Who's Charging Travel Agent Fees? A 2020 Demographic Report.

We’re not into labels here at Host Agency Reviews (HAR). So why do we ask you personal identifying questions such as gender, race, region, and age in our 2020 Travel Agent Fee Survey?

The reason we’re getting up in your business is because we want to see if and how these demographic factors—such as gender, race and ethnic origin, region, and age—correlate to charging fees . . . not to pigeon-hole you.

Travel agents who charged service fees earned 46% more than those who didn’t charge. Agents who charged consultation fees earned 40% more.

It's important because charging fees leads to more income for travel agents—to the tune of almost 50% more income. Per our latest income survey, travel agents who charged service fees earned 46% more than those who didn’t charge. Agents who charged consultation fees earned 40% more.

Um. Wow. Moral of the story? Charging fees equates to a big leap in pay grade for travel agents.

Considering the strong ties between income and fees, we were curious to see how/if social disparities such as gender and racial pay gap (and more) were reflected in fee-charging practices.

This report will home in on current travel agent fee trends among, digging into trends among different demographic factors. It will give you an opportunity to see how your fees stack up to the industry “norm.” That way, if you don’t like the results, you can set out to change the norm.

And the best part? We've got a whole bunch of ways for you to digest the data: article, infographic, video . . .

⭐️ HAR ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS: ⭐️

1. Demographics & Travel Agents Fees, An Infographic
2. Gender & Travel Agent Fees
3. Race/Ethnic Origin & Travel Agent Fees
4. Region and Travel Agent Fees
5. Generation and Travel Agent Fees
6. Bonus Track (Read to Find Out!)

Demographics & Travel Agents Fees, An Infographic

Per usual, we're including spoilers to our results. Our infographic offers an introductory look at who took our survey and how different demographic factors varied in fee-charging practices.

I think some of the findings will surprise you.

Ready to dig in? Just a quick note: if you see statistics jargon like mode, or interquartile range(that one is a doozie), we'll include a link that will shortcut you to its definition.

Gender & Travel Agent Fees

The Census listed the United States population as 51% female in 2019. When homing in on the travel industry in 2019, the Bureau of Labor and statistics indicated that women comprised 60% of the “Travel arrangements and reservation services.”¹

With 80% of respondents identifying as women, it’s safe to say that travel agents represent a women-dominated segment of the travel industry.

With 80% of respondents identifying as women, it’s safe to say that travel agents represent a women-dominated segment of the travel industry.

Here’s the complete gender breakdown of our survey participants:

But how did gender correlate to fees? Drum roll please!

The Gender Pay Gap & Charging Fees. Does it Correlate?

Unfortunately, the gender pay gap in the United States is alive and well. According to the U.S Census Bureau, women earned 81.6¢ to every dollar men earned in 2018. ²

While we're not out to incite a battle of the sexes, we were curious to see if this pay disparity was reflected in the travel agent fees. Spoiler alert: It’s not!

In 2020, 57% of women reported charging fees, whereas only 49% of men reported charging fees.

In 2020, 57% of women reported charging fees, whereas only 49% of men reported charging fees. I have to say, you stumped us! Why? No other factors seemed to account for this gender divergence in fee-charging.

Our data whisperer, Dr. Maria Gei, dug into the data to try to find a reason why this rift may exist. She noted that there wasn’t a clear-cut answer. Between the sexes, there were no notable variations in trends that may impact fees—all the sexes worked similar hours, had a similar number of clients, and a close median age.³

Additionally, these factors were consistent among different regions. (Psst! We'll dig deeper into fees by region soon!)

So, we're still stumped, albeit happy to see charging fees doesn’t play into wage disparity when it comes to gender.

Race/Ethnic Origin & Travel Agent Fees

Do racial/ ethnic origin of travel agents reflect the population at large? Do matters of race correlate to likelihood to charge fees? This is what we set out to learn.

Below is a chart of how respondents identified their race/ethnic origin compared to U.S. population overall.⁴. The data offers information on how demographics of the travel agent industry reflect the overall U.S. population:

1. White Caucasian: 77% (compared to 76.5% overall population)
2. Black/ African American: 11% (compared to 13.4% overall population)
3. Multi-Racial: 3% (2.7% overall population)
4. Undisclosed: 3%
5. Hispanic/Latino Origin: 2% (compared to 18.3% overall population)
6. Asian: 2% (compared to 5.9% overall population )
7. American Indian or Alaskan Native: 1% (1.3% overall population)
8. Middle Eastern/ North African: 1% (not incl. in Census)
9. Native Hawaiian of Other Pacific Islander: <1% (.2% overall population)⁵

The greatest disparity existed among Hispanic/Latino travel agents. This demographic group was more than 16% below the U.S. total population who identified as Hispanic/Latino in 2019.

Data indicate that the percentage of White/Caucasian and Multi-Racial travel agent segments were reflective of the U.S. population overall.

The remaining travel agent demographic groups fell below overall population levels. Black/ African American travel agents registered 1.4% below overall population, and Asian travel agent segment was nearly 3% below overall population.

The greatest disparity existed among Hispanic/Latino travel agents. This demographic group was more than 16% below the U.S. total population who identified as Hispanic/Latino in 2019. This suggests that either our surveys are not reaching this demographic, or there barriers to entry into the travel agent industry disproportionately affect Hispanic/Latino communities.

Did Race/Ethnicity Correlate to Charging Fees?

Beyond the gender pay gap, there’s also a significant wage disparity between White/Caucasian and all other non-white demographic groups. According to a 2019 Economic Policy Institute report, black workers earned 76¢ and Hispanic workers earned 75¢ to the dollar of their white counterparts. ⁶

We were curious to find out if these social inequities played out in fee-charging practices. To make this assessment, we compared percentage of each group who reported charging fees, comparing it to 55%, the baseline. The baseline was established by taking the overall percentage of agents who reported charging fees in 2020.

When it comes to percentage who charge fees, the data indicates a significant divide, 21%, between the lowest-reporting and highest-reporting demographic groups (Multi-Racial and Hispanic/Latino, respectively).

Here’s how different racial/ethnic groups compared to this baseline:

When it comes to percentage who charge fees, the data indicates a significant divide, 21%, between the lowest-reporting and highest-reporting demographic groups (Multi-Racial and Hispanic/Latino, respectively).

White/ Caucasian and Asian segments reported charging fees at the baseline (55%), and Multi-Racial segments charged above the baseline (57%).

Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino travel agents were the only two demographic groups that reported charging fees below the 55% baseline.

Industry participation among Hispanic/Latino travel agents is most disproportionate to overall population, a disparity which is also reflected in fee-charging practices.

The data indicates that racial/ethnic identity has a correlation to charging fees, with the most significant disparity existing among travel agents who identify as Hispanic/Latino. This suggests that industry participation among Hispanic/Latino travel agents is most disproportionate to overall population, a disparity which is also reflected in fee-charging practices.

Region and Travel Agent Fees

Year after year, region has a strong correlation to charging fees. Here’s a look at what percentage of travel agents charged fees by region (all the ranges listed in the image below are interquartile (IQ) ranges):

In 2020, New England took the lead in fee-charging: 83% of New England-based travel agents reported charging fees, surging ahead of Canada ⁷ and the Mountain region, which responded at the highest rates to charge fees, 1st and 2nd respectively, in 2018⁸.

Four regions fell below the 55% baseline of fee charging, Midwest, Southwest, Southeast and Appalachia.

As with race/ethnic origin, we use 55% as the baseline for charging fees. Four regions fell below the 55% baseline of fee charging, Midwest, Southwest, Southeast and Appalachia.

While Appalachia registered as the region least likely to charge in 2020, the percentage of respondents who reported charging in that region increased 9% in 2020 (from 37% to 46%).

In fact, in every region, a higher percentage of travel agents reported charging fees in 2020. High five!

How Much Do Different Regions Charge?

We used domestic and international air-ticketing as the standard to gauge service fee charges by region. We think of it as a commodity item, in the way people are more likely to use milk (airline ticketing fees) as an indicator of food costs than say, avocados (rail ticketing fees).

Most notably, $50 was the fee mode for booking international air in every U.S. region. This trend is consistent with 2018 results.

Most notably, $50 was the fee mode for booking international air in every U.S. region. This trend is consistent with 2018 results. Heck, even our Canadian neighbors charged $50 CAD (which is ~$34.5USD). How’s that for consensus?

In addition to mode, we also looked at the range of fees in each region for domestic and international air. For the range, we rely on interquartile range (in short, a range that removes outliers in order to get a clearer picture of moderate fee-charging practices).

Below, the image show what percentages of agents charge by region along with the mode and interquartile range of regional fees for domestic and international air:

The fee mode for domestic and international air stayed steady in most regions between 2018 and 2020. But there were a few rebels: the Mid-Atlantic domestic fee mode increased by $25 and the Mountain region fee increased by $15.

Canada was the only segment that reported a lower fee mode for both domestic and international air, with both fees decreasing by $25 CAD.

Generation and Travel Agent Fees

Age. It’s a touchy subject. But we’re no stranger to a little controversy 😉. In our fee survey, we asked you to dish on just how young you are! Why? Because, yet again, we wanted to see if age had any correlation with charging fees.

Here's how you responded:

The majority of agents were Baby Boomers (41%) followed by Gen Xers (37%) and Millennials (14%). There were fewer agents on the generational fringes: 5% were part of the Silent generation and <0.5% were Gen Z. 3% of you suggested we mind our own business (undisclosed) 😉.

Did age correlate with fees? Umm. Not really . . . at least in no consistent way.

1. Silent: 49%
2. Boomer: 57%
3. GenX: 52%
4. Millennial: 57%

Millennials and Baby Boomers reported charging fees at the same percentage, 57%. These two groups charged above the 55% baseline. Gen Xers and the Silent generations charged below this baseline, 52% and 47% respectively.

Gen Xers and the Silent generations charged below this baseline, 52% and 47% respectively.

Kudos to Millennials and Baby Boomers who were most likely to charge fees!

Save The Best For Last: Seat Preferences and Travel Agent Fees

Finally. We’ve arrived at the most highly-anticipated dataset of all! What seat on the plane do agents prefer? The results will shock you! 😲

In our survey we asked what seat on the plane you prefer. Agents could select Window, Aisle, Middle, or No Preference (GASP!).

How did you respond? “Window” seat just edged out “Aisle” by 1%. We think that bladder size may correlate with these two preferences, but don’t worry . . . we didn’t get that personal in our survey.

A few travel agents, 1%, went rogue and reported that they prefer the middle seat. *GASP!* This stunned us.

A few travel agents, 1%, went rogue and reported that they prefer the middle seat. *GASP!* This stunned us. Sure, 1% may be a negligible amount, but we’re surprised it’s even that high.

Did you pick “Middle Seat?” This phenomenon is difficult to explain, but I’ll take a crack at it:

1. You accidentally ticked the wrong box in our survey
2. You’re messing with us!
3. You have kids and need to keep them separated
4. You’ve only flown when you’ve had an entire row to yourself

How would you explain this middle seat phenomenon? Comment below. (Seriously, we want to hear your hypotheses).

But, for the final burning question: How does what seat you prefer on an airplane correlate to charging fees? Those who like to sit in the aisle were most likely to report charging fees at 57%. Here’s the rest of the breakdown:

1. Aisle: 57%
2. Window: 54%
3. Middle: 44%
4. No Preference GASP!: 38%

Wow! Thank You!

HAR asked you a whole lot of personal questions, and we’re grateful that you’re willing to share this sensitive info with us! It's a great opportunity to look at how demographics play into charging fees and income.

Your participation makes this data magical (and not to mention a phenomenal benchmarking tool for the travel agents).

But guess what. We don’t fly solo. HAR had a lot of help in drawing 1,000+ agents to our survey, and we couldn’t have provided this data without them.

Who are these good samaritans?

1. ASTA
2. KHM
3. Nexion Travel Group
4. Oasis Travel Network
5. Travel Planners International
6. Travel Quest Network
7. Uniglobe Travel Center
8. Outside Agents

But most of all thank YOU for taking our survey! We love the opportunity to collect this data and see how trends change over time!

A Tiny Glossary of Terms

1. Interquartile Range (IQ): A typical "range" shows us the lowest and highest fee. But the interquartile range helps us remove outliers in order to get a clearer picture of moderate fee-charging practices. This isn’t to discount your fee strategy if you charge $1,000 for fee for international air, or if you only charge $2 to grandma Matilda because she pays you (literally) in dimes. It’s just to help give a clearer picture of what the “average” hosted agent is charging. For those really nerding out, the Interquartile Range measures the range between the 25th and 75th% percentile. This means the range excludes the data from the lowest 25% and the highest 25%, eliminating the lower and upper outliers and offering a picture of more moderate fee charging practices.
2. Mode: The mode is the number that appears most often in a set of numbers. For our purposes, it means that it was the most frequently-occurring response among travel agents who answered the question. We used mode to determine the most common amount charged for certain service fees, in order to give a clearer picture of what the “typical” agent is most likely to charge.

Spread the Love.

We love that you love data. Will you spread the love? Click on the image below to share this article on the great wide web:

Footnotes

1. Sources: United States Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor and Statistics ↩
2. Source: U.S. Census Bureau ↩
3. Due to insufficient data, we could not draw correlations between gender and fees for non-binary travel agents ↩
4. Total percentage is lower than 100% due to the fact we received insufficient data for the following categories: American Indian or Alaskan Native (1.3% overall pop.), Middle Eastern/North African (not incl. in Census), and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (.2% overall pop). We also had a nominal number of write-ins ↩
5. Source: 2019 U.S. Census, Quick Facts ↩
6. Source: Economic Policy Institute ↩
7. I know. I know. Canada is not technically a “region.” Alas, there was insufficient data to breakdown results provincially. ↩
8. Why no 2019 results? We conducted our 2018 at the end of year and published the results early 2019. After that, we modified our survey schedule, releasing it in Jan. 2020 rather than late 2019 ↩