this story, there’s been not one word spoken about this on any forums or boards I could find. Even after this stories been printed.

Stephen Feeley, director of communications for American Express Business Travel, said the change in status would have no effect on the company’s travel agency business. “It will be business as usual.” However the tax dollars given to American Express could produce an unfair advantage over any other agency, like possibly credit needs to expand, and that I’m sure won’t sit well with the rest of the industry.

American Express, which operates two banks in addition to its travelers check, credit card and travel businesses, won approval to become a bank holding company subject to regulation by the Federal Reserve.

Joanna Lambert, vice president for corporate communications for American Express Co., declined to comment on the report or even confirm that an application had been made or American Express would “build a fence” around a loan to the company to prohibit the agency from having access to the billions it “bank” now has access too. In addition, there’s a concern about the competitive impact of cross promotions of how a bank might offer a travel benefit to someone opening a new bank account.

Yet, not one word from even one travel agent.

Nice to know some have their priorities straight.

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I keep on hearing how other hosts have better commission splits. Its one of the mantras for our critic’s in an attempt to disqualify Travel MLM’s as legitimate Host Agencies. I imagine it helps them support this idea they have about it all being about recruiting, since recruiting happens to be their main focus.

It’s amazing to me how YTB Travel Network President Kim Sorensen participated in Travel Weekly’s Leisure Summit last week, which I assumed was designed for leisure travel related topics. As soon as the switch was flipped to Kim however, the entire mood and focus turned. One of the very first questions asked was related to recruiting numbers. The conversations going on around the internet focus on recruiting numbers as well. Yet not one of our critics has acknowledged that YTB has doubled their production with Carnival over last year. (And we still have almost an entire quarter to go.)

Ignoring travel sales is nothing new. We endured all kinds of excuses concerning our #35 ranking and still have a few who attempt to disqualify our jump to #26 this past year. Ignoring this documentation however will not make it go away, only delay the inevitable that YTB is a real producer of travel in this industry.

For critics, can’t be about travel or commission splits, and the perception being painted splatters this myth that we in YTB don’t really care enough about the travel side of the business to figure out or become productive sellers of travel with an MLM as a Host Agency. Even if we do have the desire, the splits from other hosts are far better than what YTB or any other MLM out there will give you.

Imagine the grin on my face when I found out the truth via a Travel Weekly Article early Tuesday Morning. I constantly hear numbers around 80/20, 90/10 and even 100% commissions being made via other Agents but according to a survey done by NATCA the average split is 74/26, just a mere 4 clicks north of what I currently make with YTB. (70/30)

I also find it interesting that 65% of the Agents surveyed stated they didn’t need a GDS with their business model although I and others have been told otherwise. Somehow, without the proper education and knowledge of the various GDS systems out there, I can’t do business in the same fashion they do. While true, a GDS is a different animal in this industry, to state that it’s a requirement to be considered “real” is a complete fabrication.

Here’s the rundown from the report:

The NACTA report tracks sales, revenue, demographics and other data from 2007, and its findings are based on 449 responses to an email survey distributed in June to NACTA members by ASTA Research.

The report went on to state that 37.9%, were “fully independent,” (meaning they were not affiliated with a host agency and that they dealt directly with suppliers) and hosted agents followed at 29%, while 20% stated they were a “combination independent and hosted agent.”

Of the Host Agencies or Franchise model most use, 20% are with Nexion. Travel Planners had the second-highest percentage with 7.8%. Other Host Agencies included Joystar who claimed 3.4%, America’s Vacation Center who claimed 3.7% and YTB with 1.5% of the Agents surveyed.

Funny how both Travel Weekly and NACTA included YTB as a Host Agency isn’t it?

Yeah yeah…I know all about the current management not being “qualified” and YTB will never be considered a “legitimate” Host by the few stragglers who can’t keep up with the times. You need to realize however, that’s their problem, not ours.

I have to wonder how many more years YTB will have to wait until some consider them “qualified”. For goodness sake, we’re going on 8 years now, and I wouldn’t consider an 8 year old company who’s smack dab in the middle of all the other Agencies in America unqualified.

And apparently neither does this trade publication or the NACTA.

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First of all, I’ve got to tell you…I LOVE the internet. I love the way information flows on this puppy. Technology has made it available for anyone to access just about any information and documentation they could possibly desire in this day and age. (Thus the term “Information Superhighway”?) Based on information we all have access too, we could acquire PhD’s in just about any field of study we choose. It’s all there, you just have to find it.

I read a book last year from Author T. Harv Ecker, “Secrets of The Millionaire Mind” and I also listen to a syndicated talk show host here in Atlanta named Neal Boortz. I’m a firm believer that if you want to be successful, you listen to people who are more successful than you are and do what they do. Both of these successful individuals have told me this:

“Don’t believe a word I say, unless you can verify it to be true on your own.”

If you’re like me, your scratching your head after reading the “In The Hot Seat” Interview with Lisa Bauer, Senior V.P. of Sales with Royal Caribbean International stating that “The Letter” terminating “Card Mills” was ONLY sent to THREE Travel Agencies. In addition, she never names the three agencies.

Secondly, we find another report with Joystar responding to RCCL dropping them, a bona fide Host Agency, hardly the “MLM” or “Card Mill” everyone is talking about in all the doom and gloom circling around the internet concerning the death of Travel MLM’s.

No, something just isn’t right about how all this is unfolding. Logically, it doesn’t make sense to me. If you’re trying to cut the legs out of these “Card Mills” by only using one cruise line, three Agencies, and one of them isn’t even a “Card Mill”, that’s hardly the “Shock and Awe” I would expect. Again, something I read about in “Secrets of The Millionaire Mind” was that we need to take “massive action”, not some hodge-podge trickle like this.

What was most disconcerting to me was the way Royal Caribbean handled the situation with Bill Alverson, chairman and CEO of Travelstar, Joystar’s parent company. In the article it states:

“It took about three minutes for us to learn that RCI had absolutely zero intention to listen to our side of the story or to ask questions we could answer to clear up the matter,” Alverson said. “When Mr. Fishkin [President] asked what led Royal Caribbean to this decision, we were told they did not have any particular concern they could identify, that we have never done anything to harm their brands, or hurt them financially, but they were terminating the relationship anyway….When we asked for clarification, we were told by [Lisa Bauer] that she has decided to ‘broaden the definition of what a card mill is’ and considers Joystar and ourEnterprise members to be one….”

When this “Card Mill” fiasco first broke on October 10th, with news that the ARTA applauds RCI’s policy to remove sales relationships from MLMs and Card Mills, I boldly stated that YTB’s relationship had been strengthened the week before with news that the home office would handle all the Group Bookings for RCI. In the report listed above Bill Alverson also stated:

“I tipped my hat to Royal Caribbean management as I read their email announcing they were sending termination letters to travel industry “card-mills,’” he wrote. “After all, it was about time suppliers took a stand on behalf of real travel agents.”

Like YTB, their relationship had also appeared to be strengthened based on a PowerPoint Presentation given by Royal Caribbean’s management to Bill Alverson less than 60 days prior.

So, why the sudden change in heart by Royal Caribbean by not one but now two Agencies who are producing a combined $23 Million in revenue for Royal Caribbean? (Documented sources and reports of $13 Million by YTB, and $10 Million by Joystar.)

About the only concrete information I could gather as to why RCI would terminate Joystar was based on their Enterprise program. Knowing what the Enterprise business model with Joystar employs, I will tell you that it does allow for Sub Agents. Kind of like a mini-Host within a Host Agency in which the Parent Host allows someone to create a Sub-Host for others to help sell travel within this Mini-host. Sub Agents make the majority of the Travel Commissions while the Sub-Host takes a cut. (For those of us in YTB, it’s very similar to a Power Team Leader making a 10% override on all Travel Commission produced within your own Power Team.) The Enterprise business model however, only goes one level deep to the Sub-Agent, unlike “Multi-Level” in Network Marketing.

While Affiliations and Organizations are protesting the use of “recruiting”, some actually make it a requirement as a member of their Organization that they have a minimum number of these “Independent Contractors” in order to even be considered to be a Host Agency. An Organization called The Professional Association of Travel Hosts (PATH) for example require a minimum of 25 Independent Contractors in order to even join their particular organization.

No, I’m sorry, but there has GOT to be something MORE going on here and enquiring minds like mine want to know! (Thanks for letting me steal that comment by the way!)

I needed a couple more pieces to this puzzle in order to complete the picture that was forming in my head, and at this point, probably like yours, it’s was very clouded and murky and there were more questions than answers. I told you I knew just enough to be dangerous about Joystar. There was something else about this company I was missing. So I did some more digging.

Apparently, at one time Bill Alverson was the CEO of a Travel MLM called TravelMax in the mid-1990′s which is now defunct and from what I understand one of the first MLM’s in the Travel Industry to operate. While researching, I also found that there certainly isn’t any love lost between our “Star Villain” in this story and Bill Alverson. There is a considerable animosity between these two. While reading Bill’s Blog to the field, I found this post, which I agree, reflects A FEW of these “Professionals” out there who are crying about all the business being taken away by “Card Mills”. (However this entry is clearly directed at one particular person, our “Star Villian”.)

ALL RIGHT ALREADY! I’ll cut the “Star Villain” charade and let you know who I’m talking about here. It’s someone I’ve mention here a couple days ago; Peter Stilphen, who much has been written about from the CEO Bill Alverson, and he even created his own web site dedicated to Peter. So yes, there’s no love lost. (Sorry Mr. Alverson, it IS out there.)

But how does this connect with Royal Caribbean?

I might be the ONLY YTB RTA that’s registered with CruisingPower.com, (according to Lisa Bauer), but I didto find this answer. Along with “The Letter” there is an FAQ section, (also found via Google without access to RCI.) which for those of us who are caught up in this fiasco NEED TO READ so you know what’s going on. In the FAQ it mentions that Royal Caribbean has joined the same organization mentioned above called PATH, The Professional Association of Travel Hosts. access Royal Caribbean’s “Agent Only Area”,

I have been reading about this organization from various publications, Blogs, and message boards with some good, and not so good reviews. In particular, and most recently (8/27/07) while reading Bill Alverson’s Blog he states at the very bottom of his post directed specifically at PATH:

“Stay tuned for information on ill-conceived trade associations and the Antitrust violations including price fixing, unfair competition, restraint of trade and other potential criminal charges all association members may face because of the potential criminal activities of a few very bad eggs.”

To be completely honest, I know nothing about all these claims, and I’m simply not going there. (Right now) But it did pose the question, “Just who is this group called PATH?” So I start digging around on their web site.

Imagine my surprise when I take a look at just who is not only on The Board Of Directors but standing President?!

None other than Peter Stilphen.

I don’t know about you, and I’m no lawyer, but doesn’t this whole “Royal Mess” start looking like “Royal Scandal” and the start of unfair competition and restraint of trade to you?

Before you come to this conclusion however, take some advice from a couple of mentors of mine:

“Don’t believe a word I say, unless you can verify it on your own!”

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Like it or not, I have to give equal time to another one of our villains in this thickening plot I’m now going to title “One Royal Mess”. What I just uncovered NEEDS to be addressed, and I’m quickly finding that this whole ordeal is not about “FAMS”, “MLM’s”, or “Card Mills” it’s looking more like “personal vendettas” from a select few of our “Retail Travel Professionals”.

Overnight, I received one e-mail and one PM (Personal Message) from someone I know on the message board forums. Little did I know how the two were related, but BOTH led me to dig a little deeper. Since I had documentation and a verifiable source of the first story I started to write about about the Travel Weekly article, an “In The Hot Seat” Interview with Lisa Bauer, Senior V.P. of Sales with Royal Caribbean International. What was so interesting about this interview for me was that “The Letter” terminating “Card Mills” was only sent to three Agencies.

Yeah…THREE! So we know that one letter was sent to YTB for sure…but who got the other two?

Please select you’re choice from the list of Travel MLM’s/Direct Sales companies listed below.

Now, one of them is on this list, but since all I’ve been hearing so far is “rumors” on the boards, (doesn’t anybody know how to link to documented sources on these forums anymore?) and I’ve also heard from pretty reliable sources who this company is, so I’m 99.9% sure. But since nothing has been publish by the company themselves, or in any trade magazine as yet, they shall remain nameless here. (Just in case my “sources” are incorrect and I have to eat more crow.)

The second company was named late yesterday as well, and based on their own agents voicing objections to getting “The Letter” it was simply a matter of time. What I found interesting was an e-mail forwarded to me from one of my team members from our “Star Villain” in this thickening plot concerning news that a Host Agency named JoyStar had been sent “The Letter” concerning termination with Royal Caribbean. Now, if you’ve been in the Travel MLM industry for a while like I have and don’t recognize Joystar as an MLM, you are correct, they ARE NOT a Network Marketing company or Card Mill, but a traditional Host Agency.

Wait a second, am I trying to tell you that Joystar, a traditional Host Agency and not MLM are one of the three sent packing by Royal Caribbean for being a “Card Mill”?

Yes…Yes I am. Joystar is neither an MLM or Card Mill. Period.

Joystar maintains membership and business relationships with American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), International Airlines Travel Agent Network’s (IATAN), Outside Sales Support Network (OSSN), National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents (NACTA), and they use both Amadeus and Sabre Travel Network as their global distribution system (GDS). (Something MLM’s simply don’t use, not in the “traditional” sense anyway.) Based on the report below, their agents are also producing at least $2000 per Agent in revenue for RCI. (Not the $40-$50 Per Agent VP Lisa Bauer told Travel Weekly a “Card Mill” does.) Nor do they have any Representatives who recruit others into JoyStar in which to earn addtional commissions. To call them an “MLM” or “Card Mill” is an absolute joke.

Then why in the WORLD did Royal Caribbean just terminate their contract?

Well, I was certainly asking the same question, especially after reading just HOW and WHY they were terminated both from the e-mail forwarded by our “star villain” and the news article I found from Modern Agent voicing almost word for word what the e-mail stated which was forwarded to me. If your calculating the revenue Royal Caribbean is terminating so far, that’s $23 Million between two Agencies. ($13 Million in revenue with YTB and $10 Million in revenue with Joystar.)

As much as I’m dieing to fill you in on this new development…I need you guys to read both of these articles before I move forward. I want you pay particular attention to Royal Caribbean’s “positioning” on these terminations, and how Bill Alverson, chairman and CEO of Travelstar, Joystar’s parent company tried to correct this “mistake” (and it is a mistake) along with his experience and thoughts on this.

Here are the two articles.

In the Hot Seat with Lisa Bauer – Senior V.P. of Sales with Royal Caribbean International

Joystar Responds to RCCL Decision to Drop Agency

Have fun and feel free to comment on what YOU think is going on.

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Of all the home-based business possibilities, it’s hard to imagine one that’s more fun or potentially profitable than operating a home-based travel agency.

Not only do you get the enjoyment of sending people off on their dream vacation, but you earn a good commission for selling services that you do not have to actually provide yourself. What could be better than that?

If you’d like to become a home-based travel agent, and enjoy discounted or even free trips for yourself as well, then the following “Top Tips For Becoming A Home Based Travel Agent” will get you started in the right direction.

1. Affiliate with a legitimate host agency that has all of the required certifications.

The most successful home-based travel agents are independent contractors who work with a host agency. You use the host agency’s resources and established relationships to tap into their network of travel vendors and suppliers. It’s important that your host agency has the proper industry credentials and that they have a program in place that allows you to use those credentials in order to establish yourself as a legitimate travel agency.

As a home based travel agent you need certain credentials like the CLIA card. CLIA stands for the International Airlines Travel Agent Network endorses travel agents and provides the IATAN ID card, which identifies you as a U.S.- based travel sales professional.

If you are considering working with a host agency that doesn’t provide you with their IATAN/ARC number, and other required credentials, move on and select one that does.

2. Choose a host travel agency that provides comprehensive training

Even though you are an independent home-based travel agent, you still need professional quality training so you know how to operate in the travel industry as well as what you are and are not allowed to do.

Getting up-to-date on the best places to travel, tourism trends, and how to fulfill the needs of your customer is vital to your travel business. You want to choose a host travel agency that offers comprehensive training and courses on various travel services, products, marketing, etc.

For some host agencies, taking a course or training is necessary in order to be eligible for certain travel credentials. And, although it is not required to book travel, your job will go much easier and you’ll develop more repeat business, if you are well-trained and well-informed.

3. Choose a host travel agency that will help you promote your business.

Don’t choose a travel company that does not offer some assistance with marketing your travel business. The best ones will offer a turn-key website or online booking engine for your clients to use when booking their travel.

Even better are the travel companies that also provide you with automated marketing tools such as auto responders to handle email campaigns and promotions.

You’ll save money, and gain more customers, if you partner up with a host travel agency that provides ready-made templates to print business cards, postcards, flyers, etc. These are all the tools in your marketing arsenal that will help you get the word out about your home-based travel business.

4. Choose a host travel agency that handles ALL of the travel details for you.

Most host agencies handle all the booking and routine travel details for your clients, but what happens if a name is misspelled on a plane ticket or your customer wants a refund? Find out what type of customer support is available and read their policies carefully before you sign on as a home-based travel agent.

At a minimum, look for:

· How long your host agency has been in business and if they are reputable.
· 24/7 telephone support, not just e-mail or web-based.
· Clear and easy-to-understand refund and cancellation policies.
· A track record of speedy resolution to customer service issues.

5. Choose a host travel agency with a fair commission policy.

Notice that money is not mentioned as the #1 thing to look for when you’re choosing a host travel agency. Sure, the commission is important; it’s how you get paid. But the best commission policy in the world does you no good if the host travel company that you choose to partner with is not aboveboard and honest.

Once you have found a travel company that meet the requirements of items 1-4, it’s time to check their commission policy. Here’s what to look for:

· Make sure that you know exactly how much commission you earn on every travel product you offer through your host agency. Be sure to find out if you earn commissions for add-on sales like trip cancellation insurance or lost luggage insurance. The best host travel agency partners pay you a piece of everything you sell.

· Be sure you know what their commission chargeback policy is when a client cancels a trip or seeks a refund.

· Find out at which point your commission actually gets locked in. Is it when the sale is made; when the client debarks on their trip, or when they return?

· Find out how long it takes to get paid. Some agencies pay Net 30, some pay longer. Whatever the payment period is, make sure you can live with it.

6. Choose a host travel agency with the best perks for you

The opportunity to go on a FAM trip is the most appealin
g benefit to travel agents. FAM trips are short for ‘familiarization trips’. These are special trips specifically for the travel agent. These trips are offered by hotels, cruise lines, convention and visitor bureaus, and tour companies.

The intent of the trip is to familiarize the agent with the product or service so that they can then sell the service or product to their clients. By experiencing the product, agents can sell it more effectively.

These trips are either totally free or have a small cost involved to cover the expense of the trip. These FAM trips are offered at a huge discount compared to what it would cost to the average consumer. If your host agency doesn’t offer FAM trips, you should think about finding one that does.

Also, since you will be working out of home and on your own, medical insurance plans or group coverage plans are sometimes offered. Check to see if the agency you are considering has a group plan that you can buy into. Group plans are usually less expensive than buying
medical insurance on your own.

Some final thoughts

Owning your own travel business means you can take advantage of many tax breaks. Deductions are allowed for you initial investment, home office expenses, cell phone and land lines, automobile, computer, fax machine, insurance, and other equipment. In addition, when you travel anywhere in the world, it’s a business expense!

Overall, becoming a home-based travel agent has some major perks and benefits. The important thing is to find a good host agency and become familiar with your product so that you can offer the best travel experience for your customers. Doing this will keeps a consistent flow of repeat and new business coming your way.

Good luck and Bon Voyage!

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