Vacation planner – starting a vacation planning business

Vacation planning – Being a vacation manager might sound like a crazy idea for a business, but it’s huge and growing like crazy. Think about travel agents, but then think much more intense, sophisticated, and detailed.

Vacation planners take the travel desires of a family and work out all the details. So if a family chooses to take the family on a trip to the NW Washington area and prefers nature vacation, the vacation planner does the research, makes the reservations, finds out all the interesting information, completes the itinerary, and puts all the information together so all the family must do is get on the plane, go, and complete out the vacation plan.

Depending on the level of service offered, the vacation planner may also stay available to work out any details or changes that may be required.

Planning good vacations can take a lot of time and effort. Spending time researching locations, going through reviews, and coming up with intriguing things for the family to do requires much time on computers and the phone.

The travel planner who keeps their research and former itineraries can shorten that time significantly the next time around, perfect the plan, eliminate things that didn’t work well, and make much more money per hour.

There are of course an awful lot of perks to being a vacation planner. Like those who are employed in the travel industry, you would need to know a lot about a given area in order to recommend it. Business trips to work up itineraries or put packages together are part of the job. That means many of these expenses could be tax deductible to you as a business owner.

We can’t give you advice on that specifically, as the rules can be specific and there are many factors including how you set your business up and what kinds of expenses we are talking about. Not all expenses related to travel are deductible, even if you are in the business of vacation planning, but it can be enough to make it attractive.

Travel planners in a boom economy

Bottom line – people travel more and are more willing to spend more to make sure they have a great vacation. When marketing your travel planner business during a boom time, focus on expertise and time savings.

How much money can I make in a bust economy?

When times are harder, people still travel and perhaps even more so. But they travel differently and often shorter distances. They generally try to do it cheaper and so the travel planner must focus their marketing on who can get the best deals and getting the most bang for the buck.

Geographical limitations/differences

People tend to travel no matter where they live. Vacation planners must be intimately aware of those places around them to attract the largest market.

Competitors

There were travel agents on every corner 20 years ago. There aren’t very many anymore, but since the advent of the Internet, using travel agents and they way they made their money has largely become obsolete. Yet these remaining ones might be considered competitors. Travel agents do most of their work with corporate accounts these days, but they will gladly work with just about any kind of client.

While the Internet is certainly the primary tool of a vacation planner, it also enables people to do the same work you do. Unlike the travel vacations of old who had access to information that nobody else could obtain, your customers have equal access. They just won’t want to spend the time.

Advertising your vacation planning business

Target your advertising to upper middle and upper income families. People who have hectic lives and have the money to spend on expensive vacations will often prefer to bring in an expert vacation consultant to cut their time involvement and not have plans that turn into duds.

Target these groups, but concentrate your advertising on time savings, expertise, and making the most out of a precious vacation. Using such words as “private vacation consultant” will give that feeling of exclusivity and service, but avoid talking about fees until you get to your private meeting.

Meet with them in their home to determine what their vacation priorities are. While this is not advertising in the traditional sense, it is a part of the sales process.

License Requirements

None specifically unless you include ancillary activities that require some sort of license. You may consider taking several related courses that give you a few initials you can put behind your name. Perceptions of expertise are very important.

Vacation planner supplies

Primarily your computer, though you would find benefits in developing brochures that outline your service. Documentation of your agreements with clients and for keeping records of what they want and what you are doing for them is very important. You will need to be able to access their records just about any time.

Strongly recommended would also be a Blackberry or similar smart phone for access for clients and to keep records with you. Vacation planners find that such a similar digital device is essential to their business.

Financial Requirements

Being a vacation planner is all about being seen, having a reputation, appealing to your market, and knowing your product. Your financial requirements would include the development of marketing materials and perhaps putting a couple of itineraries together.

What to do next

Start educating yourself about the travel business, and pick a couple of locations for which you will become known as an expert. Start developing resources that are related to your business. You will then have a place to start with your first client rather than trying to establish these resources on short notice.

Keywords: travel, vacation, planner, family vacation, couples, honeymoon, exclusive vacation, travel consultant.

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