Effective infrastructure and resources are crucial for any business — and for independent travel advisors, affiliating with a host agency can be an ideal option for gaining access to the tools and benefits they need to grow.
But what should advisors expect from a host agency, and how can they maximize the benefits of affiliating with one?
According to multiple sources, education, training and personal connections are among the selling points of partnering with a host agency. Here’s how those factors can make a difference for advisors.
Support from square one
The host agency concept can be especially useful for people who are new to the industry, according to Jamie Tarr, a travel advisor at Jamie’s Vacation Experience in Ankeny, Iowa. “Five years ago I was working as a parole officer and had been working at home due to Covid,” she said. “With the extra time on my hands, my love for travel started to come into the forefront of my mind.”
After a friend suggested she consider becoming a travel advisor, Tarr found education and support by affiliating with InteleTravel, a host agency that was founded in 1991. “I came from being a parole officer with no experience as a travel advisor,” she said. “Inteletravel’s way of challenging me and helping me grow has helped me identify how to be a successful business owner. This in turn has helped me to increase my sales ever year.”
Marie C. Russell, owner of Confetti Travel Service in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, already had experience with serving clients as an event and wedding planner. After signing with InteleTravel, she brought herself up to speed on the retail travel segment, making use of educational resources that have helped propel her retail travel business from a part-time side gig to a full-time career.
Russell recommends that advisors research carefully before choosing to affiliate. “It’s really important to investigate a host agency to make sure that you know that they will have a mutual relationship with you,” she said. “It’s very important to know that they're not just going to sign you up and then [say], ‘okay, good luck.’” In her view, the best hosts provide ongoing support throughout the business relationship.
Ongoing education
Even today, Russell continues to stress the importance of educational and training tools. “I always try and focus on one hour a day of training, even at my level now, being a top 20 agent,” she said. “I still am learning every single day, because there's always something new popping up.”
She also praises the continued improvement in training options for the host agency community. “As the business has evolved, now that I've been in almost seven years, I’ve seen that the education that's offered to new agents is exponentially better.”
Flexible access to ongoing education and training is especially helpful, according to Michelle Shrader, chief escape officer at Elevated Escapes Travel in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. “InteleTravel has provided me the opportunity to become a travel agent at my own pace, utilizing the platform and all of the training, which was very flexible because it was online,” she said.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of InteleTravel
Community and mentorship
Tools and training form a powerful base for the host-advisor relationship, but the human side of business is equally important, according to advisors. Once Shrader got her business running, she said, “I really needed people to connect with — other advisors. I needed somebody who could mentor me or who could answer questions for me.”
She found that connection through advisor communities and in-person events organized by the host agency. “I was able to connect with people through our Facebook forums, whether it's our departure lounge or the ambassador group.”
Russell applauds the ability of her host agency to connect advisors with knowledgeable people who share insight and advice. “Having access to executives at this level is just unheard of in the corporate world,” she said. “We travel with them. We eat lunch with them. We have email conversations with them. They are accessible to us. That’s what allows you as a travel agent to be more successful.”
Shrader concurs. “Being able to connect with leadership is something that's very important,” she said. “When you see them at events, you can walk right up and talk to them and they know your name, they know your face. That human connection is very important.”
Tarr frames the human aspect of retail travel as a central reason why many advisors stay in the business — and stay with host agencies. “The human side is really why people are travel agents,” she said. “We aren’t a number. We are a family; we are a network that has gotten to know each other. We empower one another, and we help each other be successful.”
The advisor’s commitment
Host agencies aim to make it easier for independent advisors to succeed, but it requires commitment from the advisor, too, Shrader notes. “You have to be able to put in the time yourself,” she said. “Nobody is going to do it for you. You have to have that personal drive to educate yourself. And then you have to not be afraid to step outside the box and look for other avenues of training and connection to people. That’s the key to getting started and then continuing to grow: utilizing the things that are available to you but also going out and looking for them.”
Tarr agrees that support exists, but it must be pursued — especially in the beginning. “Did I have support? Yes!” she said when asked about her initial foray into retail travel with a host agency. “But I had to make sure I was invested to find it.”
For Russell, the host agency relationship has played a crucial role in her business’s success. “It’s invaluable,” she said. “I can't ever imagine myself leaving this agency. I feel like it just gets better and better.”