Wanderlust World Wanderlust World Fulfillment centers, or traditional travel agencies, are located in an office where clients can physically walk in and buy airline tickets and other forms of travel. The ease of making one's own travel arrangements online, as well as the airlines' decision to discontinue commissions to travel agents, have made it difficult for many travel agencies to attract enough business to stay profitable. As a result, many fulfillment centers have converted to host agencies.
A host agency is a travel agency with industry credentials (such as CLIA, IATAN) and the ability to purchase travel products from wholesalers. A host agency recruits independent agents to join its network. Agents must usually pay an initial fee to join the agency, and then pay the agency a percentage of commissions thereafter. In return, host agencies share their credentials, buying power and expertise with the agents.
When looking for a host agency, there are several things to keep in mind. Check how long the agency has been in business, and whether it is properly licensed and bonded. Look at what type of support the agency offers. Does the agency communicate regularly with agents? Look at the technology the agency uses. Is it up to date? Finally, check if the agency specializes in a certain area of travel. If the majority of an agency's bookings are cruises, and your niche is luxury hotels, you may want to look further.
Two large host agencies currently dominate the travel market. These are Nexion (nexion.com) and Travel Planners International (myhosttravelagency.com). These agencies have more than one thousand agents each. Two other agencies form a second tier in the industry. These are America's Vacation Center (americasvacationcenter.com) and Coral Sands Travel (coralsandstravelcom ). Each of these fast-growing agencies has at least 500 agents. Watch out for companies who consider themselves host agencies, but are known as "card mills" in the travel industry. These companies sell travel agent ID cards that many businesses in the industry will not honor.