r/travelagents

I am a little in older in my 40's and considering a career change. I would like to find work in the travel industry. I am trying to figure out if there are career options to break in as a Travel Consultant as a regular salaried employee with benefits. I am not ready to start out with a host agency and build my own business. From what I have found many of the jobs that I am seeing posted online appear to be in corporate travel. I am willing to learn Sabre on my own before I start applying for jobs but I am trying to determine if it is feasible to find a job in corporate travel.

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Thank you

A little background...I've been a TA/Owner of a specialized agency for about seven years. We specialize in premium, luxury, and expedition cruises and tours primarily in the Med, Northern Europe, Asia and Alaska. I have been on 5 cruises and visited 21 countries in just the last 12 months alone. We pride ourselves on immersive itinerary planning tailored to exactly what the client wants.

Where it's been weird lately...It's becoming more and more frequent over the past year that I have my potential client's adult children that sometimes are not even traveling with them insert themselves in the process and often blowing up what should be an amazing travel experience for their parents.

Three examples just out of the last three months:

Booked a lovely couple in their 70's that wanted to visit Alaska but had never been on a cruise. They said their daughter convinced them that cruising would be the way to go. Great! They wanted a laid back vibe with good food and not a lot of kids so after a lot of discussion I booked them on HAL and everyone was excited. A week later I got a call from that same daughter demanding that I cancel their reservation because I was ripping them off and I signed them up for an old person cruise. She demanded that I personally refund their non-refundable deposit. Client eventually cancelled.

Client was celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. They wanted to do a cruise but also wanted to spend time in Seville which they loved on their honeymoon. They were excited when I put together a Med cruise itinerary that included 2 overnights in Seville. Put multiple cabin holds in place while their two children bombarded me with competing itineraries that just went to Cadiz not Seville so you would only see the city for a few hours. Their concern was that I was sending their parents on an "over priced shitty little boat" for their anniversary. They ended up not going on the cruise but at least I helped them plan a land tour to Seville, Madrid and Barcelona.

Client wanted to book a HAL Alaska trip for their family. They actually came to me with three itineraries and just asked my help narrowing down what was best and logistics assistance. They ending up putting a deposit on 4 cabins. Great! They wanted to have a family meeting about the logistics since everyone was flying from different areas of the US and during that call the son accused me of talking them out of the UnCruise itinerary that he suggested and I was just there to wring out his parents of money. Parents were super embarrassed, apologetic and the cancelled and ghosted.

Is this a new phenomenon or is it just new to me?

Don't come at me - but I am still trying to figure out what is and is not an appropriate time to ask for assistance from the BDM. There is a group that wants to book a Royal Caribbean cruise for October 2027 and it is closed for groups. It would be a booking of most likely 40 to 50 people. Would it be appropriate to ask the BDM if there was any way to get space opened up? I called the RC group phone # and was basically told too bad too sad, keep checking back to see if space opens up. Thanks!

Has anyone here taken the Certified Family Travel Specialist program through Travel Leaders Network?
I’m considering it, but it’s $295, so I’m trying to decide if it’s actually worth the investment.
I already market myself as a family travel specialist (Disney, Universal, cruises, all-inclusives, Europe, etc.), so I’m wondering if the certification added any real value for you. Did it help with:
Credibility with clients?
Marketing or lead generation?
Knowledge you didn’t already have?
Sales or bookings?
Or is it more of a nice certificate to have without much impact?
I’d love to hear honest feedback before I sign up. Thanks!

I’m not new to being an agent, but am new to large bookings. I have a client who wants to host a retreat along with a few other people. On top of hoping their rooms are comped, they want to make a small profit from the event. Without giving up my commission, how is it possible for the hosts to make $ from this? I cannot wrap my head around how to do this. Any advice would be helpful.

Edited to add: I’ve been working for a host agency for 3 months and have already done $60k in sales, so I do have a few big client spenders. It’s just the amount of time I have taken for their full-blown itineraries does not add up to the commission I’m receiving (10% of all sales). Once I hit $100k, I can receive leads from my host agency.

Hi All,

I'm feeling incredibly frustrated and down and could definitely use some advice. I have been a travel agent for a few months now, and it is so incredibly frustrating how many people message me for a consultation, then end up A. using someone else, B. booking it themselves with the info I gave them C. Deciding not to travel anymore. I realize I need to charge a booking/research fee, but I have no idea what to charge.

I asked some friends and acquaintances and most of them said they would not pay extra for someone to do the research. On the flip side, I do have some wealthier family friends who have repeatedly asked me what my travel agent fees are. I have helped some out with flights only, while others have been buying tickets for museums and making exclusive dinner reservations, transportation arrangements, and even complete itineraries. It has ranged from 5 hours of work to up to 25 for longer trips with more detailed plans.

So my question is - for those of you who charge a fee, what does that look like? Does it depend on the services you provide to them (i.e. researching flights only vs a complete day-to-day itinerary) or do you charge one flat fee? Do you address it as soon as they reach out asking for help planning their trip?

Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

Signed,

A stressed out T.A.

So how would you put yourself back out there after being dark for a few months? My full-time job went crazy and I had to step back from travel for a good 3-4months but I'm ready to get back into it. What kind of message should I put out to get the ball rolling again?

I’m getting conflicting information on that. A lot of my clients are non-US citizens, and I’d rather book them through OA instead of my other host cuz comms are better for me and perks are better for them for the suppliers I book through. Would love to hear your experiences, successes and challenges. TIA.

Hello Fellow TAs!

I’ve been a Disney and Universal focused TA for a decade, but want to start expanding. In my efforts, I found out that there are tons of TA incentives across most chains.

If you were to suggest which brands/sites/etc I focus on to get the best training and TA incentives, I’d appreciate it.

Might as well get some extra perks while expanding my offerings.

TYIA!

I hope this is okay to post here. I was just wondering if any of you work as travel agents while also providing care for small children? I wasn’t sure if this career was compatible with taking care of my kids at the same time.

Looking for air consolidator recommendations (not through a host agency).

I’m looking for one that offers: • Competitive international air contracts • Good commissions • Reliable 24/7 emergency support • Great servicing after ticketing for schedule changes, exchanges, etc.

If you don’t mind sharing, I’d also love to know: • What their commission split is (if applicable) • Any ticketing or transaction fees they charge • What you like or don’t like about working with them

Just looking for real experiences to help narrow down my options. I have Sabre experience, but am looking to get out of ticketing.

Thank you!

Hey all,

I plan on starting a niche travel agency in the near future.

I have worked in the travel industry for a few years so understand that licenses such as ABTA and ATOL are needed for flight packages. Unfortunately, I will be starting this business from the ground and will not have the liquidity or forecast for the licenses.

I understand that host agencies are common here in the UK; However, I have noticed these are mainly targeted towards individuals.

I would want to use a host agency while having my own brand identity and employees.

Is this something that is possible within the UK or would I need to work towards acquiring the licenses?

Hey everyone so I have a client who is going to Belize. He already booked his stays and flight. He wants me to handle transfers to and from BZE to a hotel in Hopkins. The hotel quoted him $400 for a transfer so he wants cheaper. I’ve really been struggling to find anything. He is a solo traveller. Any tips on this would be great!
He also wants to do a helicopter tour over the Blue hole, but I haven’t found any of my suppliers that do that or are solo traveller friendly. Any tips on this too would be great.

Saw this on another professional thread and thought it was a good question. Curious for your thoughts!

Do you charge booking fees? If so how much and how do you go about letting you clients or potential clients know about them?

How do you present tentative and even final itineraries to your clients? With so much information for long trips, the word docs i send are very dense.

I've considered using spreadsheets or other tools, but not sure what's the right move.

Also, how do you collect feedback from clients on specific activities/events..."keep this, swap this, less/more of these type things"? I'm doing emails but the threads can go off in tangents very quickly.

Does anyone have a DMC they like for New York City?

Hi everyone, I currently work in entertainment as a venue event manager. My boyfriend just accepted a job in Palm Springs, California and we will be moving there next month. With the move, I would like to transition my career from venue management to entertainment travel booking. I'll be about 2 hours from LA so I can commute 1-3 days a week, or work fully remote.

I have applied to a few agencies (TAG, BCD, Global Travel Collection) but have not heard anything back yet. I've looked at others too but from what I could tell, it didn't seem like they were hiring.

Any travel agencies that focus on entertainment-based travel that you recommend? Any advice on how to transition my career or places that I could start at?

Thank you everyone for your help/advice in advance!

Hi! I own my agency (no host) and am currently with Travel Leaders. I'm considering changing consortiums and am looking for feedback on Ensemble. Thanks!

Good afternoon everyone,

I just started this week as an independent travel advisor in the Riviera Maya. I’ve been reading through many of your posts, and it’s really reassuring to see that I’m not alone in this—many of us share the same questions, and it’s amazing how people with decades of experience are always willing to help.

I should mention that I already have many years of experience working in this destination and selling travel, but this is my first time doing it on my own.

I’d love to ask for some advice: how did you start attracting clients in the beginning? I know it takes time, and I’m not expecting things to take off overnight, but I’m eager to learn.

What are some mistakes you made early on that you thought were good ideas at the time? And what are some lessons that only experience could really teach you?

Thanks in advance for sharing your insights!