USA, Canada, Worldwide, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holy See, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Virgin Islands (U.S.)

# of Contractors

300

# of Agencies

—

Members US

—

Members Canada

—

Members w/storefront

—

Members home-based

—

Annual Sales

$350 million

Languages Spoken

English

Business Attributes

LGBTQAI+ Owned (67%)

Network Sales

—

Profile Updated

03/06/2025

GDS

Sabre

Consortia

Virtuoso

Accreditations

IATA

Members of

ASTA

Seller of Travel

—

E&O Insurance Included

Focuses

Adventure, Cruise, Disney, Groups, Leisure, Luxury, Honeymoon/DWs, FITs

Program Details

Ticketing Service for non-GDS Agents

Minimum Sales Requirement

$160,000

Required to use Franchise Brand

Charge for Ticketing

Lead Program

Lead Belongs to

Host Agency

Charge for Leads

Education Program

IC Education, In-person, On-demand

Allows Sub-agents

Pricing & Commission

Franchise Start Up Fee

0.0

Military/Veteran discounts

Accreditation Number Required

Start Up Fee

$500–$500

Location Requirement

Home-based

Annual Fee

Monthly Fee

—

Commission Split Range

100% to 70%

Frequency of Commission Payments

Monthly

Method of Payment

Direct Deposit

Technology & Tools

Marketing Programs

Direct Mail, Consumer Magazine, E-mail Marketing, Social Media Tools

Leisure Tools

Air Booking Tool, Consumer Booking Tool, Hotel Booking Tool

Corporate Tools

—

Commission Tracking

Sion

Itinerary Builder

Travefy

Forms and Templates

Travefy, Travel Industry Solutions

CRM

Website Program

Accounting

Sion

Booking Tool

TravelWits

Analytics

Payment Solutions

About Departure Lounge

Departure Lounge is an Austin, TX based luxury travel host agency established in 2013 by former Virtuoso senior executive, Keith Waldon. Departure Lounge supports luxury independent contractor travel advisors globally at all experience levels and offers two compensation options: 1) a tiered commission-split program paying advisors 70-95% and 2) a $650 monthly flat fee program that pays 100% commission/fees. Departure Lounge is a Virtuoso-member agency with independent contractor travel advisors in the North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Departure Lounge conducts no recruitment of advisors but is open to adding both new-to-industry and veteran advisors who are aligned with the agency's culture of kindness and focus on leisure luxury travel.