The Employee Travel Advisor Research Report Summary, 2023

We're particularly excited about our Travel Advisor Employee Report, 2023 because it's the first one we've published since our employee report in 2020!

With a higher number of advisor employees taking our survey than ever before, we were able to dig deep into the latest trends including the latest trends for salary and hourly wages, income by experience and work roles, employee fee trends, employee benefits, and more.

Here's a preview of the report's full Table of Contents so you can get a taste of what to expect in our 70+ page report.

The data from Host Agency Reviews' "The Travel Advisor Employee Report, 2023" marked some big shifts in the segment between 2019 and 2022. Big picture? Combining the income and benefit security of being a hired employee with the growing flexibility of hours and location requirements, travel advisor employees in 2022 seemed to embrace the best of both worlds.

This indicates agency employers are not only becoming more competitive in their hiring sphere but are also positioning themselves as potentially a more appealing option for potential advisor who want a balance of flexibility and income predictability.

Here's the summary.

Something for Everyone: How Travel Industry Professionals Can Use HAR's Data

There's a lot of data in our 70+ page research report. We have a few ideas on how you can leverage it to glean insights most relevant to your corner of the industry. Here's a few shortcuts with tips on how to use the report data depending on where you're positioned in the industry:

1. Agency Owners
2. Travel Consortia
3. Suppliers, DMOs, and DMCs

Purchase the full report!

Agency Owners

Agencies and their advisors are at the heart of HAR's "Hosted Travel Advisor Report, 2023." Regardless of the size of your agency—whether you're a solo advisor or have dozens (or hundreds) of ICs and/or employees—the report is rife with data for advisors at all stages of the game, from starting up to scaling big.

All solo advisors can:

1. Benchmark personal sales and income against current averages, taking into account niche, experience, hours worked, and more
2. Use the data to project future sales and income goals
3. Gain an understanding of income potential (or average income) by niche and product
4. See where your average sales per booking falls compared to the industry at large
5. Make data-backed decisions on fee amounts by comparing to industry averages
6. Use demographic and regional data to see what can set an advisor apart in terms of client reach
7. Compare your host agency commission split to the latest industry standards
8. Find the travel tech that most advisors are using
9. and more!

In addition to all things listed above, new advisors can also:

1. Gain an understanding of what to expect in terms of startup costs
2. Uncover the typical earnings for your first few years in business
3. Use the data to inform their business plan
4. Use the data to help narrow down niche options based on income potential and market saturation
5. Discover why advisors leave their host agency, using the info to help choose a host
6. Compare your startup commission rates to industry standards
7. and more!

Additionally, agencies with ICs (or hoping to host or hire advisors) can:

1. Benchmark personal income based on IC volume
2. Benchmark sales per booking amounts based on product and niche trends
3. Understand what technologies hosted advisors use, and when they use tools provided by their host agency versus supplying their own instead of (or in addition to) a host's tools
4. See when advisors are most likely to switch hosts
5. Learn when new advisors are most likely to start their business
6. Compare your company's commission split against industry standards
7. and more!

Consortia

Consortia can use the data from HAR's employee report to support their member agencies including:

1. Competitive intelligence for salaries and wages (e.g. using the data to help clarify what makes an agency unique in the hiring process.)
2. Informing resource development for agencies (e.g. offering a concrete guide to standard fees)
3. and more!

For host agencies, the "Hosted Travel Advisor Report" is a must-have. For consortia, we recommend the bundle which includes the "Hosted Travel Advisor Report, 2023" and the "Independent Travel Advisor Report, 2023."

Suppliers, DMOs, and DMCs

HAR's research report provides a rare opportunity for suppliers, DMOs, and DMCs to look at the latest trends in products and niches among employed advisors and may compare them with hosted and independent advisor segments as well.

1. Latest niche and product trends among advisor employees.
2. A look at emerging trends for niche and products among new advisor employees.
3. Average sales per booking for top products & niche
4. Where hosted advisors are most strongly concentrated

The data offers opportunities to engage in competitive analysis, inform product development and marketing initiatives, guide competitive pricing strategies, and tailor your product offerings.

For suppliers, we recommend bundling all three reports, which include the "Hosted Travel Advisor Report, 2023" and the "Independent Travel Advisor Report, 2023" in addition to the Travel Advisor Employee Report, 2023.

The Travel Advisor Employee, 2023: Report Summary

Of the 2068 total travel advisors who completed HAR's 2023 Travel Advisor survey, 5% were travel advisor employees.

Here's the travel advisor employee segment at a glance.

The shifting landscape of the travel advisor employees

The profile of travel agent employees changed radically from 2019. Currently, travel advisor employees are younger, less experienced, and more likely to work flexible schedules compared to pre-COVID industry norms. Additionally, newer travel advisor employees are coming from outside the travel industry.

91% of new travel advisor employees (with fewer than 3 years of experience) reported that they did not work in travel before taking on a job as a travel advisor.

In addition to attracting talent from outside the travel industry, employees in 2022 reported a more flexible working environments including a higher rate working from home, and more advisors working part-time hours compared to 2019. (Jump to read the full data on location here and work hours here.)

Income overview for travel advisor employees

Below is a big-picture look at employee income, comparing income for new (<2 years experience) and experienced (3+ years experience) advisors.

While there was insufficient data to break down income by different experience and work hour ranges, it’s clear that time and investment, overall, led to significantly more income. Full-time experienced employees earned nearly two times more than their less experienced peers. (Check the income section for a deeper exploration of the numbers)

However, a big-picture look at employee income is far from the full picture. As operations of the employee segment embrace the flexibility of their independent peers, the reporting considerations become more nuanced.

HAR’s report illustrates the growing complexity of the employee segment, looking at income, fee, and operation trends from myriad vantage points. Where we have enough data, the report breaks income down by job responsibilities (e.g. management vs. sales), hours, benefits, experience, and more.

Gratitude

Every person here at HAR has their hands in the creation of our survey reports! I like to think of our travel advisor reports as a geeky love letter to the travel advisor industry and the community that supports it!

The most critical part of our survey is the advisors who take the time out of their ridiculously busy schedules knee-deep in travel rebound bookings to take our survey. . . all 2068 of you! Our survey is in-depth and frankly, we don’t throw softballs. So thank you for busting out your P&Ls, 1099s, and/or digging into the recesses of your memories to contribute to the best industry data out there. You are the pillar of these reports (and keeper of our nerdy, nerdy hearts).

This report is not possible without our partners. We want to extend a colossal thank you to the industry partners who support our data shenanigans here at Host Agency Reviews: American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), Adventure Travel and Trade Association (ATTA), BranchUp, Celebrity Cruises, Dugan's Travels LLC, Destination Wedding & Honeymoon Specialist Association (DWHSA), Fora Travel, Gifted Travel Network, Independent by Flight Centre, KHM Travel, MAST Travel Network, Nexion Travel Group, Montecito Village Travel, Outside Agents, Pickles Travel Network, TaConnect, Travel Leaders Network, Travel Pulse, and Uniglobe Travel Center!

Want to add your name to this stellar list of partners? Drop a line at Mary@HostAgencyReviews.com and we’ll chat!