Travel Agency & Agent Types

Consortia

There are several large national consortia as well as large regional players. Below are some of the biggest names in the business. A travel agency joins a consortia to obtain benefits that they could not get on their own (i.e. higher commission from suppliers, marketing support). Typically an agency pays an annual fee to be a part of the consortia and to receive all of the benefits. As part of a consortia a travel agency does not have to give up their local brand name. The consortia name is opaque to the agency’s customers. Think of the consortia as the ‘engine behind’ the travel agency.

Ensemble Travel Group

http://www.ensembletravel.com/

Leisure Travel Alliance

http://leisuretravelalliance.com/

MAST Travel Network

http://www.mvptravel.com/

Results! Travel

http://www.resultstravel.com/

Signature Travel Network (technically they are a coop)

https://www.signaturetravelnetwork.com/

Travel Savers

http://www.travelsavers.com/

Vacation.com

http://www.vacation.com/

WESTA (technically they are a coop)

http://www.mvptravel.com/

Franchise Organizations

The number one benefit that travel agencies get from joining a franchise organization is brand recognition. Agencies typically can keep their own doing business as (DBA) name but they have to incorporate the franchise name in to the branding of their agency.

Travel Leaders

https://www.travelleaders.com/

American Express

http://www.amextravelresources.com/search

Host Agencies

Individual travel agents often times join a host agency to get similar benefits of a consortia (i.e. higher commission from suppliers, marketing support). Technically the agent becomes an Independent Contractor for the host agency that they join.. There are hundreds of host agencies in the U.S. that have memberships from 25-3,000+ travel agents. The Professional Association of Travel Hosts (PATH) has 25 members (listed below). The Host agency channel has gotten so big that they even have their own recruiting and review sites (also listed below).

KHM Travel Group

http://khmtravel.com/

Nexion

http://www.nexion.com/index.html

Travel Planners International

https://www.travelplannersinternational.com/

Avoya Travel

http://www.avoyatravel.com/

Ticket 2 Travel

http://www.aticket2travel.com/index.php

Cruise Planners

http://www.cruiseplanners.com/Uniglobe