A self-proclaimed perfectionist, Erica Carr stumbled into travel in 2019, booking a jaw-dropping 100 trips her first year … just in time for the worldwide pandemic. But ain’t no pandemic stopping this lady. Nope, Erica and her team of three employees are on track to bring in $2.2M in sales for 2022!

Bookitbox TRAVEL is a luxury travel agency with a spin. Every client gets a box pre-departure with travel info and gifts personalized to their unique itinerary. As they say at Bookitbox, “All boxed up and TSA approved.” Join us as we take a peek inside her boxes and Erica shares why she thinks the boxes have been so instrumental in helping her agency grow. 

Oh, and copy cats. Most of us face them at one time or another. As you’ll find out, Erica is entirely transparent in what she does with the boxes and how it’s helped. So how does she deal with other businesses taking pages from her playbook? It might surprise you! 😊 

We’ll chat with Erica on how she made the transition from never having really traveled in the high-end luxury space ended up opening a successful agency that has a $10k minimum spend for clients. She’ll share with us her approach of ‘loving on her clients’ and how she surprises clients throughout their journey with small gifts and unexpected touchpoints.  

We’ll also touch on how she used the pandemic to systematize her agency so that coming out of the pandemic, she saw hockey stick growth in her sales. Through all this, she grew her team of employees throughout the US. If you’re wondering how to manage a remote team and hire the right people for your agency without being able to be in the same office, Erica has some tips for you on that too. 

Settle in and get ready as we take a deep dive into yet another success agency owner’s story!

****** Special thanks to our sponsor, Levarte Travel: https://hostagencyreviews.com/hosts/levarte-travel ******

 ****** Transcript + Show Notes: https://har.news/vol24

Travel Agent Chatter

Trascript + Show Notes

Vol 24 | $0 to 2.2M in 4 (pandemic) years. Surprise travel box w/goodies for clients. Meet Erica!

In episode 153 Steph co-hosts with the one and only Mary Stein of HAR. Sponsored by Outside Agents - thanks Chad and team! Here’s a taste of the questions they’ll cover:
1.	I keep noticing offers from my host agency/consortia/vendors that would provide perks for my clients and bonus commissions for me…after it is too late to claim them. How do other agents manage the flood of consumer and agent incentives so they can make recommendations that are good for their clients and good for them?  —Vince K.


2. 	I am thinking about switching to another host agency because the one I am with really does not reach out to ask me why my sales are low. It is very difficult to find clients. I would like to sign up with a host agency that will reach out to their members to help them to figure out where they are struggling. Sorry for the long intro but my question is do I lose all my credentials that I already have with some vendors. I have completed my Disney Knowledge, Universal's course and some of Norwegian's courses. I appreciate everything you do for us agents. Thank you! —Lourdes P.


3.	I'm in the process of getting a business bank account, and I recall something being mentioned in one of the Friday 15s or in the 7-day Setup about potentially setting up a trust account for client deposits. Is this just a secondary business bank account specifically for depositing client deposits, or is it something official that is regulated by the state or another overseeing agency as it is for lawyers? —Ashley R.





TODAY’S RESOURCES:

https://www.spoiledagent.com/ (Spoiled Agent lists supplier incentives for advisors in an organized way.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/hosts (List of host agencies.) 
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/tips-on-how-to-find-the-best-travel-host-agency (Advice on how to find the best host agency.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/independent-travel-agent-contracts (Things to look for in your contract with your host agency)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/5-steps-to-finding-groups (Article series with advice on how travel agents can find group bookings.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/best-disney-travel-agents-booking-secrets (Best Disney travel agents share their booking secrets.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/universal-studios-hollywood-map-pdf (Universal Studios Hollywood map for your clients.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agents-guide-hars-disney-world-planning-booking-cheatsheet (HAR guide on booking Disney World.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agent-license-seller-of-travel-license (Information on Seller of Travel registration requirements for California, Florida, Hawaii, and Washington.)
https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/seller-travel-laws-service-fees (How seller of travel laws impact service fees.)

Ask Your Questions

(153) How to Manage Many Perks? Switching from Unsupportive HA? What’s a Trust Account?

We’ve got two listening delights for you on this channel, folks! 😲 

The first is Travel Agent Chatter (TAC), a spotlight interview of a wide variety of travel advisors that we publish every quarter. 

The second is our shorter, but more frequent Friday 15 series, where every Friday we answer your travel industry questions for — you guessed it — 15 minutes!

Travel Agent Chatter -- a Host Agency Reviews audio series -- talks about all things travel. We specialize in-depth interviews with travel agents from all walks of life.

Whether you’re a new or experienced travel advisor, we help you up your game by sharing where other travel agencies have found success and offering inspiring stories from the front lines!

Transcripts, videos and show notes of the TAC episodes can be found at https://hostagencyreviews.com/TAC

And every Friday at 12pm CT we publish the Friday 15 to our TAC feed. It’s 15 minutes over the lunch hour, where we answer your travel industry questions. Submit your questions and watch videos of the Friday 15 at https://hostagencyreviews.com/friday15.

Travel Agent Chatter and the Friday 15 are hosted by Steph Lee, the founder of the website Host Agency Reviews and travel industry veteran. She's insatiably curious. A lover of travel, writing, gardening & the stars. Most importantly, she ♥'s her dogs, Fennec and Orion!

(153) How to Manage Many Perks? Switching from Unsupportive HA? What’s a Trust Account?

Travel Agent Chatter :and: Friday 15

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