Growing up, I don’t remember going on too many short vacations. When we would go on vacation, it was an all out vacation. It could have been a theme park, exploring the mountains, driving up the coast (or to Texas) to see family, or, one really great time, Europe. It was an all-out, we were committed to at least a week, vacation.
When I was old enough to travel on my own, I adopted a mindset of, what I call, mini-vacations. These are short, long weekends, nothing more than a two night stay mini-vacation. We could go, have fun, leave some food out for the cats, and be home before anyone even really realizes we were gone.
Sometimes, we would even drive to a destination and back in one day. These were affectionately coined “one day vacays”.
The older I get, I have come to realize we all need a little mix of all three.
We all occasionally need to be able to step away from reality for a week or so and immerse ourselves in knowledge and experiences beyond the scope of our current bubble of comfort.
But we also need that short weekend trip to break the chains of redundancy and explore a place not too far away that still holds a flare for the comfort of familiarity.
And sometimes we need to stomp out the stress with a quick day drive to the closest amusement park, beach town, or mountain tourist trap to engage in a little mini-golf, hiking, or shopping therapy.
So you want to help people figure it all out? Figure out how to make the most of their occasional all-out vacations, their fun little mini-vacations, or maybe even a last minute one day vacay excursion?
Where do you start? If you are reading this Chronicle, I am going to assume you have probably been seeing people talk about being a Travel Advisor on Facebook or some other kind of social media. You may have even already reached out to them to be told about this confusing world of how referring people to sign up to sell travel has anything to do with travel.
Let me start by telling you to do your own research. Start with asking yourself what are your business goals. Are you in it solely for money? Are you in it to be educated and do your best to see other people’s travel dreams come to fruition? How do you want your business to make you feel? How do you want your business to make others feel?
Do you want to own your own business? Would you rather be an independent agent? Do you want your business to be at the forefront or would you rather appear as an employee of another business to the outside world?
These are all excellent questions to start with.
If you have never done Travel Advisory prior, I strongly recommend sitting down with a sheet of paper (or a word document) and writing out your vision for your future career in travel.
Then, once you have your vision clearly laid out, I personally recommend research host agencies to find one that aligns with your personal vision.
If you are asking at this point why you can’t just start an independent free standing business right out the door.
Well, you could. I wouldn’t recommend that though.
And here’s why…
– Most host agencies have been in business for 20-40 years (some more, some less), but those are years of clout and credibility you get to benefit from by being an independent agent under a host. These agencies have spent years building a good name for themselves with vendors, travel consortiums, and brands. As a contracted independent agent, you can apply this same good name to your business through a good relationship with a host agency.
– You are not alone. We all need a little help every now and then – ok, I’m not kidding no one! Some of us need a lot of help and when I say “some of us” I mean me. Before I book anything, I consult our communities of agents, search my agency’s Facebook group, and training videos, mentors, etc. Because I want to offer the BEST and only the BEST to my clients. If I was trying this on my own, I would have dug a hole and climbed into it soaked in my own tears a while ago.
– You are set up for success. Going back to training. Being partnered with a host gives you – what feels like – unlimited access to unlimited training resources. You want to be an expert on “y” travel go here, how about traveling to “z” you can learn all about that there. “Does “x” interest your clientele? There’s a link for that!
- And something a lot of us don’t ever think about – SOFTWARE SYSTEMS! How are you going to keep track of your clients? Are you able to send automatic emails about promotions? Are you able to store your bookings in a safe, secure environment?
There is truly so many more benefits that going through a good host agency provides you. And just because the monthly fees are high does not mean that it’s a good agency. Do your research. Google. Read reviews.
A company that may be perfect for someone else, may not be perfect for you. Do your due diligence. Once, you believe you have found the perfect host agency to come along side you and help get those travel business ideas out of your dream and into your car.. jump in head first and sign up!
