Travel Agencies Still Make 7 Times More in Commissions Than Fees

When U.S. airlines eliminated base commissions to travel agencies two decades ago, savvy agencies began pivoting toward cruise sales, and many began charging their clients service fees to make up for lost revenue. Many travel agencies that didn't adapt to the changed business climate had to close up shop. But now it turns out that commissions — as opposed to charging clients service fees — still dominate the travel agency business in the U.S., although this compensation is undoubtedly generated mostly from cruise lines and hotels these days rather than from airlines as in the past. Travel Agent Commission Report, 2019, which Host Agency Reviews published last month, found from a survey that travel advisors belonging to host agencies received about seven times as much commission revenue ($41,417) in 2018 than they did from service fees ($5,863), on average. "The travel advisor industry has made tremendous headway in charging fees for s