Top 5 Perks Travel Agents Get To Enjoy

Most people that decide to work full-time or part-time as a travel specialist don’t just do so because of the commissions they can make. Yes, it is true that if you wish to take your travel agent business very serious, you can make a decent living for yourself form sales commissions. However, there are some additional perks travel agents get to enjoy that are not related to money.

1. They Get To Travel A Lot

You will not find too many people in the world that do not like to travel. Whether by plane, car or by boat, people like going to new places, and enjoying new experiences. When you become a travel agent, you get to travel like a billionaire. Host Agencies, tourist boards, tour companies frequently host familiarity trips (FAMS), at significantly low rates, sometimes as much as 80% off, as promotional tours for travel agents to come and take a look at their property. When you become a travel agent, it will become the norm for you to be enjoying a $5000 vacation experience for $800. In addition, travel agents get discounted rates from product vendors for personal travel, as well as, they earn complimentary nights as rewards for sales from the hotels they sell.

2. They Get To Work From Anywhere

All you need is the Internet and a working phone line to run your travel business. Where you are geographically does not matter. More than 50% of travel agents today prefer to work from home or from wherever they choose. For this reason, many stay-at-home moms, retirees, and people who want the flexibility of living in more than one country, choose to become travel agents.

3. They Set Their Own Work Hours

Yes, as travel agents, you have a responsibility to respond to your clients within reasonable timeframes, otherwise you will not be selling much of anything. However, whatever time of day you choose to do your research and send your quotes, that is totally up to you. There are travel agents that work as inside sales agents for big tour companies or travel agencies, that has to go into an office and work on a schedule. However, if you are an independent travel agent also known as an Outside Sales Represantitive (OSR), then this means you work remote, and the schedule that you work on is all up to you.

4. They Make A Lot Of Connections

Everybody needs a travel agent. Regardless of what those big online travel booking engines may think. There are just certain travel itineraries that you need a travel expert to handle. Travel agents get to work with a lot of successful business travellers, or extremely wealthy people who has very busy lives, so they rely on their travel specialist to manage their vacation planning for them. Travel agents also get to travel a lot, to different parts of the world and meet a lot of people. Due to this, most travel agents that have been in the business for more than a couple years, starts to develop a very strong network that most times includes some very influential people.

5. They Get To Be Happy Most Of The Time

When your life consists of more than 10 vacations per year, and in between that you spend your time looking at images of the most beautiful places in the world, and putting together great experiences for others, you tend to be mostly happy. That is the life of a travel agent. Whether they are making a lot of money or not, their lives are filled with happy, positive energy.