A host agency and TravelVault solve different problems, and plenty of agents use both. This page says what each one gives you, what it costs you, and how to decide. No sales pitch; the pricing is published and the booking site is open.
Most of your revenue is cruises, tours, or packages; you rely on the host's preferred-partner perks; you want someone else to collect commissions and carry E&O; or you're new and want the training and community. A host is built for that. TravelVault isn't.
You sell cruises and tours through your host but book a meaningful number of hotels. Booking those hotels at net rates with your own markup, under your own brand, usually beats a 10% commission split. Nothing about your host relationship has to change; hotel bookings on TravelVault are your business.
You mainly sell hotels, you already operate as a business (LLC or DBA, your own clients, your own seller-of-travel registration where your state requires it), and you'd rather own the margin and the client than be one of many agents under a brand that isn't yours.
Whichever you choose, seller-of-travel registration (California, Florida, Washington, Hawaii run programs), insurance, and how you charge your clients are your responsibility. The FAQ has the state links.
The TravelVault booking site is open to any US travel agent with no application: closed-user-group rates with a flat 6% markup over our net rate, invoice and hotel voucher by email. Book one hotel for one client and compare the number to what your host would have paid you.
When you want your own brand and your own markup instead of our 6%, the application takes two minutes; we review within one business day and your site is live within 24 hours of approval. No IATA or CLIA needed.
From our side, yes; there's no exclusivity and no contract term. Whether your host agreement restricts booking outside the host is between you and your host; read it.
No. To book on the public booking site you need nothing. For your own account we verify that you're a US travel business; an accreditation number is one way to show that, but a business registration plus a travel-selling website, a state seller-of-travel number, or a confirmable host affiliation also works.
You charge your client directly, at your price, by your method; TravelVault doesn't process consumer payments. You pay us the net rate, before the deadline on the booking. Your margin is the difference, and you have it as soon as your client pays.
We don't provide it and a host's policy won't cover bookings you make outside the host. If you go without a host, buy your own. It's also one of the requirements for a TravelVault credit line later on.
No. We don't lend you our accreditation, we don't pay you commission, we don't offer training or a community, and we don't sell cruises or tours. We give you net hotel rates, a branded booking site, and the tools to run agents under it. That's the whole product.
Book on the public site today, or apply for your own in two minutes. Both are free.