Becoming a travel agent About This Page:

[BarbB]

Hi everyone:

I just found this board and it looks like an amazing resource. I am considering becoming a travel agent and have found a school in my area. I just wondered what type of income I can expect as a newbie and also after a year or two? I would want to work at an agency first and then maybe consider a home business. I really need a career change but income needs to be taken into consideration.

Thanks so much for your help.

Barb
www.BurnForSuccess.com

[MrsM]

One of the most important things to remember is that most, if not all, of your income will be based on commission which isn't paid until after your clients travel. So, you can be putting in lots of hours working on plans and arrangements and not get any payment for it for over a year. That also makes it hard to count on a minimum pay. If something such as 9/11 happens again that causes a sharp downturn in travel, it's going to be a hard hit on your paycheck.

[dmpyron]

I used to say that teaching scuba in the tropics was a fun way to slowly starve to death. Being a travel agent is much the same way. I'm home based and it took me a while to build a cliental. My first commission check came about 7 months after I started, for a 6 night stay at a Courtyard by Marriott. Since then I've been doing a pretty good job selling cruises and Disney. I'm starting to see some demand for the Med for next year, lots of it on Celebrity. Also river cruising.

Your first year will be hard and poor. Working at a brick&mortar agency is hard for me to predict. I didn't go that route, based on an agent who had worked at one for 12 years before going home based.

OTOH, I sold a couple a Disney package. 7 nights at the GF in a concierge suite, 7 nights on a DCL Western in a cat 6 and then an Eastern in the same cabin. Got those checks last month. Cruise was in April.

Lots of work. You'll make roughly 12% on average, so that means you need to sell $200,000 to make $24K. At an average $1000 per cabin, that's 200 cabins a year. Doable, sell some groups.