My wife, Sherrie, and two partners started Pacesetter Tours as an outbound tour operator in 1981 in our basement. At that time, the Interstate Commerce Commission licensed and controlled such operations, requiring, among other things, demonstration of a necessity for the service before a permit was issued. The intent was to protect consumers from fly-by-night operators.
Airlines, hotels and tour operators required an ARC appointment before a travel retailer would be paid a commission for any sale, a practice that continues for the most part today. And receiving an ARC appointment was (and is) no small task, requiring rigorous adherence to standards and regulations.
Finding a full-time manager to oversee day-to-day operations as well as an ARC specialist with a demonstrated knowledge of ARC's Industry Agents' Handbook was just the start. Every applicant was required to have a federal employer I.D. number, maintain a substantial surety bond or letter of credit and have no criminal record involving a felony or even a misdemeanor involving financial impropriety. Approval sometimes took five months, and it included a site inspection to ensure compliance with document storage requirements.
Admittedly, all these regulations, rules and restrictions were designed solely for protection of the airlines. But at least there was some assurance that the entity selling airline tickets -- and by extension and inference, other travel -- had the knowledge and experience to give the buyer confidence in the advice and guidance offered.
Lately, there has been an increase in the number of online comments about inept travel agents and travel sellers. A common theme seems to be a failure to disclose fully all the information needed by the traveler to have an enjoyable, uneventful vacation.
Many of the complaints involve online agencies and the apparent failure of the buyer to read the seller's terms and conditions. Others are about those "you've won a fabulous vacation for only $149" scams. But too many of them deal with travel agents who don't know enough to advise the travel purchaser on key aspects of their trip.
My sense is that almost daily exhortations to become a travel agent have led thousands of neophytes to believe that this profession is nothing more than a point-and-click operation that can make them rich in their sleep while a website does all the work.
Cruise vacation sales seem to be particularly enticing as an easy way to make lots of money. The perception of the cruise vacation that emerged in the mid-'60s was a luxury experience available only to the wealthy. As with other types of travel, only ARC-appointed agencies could sell cruises and be paid a commission for doing so. That restriction began to ease in the mid- to late-'80s as cruise lines allowed CLIA member agencies to sell cruises and be paid commissions without an ARC appointment.
Cruise sales were sufficiently complex that anyone wishing to sell them successfully had to possess a high degree of product knowledge and expertise. Agents pursued that training voluntarily, but there were no requirements to do so.
It has long been a mystery to me how one can legitimately sell travel without the certification, licensing and training required of other professions and occupations. Beauticians, financial planners, plumbers, electricians, real estate agents, insurance agents, teachers, physicians, lawyers and many others in sundry walks of life must be thoroughly trained and licensed to practice their profession.
Yet neither formal training nor a license is required for someone to declare themselves a travel agent. Some will argue that comparing travel to these other professions is not fair. Still, every day travel professionals:
- Take responsibility for the single most valuable, nonrenewable, irreplaceable asset clients can entrust to us: their leisure time.
- Handle many thousands of dollars of other people's money.
- Offer advice that can have a significant impact on the traveler's mental and physical well-being.
- Ensure their clients know all the myriad regulations governing traveling with minors, visa and immigration policies and proof of citizenship.
- Ensure that connection times all work, that the client is aware of any health or travel security advisories and more.
There are many avenues to certification. The Travel Institute and CLIA both offer programs that require significant time and financial investment. Every major cruise line and most major tour operators offer supplier-specific programs certifying proficiency in their products.
Still, there is much about professional retail travel sales that comes from simply working in the industry. It takes time and the handling of hundreds of travel plans to acquire the necessary experience.
Judging from a large number of the questions posted on agent-facing websites and forums, only a small percentage of those selling travel have availed themselves of these opportunities. The agents asking the most basic questions are likely the ones who have been led to believe that the job requires no skills, little or no knowledge, minimal to no investment, but holds out the opportunity to travel free and get rich.
Some of the programs creating this illusion appear to be little more than pyramid schemes. As a result, more than a few of these newly minted "agents," many with no business or financial background, have found themselves in over their heads when it's time to make final payments.
If there were only one case of an agent absconding with travelers' money it would be too many. The problem is that such occurrences are all too frequent.
Then there are the companies that play on the consuming public's belief that travel is grossly overpriced and that you really can get a "luxury" cruise to the Bahamas, four nights in Las Vegas including airfare and more for $149. In too many instances, the offer sullies the reputation of every travel professional.
Some states have dealt with agency failures and outright scams by imposing strict regulations on anyone who sells travel of any kind to residents. For some agencies, complying with these regulations means added expense that can pose a financial hardship.
There are those who argue that such programs are little more than a tax that has legitimate retailers subsidizing the failures of others that go out of business, let the fund pay off their mistakes and reopen under another name.
True retail travel industry professionals will be painted by the same broad brush so long as these questionable practices and too-easy access to the business continue.
Perhaps a more logical way to deal with the issue is for travel suppliers to support establishment of a standardized certification program that any and all people who sell their products must complete and keep current.
It is time for us to adopt higher professional standards and require compliance, rather than risk having a patchwork of 51 jurisdictions imposing standards that restrict our ability to sell anywhere other than our home state without meeting the standards of all the states in which we wish to do business. It is happening with the travel insurance industry. It can happen to the retail travel industry.
Charlie and Sherrie Funk own Just Cruisin' Plus in Brentwood, Tenn., and have provided agent and agency-owner training throughout North America on every facet of travel agency operations. They were named to the Cruise Lines International Association Hall of Fame in 2012.