American homeworking group InteleTravel has applied for an Abta licence following interest from “thousands” of potential UK agents.
InteleTravel gives recruits, who are not required to have industry experience, the chance to be agents “full-time, part-time or as a hobby”.
It offers access to its booking system and does not set sales quotas. It currently has 15,000 contracted agents in the US.
Training includes weekly webinars, conference calls and destination events, and its homeworkers get personalised websites and business cards.
James Ferrara, president of InteleTravel, said there had been “several thousand” applications to join the group in the UK.
“I’m thrilled with our reception,” he said. “We bring new people into the industry with new market share. We are not trying to lure existing agents from other agencies. I hope we are welcomed with friendly competition.”
Abta confirmed InteleTravel had applied to join. A spokesman said every application is “thoroughly vetted and subject to authorisation from our membership committee”.
InteleTravel has been recruiting via social media. Its website states: “(We) firmly believe it shouldn’t matter if someone already has a career or doesn’t know anything about travel; what’s important is how passionate he or she is.”
Targeting non-travel homeworkers has proved to be a successful approach for UK agency The Travel Franchise, a division of Not Just Travel.
InteleTravel, founded in 1992, said its agents earn between 70%-80% of the commission paid by operators, which the group negotiates at rates of 14%-28%.
Homeworkers pay £142 to sign up and £32 per month.
About 30 potential InteleTravel agents attended Clia’s Cruise360 event in Copenhagen in September.
Andy Harmer, Clia’s senior vice-president, membership, said: “If they are new to travel, Clia is an obvious partner as they will receive training. Welcoming people from other industries gives travel a new dimension.”