Among the most common freelance or remote jobs is being a virtual assistant (VA). But, even within this category, there are many niche-specific types of this role, such as virtual assistant travel jobs.
If this sounds like something up your alley, you can try to parlay this to travel the world and make a bit of money along the way! Here is a step-by-step guide on traveling the world as a VA.
As reported by Statista, the travel industry is nearly worth $3 trillion. What probably helps is the fact tourism is linked with virtually every other industry on Earth.
Even though the pandemic was challenging for this industry, travel is slowly picking up again, which means more travel virtual assistant jobs will likely open up. Now is the best time to plan life as a travel virtual assistant!
So, whether you’re already working as a VA or want to make it your new career, let’s look at the opportunities.
How to Find Virtual Assistant Jobs
There are multiple ways to find virtual assistant jobs in the travel industry. You can research the market yourself, but it’s also worth considering using a recruiter. Recruiters are professionals focused on finding the best career fits for others, so they’ll know how to help you find the best job for your skillset and interests.
A common misconception is that recruiters are only able to find full-time positions. Not so; many recruiters also focus on part-time and contract work, which means they can help you find freelance opportunities with international travel companies.
It’s worth knowing how much you should charge for these roles!
What’s Available?
The first step in finding VA jobs in travel is to examine how much you charge. Typically, expect to be paid around $25-$50 an hour for these roles. If working as a TVA for a company, you’ll usually get a 1099 form at the end of your contract, which means fees are often deducted from how much you make while traveling.
If you’re eager to know how much VA travel jobs usually pay, many other VA roles in this industry offer lower rates. Here’s how to find freelance opportunities with DMOs (Destination Marketing Organizations) and how to get the job.
See Related: Best Travel Agents Jobs
Where to Find Virtual Assistant Jobs
Once you decide to be a VA and focus on the travel industry, what’s next? Well, there are a few places online you can look for such jobs:
Job Sites
If you’re eager to work for a travel agency or company as a VA, job sites like FlexJobs, SolidGigs, or ZipRecruiter are the best places to look for such jobs.
Many companies looking to hire VAs on payroll typically use job boards. Simply type ‘virtual assistant travel,’ and you’ll see job alerts and opportunities for assistants in the travel industry.
You can also use the words like “remote” or filter by location if you want to work for companies in a specific city, region, or country.
See Related: Minimalist Travel Accessories
LinkedIn is the preferred talent-finding platform for many companies. Create your profile and set your career as a VA, enabling job opportunity notifications. That way, you don’t have to look for opportunities actively; they will enter your inbox!
Make sure to polish your profile with a concise, professional intro and thorough education and experiences. Also, make sure you have a picture and build an up-to-date resume!
See Related: Important Pros and Cons of Travel Insurance
Freelance Platforms
Freelance talent websites like Upwork and Fiverr are very popular for VAs. You can apply for VA or personal assistant travel-related jobs on Upwork. On Fiverr, you can create gigs and set up a job alert so you won’t miss people who will contact you.
Upwork is the best platform for virtual assistants as it allows hourly billing. Since this kind of work doesn’t always have measurable deliverables, it’s best to use hourly billing.
See Related: Tour Operator vs Travel Agent: What’s the Difference?
Company Websites
Many companies also post directly on their websites. If you’re keen on working exclusively for a company, especially a travel company, start by looking at the careers page of their website and set up a job alert to get the latest job openings right when they happen. Such travel jobs will be more permanent with fixed weekly hours, pay, and benefits such as 401(k) and insurance.
If you’re eager to find a more stable option than looking for contracts and low-cost gigs every week, finding a permanent VA position would be the best way to go about it.
Even if a company hasn’t posted a job, you can contact them with your resume or LinkedIn profile, offering your services as a virtual travel assistant. Make sure you set up a job alert for the company’s website along with other platforms such as LinkedIn.
See Related: Best Insurance for Pre-Existing Conditions
Best Virtual Assistant Travel Jobs
Narrowing down the VA jobs in travel can help you find employment or gigs faster on job sites like FlexJobs, SolidGigs, or ZipRecruiter. The VA field is becoming increasingly competitive, with entrants from around the world vying for the same openings.
So, it goes without saying that you have to stand out from the rest to make it. Here are the best virtual travel assistant jobs you can look up:
1. Travel Agent Virtual Assistant
A travel agent VA is similar to a regular travel agent, except you don’t have a shop or office on the street. This job would require some training as a travel agent and preferably some experience using the typical travel agent software, for example, the IATA Ticket Booking software. You can even get accredited by IATA and get an IATA reference code.
You can work independently or with a travel agency withtraining or experience. As a travel agent virtual assistant, your daily tasks may include the following:
- Assisting other travel agents
- Reviewing travel requests to make sure trips are secured
- Performing jobs for the travel agency virtually, wherever you may be located
This may include searching, reserving, and booking tickets for the agency’s clients or doing fieldwork to research potential new travel destinations. You may also be asked to perform administrative tasks for the travel agency.
The most significant benefit of such a job is that you’ll have steady work. You don’t necessarily have to find gigs now and then. With fixed hours, you can make decent money sitting at home or anywhere with an internet connection. Plus, if you work a few hours daily, you can take up multiple gigs to earn even more!
See Related: Practical Tips for Working While Traveling
2. Private Virtual Travel Assistant or Agent
Being a private virtual travel agent is not much different than working as a VA for a travel agency. The only distinction is that you’ll be working for another company or individual here. Many companies hire virtual travel agents to book the itineraries of their executives and employees traveling domestically and abroad.
It would be your job to book their flights or hotels at the best prices (although price typically is not as significant a factor for business travel as time is). Again, it would be best if you were a certified travel agent to pick such a gig. Nonetheless, getting this certification isn’t difficult at all!
Some individuals may also need a virtual travel agent to book their itineraries. These are typically business people who travel frequently, such as CEOs, managers, or lawyers.
See Related: How to Travel Full Time
3. Hotel Bookings Virtual Assistant
You’re tasked with finding and booking hotels as a Hotel Bookings Assistant or can also be called Reservation Specialist. Again, this could be for a company, family, or individual.
With so many accommodation options everywhere (not just hotels), it often gets confusing for people. So they prefer a professional to do it since these epic employees run smoothly.
While you may think this job is easy, it may not be easy when clients have precise demands. For instance, if they want a specific hotel or room typically booked months in advance.
As a VA dedicated exclusively to hotel bookings, you’ll need to learn the ins and outs of getting the room you want. For many clients, the price doesn’t even matter!
For this reason, you should develop a strong network in the hotel and accommodation industry to guarantee your clients the best rooms available even at the eleventh hour. The more exclusive hotels you can get for them, the more they’ll rely on your service in the future. It’s a more demanding job, but potentially one of the better-paid routes to go down.
See Related: Epic Tips for Stress-Free Travel
4. Travel Insurance and Claims Virtual Assistant
The travel insurance industry is a massive part of the travel industry. Flights get canceled or delayed, baggage gets lost, and people get sick.
Those are some unfortunate realities travelers often deal with. In those grim eventualities, travel insurance comes in very handy.
More and more travelers are becoming cautious and prefer to insure their trips, and we at ViaTravelers recommend doing this; insurance is better to have and not need than need and not have. That’s where your services can come in by providing the best insurance plans and coverage for a traveler’s trip.
You can work with a company or individual exclusively, searching and purchasing the best insurance plans and preparing documentation for their travels. These days, there are so many travel insurance comparison sites you can use to find the best coverage at the cheapest rates. Things will get much easier once you’re familiar with all the options.
To provide the best service to your clients, read the coverage details thoroughly. You’ve been hired for that purpose, and your client doesn’t have time/want to read all that.
Remember that any unfortunate misunderstanding might not just lead to unfavorable feedback. You could be screwing someone over for life in extreme circumstances.
You can also directly work with travel insurance companies to offer your clients the best rates. Of course, the more clients you bring in for a company, the more money they make, so they’ll probably be willing to offer you concessions, commissions, or discounts on your insurance plans.
See Related: Best Travel Makeup Kits
5. Social Media Virtual Assistant for Travel Agencies
Social media has become the dominating platform for marketing and advertising. Along with traditional forms of marketing, travel agencies also rely on social media, like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to promote their services.
Not every agency can afford an in-house marketing team to manage social media. As a social media VA, you can offer your services for promoting the company on social media and managing its accounts. It’s one of those VA travel jobs that coincides well with the marketing industry.
Your job would typically be to post content on their accounts daily or weekly, run ads, and engage with the audience when they comment or message. Simply put, you’ll assist the travel agency in managing its social media presence.
While you don’t necessarily need a college degree or certificate to get such a job, it may help if you have a marketing background (education or work). If you have experience, travel agencies may be more likely to hire you.
You can work as a marketing VA for just one travel agency or multiple, whatever helps you pay your bills. The most appealing aspect of this VA is that you can build your travel website and provide solutions as a service!
6. Bookkeeping/Accounting Virtual Assistant for Travel Companies
Like social media management, travel companies may also require virtual assistants for bookkeeping and accounting. As a VA for their accountant or accounts department, your job may include processing payroll and transactions.
In most cases, you’d use accounting software like QuickBooks to manage their billing and invoices. While you don’t need a degree in accounting, it’s recommended that you complete an accounting course and get some certifications. You’re golden if you’re a CPA, but even a PA should suffice.
Most travel companies looking for accounting assistants and bookkeepers would want to hire a qualified virtual travel assistant. Remember to demonstrate your skills and experience, as it will make it easier and quicker to get a job.
Such virtual travel assistant jobs are more permanent, even if they are remote. You may be working on an hourly basis or with fixed monthly payments. This is much more like a regular 9-5 job, but one you can do virtually from home.
See Related: How to Travel with A Drone
7. Visa Services Virtual Assistant
Securing a visa can be a hassle for many business professionals moving to countries with entry restrictions that may impede on their ability to conduct their business.
They might have to gather countless documents, fill in reams of applications, and answer invasive questionnaires. If anything is wrong, their application gets refused, and they lose the visa fee, which is often relatively high.
Such individuals benefit from the services of a visa assistant. In this case, your job would be to apply for the visa on their behalf or perhaps fill in applications and gather requirements and documents, depending on how much they’d like done for them.
Travel agencies could hire you as a VA for their visa services section. Many travel agencies offer travel bookings and visa services from start to end.
It would be more suitable if you target travel agencies and travelers in your own country as that would allow you to find relevant information easily. You’d also understand the requirements, documents, and language better. But, like virtually everything on this list, nothing’s stopping you from going global.
You must equip yourself with knowledge of the visa processes for different countries. You can try a specific country or group of countries for this purpose, especially if their visas are complicated, time-consuming, and expensive to acquire.
For instance, certain Middle Eastern and African countries have very restrictive visa policies, making it difficult even for people with powerful passports like the EU members, Singapore, and Japan. On the flip side, the US visa can be pretty tricky to obtain for people from nations with weaker passport power.
See Related: Best Travel Movies to Inspire You
8. Itinerary Planning Virtual Assistant
Planning a whole trip can be a nightmare for some, especially if they are short on time or don’t know much about the destination or the booking process. As a virtual travel assistant with expertise in itinerary planning, you can become an events assistant and offer your services to companies or individuals to plan their trips according to their needs and likes.
For instance, a client wants to travel to Italy with their family for a week and needs you to plan for them to see as much as possible. You may or may not be asked to book the whole itinerary or parts of it.
As a Travel Itinerary Assistant, you’ll help find the best places to visit in Italy and the best hotels and create a digital travel guide for activities and meals. You do all the research for travel arrangements and perhaps make the odd reservation here and there. The goal is to plan it in the most personalized way possible, particularly for international travel.
Find out what your client is all about when it comes to traveling. Ask your client what they prefer to do on vacations, what kind of food they like, what activities they like, who’s coming along, and how much money they want to spend. Then, use that information to plan a trip that will blow their mind.
The happier they are, the more likely they will recommend you to others. Plus, it’s an excellent way to plan out your dream vacation!
FAQ
How can I ensure my data privacy when using a virtual travel assistant?
Here are some excellent tips for keeping your travel information private while using a virtual travel assistant. First, check out the privacy policy. Then, pick a provider that puts data encryption on their list.
Use a VPN for an extra secure internet connection and only share necessary personal details. Keep your privacy settings current, and be careful with any third-party apps.
How can a virtual travel assistant save me time and money?
Having a virtual travel assistant not only saves you time and money but also makes your trip planning a breeze. They can streamline everything for you with lightning-fast searches and price comparisons, automated bookings, personalized recommendations, itinerary planning, and change/cancellation assistance. It also helps you make informed decisions and find the best deals. Who wouldn’t want that?
Are there any free virtual travel assistant services I can use?
Yes, it’s incredible how free virtual travel assistant services such as Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa can offer so much. They provide flight information, hotel suggestions, weather updates, directions, itinerary management, and other helpful travel information. But, some advanced features may require paid VA services or specific travel apps.
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