Becoming a Travel Agent Saves More Money

Posted by Travel Blogger on Jul 11, 2010 in Travelling Thoughts |

If you are planning on heading over to Texas this summer or early fall, be sure to do your travel planning early enough. There are a slew of discount hotels in Houston that will save you money without costing you comfort. Being able to get the most for your travel budget is one of the core concepts of my professional life.

Every month I’m traveling around this country meeting with clients. While our company does pretty well, and is relatively recession proof, it doesn’t mean we aren’t constantly chided to be stingy with the money we require to do our travels. Having been in the traveling sales business for just over 15 years, I am constantly in the mode of refining my needs and tastes as well as learning tips, tricks and techniques for getting the absolute best value for my business travel dollar.

One of the things I learned about 5 years ago was the concept of becoming a travel agent. As with most industries, the Internet has completely transformed how travel agents operate their businesses. In fact, if you compared the number of proper agencies today with just a decade ago, I’m betting there is probably a decrease in the range of 75 or 80%.

The reason has to do with the access the Internet gives to just about anyone with a connection. Over the past few years several organizations have sprung up that allow you to sign up and become a fully credentialed travel agent. Sure it costs you a few bucks up front, however if you travel enough, you’re first year savings easily covers those start up costs.

Most of these online travel groups are set up as multi-level marketing operations. If you’re a bit squeamish about the concept of multi-level, don’t worry. With near instant communications being what they are today, it is near impossible to create the pyramid schemes of the 70’s and 80’s.

I don’t personally use my affiliation to recruit others and develop downline and all that sort of thing. Not that there’s anything wrong with getting involved with these companies in order to generate residual income, etc. I just prefer to use my agent’s discounts to get the very best rates for hotels, rental cars, and airline flights.

The more I get to save on travel expenses, the more I’m able to justify heading off to a ball game whenever possible. You know how much I enjoy that. Right?