I love explaining how to become a Travel Agent!
This is very long and extremely informative because I believe in being thorough. We will occasionally offer Q&A sessions on zoom and have informational meetings almost every week.
A little about me… I am an occupational therapy assistant and have 4 kids and we travel a LOT. We love Walt Disney World & Universal Studios! We also love theme parks.
A little about the company. The company I work under is Archer Travel Service. They have been in business for over 70 years and maintain an A+ rating with the BBB. Click here for their profile: https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/la-crescenta/profile/travel-agency/archer-travel-service-inc-1216-13144896 I chose Archer Travel Service specifically over all of the other agencies out there.
Here are 21 of my reasons why:
1. NO large startup fee!
2. They allow us to have CLIA access as early as day 1.
3. Our agents get a $50 discount on the CLIA membership, making it $79! The regular cost is $129!
4. We are not required or asked to recruit other agents. EVER.
5. They have a convention every year in Las Vegas.
6. They have in-office corporate support and several corporate FB groups if we need help or have questions!
7. They do not require an extensive travel history.
8. They have training almost every single day on zoom. We will train you how to do this!
9. They pay us 80% commission from our first day. That is the highest commission split I could find!
10. There are NO sales quotas. NONE. No quotas of any kind.
11. They have a 10-day money back guarantee. That is plenty of time to join and get some training under your belt and make sure the company is a great fit for you!
12. They are in the top tier of sales volume at most vendors.
13. We have access to the Marriott Fantastic rate. This is an amazing discount that some companies have lost access to.
14. Archer Travel Service has been in business for over 70 years!
15. They maintain an A+ rating with the BBB! (See the link above.)
16. They do not require a contract.
17. They do not require a non-compete clause.
18. Incredible benefits are available to you as a small business. (Please consult your accountant.)
19. You can earn free cruises by completing training for certain vendors!
20. The commissions and Travel Agent perks & benefits are amazing.
Here are a FEW of the companies we can qualify for those things at. There are so many more than this though!
Disney, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, Marriott, Wyndham, Hilton, Holiday Inn, IHG, Margaritaville, Hyatt, RIU, Iberostar, Sandals/Beaches, Atlantis, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Cunard, Celebrity, MSC, Margaritaville at Sea, Enterprise, Avis, Thrifty, Hertz, and so many more!
21. We have Evo+ which is an amazing booking engine where we get the best discounts on hotels that can be passed on to our clients!
We offer unlimited training and support. We make sure that you have access to all the vendors you want to book with or travel with. You can join whenever you are ready, there is never any pressure!
I absolutely love what I do, and I’m an open book. I will answer as many questions as you can think of at any time.
You can sign up for CLIA as soon as you want! CLIA is short for Cruise Line International Association. They are an organization just for official Travel Agents! When you join, they send u a digital membership card as soon as you are approved. They will also send you a physical membership card in the mail several weeks later. You will need to provide proof of the digital or physical card to most vendors when you utilize a discounted Travel Agent rate. CLIA memberships are usually $129 per year, however we get a $50 discount bringing our price down to $79 for each year. You will need a CLIA card to utilize your Travel Agent discounts and it is also needed to properly register for and to complete the Marriott training program.
Here are a couple of commission and Travel Agent discount examples. (Please keep in mind that there may be portions of trips and cruises that are considered non-commissionable, but these examples are standard using 10% & 16% rates.) If you book a $10k vacation, most vendors will pay 10% of that trip as a commission, which is $1k. You get 80% of that payout, which is $800.
If you book a $10k cruise, most vendors will pay 16% of that trip as a commission, which is $1600. You get 80% of that payout, which is $1280.
In September, my mentor (4 of them on this vacation) spent 7 nights at Coronado Springs in Walt Disney World in a club level room for $2300 total. The normal cost was $4800. That was over a 50 percent savings she was able to obtain because she was a Travel Agent and had completed Disney’s College of Knowledge Training Program.
For her October Halloween on the High Seas Disney cruise, she paid less than $3500 for 7 people! She was in 2 verandah rooms on the Disney Fantasy for 7 nights on the 10th deck. The price included all food, port fees, taxes, and gratuities. The regular cost for those 2 rooms was over $14,000. She was able to obtain that discount because she was a Travel Agent and had completed Disney’s College of Knowledge Training Program.
I have stayed in several discounted rooms at Marriott using the “Famtastic” rate. This is a special rate available to Travel Agents who have completed the Marriott Training Program and whose company is permitted to book the rate. Some companies are disqualified from using this rate and that is unfortunate.
We have gotten amazing rates on property at Universal Studios and at several hotel brands including Wyndham, IHG, Hilton, and Hyatt to name a few. The best part is we have a 10-day money back guarantee, so there is no risk. You can join and make sure you love everything we offer within 10 days!
I’m here to help every single step of the way! We have a private FB group and group chat, as well as several corporate FB groups. We have an entire corporate support staff as well. If you are interested, here is the sign-up process in a nutshell.
As soon as you are ready, we will send you a sign-up link. Once you sign up, I will add you to our FB group and FB group chat. I will send you our agent guide and direct you to your training modules. You will need to complete those modules in the back office of our website once you sign up. The training modules usually take less than one hour to complete. Once that’s done, we move on from there. We do everything in steps so it’s not overwhelming to you.
Benefits of being a Travel Agent: As a Travel Agent, you can earn full commission on any of your vacations, rental cars, cruises, etc. that you have not taken a Travel Agent Rate on. You can earn a FREE cruise with Princess Cruise Line, MSC & Cunard! Marriott has 2 special rates just for Travel Agents, including their “Famtastic” rate! You can earn full commission or get AMAZING discounts at Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, Marriott, Wyndham, Hilton, Holiday Inn, IHG, Margaritaville, Hyatt, RIU, Iberostar, Sandals/Beaches, Atlantis, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Cunard, Celebrity, MSC, Margaritaville at sea, Enterprise, Avis, Thrifty, Hertz, and soooo many more.
There are so many places, the possibilities are endless.
Disney Benefits: A deeply discounted stay (of up to 7 nights) once per calendar year (2023, 2024, etc.) at Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, AND Aulani. You can stay once a year at all 3 locations! Disney does not specify a specific percentage off, but In my scenarios that I’ve priced out personally, the discount has been right around 50 percent off at Walt Disney World and 25-50 percent off for Aulani and Disneyland. You also have access to book Vero Beach or Hilton Head once per year in the place of your Walt Disney World discounted trip. Walt Disney World: 50% off of (1) 2-10 day single park or Park Hopper ticket or 1 complimentary 1 day Park Hopper ticket Disneyland: Complimentary 1 day Park Hopper ticket Disney Cruise Line: Disney offers 2 different deeply discounted cruise rates *See above for my Disney Cruise Line example of what my mentor paid on our most recent cruise.
Universal Studios Benefits: Up to 45% off of your room stays 1 complimentary 3 park, 3 day, park-to-park ticket 50% off of (4) additional 3 park, park-to-park tickets.
Here are the costs associated with being a Travel Agent with us. It’s $89.99 a month for Archer Travel Service to maintain having you under their umbrella. That $89.99 monthly fee covers all the training, website, corporate support, payroll processing, usage of their Sellers of Travel licenses, access to their E&O policy, etc. Once a year you pay $79 for your CLIA membership. You do need CLIA to be able to utilize your agent discounts. Other than that, there aren’t any additional fees at all! We have all the start-up fees waived right now. The only additional costs would be if you want business cards, merch, or specific things for your business. For example, I had t-shirts made that say “ask me how I got here” for us to wear at Disney and on our cruise. We would give people my business card when they asked, “how we got here”. Please let me know if you have any questions! I’m available anytime! You can also text me anytime at 618-322-2165. Remember we have a 10-day moneyback guarantee!
Liz Boldt
Bizzy Bell Travels