A career as a travel advisor is an exciting opportunity to meld your passion for travel with your professional life. As you dive in, one of the first questions you’ll likely consider is “How do travel agents get paid?” This article breaks down the answer and explains how Fora does things a little differently from the industry norm.
When you’re ready to dive into your new career as a travel advisor, apply to become a Fora Advisor.
How travel agents make money
Travel agents, including Fora Advisors, are predominantly paid in commissions. A commission is a percentage of the cost of a travel experience, such as a hotel stay or cruise. Many agents also charge planning fees for additional services. Moreover, as a travel agent, you can earn money from booking leisure travel or corporate travel (or both). Below, we've outlined an overview of the two primary ways travel agents make money.
Travel advisors earn commissions from booking travel
Commissions are the centerpiece of how travel agents are paid. Here’s how they work: Let’s say a client wants to stay at a hotel during their trip. They connect with a travel agent, who books the room on their behalf. The hotel will then pay commission based on a percentage of the room cost. The commission varies from property to property or brand to brand, but tends to range between five and 10% (and with Fora’s preferred partnerships, often more). Clients choose to book with travel agents because of the unique value they unlock, like complimentary hotel perks, expertise, one-on-one support, travel planning and convenience.
There are plenty of other aspects of travel that are commissionable for travel agents. These include rental cars, cruises, vacation packages, tours, travel insurance, yachts and more. Commissions are typically split between travel advisors and their host agencies.
Travel agents can also charge planning or service fees
Many travelers want an agent's assistance to get the most out of their experience (or they simply want to outsource the trip planning to an expert they can trust). Better yet, many of these clients are happy to pay a premium to take their travel to the next level. In cases like this, travel agents can earn money from planning fees, which cover time spent creating custom itineraries, making complex bookings and research — the exact nature of a planning or service fee varies from agent to agent.
Many Fora Advisors charge planning fees. The exact fee amount varies by advisor, but a common starting point is $250 per week of travel planned, which adds up quickly if you have multiple clients planning trips. Travel advisors with more experience often charge more.
How do travel agents get paid?
Travel agents are typically paid by their host agency
To become a travel agent, you’ll likely join a host agency. This is a type of business that provides support and resources to independent travel agents.
Travel agents are small business owners. By affiliating with a host agency, they gain access to a range of benefits including enhanced commission rates from travel suppliers (the travel brands that advisors book with). This partnership allows agents to focus more on client service and growing their business, while leveraging the buying power and industry relationships of the host agency. For new agents, a host agency can also offer a structured path to enter the industry, providing necessary guidance and resources to establish themselves in the competitive travel market. At Fora, we offer a comprehensive program to equip our agents, seasoned and otherwise, with the necessary tools to build thriving travel businesses .
Every host agency has a different way of approaching payments, but at Fora, we pride ourselves on our approach that makes commission payments seamless. We offer our travel advisors commission tracking and payment services; our finance team takes care of all the invoicing, tracking and direct deposits — so our advisors can focus more on the fun part (travel planning, that is).
“We have our own back-end customer relationship manager that shows us the progress of the booking and the commission status,” Fora Advisor Amna Ismail said in an interview with TravelAge West. “There’s a department just for commissions, so they do the following up. It's an awesome perk.”
Travel agents get paid after their client finishes traveling
If you’re used to a career that pays hourly or by salary, getting used to a commission-based role may seem daunting, but the process is relatively straightforward. In terms of how it works, once a client finishes their travel experience, the travel partner (supplier) pays the host agency a commission. A host agency has an IATA number, which is used in the process of commission claims and payments. This number identifies the agency in transactions with travel suppliers — without one, you can’t sell travel. From here, the host agency pays its agent.
How Fora helps travel agents get paid
From handling payment logistics to offering best-in-class training, here’s how Fora is different from traditional travel agencies — especially when it comes to how our travel advisors get paid.
Fora handles invoicing and payments
You might be surprised to learn that most traditional travel agencies and agents often have to chase down the commission they're owed. And many partners still pay by check (yes, really). Not at Fora. We invoice our travel partners on our agents’ behalf and track commissions.
When a Fora Advisor makes a booking via our all-in-one booking platform, our in-house finance team is automatically alerted. In Portal, our integrated travel advisor platform, they’ll be able to see the status of past and upcoming commission payments. Commission payments will be deposited directly into an advisor’s bank account.
Fora doesn’t have minimum sales quotas to get started+
Fora Advisors book on their own terms. Our flexible approach allows advisors to build their career the way they want. Advisors who want to work their way up Fora’s certification tiers — like Advanced, Pro and Fora X — will need to surpass certain booking minimums, however.
Fora offers a wide suite of preferred partners (many of which offer enhanced commissions)
Fora has established partnerships with over 6,000 hotels worldwide, granting our advisors the ability to offer their clients unique upgrades, perks and benefits at these locations. This extensive network includes esteemed hotel groups like Virtuoso, Four Seasons and Rosewood, among many others. In addition, we have our own in-house preferred partnership program called Fora Reserve. Our collaborations span luxury, boutique and lifestyle properties; we cater to a diverse range of client preferences. For all of our preferred partnerships, we have a dedicated team that negotiates favorable commissions for our advisors, and enhanced perks for our travelers.
Fora empowers advisors to scale their businesses
There are two more areas that affect how travel agents get paid, at least in terms of their bottom line: travel agent certification and travel agent training. Traditional travel agencies often require prospective travel agents to pay hefty fees and tuition before they ever get paid a commission. These upfront costs impede how quickly advisors can build their business. Fora does this differently: We offer in-house training ranging from the basics of becoming a travel agent to more advanced topics like group bookings and working with DMCs. All of this training is fully remote (learn how to become a travel agent from home for more info) and included in our subscription fee. Lastly, we help our Fora Advisors build their book of business through programs dedicated to finding the ideal client, dialing in finances or optimizing operational processes.
Apply to become a Fora travel advisor
If you have a passion for travel and like the challenge of starting your own business with expert support, apply to become a Fora Advisor. We’ll help you build your travel business from the ground up.
How do travel agents get paid: FAQs
Read on for more information on how travel agents get paid.
What percentage of a trip does a travel agent get paid for?
It depends on how much of the trip was planned and booked by the travel agent. Planning or service fees are typically meant to cover things that aren’t otherwise commissionable. As such, an agent can be paid for the entire trip, just a hotel booking or anything in between — it varies by client, and often by trip.
Do travel agents ever get paid by customers?
Not directly. Hotels or other travel suppliers pay a travel agent’s host agency for booking rooms or other services on behalf of their clients. If a client pays for planning fees, this is also collected by the host agency. Fora takes a 5% cut of our agents’ planning fees to cover the processing cost.
What type of travel agent makes the most money?
Any niche can lead to success, but travel agents who specialize in luxury travel and bespoke experiences tend to earn more on average. High-end accommodations simply cost more, which translates to higher commissions. Discerning clients are also more likely to pay for premium planning services to get the most out of their trips. Travel agents who specialize in group travel, wedding planning and corporate arrangements also tend to earn more.
Do travel agents make money off flights / airline commissions?
It is possible to earn commissions on some flights. Each airline has a distinct policy, and it often depends on the type of ticket purchased.
More travel advisor resources
Check out more travel advisor resources:
