Other Earning Opportunity Personal Travel Agent (Work from home!)

Jon

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I'm seeing more and more of this all over social media at the moment.

I know it's probably connected to the time of year and everyone and their dog seems to be booking holidays

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46967143

The British holidaymaker is back in fine fettle with a January jump in bookings for the summer.

Helping sales is a growing army of 2,000 personal travel agents who work from home and visit clients whenever convenient.

Worries about a Brexit effect on travel and the economy caused a lull over Christmas, but the vital New Year selling season is off to a rapid start.

Bookings so far for May to October are up 5% versus the same period last year.

Michelle Tolton, from the village of Rothley, near Leicester, sells holidays in clients' houses, over the phone and via Facebook.

"It's going well this year," she says, "People are booking early. They want to escape the doom and gloom.

Basically, it's a whole load of MLM companies (although the BBC article doesn't seem to know that) so it gets presented to you in a LET ME BOOK A HOLIDAY FOR YOU! OR YOU COULD JOIN MY TEAM! type way!

Let me book your 2020 holiday even though the prices haven't been released so I'll just hold onto the money and them skim off the top and book when they are cheapest with Thomas Cook or Virgin or whoever...

Would you trust a random person off Facebook with thousands of your pounds??!?!? It seems some people are... Or the 'reps' are saying they are!!
 

kaiserpups

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I had a look at that about 2 years ago. What a rip off. The whole sign up, join my team but pay £50 a month which is waived if you recruit 2 people a month. As far as I could see there's no ABTA or ATOL protection either sending everyone up the creek when it all goes wrong!
 

Jon

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I had a look at that about 2 years ago. What a rip off. The whole sign up, join my team but pay £50 a month which is waived if you recruit 2 people a month. As far as I could see there's no ABTA or ATOL protection either sending everyone up the creek when it all goes wrong!

Yeah, see this was the first thing I noticed alongside 'What the hell makes Carol sat in her onesie think she is qualified to deal with holiday bookings when it all goes up shit creek?'

Didn't realise you have to pay £50 a month if you join up! What's all that about?!??!!?
 

kaiserpups

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Apparently, that's your 'agent fees' hmm really? It might have changed now, I know a couple of companies merged since I looked into it, but that was in my days of being easily led into things that were going to make me 'loads of money' hence my house being filled with loads of starter kits and other useless bits and pieces. Fortunately I know better now!
 

Prettygreeneyes

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Rethinking travel strategy in the UK there isn't much of the same hosting agencies as there are in USA which allow you to set up cheaper.
 

Jon

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They have ABTA now.
Even so

Would you trust someone on facebook to sort out your holiday when something goes wrong or you need to make last minute changes in the same way you would with say Jet2 or Virgin Holiday etc.

If 'Karen' or whoever isn't online what's the fallback plan?
 

debsmith1176

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The fallback plan Jon is we always give the customer our tel no and keep in regular contact until the point of departure, and again upon return
If something does go wrong or a last minute change needs to be made, then we will sort it out for the customer with the help of whichever supplier/partner has been used and our in house customer service department.
We never leave customers stranded nor do we take any money off them personally and all funds are paid directly to the supplier.
 

Jon

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The fallback plan Jon is we always give the customer our tel no and keep in regular contact until the point of departure, and again upon return
If something does go wrong or a last minute change needs to be made, then we will sort it out for the customer with the help of whichever supplier/partner has been used and our in house customer service department.
We never leave customers stranded nor do we take any money off them personally and all funds are paid directly to the supplier.

Ok so this bit is interesting as I don't fully understand the business model you guys use.

Are you just giving the potential customer affiliate links to book or something?
 

debsmith1176

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No not at all! We are partnered with well known suppliers who are fully Abta and atol bonded.
These suppliers often send us special deals to post on social media to pique interest.
We might have friends or family that want to book their family holiday, which then we can search through our own booking platform or through our preferred partners to find their perfect holiday.
The agents complete all the leg work for the customer and remain in contact with them through out.
We have to take intense training before we can even advertise or sell travel.
We also have a travel university where we gain recognised qualifications.

I have also seen mentioned the fees we pay.
It's basically a franchise business so to speak, where we pay a one of fee and a monthly fee for our website, booking platform and all training to keep us up to date with the company and the industry.
 
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Jon

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Ah ok so it's a franchise. That's interesting then as I see so many people on Facebook pick up the 'i'm a travel agent, come to me with your holiday requirements' mantra and then within a month they never mention it again!

But I guess you guys are paying a hefty franchise fee?
 

debsmith1176

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Compared to other franchise companies we are actually quite affordable £156 one of fee and £46pm.
Most other companies you could be paying anything from £10k plus
 
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Jon

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Compared to other franchise companies we are actually quite affordable £156 one of fee and £46pm.
Most other companies you could be paying anything from £10k plus
Right well then I would say what I am seeing online isn't you guys then as the haphazard way I see the stuff being advertised as if motivating people to spend thousands of pounds for a holiday is no more than asking people to 'drop me a pm with your holiday dreamz!' is nothing at all isn't coming from people paying £46 a month!
 

debsmith1176

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We have 55,000 agents worldwide and 6,500 in UK.
Remaining compliant is one of the main rules all agents must abide by.
We also offer the option of building a team of new agents but this part is totally optional and is partnered with a separate company.
It's like any business, you have to put in the work to see a return..It's not a 'get quick rich' business.
 
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Chrislennon1

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We have 55,000 agents worldwide and 6,500 in UK.
Remaining compliant is one of the main rules all agents must abide by.
We also offer the option of building a team of new agents but this part is totally optional and is partnered with a separate company.
It's like any business, you have to put in the work to see a return..It's not a 'get quick rich' business.

Debsmith1176, are you still with Inteletravel, how’s it going? How long is the training and what does it consist of? Thanks
 

debsmith1176

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Debsmith1176, are you still with Inteletravel, how’s it going? How long is the training and what does it consist of? Thanks

Hi Chrislennon1

Yes I am still with Inteletravel and have been for 2 years now.
There is Regulatory Training which has been set by ABTA to complete. This must be completed before you can search the Booking Platform or Book any Holidays.
This consists of complience, Code of Conduct and GDPR.
There is an exam at the end that must be passed to enable any booking. This will take around 3-4 hours to complete.
There is also a series of online training videos to complete, at the end of each section, you are asked a series of multiple choice questions.
Again, training for this takes 3 hours.
We also have our supplier webinars, were we learn how our supplier works, e.g what age range they target, itininaries, meals included, Tours Included, etc.
These you can watch in your own time, but advisable to watch before you complete a booking with them for a client. This will show you how to pay deposit and remaining balance or payment in full.
We have full training 2-3 times per week, there is always somebody available to answer questions and you will never be left on your own to find your own way around the system.

Regards Debbie
 

Chrislennon1

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Thanks Debbie, obviously your income comes from commission of the sale, what’s the percentage if you don’t mind me asking? Thanks for the details.
 

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