Everybody Takes a Slice
Agents earn commission from the hotels, cruise lines and tours they book: about 10% for hotels, 10–18% for cruises. Most independent agents then hand 20–30% of it to a host agency, and the host usually belongs to a consortium with "preferred" suppliers. Thin margins reward volume, and whoever pays a little more.
Anyone Can Be an "Agent"
No federal license is required in the US, and only a handful of states require seller-of-travel registration. Pay-to-join travel MLMs live in that gap. Ask any agent who certified them, who hosts them, and how they get paid on your trip.
The €20 Million Receipt
A Full Experience Colosseum ticket is €24 on the official site. Resold as a private tour it runs about $540–670 a person. In April 2025, Italy's competition authority fined the Colosseum's ticket seller and six resellers almost €20 million for bots hoarding tickets to resell in pricier bundles.
Algorithms Don't Know You
The big booking sites win on scale. They'll find you a cheap room. They won't tell you the street is loud or that every restaurant worth eating at is across town.