Become a Home Based Travel Agent

We interviewed Ken Gagliano in mid September while at ASTA’s 2009 The Trade Show in Las Vegas and asked him about TPI’s success as a Host Agency, and why TPI is so different from other Host Agencies.

Travel Planners International (TPI) has been in business and hosting agents since 1988, and we’ve grown to be one of the largest Host Agencies in the United States. We never boast about our sales but we do boast about how we can increase sales and earnings for our agent’s year over year. Our suppliers are very thrilled in how we track the sales of our agents and all of the marketing & training tools we use to help our agents differentiate themselves from the competition. We are privately held by my Father, Anthony Gagliano, Sr., and we have always been a profitable company – even after the commission cuts in the 90’s, 9/11, and the current global economic recession. We constantly monitor our revenues and expenses and always reinvest our profits back into our business to advance our services, support and marketing programs. We strive to under-promise and over-deliver in everything we do!

Our success as a Host Agency is solely dependent on the success of our agents. We offer several different hosting plans paying our agents between 70% and 100% commission. We pay our agents twice per month by direct deposit. We have a Commission Manager system that the agent can see their earnings on a daily basis as we reconcile incoming commission. We offer all 4 GDS reservation systems, with ticket fulfillment, as well as several successful marketing and lead generation programs. With TPI being a member of Vacation.com, our agents get the full benefits of Vacation.com including their successful marketing program – Engagement and their amazing new booking tool – EZguider. With all these services, this is what defines a true Host Agency.

Tell us about how TPI can claim to “Take Your Travel Business to a Happier Place”?

First of all, we are all about happiness in life and in our travel careers. With that being said, it is important to enjoy what you do on a daily basis. I’m pretty sure most agents do enjoy selling travel do, but are not so thrilled about the frustrations that come with managing their business and the financial outcome. Our main objective at TPI is the help our agents increase in their sales through our marketing programs, create more efficiency in invoicing and tracking of commissions and ultimately, help the agent earn more money. An agent and Host Agency has to equally see value in the relationship and at TPI we focus on creating value with our programs. The agent sees the results in their checking accounts and less stress at the end of the day! If an agent could do it for less and earn more on their own, then why would they want to work with us? I often lose sleep on why more agents are not with a Host Agency!

EZguider—Vacation.com's revolutionary new leisure-selling solution—is an easy-to-use, all-in-one agent booking tool that empowers you to quickly and efficiently shop, plan, quote, and book cruise, tour, air, insurance and more. Combining intuitive technology with agent-focused functionality, EZguider is the easiest, and most profitable, way to compare and sell the most desired leisure travel products, including exclusive, high-commission offers from Vacation.com's robust collection of Preferred Suppliers. EZguider is a free tool offered to TPI agents! More on EZguider online at http://www.ezguider.net/.

We have a dedicated Marketing and Business Development website for our agents where they can sign-up for training and business building opportunities. As a Vacation.com agency, all of our agents can take full advantage of the marketing programs they offer. TPI realizes the power behind the Vacation.com Engagement Program (Direct Mail/Email Marketing Program) and that's why we include the full membership benefits of the Engagement Program to all of our agents. Engagement is a marketing campaign program where Vacation.com produces and mails 60+ personalized direct mailings (post cards, flyers, destination magazine, etc.) per year to the agent’s customer list. In addition, they offer 50+ e-Engagement email ready promotions that can be sent to their entire email list at no additional cost. These marketing tools enable the agent to compete with travel sellers like Expedia, Travelocity, and AAA who spend big bucks on consumer promotions. All direct mail and email promotions are designed with Vacation.com/TPI negotiated value added benefits promoting a preferred supplier. A quarterly Destination magazine can be customized with a personal letter (on the inside cover) to their customers! These marketing programs are so cost effective to the agent that it would cost them 4 times the price if they designed, printed and mailed it themselves. Agents can view all of our marketing programs at http://www.tpimbd.com.

Our TPI-AgentRC (Agent Resource Center) website was designed to put the agent in complete control of their travel business. It is loaded with management tools like our Commission Manager, TripBuilder and TRAMS ClientBase to allow them to fully transact with their customers and TPI. For example, with our Commission Manager system, you can view your day-to-day commission earnings right up to the day we deposit your earnings directly into your checking account! To my knowledge, we are only one of a handful of Hosts that offer this technology.

TPI is a member of PATH (Professional Association of Travel Hosts) which does a wonderful job for the host side of the Industry in defining the true meaning of a Host Agency. Agents can visit their website (http://www.path4hosts.com) and see a listing of active Host members. PATH will not allow any cardmills or multi-level travel marketing companies to join PATH. Agents need to really be careful to avoid any type of relationship with an agency unless they check for agency credentials and membership associations like PATH.

Currently, we are waiving our setup fee for producing agents and even offer up to 6 months free. Our monthly fees vary depending on the plan type selected. Our plans are:

All plans include free use of numerous booking tools including an air/car/hotel engine to help with their leisure or business air needs. For agents who demand the real power of a GDS, for $20.00 per month agents can add Amadeus, Galileo (Travelport), Sabre or Worldspan (Travelport) with ZERO ticketing fees (qualified agents)!

Our mission is to provide all of the tools, support and fulfillment services that will assist each of our travel agency partners to be the most knowledgeable, efficient, competitive, and profitable leisure and corporate sellers in the travel industry.

If your sales are down and you’re looking to cut expenses and earn more commission, then now is the time to join up with a successful Host Agency!rs everything you need to successfully operate your travel business and more! Complete details on our hosting programs can be found on our website (www.MyHostTravelAgency.com), by emailing join@tpionline.com or by calling 1-800-730-6392.

Joanie Ogg CTC MCC
Joanie Ogg Marketing Group
Editor

Joanie Ogg is a thirty-five year veteran of the travel industry and has been involved with the independent contractor evolution since 1988. She is the principal of Joanie Ogg Marketing Group, which specializes in consulting and speaking on the topic of Home-Based Travel. She also provides marketing and sales for wide variety of products under the umbrella HomeBasedTravelAgent.com.

A demonstrated industry leader, Joanie most recently served as the President of the National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents (NACTA) and TravelSellers. She and her husband Tom acquired NACTA in 1996 and sold it to The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) in 2000. Joanie’s tenure in the travel industry includes owning and operating one of the first successful host agency models. She has owned and operated several storefront travel agencies (both commercial and leisure), as well as a Hawaii wholesale tour company.

Her decades of success have garnered her numerous accolades over the years. Her accomplishments have been recognized by receipt of two Lifetime Achievement Awards from major trade groups, being named as one of the “100 Most Powerful Women in Travel” by Travel Agent magazine on several occasions, voted as “Travel Agent of the Year” by the readers of Travel Trade magazine, and has been recognized by many other industry organizations throughout her tenure in the industry. In 2008 Joanie Ogg was inducted into the CLIA Hall of Fame, an honor held by some of the most influential executives in the travel industry.

Joanie is a Master Cruise Counselor (MCC) and a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC). Joanie has co-authored two popular travel industry books for cruise specialists and home-based travel agents and has authored hundreds of travel trade articles. She has inspired tens of thousands of travel agents attending her presentations at trade events, cruise seminars, international trade gatherings and numerous local educational venues throughout the United States. With a time-honored background and forward-looking vision, she is often featured as a speaker at many of the travel industry’s major conferences and events. Joanie’s speaking talents are widely sought as a travel industry emcee by the most recognized travel organizations. She has emceed such events as Cruise-A-Thons, ASTA’s CruiseFest, The Trade Show, The Travel Institute Forum and all of NACTA’s National and International Conferences.


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