[Travelandtourism] If you want to become a travel agent

Sat Jan 2 16:48:47 UTC 2010

Well Robyn:

Thank you very much for pointing all of  this out.

I am a real travel agent, and am going to school and taking courses through CLIA, IATA, and the Travel University, I am a travel agent who is certified, and have my CLIA Card, but starting out, as a CLIA Card Holder you should also be AC with them which includes onboard inspections of the Cruises as well as Walk Troughs.

And all of the training can be done online, though CLIA, IATA, and the Travel University.

Also, even though I am affiliated with Montrose Travel and so is a few others, I advertise on my own, and I also have to pay for my own domain, which is Echevarriatravel.com not Montrose's they host it, and am in the process of building my own website, you also have to have E&O Errors and Omission Insurance as well as paying taxes.  

Montrose travel is one of the best, the rank triple A with the Better Business Bureau, but I have also 20+ years in an office, especially sales, as well as a legal background as a legal secretary.  Plus it does have to be certified in the products you are selling, knowing the city codes, your geography, and what your client likes and dislikes.

Yes I agree there are many host agencies that are not good that is why I went and checked them all out.  And I once I have all the training I can get I am applying for grants and loans and the Commission for the Blind if you are not familiar with them does have a matching grant, that they will match up to $15,000.00 for your business, so just because of is an independent doesn't mean that we are not travel agents, more and more people are working online and from the home only because the rents for brick and mortar business are expensive, and I am able to write off on my taxes my expenses that I put into it.

And once I have more money I will be on my own, but in the meantime, I am also educating the sighted to work with the Blind in fact for those who don't know Marion Gwizdala who is the President of NAGDU, and I will be holding a webinar training seminar for all the Montrose travel agents on Feb 25.

Montrose has been in business for over 50+ years as a travel agency in Montrose, California, which now has included the home based market place.
Happy New Year!

Cheryl Echevarria 
Independent Contractor
www.Echevarriatravel.com<http://www.echevarriatravel.com/>
1-866-580-5574
Reservations at echevarriatravel.com<mailto:Reservations at echevarriatravel.com>
Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: ROBYN R WALLEN<mailto:robynwallen at juno.com> 
  To: travelandtourism at nfbnet.org<mailto:travelandtourism at nfbnet.org> 
  Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 11:23 AM
  Subject: Re: [Travelandtourism] If you want to become a travel agent

  there are two ways to become a travel agent.   There are certainly online
  programs where you can sign up for a website and pay a fee and become a
  seller of travel not a certified travel agent.   Some of these sites do
  offer training but if you want to be a 'real' travel agent there is some
  serious training involved.  There are real travel schools that offer
  programs and some brick and morter agencies also offer on the job
  training.  However many  of the travel websites you find when you google
  are actually card mills.  They charge a fee and offer you and iata card
  with some agent discounts.  To truly earn that card you need to sell a
  minimum of $5,000 in a year in travel.  To be as effective as possible
  you really do need real travel training and more than online courses.  I
  have been in the industry over 10 years and one of our frustrations is
  when we have people call who claim to be agents to book travel but have
  no clue of basic knowledge like airport and city codes, airline policies
  and pricing, and even what travel regulations are.   Sure it is quick to
  sign up for a website but there are two things to be wary of.  One is
  make sure it is a legit agencie and remember you should not pay a huge
  fee.  Number two make sure it is not a card mill.   There are home agents
  out there who work for good companies and who actually have travel
  knowledge but there are others who really do not and what can happen is
  it can bite you in the behind if you are not careful.  If working from
  home you really need errors and omissions insurance and you can work thru
  a host agencie or thru a brick and mortar company.   If you are going to
  work from home and you find a good agencie they should offer courses in
  basic travel knowledge.   There are many tools out there.  Remember you
  make more money on  hotels, cruises, and packages than you will on
  airline tickets.   Airline commissions are basically gone now but some
  consolidators do exsist.  The real rule of thumb is you cannot be a 
  certified travel agent just because you want to and if you sign up for a
  website you are not a real agent unless that company offers real training
  in basic knowledge and certificatino which be warned will cost you more. 
  In a perfect world we could just say I want to be an agent and sign up
  but would you want your doctor to get his job that way either?  I am not
  knocking online agencies providing they do not just tell someone to  pay
  and fee and whoa la  they are an agent it just does not work that way at
  least in the legitimate world of travel agents.

  Hope that helps.
  Robyn
  ____________________________________________________________
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