All Reviews

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Top Review

June 13, 2023
I began my journey with Avoya about 6 months ago. The training was excellent. It is online so you can move at your own pace. There is live support every step of the way. The trainers have a great deal of expertise and are very patient. About five months ago I began with my first client. The excellent support continued with Avoya's Early Success program. They offer outstanding workshops conducted by experts in the field. Upon completion of their Early Success program, the support continues. With every question I've had or challenge I've encountered, the Avoya team has been there with timely responses. Their platform for booking and managing travel is excellent. It's user friendly! Lastly, I credit my success, over $900,000 is sales in less than 5 months time, with the training and support I've received from the Avoya team.
August 13, 2016
Old Review

As a newbie to the travel industry, I can honestly say I am so happy I have affiliated with Avoya! I have found EVERYONE to be extremely helpful & supportive.
I find the Live Leads program to be amazing! Like I said, I am brand new to the travel industry & have no clients of my own. Yes, some of the leads can be bogus...but I have found that with building a relationship with the people calling in or making an inquiry online is the way to be successful in this business.
As for the negative reviews about having to work or be available 24/7...you OWN your business. No matter what business you own, you have to work at it. If you don't want to work, you won't have a successful business.
I love the Avoya family & am so incredibly happy I have affiliated with such a wonderful group of people.

August 13, 2016
Old Review

I am new to the industry just 5 months. Avoya Travel is a great host agency.The Avoya University training is superior. All of their backstage staff is great and so helpful and supportive

August 4, 2016
Old Review

Avoya has been a very successful match for me so far. Being relatively new in the business, I found I was struggling to get enough leads to be where I wanted to be. While it's true that the commission split on leads is not what one would make with one's own bookings, the split is certainly better than zero! The leads have forced me to jump right in and to really learn about all the suppliers so much better. It's great on-the-job training for me, and it's something I was missing before.

I know I could be working 24/7 as another reviewer said, but it's entirely possible to set the pace. It's tempting to take as many leads as possible at first, but I am learning that just a few a day are manageable and profitable.

I have found every single one of the support staff people to be just great. There's a lot to learn, and the trainers are patient and encouraging.

All-in-all I am very pleased with my decision to affiliate with Avoya.

July 6, 2016
Old Review

What first interested me in Avoya was the Live Leads Program. When I began thinking about starting a travel agency the biggest concern was, "how am I going to find clients". Booking only family and friends isn't going to pay the bills and shelling out marketing dollars wasn't going to be possible. Lives Leads is definitely reason #1 to join.

The 2nd reason is the integrity of the Company and the relationships that Avoya has with the vendors. After researching Avoya, I found that they really had the relationships and respect of the major cruise lines. That meant a lot to me. I'm a young professional and I wanted to be with a company that wasn't just about SALES SALES SALE but had a mission to support Travel Agents in their goals.

The 3rd reason is the Master Mind Program. Right after I joined I learned about the Sales Training I could receive FREE of CHARGE from the Mastermind program. I thought that since it's free and I'm new to this, it's stupid not to try it out. Joining that group was the 2nd best decision I made after deciding to join Avoya. I received so many insights on how best to set-up systems, tracking my own sales success by understanding my agency scorecard, and learning helpful tips for other agents who have been in the business a lot longer than me. It's easy to feel alone when you're working from home, and in sales it's easy to get in a rut. The Master Mind team and fellow members, 100% prevent that from happening.

Avoya is NOT for passive travel enthusiast looking to book only a handful of trips a year and hoping to just take advantage of industry perks. If you're looking to make a career as a travel professional you should definitely consider affiliating with Avoya. I've been with Avoya for going on 2 years. After seeing the power of the Live Leads Program and the support of Avoya I've made the decision to have my Travel Agency be my sole source of income. If you're a hardworking intelligent entrepreneur I don't see how you could fail with Avoya.

June 28, 2016
Old Review

At first Avoya sounds great but it's not really a host agency. Despite how often they say you are an Independent Agency that's not really true compared to other host agencies. Avoya basically expects you to be available 24/7 365 days a year. The marketing structure causes people to think you are an employee in a call center. No matter how hard I tried to explain most people do not understand that you are not an employee and then get mad. I was constantly surprised at how much was deducted from my commissions.

The customer service is not that good. The assumption of Avoya Support is that you have done something wrong and its your fault. I was accused and reported to the VP because I booked a client with the same last name. The Support person said I couldn't book travel for myself and reported me - but I didn't she didn't look at the first name on the booking!

If the IRS investigated Avoya I have no doubt that the IRS would declare that everyone is an employee.

People who are willing to sit by a phone and computer 24/7 and are willing to talk to 12 to 15 "tire kickers" for every sale might make it.

Host Agency Response
August 2, 2016

Hi Alan,

Thank you for your feedback. I’m sorry the membership of your Independent Agency in the Avoya Travel Network did not work out as hoped.

The Avoya Travel Network is one of the industry’s most award-winning and reputable host agencies, but we’re always looking for ways to further improve and help Independent Agencies be even more successful. While Independent Agencies in the Avoya Travel Network on average sell far more than their peers at other leading host and franchise networks and even though Avoya’s Support Ratio is highest (compared to other leading networks) it’s clear to us that there are areas we can improve on and with feedback from you and others we will make it even better. Offering unique and exclusive programs like Agent Power, Live Leads and American Express Travel affiliation enables us to almost always exceed the expectations of Independent Agencies in the Avoya Network.

Again, thank you for your feedback. We will never quit trying to better serve Independent Agencies like yours.

Please contact me so we can speak personally and discuss your ideas and feedback on how we can improve Avoya.

Best,
Steve Hirshan
Senior Vice President of Sales
Avoya Travel
Steve.Hirshan@AvoyaTravel.com

May 28, 2016
Old Review

This was a horrible idea. Before signing up with avoya make sure you know what you're signing up for. They are horrible. Their customer service is a joke, making money is a joke, their live leads are a joke, this whole company is a joke. Don't get involved with this company. Their are other host agencies that cost less and you get better service

Host Agency Response
August 2, 2016

Hi Raeann,

We appreciate the feedback you provided. While the Avoya Travel Network has the best travel lead program in the industry, Live Leads™, and highest support ratio, we can always get better. We take all reviews seriously in continuously improving the Avoya Travel Network.

To better understand the details of what you’ve addressed above, please contact me directly. I’d love to speak with you personally about your Avoya experience, even if it was not a perfect fit for you.

Sincerely,
Steve Hirshan
Senior Vice President of Sales
Avoya Travel
Steve.Hirshan@AvoyaTravel.com

November 21, 2015
Old Review

I have been with Avoya for two months. I did not join initially when looking for a host agency because of the price to join and the reviews on this site. I went with Outside Agents which is not a bad host agency if you want to be totally on your own or ask condescending long-term agents a question.

After a year of starting with a host agency I was referred back to Avoya and after talking with a few people in length decided to join. I am pretty pleased I did. I have not received my first commission check but I have booked 10 times more cruises with Avoya in one month than I did on my own in 3 months.

Those complaining about the leads are the ones that can't close because they have no format, formula or follow through. Yes, some of the leads are not good. People do not provide good information but some are really good. I worked with Carnival directly and we would get written up if the monitored a call that we did not verify a phone number and email address on. This was because if we did not book them through direct sales the personal travel agents would then be assigned and try to book them. They were leads. Most of the time we did not book them because they were not ready. Everyone classifies a lead as someone who has provided some sort of contact information. It is not hard to succeed with Avoya's lead program you just have to have a system and the desire to actually work. Many people feel like because they work for themselves they can decided to wake up one day and work and then the rest of the week relax. Working on your own is much harder than punching a clock. I work everyday pretty much all day. I set my schedule and then take breaks from time to time. This is a great program, especially if you do not have a large client base.

The programs ans support and the CRM are awesome tools that help me stay organized. I will update in a few months so I can give an account of my first couple of checks.

To address the negative reviews. I am not sure what they mean by paying for the leads because I have not been charged for any leads. There are charges for calls made to your 800# but you can keep those down by calling people back. The charge is very small.

August 23, 2015
Old Review

WOW!! I’m shocked by the people that are writing bad reviews for this company. I am a retired Real Estate Agent, I just started with Avoya 4 months ago, I have never sold travel before. I know that in order to make money you have to work hard. I do! I am doing extremely well with Avoya. I am willing to work hard. If the people that have are complaining about this company were willing to work at it, make phone calls, form a relationship with people, they would be making money too. I admit it was very hard in the beginning, I felt like I was getting the lousy leads and I would never make any money, but if you keep at it, you have the ability to make a lot of money, I can make 6 or 7 HUNDRED dollars in commissions on 1 cruise. Work hard, it pays off. Nothing comes easy! Oh and the statement about ” One year wasted and lots of money!” It cost $100 each year, if you consider that “lots of money” That could be your problem!

August 20, 2015
Old Review

When I can share with everyone is that all these positive reviews is all smoke and mirrors. Look at the negative reviews first, those are actually from the agents that have worked here, the positive reviews I can tell you the names match all the upper management and their All-Star agents that have been with them since the inception of America's favorite vacation company. I promise you you will sign away your life and your money with their contract. My contract ends in about a month and a half and I can't wait to be done! I have been an agent for over 20 years and thought this was a easy way to work from home and make money doing what I do best selling travel. You will spend more money than you will make with a Avoya travel I promise you that. If you do have any kind of actual travel agency experience and do want to work from home I would look at American Express Hilton Starwood or any other cruise lines they do have work at home positions that you can actually make money. I am sure after my review has been posted you will see a bunch of reviews try to knock it down as the sales team and upper management watches this and then has their All-Star agents remark positive.

The live leads they promise are absolutely trash. They are leads if anyone even clicks on their website and sign up for a special that they have advertised cheaply you will get that lead and that counts as one of your leads for the week. Really somebody from the states attorneys office needs to look into their practice as I can assure you you are making well below minimum wage. That's why they call you an independent contractor so they can get away with paying you pennies on the dollar. Oh and if you make a mistake you best have errors and omissions insurance because they will take that out of your pocket without even trying to go to the vendor to fight on your behalf. As soon as my contract up I'm out of there. One year wasted and lots of money! Found a perfect work at home job actually making money selling travel glad to be almost rid if Avoya!

Host Agency Response
August 25, 2015

A FEW FACTS:
Something not often disclosed by leading host or franchise networks, but very important to know -
How much does the average independent agency in the host or franchise network sell? Just how profitable are their members?

At Avoya the average Independent Agency sells more than $425,000 per year and about 20% of the agencies in the Avoya Network sell more than $1 Million. Many IAs in the Avoya Network do this in their first year.

From what we know, independent agencies in the Avoya Travel Network on average far out sell their peers compared to other leading hosts and franchise networks.

How do you compare? How does your host compare?

Owning and managing a small business is a challenge in any industry. Travel is no exception and as the owners of the thousands of brick and mortar agencies that had to shut their doors over the past decade will attest, experience helps, but years of experience alone is no guarantee of success.

Avoya Live Leads™, an optional travel leads program available only at Avoya, substantially increases the chances of an IA being more successful than ever before but remember, some things never change in sales – there are buyers and there are lookers. In traditional brick and mortar agencies customers could walk in the door, grab a brochure and ask questions for days or even weeks - and never buy. That’s still the case when working and selling internet leads – if YOU let it happen. Avoya Live Leads help increase the chances for success, but do not guarantee it.

In the end the ultimate responsibility for success, or failure, of any independent business is that of the owner. Some are cut out to own, build and run successful travel agencies while others are not.

Avoya Travel Network offers its members the opportunity to succeed by providing resources such as professional education, world-class support, Live Leads and the combined reputation of Avoya and American Express. The record is clear, as a host agency Avoya provides by far the greatest opportunity for an Independent Agency to be successful.

The rest is up to you.
Skip Fortier
Director, Join Avoya

May 29, 2015
Old Review

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