Dreaming of a career where you can immerse yourself in your favorite resorts and destinations while helping others plan their dream vacations? If you have a passion for travel and helping others create unforgettable experiences, becoming a Sandals Resorts travel agent could be your perfect career path. Sandals Resorts is one of the most renowned luxury all-inclusive resort brands, and as a travel agent specializing in these resorts, you can offer your clients exceptional service and vacation experiences. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to become a true "Certified Sandals Specialist" with their brand.
Understand What a Sandals Travel Agent Does
If you haven't worked with a Sandals agent on your own vacations, it may be confusing to understand what it is that we actually do. When a potential client comes to us they are often overwhelmed by the options and information they are finding online. They want someone who is an expert on the brand to help break things down and answer all of their questions based on personal experience. By the time they come to us, they've scoured the online social media groups, the TripAdvisor reviews, and endless blogs and websites and just need a professional to help them process everything they've found.
Once we connect with them it is our job to do the following:
Assist clients in selecting the best Sandals resort that suits their preferences (e.g., honeymooners, families, destination weddings, or group vacations).
Match them with the most current deals, promotions, and discounts to ensure they're getting the best possible pricing.
Book flights, travel insurance, tours, excursions, spa treatments, and other optional add-ons, if they wish.
Offer personalized recommendations for guests to enhance their vacation experience.
Answer all questions, concerns, requests. Send invoice copies, reminders of upcoming payments due, as well as send travel information prior to their departure.
Be present before, during and after their trip for anything they could possibly need.
How To Qualify As A Sandals Travel Agent
There are different tiers to being a Sandals Travel Agent. These agents also have completed the annual online training course provided by Sandals Resorts and commit to visiting at least one property in the Sandals or Beaches brand per year.
Sandals Elite Advisor: 1-25 Lifetime Bookings
Sandals Silver Elite Advisor: 26-75 Lifetime Bookings
Sandals Gold Elite Advisor: 76-249 Lifetime Bookings
Sandals Platinum Elite Advisor: 250+ Lifetime Bookings
Chairman's Royal Club ("CRC") level status is the highest goal, and to earn it you'll need to earn $500,000 or more in room revenue per year.
CRC Elite Advisor: $500K Room Revenue/Year
CRC Platinum Elite Advisor: $1.2M Room Revenue/Year
CRC Diamond Elite Advisor: $2.4M Room Revenue/Year
How To Become A Sandals Travel Agent
The first and most important thing to do is find an established agency with Sandals. Find an agency that is a top partner, a Chairman's Royal Club level agency, and see if they are accepting new agents. For example, my agency, My Paradise Planner, is a longtime CRC agency since 2012. We are currently accepting new agents.
Working with an already established agency like our's will allow you to get your foot in the door. We have earned the highest respect and recognition with Sandals and have a longstanding relationship with everyone in the brand from resort management up to the Chairman himself. You'll be starting off with an agency (and its owner) that not only knows everything to know about the brand, but you will also get the best support from Sandals Resorts directly because of our hard earned business relationships.
Some agencies will hire you as an employee (W2 filing for the IRS), though that is rare. Most will hire you as an Independent Contractor (1099-NEC filing for the IRS). If you sign as an Independent Contractor, you will be responsible for paying your own taxes, health insurance, etc. It's important to know which one the agency would be signing you as what that means legally. You will also want to discuss with the agency owner what they provide such as email address, webpage on their site, leads, E&O insurance, Seller of Travel licensing info, etc.
Once you're signed with a travel agency, you will be connected with their Sandals contacts:
A local Business Development Manager (BDM) to provide local support for meetings, events, and more.
A dedicated team at the Sandals call center to help assist you with quotes, bookings, requests, and more.
A Sandals Corporate Concierge in the main office, to provide you with top level support on anything you or your clients need.
You will also be given access to your own log in on the Sandals Resorts travel agent portal. This will be the place where you go to prepare quotes for your clients and make bookings (if you're comfortable doing those online vs calling your dedicated team at Sandals). You will also use this portal to complete the annual online training and access any bookings you've made, pull up invoices, make payments, check your status levels, etc.
There are strict guidelines when becoming a Sandals travel agent. You will need to follow any rules set forth by Sandals Resorts and your agency, or risk being permanently banned from selling their products. This includes things like not soliciting people on property to book with you and remaining professional while on work-related trips to the resorts. You will sign a Code of Conduct through your agency when you join, promising to follow the rules for Sandals and your agency, too.
Once you get yourself going and the bookings come in, you'll earn generous perks. This should be discussed with your agency owner/manager when you sign your contract.
I'm Ready To Go. What's Next?
If you think this is right for you and you wish to get started right away, we'd love to work with you. Just reach out and I'll set up a time to speak with you and discuss if you think our agency, My Paradise Planner, is the right fit for you. We'd start with reviewing your request to join, then if we feel you're a good fit we will set up a phone interview with you. After that, if you wish to move forward and join our team we will send you a contract to review and sign.