HAR's Travel Agent Chatter | Friday 15 Steph Lee | Travel Industry Veteran, Founder Host Agency Reviews

In episode 166 Steph is co-hosting with Chad Burt of Outside Agents. Here are the questions they’ll tackle together this week!

1. I'm currently doing The Travel Institute’s TripKit course. Should I complete the CTA course before I start contacting host agencies? Also, what CTA course do you recommend (The Travel Institute, ASTA, etc…) ---Anonymous

2. I'm interested in learning more about utilizing press releases for attendance of industry events and/or FAMS. How would you recommend doing that? ---Anonymous

RESOURCES:

https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agent-certification (What travel agent certification is and isn’t. Plus, what are the certifications out there for agents?)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-business-press-release-templates-and-guide
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agent-fam-trip (Travel Agent FAM Trips: What They Are + How to Find Them + Etiquette)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/how-travel-agents-can-make-the-most-of-a-cruise-ship-inspection (How Travel Advisors Can Make the Most of a Cruise Ship Inspection)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/how-travel-agents-can-make-the-most-of-a-cruise-ship-inspection (The Definitive Site Inspection Checklist)
https://form.jotform.com/241655302194150 (Become a HAR subject matter expert! Fill out the form and get quoted or appear in future HAR resources.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/friday15 (Submit questions, sign up for reminders for the F15, along with that week's questions we'll be covering!)

****** Transcript + Show Notes: https://har.news/vol30 ******

Special thanks to today’s sponsors: Travel Edge and Uniglobe Travel Center

Today’s guest got her start in the industry with the inside sales team at Travel Impressions. After a reorg, Veranda Adkins decided to start her own agency, Travel Legacy. She gave herself 6 months to see if she could make things work. She’s yet to look back.

Having been in the shoes of a supplier, Veranda tells us how advisors—even those just started out—can strengthen supplier relationships to help grow their agency.

Celebrating 10 years of business, Veranda has grown her agency to an impressive $1.5M in annual sales. In the past decade, she’s evolved from selling mainly cruises to now doing destination weddings as well as escorting 8-10 groups a year around the world.

A firm believer in “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, Veranda focuses her destination wedding business with one supplier, resulting in an elite status that helps to ensure her clients have an amazing stay AND results in a client satisfaction rate of 99%.

And for those feeling like work encroaches on their personal life way more than they’d like, our guest has managed to find the work-life balance that eludes many entrepreneurs. She shares with us how avoiding FITs is part of her strategy to ensure she continues to love her job and has downtime to rejuvenate.

You’ll hear how to avoid losing your business Facebook page after a hack. From first hand experience, Veranda gives us two simple fail-safes so you can avoid the heartache and hassle she experienced.

Join us as we dig into groups with our globetrotting guest!

In episode 165 Steph is co-hosting David Meihoefer of Travel Planners International. Here’s a taste of the questions they’ll cover!

1. Hello, as a founding partner of an IATA accredited travel agency with plans to move to the United States by the end of the summer to operate from home, will I still have to go through all the stages of ARC-IATAN? Could HAR provide me with end-to-end support in this regard considering your 7 day agency setup program? Thanks & Regards. —Roland Y.

2. Before I started my travel agency I created a few Facebook groups to get the ball rolling. I have 5 groups currently all specific to Royal Caribbean and their ships. Combined they have over 120k members and growing daily. It's a fantastic source for leads.

This is where my question comes in.
They are all public groups and in the rules it states "Pirates be Gone" no selling or promoting business within the groups. I have many many travel agents doing whatever they can to get leads from the groups. I have had to remove members, ban members for just doing their jobs as travel agents. Some are vultures and it's ridiculous.
How do I handle this? I do not want to remove anyone, we all learn from these groups, we all make connections but I also put in 100s of hours creating content and managing these spaces to benefit my own agency.
Is there a happy medium? We are new to the travel industry and it really stinks watching others swoop in and take potential sales away. We have had some downright nasty messages come through because of this, but we have also had some very nice messages with people willing to help.
Any feedback you can provide would be great. Thank you for all of the incredible information you have provided, it has been invaluable.
Thank you, Travis



RESOURCES:

https://hostagencyreviews.com/7DS-accelerator (HAR’s 7 Day Setup Accelerator course on starting your agency)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/iata-number (What is an IATA number?)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agent-certification (What travel agent certification is and isn’t. Plus, what are the certifications out there for agents?)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agency-accreditation (A list of the different travel agent accreditation options.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/what-is-an-arc-number (What is an ARC number?)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-leads (How to build a client base and find leads)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/top-4-travel-agency-marketing-tools (Promoting your travel agency on social media with these tools)

https://hostagencyreviews.com/hosts/travel-planners-international
(Travel Planners International’s profile on HAR)

https://hostagencyreviews.com/friday15 (Submit questions, sign up for reminders for the F15, along with that week's questions we'll be covering!)

In episode 164 Steph is co-hosting again with Lindsay Taylor of Travel Leaders 365. Have a look at the questions below that they cover in this rich and informative edition of the Friday 15!

1. Hi Steph. I worked as a Travel Manager at my previous company, however, it was a created position and I used a combination of Concur, Expedia, Hotels.com, National Car rental and all the other sites. I loved this position but it all went away during Covid. Now, I'd like to get back into it but everything I'm interested in requires some Sabre experience. I know it's easy and I know I could do it but do you think it's worth taking the 60 hour course with The Travel Institute? Is there a better place to obtain this training? It could add a few lines on my resume and I'm great with self-study. $149 doesn't seem high for getting some experience. What are your thoughts? Thanks for your time! :) —Anonymous

2. Hi Steph. I have a diploma from Penn Foster and when I look at the CTA, I feel like I've already done all of the same lessons. Is it better to have one of these certifications over the diploma I've already received? Are these just better recognized and received by people in the industry and clients? It seems like these have a more elevated status over my diploma. Is that the case? —Anonymous

3. I refunded a non refundable ticket by accident. The agency paid it back but now I'm on the hook for over $6000. The airline does not reverse the transaction so the traveler has a credit. Have you ever worked with this? I would like to find out how this is even legal? ---Anonymous


RESOURCES:

https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/what-is-gds (In-depth information on what the GDS, global distribution system, is and which travel advisors use it.)
https://www.thetravelinstitute.com/product/sabre-personal-trainer/ (Travel Institute’s program)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/become-corporate-travel-agent (Tips on how to become a corporate travel agent.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/travelagentchatter/molly-williams-the-optimists-travel (TAC episode with Molly Williams.
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agent-certification (What travel agent certification is and isn’t. Plus, what are the certifications out there for agents?)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agency-debit-memo (What is a travel agency debit memo?)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/what-is-gds (In-depth information on what the GDS, global distribution system, is and which travel advisors use it.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/hosts/travel-leaders-365 (TL 365’s HAR profile)

https://TL365.com (TL 365’s website)

ltaylor@tl365.com (Lindsay’s email address)

https://hostagencyreviews.com/friday15 (Submit questions, sign up for reminders for the F15, along with that week's questions we'll be covering!)

In episode 163 Steph is co-hosting with Lindsay Taylor of Travel Leaders 365, If you have a question for Steph and her co-hosts, please submit it here for a future episode: https://hostagencyreviews.com/friday15 !

1. I work as an independent contractor so I already have an LLC for non travel related business. I was wondering if I could just add a "second" DBA and use the same LLC to start the travel business but continue to work on my full time job as another name. So basically 2 DBAs under one LLC? I live in Florida. Thanks! —Anonymous

2. Hello, so I live in the US and want to help people in Guyana, South America purchase flights to travel to and from the US and charge a small fee. I want to use sites like Priceline and Expedia and Booking to purchase the flights. Sort of an off the books business. Is this possible? —Mike S.

3. Hi, I’m curious about startup/yearly/monthly fees. I keep reading that it's a red flag if a travel host charges. In your opinion and experience, what do you want to look for when searching for a host? Thanks! –Jamie K.


RESOURCES:

https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agency-business-structures (The options for your travel agency’s business structure — pros and cons)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/page/travel-advisor-research-reports/ (Travel agent survey data on fee charging practices: what they charge for, how much, fee structures and more.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/page/travel-advisor-research-reports/ (Travel agent survey data on fee charging practices: what they charge for, how much, fee structures and more.)
https://www2.arccorp.com/support-training/fraud-prevention/ (ARC’s fraud prevention webinar)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agency-debit-memo (What is a travel agency debit memo?)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/what-is-gds (In-depth information on what the GDS, global distribution system, is and which travel advisors use it.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/hosts/travel-leaders-365 (TL 365’s HAR profile)

https://TL365.com (TL 365’s website)

ltaylor@tl365.com (Lindsay’s email address)

https://hostagencyreviews.com/friday15 (Submit questions, sign up for reminders for the F15, along with that week's questions we'll be covering!)

In episode 162 Steph Lee is joined by Chad Burt of Outside Agents. We’ve got some great questions from you all. Speaking of – if you have a question for Steph and her co-hosts, please submit it here for a future episode: https://hostagencyreviews.com/friday15 !

1. Do the airlines still give commissions on flights? If not, what is the benefit of an $2300 ARC #? —Anonymous


2. Hello! I have a quick question about workflows. If you have a travel services agreement, is it better to have clients sign that before or after you send quotes/proposals? I don't want to scare clients away before they see options, but I also don't want to waste my time! —Kristin R.




RESOURCES:


https://hostagencyreviews.com/friday15 (Submit questions, sign up for reminders for the F15, along with that week's questions we'll be covering!)

https://hostagencyreviews.com/friday15/agent-etiquette-on-fam-trips-benefits-of-the-gds-should-i-belong-to-asta (Friday 15 going over benefits of GDS system)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/what-is-gds (In-depth information on what the GDS, global distribution system, is and which travel advisors use it.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/what-is-an-arc-number (What is an ARC number?)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agency-accreditation (A list of the different travel agent accreditation options.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agent-commissions (All about travel agent commissions, including airline commissions.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/what-is-a-host-agency (Explainer of what a host agency is)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/page/travel-advisor-research-reports/ (Travel agent survey data on fee charging practices: what they charge for, how much, fee structures and more.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/how-to-qualify-clients-travel-agent (How to qualify clients and recordings of real travel advisor conversations to qualify their clients)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/free-travel-agent-forms-clients (Free travel agent forms from HAR)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-waivers-protect-your-travel-agency (Travel waiver forms from HAR)