Frequently asked questions
If your company only requires travel services from one country, then please select the relevant country from our Locations page and contact them directly using the contact information provided.
If your company has offices in more than one country and you would like to talk through the opportunities with AGN, you can either contact our central office via contact@advantageglobalnetwork.com or call +44 20 7324 3955.
Alternatively you can select the country where you are based from our Locations page and contact them directly to have an initial discussion about your business travel. They can then get in touch with other AGN Partners once they know what your requirements are.
For suppliers wishing to work with AGN, we have an extensive network and can promote your product to over 6,000 agencies across the globe. This allows you to manage the account alongside a colleague from AGN’s central office whilst we handle the promotion on your behalf. Our Partners touch all areas of the travel arena and we are able to channel information about your organisation to mutually benefit both our supplier partners as well as our Partners.
We have marketing packages to suit all suppliers and will be more than happy to provide tailored information to suit your specific interest. For more information, use our Contact page.
TMCs and travel agents join AGN to generate business. AGN helps them:
- Develop new revenue streams via introductions to new clients and markets
- Generate increased revenue from accommodation sales
- Generate greater revenue from third party supplier partnerships
- Raise company profile locally and internationally
- Share knowledge, inside information and best practice about different markets
- Gain a competitive edge over local competitors
- Compete equally with multinational travel groups
To assure quality and trust, membership is restricted to established companies with:
- 3 years’ financial accounts
- Full and current IATA accreditation
- Fully functional GDS / CRS
- The ability to send and receive data in global formats
- Direct access to the internet and email, and check it regularly
- The ability to respond to other member requests within a pre-agreed timescale
AGN is majority owned by Advantage Travel Partnership in the UK with a minority held by a national travel agency group in Germany. A dedicated team based at the AGN central office in London, UK manages the day to day operation of the company and liaises with Partners.
We keep it simple and focused with three simple objectives:
- Recruit high-quality Partners in every relevant country
- Help Partners communicate with each other to share and grow mutual business
- Successfully run the supplier programmes and partnerships on behalf of our Partners
Almost, but not quite! We aim to recruit “as few as possible” Partners in each country, but we prefer to restrict any grants of total exclusivity, to avoid any potential “gap on the map”, in case we need another Partner in a country with a specific skill or GDS platform that one Partner does not have.
The straight answer is yes, however, with some caveats.
As many of our Partners belong to other consortia with whom we already have a structured programme in place, then this is not a problem. However, as participants of more than one global network, there could be occasions when you would have the opportunity to take part in a client tender via both networks and therefore this could compromise you as it is neither ethical nor feasible and a client would recognise this. Therefore, we recommend that in order to wholly belong to the AGN network, that you offer us exclusivity as this is how you will gain more business.
All our Partners have very high quality standards, but being independent businesses the individual standards may vary from Partner to Partner. However there is an SLA (Service Level Agreement) template based on shared best practice which we ask all our Partners to formally agree to.
We expect TMCs as a minimum to be able to share data in CSV (comma separated values) format. For non-technical readers, this is a basic text format that enables data to be imported/exported into Microsoft Excel or similar software packages, and in turn enables agents to collate and provide business travel management information to their clients. This requirement forms part of our agreed SLA with our Partners.
Absolutely not. AGN TMCs are strong independent businesses, with strong independent brands – and we like that! We want to help you build your brand, not replace it. So the AGN logo is specifically designed to be flexible in terms of language (to match your market), colour (to match your corporate colours) and size (to sit alongside the IATA logo on your website, etc).
However, in order to be seen as a global brand and develop your business internationally, we do recommend that our Partners use the AGN brand as much as they can in order to promote this both internally and externally in their own market. This includes either links to the AGN main website and/or a strapline is added to your emails and that business cards feature the AGN logo alongside your own.
The more branding that everyone features, the more awareness of the AGN brand globally, which in turn means more opportunities to grow your business. Multinational clients will want to see consistency of brand across markets – it’s an easy thing to do and yet will reap huge rewards.
View our Marketing & RFP Support page on the member intranet to download brand guidelines, AGN logos and support documentation.
There is an annual AGN member-only conference that takes place alongside the ITMC Summit which is hosted by AGN. The location for this changes and has previously been held in Miami and UAE. We host regional meetings in Asia twice a year and an annual Global Partner Forum in London.
We try to run meetings to coincide with major trade events to minimise disruption and maximise the value of our Partners’ travel schedules, although this isn’t always possible. However, we recognise the cost of attending these events versus return on investment, and therefore they are run with a key agenda on all occasions.
Yes, there is an annual partnership fee, but in keeping with our “not for profit” approach, fees are kept low. Fees are payable upon invoice within 30 days of joining.
For more detailed information on the requirements and process to join the Advantage Global Network, please use the Contact form on this website or send an email to contact@advantageglobalnetwork.com. Our International Development Manager will then get in touch with you to discuss options and provide more information.