What Is A Referral Travel Agent?

Most of the "become a travel agent today!" deals you see advertised involve becoming a "referral agent." The companies offering these deals may say you'll be an "associate agent" or and "independent agent" or something else, but you'll be a referral agent nonetheless. That means that your job is simply to refer potential customers to the sponsoring agency -- get them to call a toll-free number where the agency's "inside agents" will take care of closing the sale and handle the booking details. In exchange for providing this service, you receive a portion of the commission earned by the agency. So far, there's is nothing new or controversial in this. It's called "bird-dogging" and has been going on in the travel industry for years. What's new and controversial is the aggressive packaging and marketing of the concept that has occurred in recent years. To complicate things a bit, there are two basic types of referral agent programs. One incorporates a multi-level marketing (MLM) ...