A Host for Every Home (4/15/09, Agent at Home Magazine)
These host agencies are great examples of what you can find in the market today.
These days you can find a host travel agency to fit virtually any home-based business model. We’ve selected the following hosts as some of the best examples in the market today, but they’re by no means the only hosts out there offering great solutions for your business. In each case, we’ve tried to characterize those hosts by highlighting one aspect of their business, although most offer a full range of services that can help you grow your travel sales.
PERSONALIZED APPROACH: If you’re looking for a host program connected with a veteran traditional agency, Montrose Travel’s MTravel.com unit, which has about 500 agents, might be just the right fit. Established in 1956, Montrose has been hosting independent contactors and home-based agents for more than 35 years. “We have a personal, long-term approach to our relationships with our home-based agents,” says Andi McClure-Mysza, who heads up MTravel.com.”We are not a cookie-cutter program.”
On the technology front, MTravel.com offers affiliates professionally designed and maintained private-labeled websites with online booking capabilities for air, car, hotel, cruise and dynamic packaging. Online bookings are automatically tracked back to the agent. MTravel.com also offers Agent Connex, a comprehensive, proprietary agent support site that was redesigned and relaunched in March. It features sales and commission tracking, invoicing, blocked-space cruise inventory, supplier information, a daily news stream and Mingle, the new social network. The agency also features Client Connex, a database of clients and prospects with e-marketing capabilities. Agents also have access to direct marketing and email programs through Montrose’s agency consortium, Ensemble Travel.
In terms of training and education, MTravel.com offers three Webex sessions per week generally featuring one supplier and two other topics - anything from group prospecting to marketing to procedures to how to host a cruise night. Agents can also access MTravelSchool.com, the agency’s online travel school, at an additional cost. Montrose Travel won Travel Weekly’s 2008 Magellan Award for training.
MTravel.com offers three different commission programs ranging from 50 to 80 percent, depending on the agent’s experience. It charges inexperienced agents $299 to join, with a $259 annual renewal fee. Experienced agents can join for $399, with a $359 annual renewal fee. Well-established agents can join for a $499, with a $459 annual renewal fee. There are no monthly fees. 800-870-5799 andi@montrosetravel.com
