The travel and tourism industry is riding a massive wave of increased spending and investment, meaning now is the perfect time to get involved. Best of all, you don’t have to be a jet-setting traveler yourself to do it, nor do you have to live in some exotic locale. Instead, you can work from your home and learn how to become a travel agent in Texas–or anywhere else!
Thanks to Boardwalk Travel Agency, becoming a travel agent has never been easier. Read on to learn how to become a travel agent in Texas and whether it’s a suitable opportunity for you.
Why Become a Travel Agent?
Working in the travel industry can take on many different forms, but one of the easiest and most lucrative options is to become a travel agent. As an agent, your job is to work with clients and help them book the vacation of their dreams. However, you can also specialize in travel accommodations for working professionals or people who like to travel regularly, not just once or twice per year.
But what are the advantages of becoming a certified travel agent? Let’s break some of them down:
- Access to Perks and Discounts – One part of your job is to develop relationships with travel vendors, such as hotels, resorts, and transportation companies. In exchange, these businesses typically offer discounts or free add-ons that you can offer your clients. The idea is to get people to upgrade to better experiences so the travel vendor earns more (as do you). But, you can also use these perks and discounts for yourself, your friends, or your family when it’s time for your next vacation.
- Work From Home – Even major travel agencies like Carnival Cruises use work-from-home specialists to help clients book their next cruise. Since maintaining an office is expensive, it’s much cheaper to use remote workers. So, if you like the idea of avoiding a daily commute and having flexibility over where, how, and when you work, it makes sense to become a travel agent.
- Turn Passion Into Profit – Do you love to travel? Do you love the idea of exploring other countries and cultures, or visiting some of the best resorts in the world? As an agent, you can share your passion with your clients, meaning they’ll be more engaged and more likely to book their next trips with you. Plus, as you plan itineraries and research different locales and destinations, you’ll get to live out your travel dreams vicariously through your clients!
How to Become a Travel Agent in Texas
For many years, the only way to become a certified travel agent was to get a job with an established agency. Fortunately, you don’t have to go that route anymore, and you can become an agent in much less time than you might think. Here’s a breakdown of each step involved in this process.
Step One: Sign Up for Boardwalk Travel
Boardwalk Travel provides access to its travel agency network for a one-time membership fee. This means you can book trips from now until you’re ready to retire, all without paying monthly or annual dues (as you would with other agencies). Plus, Boardwalk Travel works with some of the largest vendors, including Carnival Cruises, Disney, Universal Studios, and Expedia.
When you’re ready, you can also read our articles about how to become a Disney travel agent and how to become a travel agent from home.
Step Two: Go Through Boardwalk’s Training Program
With a standard travel agency, you’ll have to go through multiple weeks of daily training before you can start selling packages and earning commissions. With Boardwalk, you can access the training and support videos whenever you like. So, you can go at your own pace, which may mean training in your spare time or diving in and preparing yourself in a couple of days.
Step Three: Set Up Your Business in Texas
To sell travel packages, you’ll need to become a certified business owner. Fortunately, it’s very easy to set up an LLC or sole proprietorship in Texas. Although you are selling vacation packages, you don’t need to worry about a reseller’s license since you’re not buying inventory and reselling it to your customers.
Also, while Texas doesn’t require formal education or certification, it’s always a good idea to go above and beyond. A certification can instill trust in your customers and make them more likely to book with you. However, we recommend booking a few clients first to understand the basics of the job before advancing your career.
Step Four: Start Promoting Your Services
The best way to learn how to be an effective travel agent is to book a vacation package for a client. Fortunately, you likely have friends or family members who are interested in going on vacation sometime soon. So, you can let everyone you know about your status as a travel agent and offer your services.
The best part of working with friends or family members is that you can learn some of the finer details without the pressure of closing a deal. You have more flexibility, which allows you to refine your approach and get better at serving new clients.
Once you have a few bookings done, you can start promoting your services on social media. This is the best option when you’re new because these platforms are free to use.
Step Five: Build a Website
This step is optional, but a website does instill confidence in your customers and helps position you to expand your network and find new clients. That said, we don’t recommend investing in a website until you have some clients already. This way, you can use the money you earn from your initial commissions to help pay for the domain name and web hosting.
Fortunately, building a website has never been easier, and you can use AI programs to get it done faster than ever. We recommend starting with a basic layout and adding pages or services as you build your business.
Step Six: Provide Excellent Customer Service
A big part of success as a travel agent is repeat business and recommendations. While digital marketing and social media ads can help generate leads, it’s often best to rely on word-of-mouth to get better clients.
So, the best way to ensure your current clients will keep coming back and recommend you to everyone they know is to provide superb customer service. This means going above and beyond and helping your clients get the vacation of their dreams. While you might have to put in extra work upfront, it will pay off down the line as you get bigger and better clients who travel more often.
Perks of Becoming a Travel Agent With Boardwalk Travel
While being a travel agent won’t make you independently wealthy, it can lead to a sustainable revenue stream. Plus, when you work as an independent agent, there’s no limit to how much you can earn. Here are some of the best advantages of signing up with Boardwalk Travel instead of working for a traditional agency.
- Lifetime Access and Support – Most travel agencies charge a monthly or yearly fee to access their services and support team. So, if you don’t book any trips for a particular month, you have to pay these fees out of your own pocket. Boardwalk Travel only charges a single membership fee, and you get lifetime access to our network.
- Industry-Leading 70-Percent Commissions – When working with a traditional agency, you’ll get an hourly rate plus commissions. However, since you’ll become an independent agent with Boardwalk Travel, you won’t earn an hourly rate. To help make up for that, we offer 70 percent commissions on everything you sell. As we mentioned, there’s no limit to how much you can earn with our network.
- Ongoing Training – Booking clients is the best way to get experience and learn the best tricks of the trade. However, we also know that working with experienced agents can help shorten the learning curve and empower you to close deals that much faster. That’s why we offer support training with veteran agents. This way, you can learn the inner workings of different travel providers and understand what it takes to find and land new clients.
- Flexible Scheduling and Booking Opportunities – If you work as an agent with Carnival or Disney, you’re only allowed to sell packages from that company. However, at Boardwalk Travel, we work with a variety of providers, so you can choose the one that aligns best with your passion and career goals. For example, you can book a Disney resort vacation one day and a Carnival Cruise the next. Best of all, you set your own hours, so work as little or as much as you like! There are no minimums to hit or quotas to meet like there are at other agencies.
Start Your Career as a Travel Agent in Texas Today!
Now that you understand more about how to become a travel agent in Texas, are you excited about booking trips for yourself and your new clients? Sign up with Boardwalk Travel Agency today and see where this exciting opportunity can take you!
