How Travel Advisors Actually Book Travel
Behind the Scenes with Jill | 20+ Years in the Industry
The Big Myth
Most people assume travel advisors log into one system, click a few buttons, and a vacation is booked. That's not even close to how it actually works. In reality, there's no single way advisors book travel — the tools change depending on the destination, the client, and the goal of the trip.
Travel advising is about access, relationships, and knowing which tools to use in which situation.
The Tools & Methods
Preferred Partner Portals Luxury hotel brands give travel advisors access to private booking platforms the public can't see. When booking through these portals, clients are flagged as VIPs — which can mean food and beverage credits, priority upgrades, early check-ins, late checkouts, and extra attention. This isn't about discounts. It's about status, recognition, and making sure clients are taken care of in a way that genuinely affects their experience.
Professional Hotel Booking Software This lets advisors view all hotels in a destination and compare availability and pricing across brands in one place — helping them curate options intelligently and cut through the noise of an overwhelming marketplace.
Direct Industry Relationships This is the favorite method. Relationships with global hotel sales teams, property-level sales managers, and on-the-ground contacts — built through host agencies, industry events, property visits, site tours, and coffee meetings. These relationships mean advisors can ask real questions, advocate for special rooms, request special considerations, and have an actual person to call on. It's also a big part of what makes the job fun.
GDS (Global Distribution Systems) Old school, but still powerful. Modern interfaces have been built on top of these legacy systems to make them much easier to use, which is why they're still very much a part of the industry.
Direct Contact — Phone & Email Sometimes the most effective method is just picking up the phone or sending an email. Calling the hotel directly, emailing a sales director, having a real human conversation. It might sound outdated, but in most cases it's still the most effective way to get things done.
The Role of a Host Agency
Once you join a host agency, you gain access to all of these tools, systems, and relationships. That's one of the biggest benefits of not trying to build this from scratch on your own.
The Bottom Line
Being a travel advisor isn't about a system or making reservations. It's about relationships, knowledge, and knowing how to pull all the details together into a curated experience — and sometimes creating experiences clients didn't even know were possible.