Does anyone work from home as a travel agent?

[Pajama Mama]

We just returned from Florida a couple weeks ago. We went through Make A Wish. I was terrified to try and travel before because I have a special needs child. I worried about his wheelchair, meds, oxygen, etc. How would I get them on the plane, what if _____ happened? The folks with Make A Wish helped us get everything organized.

 

After coming home I realized how helpful those folks were. Besides the fact that they provided us with a dream vacation. They helped us with a thousand tiny details that parents of a special needs child have to think about when travelling. That started me thinking.

 

I looked into trips for families with special needs kids. There is not much offer out there. I think there may be alot of places that are accessible to wheelchairs but you really have to research alot. Dh and I started talking about me becoming a travel agent from home. I know I need to look into things I can't just start today. But I was thinking that if I could become a travel agent that I could help families like ourselves that have a special needs child(or adult). This could also allow me to learn about where the accessible places are so we might take a vacation someday with the whole family.

 

I'd love to hear from anyone who works(has worked) as a travel agent from their home--either in the present or the past. I'm trying to gauge if this is a good idea or not. I would appreciate any insights. Thanks

 

Nancy

[Angela in TN]

I did this for a year last year (before homeschooling). I love travel, I love research and I did make some money I'd say total $900 last year. The issue I had doing it from home is that I had A LOT of people and most of these people knew me on a casual basis called me and I did all the leg work and they didn't book. Your time is worth something and when someone books a trip you get commission usually AFTER they travel but at least you get paid for your time. If I were to do it again as a home based agent I would institute something like a $25 fee that is refunded at booking just to be covered a bit. HTH

[Pajama Mama]

Thank you Angela for your insight. That would have annoyed me! I can't believe people you knew would take advantage of you. Ok, maybe I do believe it, but it's still not right. Are you doing something else now instead of being a travel agent?

[Angela in TN]

Since it was the first year homeschooling I didn't want to commit myself to anything beyond that. I am thinking about becoming a consultant for Usborne. I love their books and there are not many consultants in my area. :)

[Lisa in Jax]

We just returned from Florida a couple weeks ago. We went through Make A Wish. I was terrified to try and travel before because I have a special needs child. I worried about his wheelchair, meds, oxygen, etc. How would I get them on the plane, what if _____ happened? The folks with Make A Wish helped us get everything organized.

 

After coming home I realized how helpful those folks were. Besides the fact that they provided us with a dream vacation. They helped us with a thousand tiny details that parents of a special needs child have to think about when travelling. That started me thinking.

 

I looked into trips for families with special needs kids. There is not much offer out there. I think there may be alot of places that are accessible to wheelchairs but you really have to research alot. Dh and I started talking about me becoming a travel agent from home. I know I need to look into things I can't just start today. But I was thinking that if I could become a travel agent that I could help families like ourselves that have a special needs child(or adult). This could also allow me to learn about where the accessible places are so we might take a vacation someday with the whole family.

 

I'd love to hear from anyone who works(has worked) as a travel agent from their home--either in the present or the past. I'm trying to gauge if this is a good idea or not. I would appreciate any insights. Thanks

 

Nancy

PM,

 

Years ago, I was a travel agent for Thomas Cook. I taught travel at a business college, too. Both jobs were pre-internet. At the time, airlines/hotels/car companies paid a 10% commission to travel agents. As the internet took over, the commission structure changed because people could book online. In the last ten years or so, it has been much harder to make a living selling basic travel -- especially from home. In the 80s/90s, lots of companies marketed "work from home" agencies, but the internet killed many of those businesses. IMHO, it's not easy to be a regular travel agent from home. BUT, if you put together a *website* focused on travelers with disabilities and rated hotels, or did group bookings, or put together start-to-finish individual packages, for example, you could probably make money in several ways:

 

1. Hotels/car companies/B&Bs/resorts/restaurants, etc., might pay you to link to them on your site. For example, if you review a hotel and say it's disability-friendly, you might work out a deal that every hotel room booked by clicking your link will earn you a referral fee.

 

2. You could put together packages of airline, hotel, restaurant recommendations, etc., and have people book them through you. Assuming that the airline, etc., will pay a commission (no longer a given), you could make a bit of money like that. Or, you could charge a fee to the traveler for taking care of all of the details. They call and say, "I want to travel to X and I need a hotel, car, seafood restaurant, etc." and you put the whole thing together for them for a fee.

 

3. If you become "the" site for disability travel, you'll drive a lot of traffic to your site, and ads to your site would make you money. You could host a forum for parents/families with a member who needs special accomodations for travel, and it could be "tripadvisor" for disabilities.

 

HIH,

 

Lisa

who has career ADD -- I keep changing what I want to be when I "grow up!" ;-)