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FAQ's As with any business venture there are bound to be questions. TLC Travel Partners has tried to answer the questions that may be asked by individuals interested in joining one of the most exciting business opportunities available. Our Most Frequently Asked Questions Below are some of our most frequently asked questions. Please take a moment to review this list. Don’t be surprised if we decide to post your question and answer here for other interested agents to read.
What do I get as a TLC Travel Partners Independent Agent?
What do I get as a TLC Travel Partners Independent Travel Agent? You will have access to all our booking engines which will include the cruise lines, tour operators, hotels, and air, rail and car rental agencies. We will offer you several choices to help you find the best deal for your client. We do also offer support in terms of supplier education, obtaining brochures and other helpful materials. We provide substantial benefits that are listed separately under the TLC Travel Partners Benefits Page. TLC Travel Partner’s work on-line, and personally with each of our Independent Agents. We help you achieve overrides and larger discounts (when possible) for bookings. After executing your Independent Contractors Agreement and remitting your fee, TLC Travel Partners will get busy and start working for you. Within 24 hours you’ll have access to our Agent Only website where you will find our operating and training manuals, supplier logins including the access logins to our affiliations together with hundreds of pages containing the tools to help you succeed in business. I am just starting out in the travel business and plan to operate from my home. How can TLC Travel Partners help me get started? It is a priority for TLC Travel Partners to help agents to get off on the right foot and help them to stay on track. Today’s travel agent needs to find his/her “niche” by specializing in a particular segment such a cruises, honeymoons, sports programs, or even a geographic area such as the Caribbean, South Pacific, or over seas like Europe. We have found that you can’t be all things to all people, so don’t try. TLC Travel Partners will work with you to develop your niche. TLC Travel Partners can work with you to develop a training program based on your interests. This would be a combination of reading materials and on-line courses. There are of course, educational shows and conferences you could also attend. Yes. This is the same concept as owning your own storefront agency with the exception of no walk-in customers (they are very rare in the industry anyway). You build your client base in the manner in what is comfortable to you. This is not just an Internet business alone. You will need to start with your family and friends and then their friends as well, and then branch out into your community such as your church or other organizations. Referrals are the best way to grow your business! Just like any business, you can earn as much or as little as you want. Certain areas of the travel industry are more profitable than others. Specializing in cruises, international travel, group travel or other niches will be far more rewarding than just trying to be everything to everyone. Do you accept all travel agents into your agency? Yes and No! We except new and experienced travel agents, as well as referral agents who are assigned to one of our independent travel agents. We may recommend on-line training programs for the inexperienced agent, which can be taken from home. We will not accept travel agents with unresolved complaints. We do reserve the exclusive right to refuse anyone acceptance into our agency program. Is there a minimum commission that must be generated? No minimum commissions. No quotas. No minimum amount of time devoted to your business. The key words here are, ”It’s Your Business”. TLC Travel Partners will help you create and run your business to the best of your ability. Do I sell travel arrangements and take all information for the vacation travel over the phone/internet? Yes. That’s pretty much the concept. The phone is used a great deal but the internet is becoming very popular in communicating via email when dealing with clients. You will need to check with your City, County or State to determine their requirements. Each state is different; some require licensing, while some don’t. If your state requires a Sellers of Travel license like Florida or California, you may need to obtain an exemption application. Our staff is there to support you every way we can. Do I receive an ID card from TLC Travel Partners? We do not issue a company ID card. These are not recognized by suppliers. Instead, we work closely with each agent to help them obtain their IATAN and CLIA ID/certification card. We follow the IATAN guidelines for issuing the ID cards. IATAN requires that you be IATAN Listed for a minimum of six months. To get listed, we require that you have earned at least one commission check from TLC Travel Partners. The second requirement is that you have earned a minimum of $5,000 in gross commissions. Since our agents earn the highest commissions in the industry, they are able to earn their IATAN card at a much faster pace depending on their performance/sales. In order to obtain a CLIA card you must complete one (1) continuing education class through CLIA. These classes are offered online for a nominal fee and take about four hours to complete. You are then required to complete an application and submit a processing fee and two passport photos. TLC Travel Partners has an entire support section devoted to assisting our agents in getting your CLIA identification card as fast as possible. As an agent with TLC Travel Partners, you are able to sell ALL types of travel. This includes being able to sell airline tickets. In May of 2002, the airline industry stopped paying commissions to travel agents. However, our agents are still able to sell airline tickets and make money. Can tickets and documents be mailed to my office, or to the client? Is there a postage charge? Yes. They can be mailed to your clients, or your office. You are responsible for all postage expenses. We recommend you set up a
FedEx account for savings and convenience to handle some of the last minute expediting events. Otherwise, we will determine the fastest and least expensive mailing and charge you the actual postage. More and more suppliers are now converting to e-documents. What is the best computerized reservation system (CRS) to use? Many new and young agents think the sun rises and sets on access to the CRS in the travel industry. The first concern is, What computer software do I need to book travel? Tour, cruises, hotels, resorts and so on are best booked over the internet or telephone right from your office. We have several booking engines that cover all your travel needs with the same or lower pricing than the CRS. Our booking engines are very agent user friendly and do not require any special training. How do I get prices and make reservations? Once you are on board with us, TLC Travel Partners team will immediately mobilize to help you get registered with our various suppliers. Unlike other companies, we encourage you to establish relationships with these travel suppliers. There is no additional cost to get registered; however, we do have procedures to follow. This will give you access to supplier travel agent only websites where you can research prices, specials and promotions. Many of these suppliers allow you to book your clients travel directly through their websites. In addition, you will have access to our many third-party booking engines like VAXVacationAccess. TLC Travel Partners goal is to provide agents timely payment of all travel commissions. We receive commissions from all our suppliers throughout the month. TLC will direct deposit into your account (2) twice a month. Commissions received by TLC between the 1st and the 15th, are deposited on the last day of the month. Commissions received between the 16th and the end of the month are deposited into your account on the 15th on the next month. Our agents are able to continuously check the status of their commissions from the Dashboard of the back office. Generally, our suppliers pay us when the customer completes their travel. In a few cases we may get paid before the travel is complete, and in those cases we pay the agent too. What kind of support does TLC Travel Partners offer to help you succeed in your business? We realize that the majority of individuals joining our company have little, and in some cases, no experience. For that reason, all of our systems, processes, procedures, training and support have been designed with that in mind. We begin your training by familiarizing you with our internal systems. Your training continues at your pace. Most everything we offer in the line of training is web-based. At any time, you have our dedicated support team standing by to assist you with any questions. Why would people use me as their travel agent instead of just going to the internet? There has been a significant shift in the travel industry from the brick and mortar agency to the home-based model. Technology is the biggest reason and the internet is the biggest part of that technology shift. You will have some customers that prefer to book their own travel online. They can now do that from your website and you get paid every time they book travel. Most of the time our agent's clients are calling them to assist with their travel plans. This is especially true on the more profitable complex travel like cruises and vacation packages. Will I be able to compete with internet travel companies? Usually this questions is phrased, "Are your prices competitive?", and the answer is, "Of course". Our agents have access to EVERYTHING that any other agent or company would have access to. While our prices are competitive, we encourage our agents to sell themselves and their service as opposed to price. Many of our travel suppliers will price match and you will have access to rates that are not available to the public. Can I have my own web site name? Yes. In fact we encourage it. This is another perk with TLC Travel Partners. When you register with us, you will have the opportunity to choose three unique business names. TLC Travel Partners will work with our host providers to secure one of those names you have chosen. How do we get brochures to give to clients, are they free of charge or do we have to order from the cruise lines or land tours companies? Brochures are provided FREE by most suppliers (i.e. Cruise Lines, Tour Operators, etc.) Most suppliers will allow you to order directly from them. Some suppliers won’t mail brochures to your home. We will have to charge you for the actual postage if we need to forward brochures to you. Are there any additional costs that I will incur other than the per month fee? We realize that many of our new agents are joining our company to earn additional income. As such, we have designed our system to include most everything that you will need to start and run your business. Certain items like business cards, internet access, long distance charges are always the responsibility of our Independent agents. For more clarification see our independent contractor agreements. I’m interested in joining TLC Travel Partners, what do I do next? The first step is to go to our Enroll Now Page, and fill out the necessary information. You will then be directed to our 128-bit Encrypted SECURED PAGE! **Remember to sign and date your TLC Travel Partners Independent Contractors Agreement (CONTRACT) and fax back to TLC Travel Partners at 515-986-2234. As soon as we receive your Independent Contractor Agreement and payment we’ll get to work. Usually with 24 hours we can have you up and running.
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