We are accredited by CLIA, and are a dually aligned both as member of the Signature Travel Network as a branch of TravelMakers with world-wide buying power. And as independent agency with Ensemble Travel Group.

1. Term of Agreement
The Travel Agency herby retains the Independent Contractor to act as an independent outside sales agent and the Independent Contractor agrees to act in such a capacity on behalf of the Travel Agency for a period of 12 months from the above date. At the end of that period, the contract shall be extended for an additional 12 months upon payment of annual renewal fee according to my membership plan. If payment of renewal is not made, the agreement will be terminated.

2.Use of Brandings
Under no circumstances can Independent Contractor use the Signature Travel Network, CCRA or CLIA or Ensemble Travel Group logos or branding including in any promotional materials, advertisements, business cards, or stationery unless approved by such agencies. Nor shall Independent Contractor represent to any third party that Independent Contractor is a franchisee of said consortium or a member of the consortiums. Independent Contractor’s failure to abide by these restrictions will result in immediate termination and forfeiture of all commissions payable in accordance of this Agreement.

3. Compensation of Independent Contractor

As compensation for the services rendered by him/her under this Agreement, the Independent Contractor shall be entitled to commissions on sales as follows;

A. Computation

1. In General. The Travel Agency will retain its portion of any monies paid as commission by the vendor on bookings in which the Travel Agency’s CLIA/TRUE was used. The Independent Contractor shall be entitled to scheduled commission split, of the Gross commission received by the travel Agency for sales of travel or services by the Independent Contractor. All expenses relating to these sales shall be borne by the Independent Contractor, unless otherwise agreed to in writing and signed by both parties. Override commissions received on bookings made by Independent Contractor WILL be included in the Gross commission amount. The Independent Contractor will receive 50% commission on all referral sales where the IC referred the client to our office and our staff worked directly with the client.

2. All expenses, gifts, advertising, express charges and/or rebating of commissions shall be borne solely by the Independent Contractor, unless otherwise agreed to in writing and signed by both parties. The Travel Agency will not rebate its share of the commissions at any time.

3. The Independent Contractor will qualify for and receive the official CLIA identification card AFTER earning a minimum of $2500.00 in one calendar year. Once that level of earnings has been reached, the Travel Agency will add their name to the CLIA list. Three months later the photo identification card will be issued by CLIA. This is pursuant to the official CLIA regulations. Agents may be given permission to apply for CLIA for CCC certification process and after $7500 in gross sales be given the permission to obtain their Embark card - so long as they are on track for the CCC or higher.

4. Independent Contractor will forfeit commissions if a sales report is not completed prior to the client departure date. 

B. Payment of Commission

The Travel Agency shall pay the Independent Contractor monthly. The Travel Agency shall, within 15 days of the end of each month, provide the Independent Contractor with an accounting of all commissions received by the close of the previous month. Commission check must be at least $50.00 to be issued.

5. Consortium Affiliation The Travel Agency reserves the right to cancel any of our consortium affiliation at anytime but must provide the Independent Contractor with written notice of any such change at least 10 days prior to the effective date.

6. Seller of Travel Laws
If the Independent Contractor operates, sells or markets in a State that has a Sellers of Travel Law, the Independent Contractor agrees to abide by those applicable laws as currently written and/or amended. It is the responsibility of the Independent Contractor to check with the applicable government authority regarding these consumer protection laws. Currently we only provide access to SOT for California via our Signature Travel Network Luxury Agency division; OpulEssence Travel Co. We do not provide SOT licenses under our True/CCRA consortium or our CLIA. If you wish to sell travel in California, Hawaii, Florida, Iowa and Washington then you will need to apply for your own SOT certifications.  Generally you'll sell most of your travel in your home state and a few states around you.

7. Independent Contractor to Provide Own Business Supplies/Expenses
Independent Contractor shall be financially responsible for his/her own business supplies and expenses, including but not limited to the day to day operations, promotional materials and events, advertising, phone, business cards, etc. Independent Contractor shall otherwise be responsible for all expenses incurred in the performing his/her duties under this Agreement.

8. Risk of Loss/Profit Potential
The Independent Contractor assumes the risk of incurring a loss if his/her share of sales commissions do not cover the Independent Contractor’s expenses. Similarly, the Independent Contractor enjoys the right to earn profit yielded by the commissions shared pursuant to this Agreement.

9. No Entitlement to Vacation or Other Benefits As a self-employed individual, the Independent Contractor shall not receive or earn any vacation or sick pay from the Travel Agency and is not covered under the Travel Agency’s insurance plan.

10. Ability to Hire Assistants
The Platinum/Partner Level Independent Contractor retains the right to employ whatever assistants or bring in whatever partners he/she may require at the Independent Contractor’s expense in order to accomplish the goal of travel sales contemplated by this Agreement.
The hire must perform and abide by similar contract and enforce and is responsibility of the Independent Contractor including all financial liability and charge-backs. Each hired IC or employee that you wish to sell travel must pay to ITANetwork the sum of $75 per year minimum. You may charge whatever and pay those taxes but we retain the right to clear $75 for them. (If you are a Premier or above agent your sub agents willb e $50 per year to us).

11. Liability The Independent Contractor is responsible for the validity and accuracy of all bookings and payments by clients of the Independent Contractor. The Independent Contractor shall be responsible for any errors made directly by the Independent Contractor during the course of selling travel. This includes misquoting a client or any misrepresentation made to the client about the travel services, which he/she is purchasing. The Independent Contractor will also be financially responsible for problems arising with reservations as a direct result of the Independent Contractor’s negligence and /or inability to make timely payments. The Independent Contractor shall remit to the Travel Agency, upon demand, the full amount of any: unresolved credit card charge backs, dishonored checks or bank drafts, debit memos, or any other dishonored forms of payment resulting from bookings made and payments processed for clients of the Independent Contractor. If the Travel Agency incurs any loss of profit as a result of the Independent Contractor’s errors and negligence, the Travel Agency will withhold commissions due to the Independent Contractor until the Travel Agency’s profits are restored. If commissions are not due the Independent Contractor, the Travel Agency will expect direct payment from the Independent Contractor. SEE ADDENDUM AT END

12. Taxes Independent Contractor shall be responsible for filing of Federal, State and Local Estimated tax payments on commissions received from the Travel Agency and for other assessments. The Independent Contractor agrees to be fully responsible for complying with all federal, state and local laws in connection with performance of this Agreement, including, but not limited to, payment of applicable charges for social security, FICA, worker’s compensation and obtaining any required state or local licenses or registration as a self-employed seller of travel.

13. Payments from Clients and to Vendors
The Independent Contractor may take credit card numbers after receiving the signed authorization from the client to apply charges to their card. The credit cards will be processed either by the Travel Agency or the vendor. Independent Contractor must post the GROSS amount of the sale or deposit and at no point should ever make a NET payment to a vendor. If a NET payment is taken or posted by the Independent Contractor, they will forfeit their commissions on that booking and their contract with The Agency will be terminated. If the client pays with a check, it must be made payable to (_____________________________________________________________) [we will determine who to make a check to based on program of IC] and sent to our office with a completed Check Request Form for processing.

14. Termination of Contract If the Independent Contractor wishes to terminate this Agreement at the end of 12 months, they can do so in writing and not agree to the renewal fee. The Independent Contractor will also have the ability to discontinue this contract at any time during the 12 month period by submitting written request to the main office.

15. Time Limit for Claiming Commissions After Date of Termination
All claims of the Independent Contractor for commission on sales, regardless of whether the sales are made by the Independent Contractor or others, are waived by the Independent Contractor if not made within sixty (15) days of the date of termination. Any bookings outside of that window will be treated as an outside referral, terminated contractor agrees to be compensated at 50% of the commission earned.

16. Attorney’s Fees and Costs
If any action at law or in equity is necessary to enforce or interpret the terms of this Agreement, the prevailing party shall be responsible for the costs associated with the legal action. The Independent Contractor acknowledges that they have thoroughly read this Agreement and understands that The Travel Agency and its representatives make NO statements, representations, or guarantees concerning sales or income that the Independent Contractor may make. This agreement represents the complete understanding of the parties with respect to the described Independent Contractor relationship. It is not to be amended after the date hereof except by an instrument in writing signed by the parties. No waiver of any provisions of this Agreement shall be deemed, or shall constitute, a waiver of any other provisions, whether or not similar, nor shall any waiver constitute a continuing waiver.

addendum #1- So removed at this time.

Addendum #2

REGARDING BOOKING FEES, DEBIT MEMOS, CANCELLATIONS, CREDIT CARD FRAUD, CLIENT CREDIT CHARGEBACKS: The Cruise Studio and the agent agree that any and all debit memos, cancellation fees, client errors, booking errors, cc charge backs, and cc Fraud fees and fines will be charged back to the agent and the credit card on file for the agent. If credit card on file for the agent declines, agent will be given 3 business days to satisfy debit/credit insufficient funds or charge backs, or Agency (The Cruise Studio) will file a junction on the agent. Agent acknowledges that they have signed an agreement that these fees are their risk. And that they may turn in to insurance but still must pay the deductible amount and if found to be agent fault, may be liable to the insurance company for the full amount in question. All commissions, sales and anything in agent's back office and accounts will be immediately frozen and considered surrendered to the agency in remuneration for the charge/fines in question.

Addendum #3

E & O Clause

It is the inclusion of E & O insurance for each agent in their premiums with our agency  at a rate of $1000 deductible for $1m policy and $1m agregate policy. There is no insurance at this time offered for Property & Casualty. You may add this to safeguard against someone having an accident while meeting with you for travel related meetings at a cost of $10per month paid in lump sum for annual. Please inquire. For an additional fee of $49 you may take advantage of a lower Deductible of only $500 deductible. Please inquire for separate invoicing.

E & O requirements:

Websites: somewhere easily seen and noticed: Website Name or Business name: An Affiliate Agency of The Cruise Studio of Texas.

Business Cards: easily noticed:   xxxx, affiliate of The Cruise Studio of Texas.

Marketing: must include an independent affiliiate of The Cruise Studio.

You may use our Logo if you prefer. Please request permission in writing (email or facebook PM) and we'll send it to you. Please keep it propotionate and not skewed or wonkers in any way or we may require your designs to be submitted for pre-approval.

We are happy to design marketing and business cards for you and will bill you accordingly. We will list in the back office all available options.

                                             I, 

have read and fully agree to and understand theterms and conditions set forth in this agreement. 

Signature above also included acceptance of charge to Credit Card we'll call for #s and approvals. Thank you and Welcome to the ITA team.