What is Host Agency ? — All You Need To Know

Tours and Travels is a business that is the talk of the town at any given time. Be it off-season or travel restarting across the world. Be it a vacation destination or work-related travel; this industry comes into the picture in ways you can’t even imagine.

While it may sound like this industry is monotonous or works on one model across the agency, this is very far from the truth. There are multiple models and systems under which this sector and industry work. Today, we are here to talk about the Host Agency model, what it is, how it works, and how to choose the correct one for yourself.

What is a Host Agency?

Very similar to a real estate brokerage and a real estate agency is the concept of tours and travels host agencies. If you take up the task of selling tours and travel plans and deals as an agent, the host agency is the one which provides for you. We mean by this that everything from your training on how to sell, what to sell, and to whom, to your resources for selling to the necessary tools will be coming from this agency. At the pinnacle of what they provide is the vendors’ details and tricks, along with the access to their product portfolio. This, coupled with the training, allows you to start selling.

In the simplest of terms, a host agency is a travel business providing a company that ties up and works with agents in order to continue their tours and travels business.

How do they work?

As a person looking to be an agent or know in-depth about the tourism and travel industry, a basic knowledge of the host agency agent system is something you are either aware of or must know. As worked out, the ecosystem works broadly on the below-defined model, though some differences may exist from place to place and company to company.

· The host agency decides on where all and how to work with individual agents and what products to sell through them.

· Based on their need and the people looking to be agents, a working model is deployed in order to function together.

· There is a joining fee on an annual or semi-annual basis that the agents must pay in order to have access to Ike resources of the host agency.

· The actual sale system often works on a commission model where the host agency gets around 30% of the client’s final payment to the vendors or payment by vendors while you keep the other 70%.

· Certain agencies work on models where the agents may get additional be edits if volume sales take place.

It is essential for an agent or someone looking to be an agent to formalize these aspects of the work in a contract so as to avoid any conflicts later.

Choosing the right host agency

There are many factors that you must keep in mind when finding the right host agency for yourself. Let us look at some of those:

· Long term partnership — If you are looking to work in this sector and industry as an agent for the coming many years and looking to expand your business based on this, it is crucial to choose an agency with a vision and long term commitment to continuing on this model. Once you, as an agent, are well known for the product portfolio you offer, it will be difficult for you and inconvenient for your customers to switch to another agency.

· The right deal — You will be working with the agency paying a fee for the resources. It is crucial that you find the one where you get the most value for money in terms of all the resources we mentioned above for the fee that you pay. Another part of the deal is the commission split that the agency offers you.

· Effective agent — As the industry is very competitive, being able to have a product portfolio where you can effectively give great deals to your clients is a necessity and something you must look for when choosing your host agency.

All in all, there is a lot of work that goes behind choosing the right host agency for you, and you must look at all your options in detail before making a choice.