Cheapest Hotel Room Rates Go to Agents

If you travel with any regularity, you’ve undoubtedly noticed just how expensive hotel stays are these days. A myriad of factors are driving room rates sky-high. Travel is becoming more commonplace in our society, pushing demand to its highest levels and communities are levying new and costly “entertainment taxes” on the lodging industry.

It’s no wonder that everyone is looking hard for the cheapest hotel room rates. Online discounters and “name your own price” services that connect consumers with room consolidators are incredibly popular. Nonetheless, most people will never really find the cheapest hotel room rates. Those rates are reserved for travel agents!

The travel industry pumps more than four trillion dollars per year into the economy, and a great deal of that spending is done with the assistance and encouragement of travel agencies. As a result, the lodging industry does its best to take care of its “support network” by rewarding agents with the best possible rates and bonuses.

One expert argues that the travel and tourism industry treats travel agents like “royalty.” The industry relies upon agents for a significant share of its overall business and does its very best to keep agents on its good side. Treating an agent like a VIP improves the chances of that agent sending business back to a given hotel property--at a much higher rate than the one extended to the “insider.”

So, if you are looking for the cheapest hotel room rates, become a travel agent. It’s that simple.

That may sound ridiculous, but it really isn’t. Becoming a travel agent is a quick and painless way to secure the cheapest room rates and a host of other amazing travel-related discounts. At least one online system promises to make its buyers into licensed travel agents (and eligible for all the benefits that entails) within a mere twenty minutes.

You don’t necessarily have to sell travel to others in order to become a licensed agent. You can maintain your standing while only using the deep discounts and other perks for yourself. However, many “amateur” agents do use their licensing to sell travel opportunities to friends, families and others as a part time business. Some find that being an agent is so profitable and enjoyable that they make it into a full-time career.

The costs associated with learning how to become a licensed travel agent are minimal. When compared to the “rack rate” for vacations and lodging, learning to be an agent would appear to be an obvious choice. One can recoup the money associated with learning the trade on a single trip.

If you want the cheapest hotel room rates, you need to move from being an outsider to travel’s inner circle. Becoming an insider means becoming a travel agent. Once you make that move, you will be inundated with incredible rates and offers at the very best possible prices.

Mellisa O'Brien offers a fantastic guide to becoming a travel agent almost instantly and reaping all of the benefits. Her "Travel Industry Secrets" is a recognized winner in the field of discount travel and her inexpensive guide is a proven shortcut to getting the cheapest hotel room rates and other unbelievable bargains. Anyone whose interested in reducing their travel and vacation expenses simply must read what she has to say!