In episode 190, Steph Lee and Sheila Folk of Travel Industry Solutions go deep this week with questions on suppliers and seller of travel rules! Here are the questions in their entirely:

1. I have signed up with _____ as my host agent. Being very new to travel of this form, I feel I am learning a lot of the marketing. I know it is important but I’m not learning the program for the booking part and am getting frustrated. I must be missing something.

Ok sorry for the rant.

The question is: is it the suppliers that provide the software on the booking? I am going in the direction of cruises. Let me know.  —Deborah M..

2. I have been looking into host agencies and trying to find the right solution for my situation. I am hoping you could provide a little clarity with your expertise. I want to join a host agency with the hope that someday I can live wherever I want for up to 6 months out of the year. I currently live in Ontario, Canada and ideally when I retire I would like to continue my travel sales. I want a portable business. Is this possible with residency restrictions?

In reading more about "Seller of Travel" rules, my understanding is that in Ontario you need to be TICO certified to sell travel in Ontario. But you can only sell travel to Ontario residents and you must be an Ontario resident. Which I assume means even if my main residence is Ontario, if I'm visiting Italy for 3 months, I cannot continue to sell travel to Ontarions while staying in another country for several months out of the year?

So as I started to look into this issue, I found that the US is a little more lax, but there are still a few states that require certain licensing like Florida, California, Hawaii etc. So if I wanted a portable business would the solution be to connect with a host agency that is US based and accepts Canadians also, so that while I am living abroad I have the freedom to sell travel products to US residents without restrictions of licensing or where I live for a few months of the year?  —Patti

RESOURCES:

HAR’s travel industry conferences and events calendar with over 100+ events! https://hostagencyreviews.com/travel-conferences-events

Do you need a travel agent license/seller of travel registration? https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/travel-agent-license-seller-of-travel-license

Canadian Regulations for Travel Agencies in a Nutshell https://hostagencyreviews.com/blog/canadian-regulations-travel-agencies-nutshell

ACTA - Association of Canadian Travel Agencies and Advisors https://www.acta.ca/index.php

Host Agency List with hundreds of hosts and reviews from their travel advisor members. 

Travel Industry Solutions website

Read reviews and ask questions on Travel Industry Solutions’ HAR profile. 

https://hostagencyreviews.com/friday15 (Submit questions, sign up for reminders for the F15, along with that week's questions we'll be covering!)