A home-based business requires your utmost attention from its inception. The reason for this is you need to be well informed to effectively start your business. With the amount of home-based marketing available, it is easy to make common mistakes with the information available about home-based business.
Becoming a home-based travel agent is easy; the issue lies in deciding what type of agent you should become. This step is where many people go wrong and choose the first available option. Others people make the choice from the first two or three options presented to them and, most of the time, make the wrong choice.
Agent Types
There are two types of agents in home-based travel, referral and booking/selling agents. In the first one, as the name implies, the individual acts as a referral service. The travel agents at the agency itself complete the task of closing the sale and handle the necessary booking procedures. The referral agent gets part of the commission that the travel agencies get from the various hotels, airlines, cruises, etc.
With a travel referral service, one does not need to know the various mechanisms of the travel industry. You would not need to know, for example, the difference between class A and class C categories of a cruise because it is the selling agent's job to provide the customer with better insight on the services. The only part that you play is marketing the cruise line in a way that will have the customer calling the number of your home-based travel referral service.
The second type of agent is the booking and selling agent, the actual travel agent. There is considerably more work involved here. You work with your client in preparing their trip and arrange all the travel and bookings for hotels and transportation. You do this by researching all aspects then presenting your findings to the client. You command a higher percentage profit than a referral agent, in some cases taking the entire commission, because you have already put in the effort to obtain and supply vital information for the trips provided through your agency.
Money Matters
People who are in the home-based travel agency business and make a good commission, which can be nearly $500 a day, which is not just pocket change! The options that come with the home-based travel business are many and know no bounds. You could keep the business at home or open and staff a regular office.
An important point is to be cautious in getting the right information before you start. If you are on the right track then success is on the horizon. The ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) is beginning to see home-based travel businesses as the wave of the future.
