Question for travel agents?

[A10560]

:I have talked about become a travel agent for a few years now and I am thinking it is time to start the steps to do this. So my question are...

Where do I start?

I have seen people talk about Dugan as a home based business. Can anyone tell me about their experiance with them?

Should I go to the local college and take a course?

Any information would be greatly appreciated

 

[curseofcurves]

I would actually like to hear any responses to these questions as well. There don't seem to be any local travel agencies in my immediate area, so it would be nice to hear some sort of work-from-home experiences too.

 

[zoie101]

 

[Cherbear013]

Being a home-based travel agent is not as easy as it sounds, first of all. It's a lot of work to get clients, advertise and keep up with destinations/properties. I would suggest checking out The Travel Institute, OSSN and HBTA community. Each one has great info on the home based industry. Some big host agencies are America's Vacation Center, Travel Planners International and Montrose. Check each of their sites out and look at fees, commission scales and testimonials.

I've talked to many people here that want to get into this to just sell Disney. Plan on that for down the road. When you start you want to be open to booking different destinations. Maybe focus on Mexico, Alaska or cruises as well.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck!!

 

[curseofcurves]

I'm interested in information on working with a company at an office as well. What types of degrees or certifications do you need? How does it work being a newbie travel agent coming into an established office? Are you paired up with a vet first? Is there a crash course/training required by the company or is that something you have to have completed prior to being hired? I assume that working with a company means you have access to all their databases and research information so they would train you based on that info.

 

[A10560]

I am really interested in doing the "Disney College of Knowledge" really just for myself and family. I have read that you need a clia number or an IATA number. I was hoping that someone could recommend an online company that can help me accomplish applying for this. From my understanding I would have to be under an agency to even apply for this.

I had mentioned Dugan above and would really like to know about others experiances with the company.

 

[poohfriend]

I am really interested in doing the "Disney College of Knowledge" really just for myself and family. I have read that you need a clia number or an IATA number. I was hoping that someone could recommend an online company that can help me accomplish applying for this. From my understanding I would have to be under an agency to even apply for this.

I had mentioned Dugan above and would really like to know about others experiances with the company.

i worked with them and they are legit. my only problem was with Disney docs they tended to sit on them until the last minute and it made me look bad (in my mind) with clients who were asking for thier Mickey Mail. I truly left that company because I did not thing they handled Disney well and it's a shame because they do a lot of good things in the area of new agent training and offering a low-cost mid-range commission. Would have been content to stay with them for decades if they had sent mail in a timely manner. (My impression was that those who booked a ton got the most attention and did not have the same issues those who booked 2-3 trips/month did.) Once i never received Disney Cruise documents (they said they never came; Disney said they delivered TWICE via UPS to the agency address.)

 

[4Seasons]

:I have talked about become a travel agent for a few years now and I am thinking it is time to start the steps to do this. So my question are...

Where do I start?

I have seen people talk about Dugan as a home based business. Can anyone tell me about their experiance with them?

Should I go to the local college and take a course?

Any information would be greatly appreciated

Yes I was with Dugan's for a few years when I got back into the biz.
I got my feet wet back into the industry (previously worked for a major airline years ago then took a hiatus to have kids), but would I recommend them?
NO.....for many reasons, one being what the pp mentioned about docs and lack of assistance. I was a person who booked groups and a fair amount of biz but didn't receive any more "assistance" than those who booked little to nothing. You really have to be a highly self motivated person and have a passion to be successful in this business, it's not for everyone.
I'm not a person who needs constant praise or anything but when you share a decent amount of business with a host agency, every once in awhile a "thanks, you're doing a great job", a birthday or Christmas card, a phone call from the owner, something to show you're appreciated would be a very nice touch. Never happened.
There is alot of negativity with their chatlist as well, especially from the owner and managers. I think in a professional business setting, it doesn't set a good tone to have alot of nasty, negative emails sent to the chatlist about various topics, regardless of how frustrated they may be at times. Many times commission is held onto far longer than it should be before being paid to the agent. It was sometimes a toxic environment and I'm so glad to be away from them. I can tell you she lost ALOT of VERY good agents because of her bad habits, ones that have produced ALOT of business and after they left, have gone on to achieve national trade recognition and accolades. The one thing I'm extremely thankful for is the fact I made alot of very strong friendships with some of the other agents (all across the country) that continue today.
In short, do your due diligence but based on personal experience they would not be my recommendation.
Check out what Nexion has to offer.

 

[A10560]

Thanks for the feedback!

I am trying to explore all the options so any personal thoughts are great. Has anyone heard of Off to Neverland? I am also looking into them as a host company.

 

[MissLiz]

I tried home-based travel for a while right after we moved to Georgia because we thought it would be better for me to stay home with DD3 at the time.

I used Incentive Connection Travel when I did it and they were great. It's almost a small company feel even though they have a ton of agents.

I just didn't have the energy or the finances to do a full out campaign for clients. I ended up just booking stuff for family and friends. I tried to keep it up after I got a full-time job, but I felt like I wasn't able to give the service that I thought clients deserved because I was working outside the home and I had 2 DDs.

Selling travel is a hard job. Fun, but hard. It may be fun to learn new things and do all the classes and stuff like that, but that's not going to make you successful.

Good luck in your research!!!

 

[poohfriend]

Yes I was with Dugan's for a few years when I got back into the biz.
I got my feet wet back into the industry (previously worked for a major airline years ago then took a hiatus to have kids), but would I recommend them?
NO.....for many reasons, one being what the pp mentioned about docs and lack of assistance. I was a person who booked groups and a fair amount of biz but didn't receive any more "assistance" than those who booked little to nothing. You really have to be a highly self motivated person and have a passion to be successful in this business, it's not for everyone.
I'm not a person who needs constant praise or anything but when you share a decent amount of business with a host agency, every once in awhile a "thanks, you're doing a great job", a birthday or Christmas card, a phone call from the owner, something to show you're appreciated would be a very nice touch. Never happened.
There is alot of negativity with their chatlist as well, especially from the owner and managers. I think in a professional business setting, it doesn't set a good tone to have alot of nasty, negative emails sent to the chatlist about various topics, regardless of how frustrated they may be at times. Many times commission is held onto far longer than it should be before being paid to the agent. It was sometimes a toxic environment and I'm so glad to be away from them. I can tell you she lost ALOT of VERY good agents because of her bad habits, ones that have produced ALOT of business and after they left, have gone on to achieve national trade recognition and accolades. The one thing I'm extremely thankful for is the fact I made alot of very strong friendships with some of the other agents (all across the country) that continue today.
In short, do your due diligence but based on personal experience they would not be my recommendation.
Check out what Nexion has to offer.

Everything you say is SO true. I didn't appreciate the negativity, but was willing to overlook it for the low overhead and mid-range commission. I too created some contacts I am thrilled to have.

 

[A10560]

Just looking for any more info. I would really love if anyone could offer up some good companies to look into.

 

[AmongMadPeople]

I am really interested in doing the "Disney College of Knowledge" really just for myself and family. I have read that you need a clia number or an IATA number. I was hoping that someone could recommend an online company that can help me accomplish applying for this. From my understanding I would have to be under an agency to even apply for this.

I am trying to explore all the options so any personal thoughts are great. Has anyone heard of Off to Neverland? I am also looking into them as a host company.

I'm confused about what you actually want to do. Why would you want to do the College of Knowledge for yourself? Do you want to sell Disney travel? Do you want to sell other travel? The CoK is not worth paying a host agency just for personal use. If you want to be a travel agent (of any destination) I suppose you could do it just for fun, but you're not going to learn anything you haven't/can't learn on the internet for free.

I'm guessing Off to Neverland is like Dreams Unlimited and other Disney travel agencies - you're not going to be your own company - you would be an agent for them. You would be exclusively Disney. I may be wrong about this, but that is my impression.

 

[arihillfarm]

Thanks for the feedback!

I am trying to explore all the options so any personal thoughts are great. Has anyone heard of Off to Neverland? I am also looking into them as a host company.

I am a Magic Maker with Off To Neverland and am so happy I decided to join this agency. Obviously I am an independent agent and it is hard work but the support available and overall positive atmosphere is tops. Off To Neverland really emphasizes top quality service and their business philosophy meshes well with mine. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions or just send me an e-mail directly to astrid.jobe@offtoneverland.com

-Astrid

 

[daileyad]

This thread is great as my family as been telling me for years that I should be doing this from home but I haven't gotten into it yet. Right now I'm planning a trip for 4-5 of us that will probably be around $10,000 total and will include airfare, rental car, hotel, and escorted tour. So I'm thinking now might be a good time to get in as I already have 5 clients . My question though is if I sign up with one of these host agencies, can I book through them any company? Or does each host agency have an agreement only with certain travel providers? We've already decided on a company for our escorted tour part so I would want to make sure that if I sign up for a host agency that I can book that specific company. Does that make sense?