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Passion For Planning Travel?

Departure Lounge is one of the world’s most innovative travel companies with luxury travel advisors in its home base of Texas, and throughout North America and Europe. As a member of the prestigious Virtuoso international travel network, Departure Lounge offers travel clients outstanding guidance, upgrades, perks and insider experiences. Departure Lounge travel advisors have worldwide access to the finest travel providers and resources, as well as top status in the preferred-agency program of the best luxury travel brands.

If you are interested in joining the Departure Lounge advisor team of independent contractors, we’d love to hear from you. While there are many host agencies you could partner with, we set ourselves apart through innovation and unparalleled support for both our travel advisors and our clients. We are seeking professionals in the United States, Mexico and throughout Europe who are established sellers of luxury travel and are interested in growing, as well as those who are ready to begin a career as a travel advisor.

Our compensation plan is as innovative as our business concept.  For U.S.-based advisors, we have three different compensation options: 1) commission split for individual advisors; 2) commission split for teams working under one contract; or 3) a monthly flat fee for individual advisors with annual sales of $1 million+  that allows you to keep 100% of commissions for clients you have sourced.  In Europe, we have a very competitive commission-split and flat fee program as well.  Our advisors typically have 50-100 affluent client households, for which they arrange travel multiple times per year.

For travel advisors who are new or fairly new to selling travel but are very well traveled and knowledgeable, Departure Lounge helps you develop strategies for finding and attracting new clients. Our agency also generates qualified leads, which are placed with the agency’s travel advisors in their respective cities.

While you can build your practice on your own as a fully independent travel agent, working with a leading host travel company, such as Departure Lounge, provides you support, buying power, unique perks and complimentary upgrades for your clients, new leads, and network opportunities with our partners and other agents–all while giving you the freedom to learn, grow, and succeed as you help others with their travels.

Departure Lounge Travel Advisor Keys To Success

Wanderlust & Experience Sales, Skills & Service Relationships, Connections & Kindness
Travelers value working with a travel advisor who often times has “been there and done that.” So your travel experience is hugely important, as is your experience with 4-5-star travel providers and key attractions at destinations. If you have not “been everywhere,” your knowledge of a region or two, or familiarity with a specialized form of travel (such as cruises) can be a good starting point as a base of knowledge. Departure Lounge’s global connections through the Virtuoso network enable our travel advisors to create and arrange fantastic vacations even for destinations that the travel advisor has not yet personally explored. Talking about and presenting travel options in an effective and passionate way is typically the easy part for a prospective travel advisor. You also need good computer skills and a comfort level of working with technology, online websites, forms and booking tools, as well as email and texting. And you need to be strategic and thorough in working with and keeping track of details, being responsive and effectively communicating with clients and travel providers. As your host agency, we will work to provide the assistance and resources you need. Ultimately, a successful travel advisor needs 50-100+ affluent households that rely regularly on the travel advisor to arrange travel throughout the year. That means a prospective advisor ideally needs to have a strong personal network of affluent friends, colleagues and family members, who would trust the travel planners with their vacations and would ultimately recommend the advisor to others. The Departure Lounge culture is also built on kindness and a helpful spirit, so new team members need to demonstrate those same qualities. Our partners are professional and put people first by providing dedicated support to clients.

In The News

Our award-winning organization is recognized because of the incredible agents and travel suppliers we work with. Each agent is gifted with the ability to help people plan their perfect dream vacations, then helping make those dreams a reality. We don’t just sell travel services; we offer unique and unforgettable experiences by providing custom-tailored trips and exclusive benefits through partnerships with prestigious travel leaders.

We’ve received a variety of awards over time, and we have been featured in the news on multiple occasions as we continue to set and raise the bar in the travel industry.