Travel Leaders Network

Two different beasts. A consortium would a be a collective group that has established connections and puts together benefits and passes them on to their members. They offer training and other tools to help agencies. I do not believe that you can be an individual agent to be a member of a consortium unless you are your own agency (own accreditation, probably certain volume as well).

A franchise is a company that has an established business plan and marketing strategy that you "buy into" at usually a hefty price but they supply you with everything you need to run your business but you MUST follow their business structure and strategy. Like Macdonalds is a franchise... you use their name and branding and systems but its your own business. But you can't make the burgers they way YOU like...you must use their recipe.

Yes, two different types of business models. I consider our consortium division more of an ala carte program. We offer many different programs and each agency can pick and use the programs that benefit them. Our agency members are diverse in their business models and have many different needs. As the previous answer says, there are many things you must use with a Franchise, and with a Consortium, you have much more leeway to use what works and not use what is not needed. We have both leisure and corporate tools, not every agency sells both, but both types of agencies can benefit from many of our programs.