Listing with us is currently FREE - What do you have to lose?

Why Partner with Travel Agents?

Partnering with Travel Agents is the best thing you can do for your vacation rentals right now! With more travellers looking for professional advice more now than ever with booking their trips, travel agents are becoming the future. It is like trying to sell your house without the help of an experienced realtor. Sure, you can try to sell it on your own and you might get lucky. But in the end, it makes the most sense to partner with an expert. That is essentially what we are asking you to do here. Partner with the travel experts and earn more bookings, generate more sales and increase traffic to your vacation rental. What have you got to lose?

KEY TRAVEL AGENT STATISTICS:

• ·       By 2020, the industry is expected to generate $17.3 billion, which is up from about $12.2 billion back in 2010.
• When booking air travel, 43% of people prefer to book through agents.
• The number of full-time travel companies in the U.S. plummeted from a high of 124,000 in 2000 to roughly 74,000 in 2014 according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. The number has bounced back up to 81,700 today but the government projects a further 12% decline by 2026.
• Over half of those that booked through agencies said their experiences were better than those that were planned alone, without an agent.
• Top travel companies often collaborate with hotels and restaurants to ensure mutual growth. For this reason, commission acquired from associates makes up 78% of the revenue in this industry.
• Digital services are so popular today that digital travel sales have increased to $180 billion in just the United States. It is forecast to be $213 billion by 2020.
• Agencies can save customers on average $452 per trip as they have access to promotions and deals from suppliers that travellers do not.
• According to the 2015 Census, there are 105,085 travel agencies in the U.S.
• 66% of travellers say that their agent helped them avoid costly inconveniences and mistakes.
• 55% of travellers have said that they must have sought out information from too many sources before deciding.
• 55% of Millennials are inclined to hire travel experts to help with planning their trips, while only 28% of Baby Boomers say the same.
• One third of international travellers have an interest in using digital assistants to research or book their trips.
• 33% of Millennials are planning to hire travel agents in the next two years.

(Source: https://www.condorferries.co.uk/travel-agency-statistics)

When you partner with travel agents, as a vacation rental home owner or property manager, what are you getting?

• Experienced and knowledgeable travel consultants who deal with travel-ready clients every single day
• They are looking for a property because they already have a client in mind meaning those “browsers” that often times are “just looking” for a property are thrown out of the mix – Essentially, they are serious inquires thus having a higher chance of actually getting a sale
• They know exactly what they want – no random questions and no beating around the bush
• Professional relationship instead of a unreliable house guest
• Possible repeat sales not just for 1 guest, but for many – If the agent’s client has a good experience at your property, odds are pretty good that the agent will recommend your property to another client in the future
• Guaranteed reviews – Agents understand the importance of a good review in order to increase traffic to your property because they, too, want good reviews to increase traffic to their agency
• Overall understanding of the industry – Agents are familiar with vacation rental polices and procedures thus taking the headache away from having to explain the contract to inexperienced house guests
• They pay attention to the “fine print” and fully understand the agreement prior to confirming anything – nothing is worse than having to explain to a guest that they agreed to a non-refundable deposit as they are asking for their deposit back
• Word of mouth = free advertising; Travel Agents talk amongst each other often and ask for advice from colleagues therefore if an agent’s guest has a good experience with your property, there is a good chance they will tell their agent friends about your property – again generating more sales!

This all sounds great, but what benefit does the travel agent get for booking my property?

• The biggest answer to this question is commission. Yes, we ask that all bookings made with us be given a commission as a “thank you” to the agents. This amount ranges from 5%-25% depending on the agreement arranged.
• When you think about it and lay out all of the details, an average of 10% commission is nothing compared to everything that you, as a property owner or manager, are getting in return
  • Free advertising
  • Referrals
  • Professional relationships
  • Hassle-free bookings
  • Reliable house guests
  • More reviews
• Keep in mind that there is currently NO FEE to list your property with us so the only time you pay us when a booking is made

I agree to partner with Travel Agents, but why do I need CIO to do that? Why can’t I work with agents on my own?

• This biggest reason is because of our connections with the Travel Agent community. We currently have over 4,000 registered travel agents and that number continues to increase daily.
• Not only do we have a large number of registered agents, but we also have access to thousands more agents through partnerships with large host agencies like Virtuoso, Travel Quest and Inteletravel.
• We attend travel agent conferences and seminars often promoting our company and asking travel agents to use our site
• We have inside experience because our owner, Melanie Haber, has been a travel agent herself for the past 10+ years
• When travel agents think of booking a vacation rental for their client, they like of us first! We are specifically decided with travel agents in mind thus creating a unique platform where agents are comfortable and committed to using.
• Your property will be exposed to a completely different audience than if listing through other sites like VRBO and AirBnB which are consumer based listing sites
• The minimal cost of losing roughly 10% to each booking made with our site is nothing compared to the costs it would take for you to manually reach all of these agents on your own

As a supplier of villas and vacation homes, we want you to partner with us! Our integrations currently allow for three types of property uploads: “Live” Properties (also known as API Integration), “On Request” Properties, and “Inquire for Rates” Properties. Each of these options offer different solutions, but the easiest and most efficient option is API Integration for the “Live” Properties. If your company already offers this technique, this process will be very simple. If your company does not offer API Integration, but are still interested in partnering with us, we are eager to chat!

The best part about integrating with CIO is there are no monthly fees, no booking fees, or service fees like many other websites. All we require is a reasonable commission or a wholesale rate in return. Typically, CIO will partner with properties offering at least a 10% commission, however any rate will be considered. The vision of CIO starts with developing these contracts with suppliers like you. Once the contracts are in place, the turnaround time for live bookings may take up to 3 weeks depending on difficulty of implementation. We cannot wait to start building relationships with you and turn your vacation rentals into successful vacation stories!

If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, fill out the form below and we will reach out to you soon!

Thank you!