If you want to become a freelance travel agent, there are certain things you should know. Becoming a freelance travel agent comes with many perks. What travel agents do is that they help travelers save time, stress, and money by booking their flights, hotel reservations, rental cars and other travel arrangements. Travel agents earn commission on making travel arrangements for their clients. Starting your freelance travel agency is very easy and cheap. All you need is a phone, internet connection, website, printer and computer. You can start your ideal career working from home and ditching your 9-5 job by becoming a freelance travel agent. This article will guide you on the steps of how to become a freelance travel agent.
How to become a freelance travel agent would be discussed below:
-
Create a Niche
If you want to become a successful travel agent, you have to choose the type of travel experience you are more comfortable with and focus on them, thereby creating a niche for yourself. You should have in mind that prospective clients look for niche expertise and excellent customer service they can not get from some corporate agencies.
Creating a niche helps you stand out amongst other agencies. The moment you discover your niche, you have to research all the crooks and crannies of that niche to be well informed. This singular act will make you an expert in a particular travel experience, say vacation or honeymoon. This also gives you an informed knowledge of a particular destination to advise your clients accordingly and meet their travel needs.
When freelance travel agents integrate several different travel expertise to create a niche, they excel tremendously. What this means is that they combine honeymoon trips, adventure trips, vacations, and boat cruises. If you want to become a successful freelance travel agent, you have to have answers ready for the questions your clients would ask concerning their trips.
Also, concentrating on your niche helps you to build a brand that meets the needs of your clients. It also helps you to know and understand your clients better.
-
Join a Host Agency
If you want to become a successful freelance travel agent, you will have to join a host agency. Host agencies help you manage your customer relations by providing updated technology you can use to track commissions and make prompt bookings.
When you join a host agency, you have access to an insurance policy that covers possible liabilities. These host agencies provide certain tools that help you showcase your skill while delivering value to your clients. You can be a part of a host agency and still retain ownership of your travel agency.
Host agencies provide you with trip information, booking engines and write-ups that help boost your online presence. Prospective clients usually go through your website to see how professional you are. Host agencies help you with web design and development.
Another benefit of joining a host agency is that they provide you with customized Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software that enables you to manage your clientele. Host agencies also provide you with a travel agent network. By joining a host agency, you have the opportunity to connect and share ideas with other freelance travel agents in the agency.
-
Travel
If you want to become a successful freelance travel agent, one of the best ways to do so is to travel. When you have firsthand travel experience, you can be able to give your prospective clients information about the travel process.
For instance, having an aeroplane travel experience right from booking the flight to booking the hotel accommodations to booking the rental cars, is a fantastic way to know about the client side of the business. This would also give you an additional advantage in the business.
-
Market Yourself
After setting up your website with the help of your host agency, the next step is to start looking for clients and attract traffic to your website. One of the ways to find clients and attract traffic to your website is to market yourself. You can do so by marketing your agency.
If you are thinking about how to go about this, you can try reading various books that will give you ideas on how to market your agency. The next step is to print flyers both hard and soft copies. You can also tell people one on one about your agency. This aids the visibility of the agency. Prospective clients would then get to know about the services you render as a freelance travel agent. When you attract traffic to your website, you also grow your business.
-
Have Basic Computer Skills
If you want to become a freelance travel agent, you have to have basic computer skills. Since computers are an essential part of the business, flight reservations, hotel bookings and other travel arrangements are made on the computer. You can also reach out to your clients and prospective clients by sending emails using the computer.
If you want to make research about a particular destination, a computer is what is used as this is done online. These computer skills include WordPress, spreadsheet, word processing, and so on.
-
Consider Learning a Second Language
Another factor that can make you become a successful freelance travel agent is learning a second language. This is not compulsory, but if you desire to stand out from the rest, you should strongly consider learning a second language.
When you learn a second language other than your regular English language, you can have the opportunity of having foreign clients hence increasing your client base. This also gives you an edge in being able to offer more international travel destinations to your clients
-
Have Certifications
Having certifications and degrees in tourism and becoming a travel agent helps you as a freelance travel agent to be a seasoned travel agent. This gives you class and bragging rights. It also helps to build the trust prospective clients will have in you because they will be sure you know your onions.