- Defining The Term
- Options For The Home-Based Agent
- Beyond The Home-Office
What exactly is a home-based travel agent?
Defining the Term
In the early days of what I like to call the Home-Based Travel Revolution, the definition of a “home-based travel agent” was pretty straightforward. That was back in the 80s and 90s. But times change and what was once a small (and controversial) phenomenon has grown into a major force in the travel industry.
As this segment of the travel distribution system has evolved and matured, however, precise definitions are getting a bit trickier.
Broadly speaking, a home-based travel agent is anyone engaged in the marketing and selling of travel products from a home office. But that can cover a wide variety of different types of home-based travel agents who might have very different looking businesses.
Even so, in the travel industry and more specifically in the travel distribution industry, the term “home-based travel agent” is most often used to refer to someone who works out of their home office as an outside sales representative for a bonded, accredited travel agency, usually referred to as the “host agency.”
The home-based travel agent finds, qualifies, and books the customer; the host agency prints the tickets (if any) and serves as the conduit between the home-based agent and the travel supplier whose product the home-based agent is selling.
The home-based travel agent and the host agency share the commissions paid by travel suppliers according to a negotiated percentage split that reflects (or should reflect) the amount of work and effort expended by each party in making the booking happen.
But as we shall see, these days there are some “home-based” travel agents who operate out of commercial premises outside their home. So maybe the definition should revolve around the particular business model these independent agents use or group of strategies they deploy to reach their business goals. Some have suggested that “non-ARC agency” is a better term.
Some are even asking “Is the term home-based travel agent obsolete?” That is, whether we are a “traditional” travel agency operating form a “brick-and-mortar” location on Main Street, a home-baser working from a spare bedroom in our pajamas, or a hybrid business that has set up shop in a rented space, we are all just travel agents
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