Avoya Network

Another great benefit of creating your own business as an independent travel advisor is the remarkably low start-up costs. Costs are broken down into three main categories. First, if you’re new to travel, the educational program we offer access to will increase your total cost, but with our newest affiliates who complete the education producing double the sales results, it’s well worth the time and money. Second, upon completion of your education, there is an affiliation fee along with reasonable monthly fees. The fees will be clearly written in your agreement with Avoya, so there aren’t any surprises. Third, there are customary expenses you’ll have as a new business owner which vary from person to person and state to state. As with most everything these days, prices and promotions do change from time to time, so please see the attached PDFs on our Q&A page for the most recent details. Lastly, there are no deadlines for a starting travel agent to achieve a certain amount of revenue. We often offer ways to incentivize you to grow your business, such as free attendance at our annual conference (which is on a cruise this year), or better yet, be awarded with one of our top producers’ trips (this year included trips to the Turks & Caicos, the Mediterranean and Alaska). We are happy to discuss this in detail with you and our contact information can be found in the linked PDFs.

Thank you for your question and engaging in this forum. Thanks to Avoya’s vast size, we qualify for the highest commission tiers with the major ocean cruise lines, river cruise lines and all sorts of other vacation types, like all-inclusive resorts. Only a small amount of business is on non-preferred vendors and while we pay out commission on those brands as well, it's at a lower commission percentage. The split of the commission you’ll earn depends on your agreement with Avoya and is typically delineated by who generated the customer. If you generated the customer, your portion of the commission split is higher. If Avoya generates the customer through its Live Leads™ program, your portion of the commission split is lower, as one would expect. We’ve found that what’s most important is creating a business for yourself that fits your definition of success and meets your personal goals. We have many affiliates who generate six-figure incomes for themselves while traveling in luxury several weeks a year, and others who are thrilled to fit this in while the kids are at school. Avoya Flights™ will be graduating from beta in Q3 of 2023. It has a point-and-click user interface to book both domestic and international air. We also have a live support team (soon to be 7 days a week). We have many experienced agents affiliate and flourish with Avoya, and we are proud to have been named the Best Host Agency seven years in a row. Time and time again, the agency owners that affiliate with Avoya tell us our people and technology are by far the best in the industry.

There are two possible charges from Avoya – one for the Travel Agent Education Powered by Avoya program and another to affiliate with Avoya. Occasionally there are promotions available. The first component (education) will teach you what you need to know to be a travel advisor and includes the certification test, plus memberships to ASTA and CLIA for one year. Once you receive your certification and pursue affiliation with Avoya, the second charge to affiliate enables you to start making bookings under Avoya’s credentials AND receive commissions that you’ve generated. As far as the timeframe of when you will be able to book and sell travel, once you complete both the educational and affiliation requirements, you’ll be ready to go. From start to finish, this can take just a few short weeks. We do recommend taking a few extra steps to professionalize your new business such as forming a new company (e.g. an LLC), opening a new bank account, creating a comfortable workspace and getting any insurance you may want to have. Our contact information can be found in the linked PDFs. We’re here to help and can answer any additional questions.

Thank you for the great question. No doubt that marketing today can be tricky, and without that large rolodex, it can be difficult to find enough clients. Building a clientele comes down to marketing (generating traveler demand), technology (working smarter, not harder) and service (exclusive promotions and high-touch expertise). On Marketing, there are two ways Avoya helps here: · Leads Avoya Generates: One of the most significant differences about Avoya is our industry-exclusive, patented Live Leads™ program. Every year, we spend millions of advertising dollars to generate traveler interest – which we send exclusively to our affiliated independent travel advisors. · Leads You Generate: Our Marketing Resource Center™ provides tremendous pre-made collateral (digital and physical) so you can start to build your own book of business. For Technology, Avoya built its own web-based software to simplify the vacation planning and booking process for agents. Travelers know the immense details that go into a great trip, so our software helps make that process efficient and effective. As it relates to Service, every traveler wants to get a great deal and to be taken care of personally. Avoya’s model isn’t to just dump travelers to a random call center agent each time a traveler calls in for support. Instead, we route travelers right back to their travel advisor so they don’t have to explain the same things to a new person and so that the travel advisor can really get to know the travelers to make the right recommendations. As far as your second question, it depends on what your financial goals are. We have agents who are happy with selling $50k per month and others that sell $250k per month, or more. Selling $100k per month is very possible and many of our affiliates generate that level of sales. As with any new business, it will take a reasonable amount of time to build. Like most things in life, if you want to be great at what you do, it’ll take time, energy and passion. The Network Expansion team at Avoya Travel is happy to engage with you and discuss this in detail. Our contact information can be found in the linked PDFs.

Interesting question because one of the advantages of being an independent business owner is that you control your schedule. One of our favorite sayings is “How, When and Where you work is up to you, as long as it’s done with Integrity and Professionalism”. You’re right that you get out of this what you put in. What’s your definition of “success”? Success in the travel industry often goes beyond your earnings and could also be measured in the “perks” of being in the travel industry such as reduced rate trips. It’s pretty easy to put in 20 hours a week and achieve the outcomes you’re looking for. The highest-producing Independent Agencies often exceed 40 hours a week…but they’re also being rewarded by travel brands that are eager to show off their product and might choose to work next week from a river cruise through Europe or a guided tour through Australia and New Zealand. No matter how many hours you put in or where you do it from, there’s lots of flexibility. We would be happy to discuss this in more detail with you. Our contact information can be found in the linked PDFs.

We love to see experienced professionals come back to the industry. While that experience in the late 90’s and early 2000’s will certainly be useful to draw from, I am sure you would agree as an avid cruiser how much has changed since then. If you’re debating joining and trying to decide if you can/should bypass the education requirement we have to join Avoya’s Network™, we can give you simple guidance. Rather than jumping into the deep end right away, you’ll be better off to start with a solid educational foundation both for your personal success and your travelers’ experiences. The education we’ve found most successful is incredibly convenient since it’s online and your past experience should help you move through it at a faster pace. And the benefit for all is in the numbers…new agency owners who have gone through robust education have double the sales compared to those who haven’t done the same. We are happy to discuss this in detail with you and our contact information can be found in the linked PDFs.