Kagehitokiri

hosted agent / independent contractor

skunker

Got it: he's netting 7%.

cruisr

He was working for Brownell Travel in Alabama. Don't know if he still is but he is not listed as an agent there nor is he listed as a Virtuoso agent on their site. Brownell is a Virtuoso.

7% is not a standard. I know many agents that are ICs and they keep 90% of the commission and some get 100% but pay a fee to the host agency every month. Some split commission 50/50.

pricesquire

He mentioned awhile back he's no longer an agent.

I'm sure Brownell was letting him keep much more than 70%...

Then again, Brownell is one of the most old school, corporatized agency around...so maybe he left when he figured out he had to earn his keep [in other words, he couldn't just travel for free].

ps, i came to say: there's nothing worse to me - absolute cringeworthy - than when Ben comments about business/strategy...as if he ran a major airline in his past life.

Flying F does not mean you know jack or squat about Qatar's boardroom politic!

eponymous_coward

Or his business/blog/etc. was making enough money for him that being a travel agent working for someone else wasn't worth the time and money investment compared to investing the time in his own business...

Oh, wait, I forgot, this is the FT Smack Talk Forum. Carry on.

pricesquire

Not smack talking, just speaking in probabilities: why not keep the IATA and industry connections? Wouldn't that further his travel-oriented life? I don't see anyone turning their back on that, no matter how much money they make of a blog. I know a lot of people who are agents who are also "rich" from other jobs. One of my good friends/colleagues is an agent AND an attorney.

Someone as 'industry obsessed' as Ben...just don't buy it.

work2fly

I've known Ben since he first started posting on FT. He has never done anything half-assed.

He posted a few times about his stint as a TA and my takeaway was that he just didn't have the bandwidth to give it the time he thought it needed given all of the other things he had going on.

pricesquire

THAT'S an explanation. Not "he as making more money doing A than B"..

eponymous_coward

That's not actually my quote. Key words in my quote: "was making enough money for him".

I know a number of people who've traded more money working for someone else for a lesser immediate financial reward that gives them the independence of being their own boss and not answering to someone else. And running your own business can be quite demanding as far as time goes, so I don't think it's necessarily "couldn't earn his keep", more like "wanted to make his own keep".

And remember, his blog isn't his only business... in fact, that's the source of one of his co-bloggers. (I have to wonder if the co-authoring is part of a possible "exit strategy" if he wants to do something else- sell the brand/businesses and move on once things go a different way.)

gpapadop

Nothing pays better than credit card apps! And definitely a TA job!

Today I saw two Citi Premier card approvals come through from my own (generic) cc links and I shake my head why I don't just pump 24/7

I hope he has a good financial advisor and not blowing the dough

farbster

I'm not sure that I'd use most/any of the travel bloggers as a travel agent. They lack coverage for non-chain (and credit card related) hotels. Of all the times they go to PH Maldives or PH Paris, have any been to Cheval Blanc (and I only picked that because I could easily spell it!) or any of the other amazing hotels in Paris?

ingy

Why would anyone, with sufficient miles and points, PAY CASH to stay in a given hotel in Paris when there are perfectly good hotels you can get with miles and points?

Kagehitokiri

ben did do amanresorts trip with his mom, he deserves credit for that

there is one travel agent blogger who does PR, award bookings, CC links

best hotels not available via points (like general aviation and EY residence)

the idea that majority of FT is award / manufactured spend is a myth
not everyone can get free points and not everyone is business traveler

eponymous_coward

Because chain hotels don't necessarily give much in the way of local flavor, are often in business districts that are fairly sterile, and B&B's/AirBnB/local chains that often give great experiences don't take points.

But hey, if staying in the Hilton La Défense floats your boat, be my guest. Some people like cornflakes in the executive lounge they could eat without traveling thousands of miles, I guess. I don't suppose they're wrong because there's no accounting for tastes.

Yes, very much this. Not everyone wants to spend their time finding whatever gift card they need at Rite-Aid.

Kagehitokiri

PH paris (as one example of award hotel) is not necessarily bad

not everyone has option of credit card manufactured/churning
and the amount required for most expensive rewards = a lot

some programs allow buying unlimited, but most have a limit