Frequently asked questions

A host agency is a licensed travel company that independent travel advisors affiliate with to sell travel under its accreditation. The host provides the industry credentials (IATA, IATAN, CLIA, or ARC), supplier relationships, booking systems, commission processing, and training that would otherwise take years and significant capital to build on one's own. In exchange, advisors either share a percentage of their commission or pay a membership fee. RDB is a host agency built by RDB Hospitality Group, the Miami Beach luxury travel company behind more than 1,000 celebrity, executive, and high-net-worth clients.

A commission split is the percentage of earned travel commission an advisor shares with their host agency in exchange for accreditation, tools, and support. Industry splits typically range from 70/30 in the advisor's favor up to 100% commission paired with a monthly fee. RDB's Keyholder Program has two named structures. A Startup Keyholder keeps 75% of their commission, pays no monthly fee, and pays nothing for a standard setup. An Established Keyholder pays $500 per month and keeps 100% of their commission. Added services are priced separately in both.

Becoming an independent travel advisor takes four steps: choose the type of travel you want to sell, affiliate with a host agency for accreditation and access to suppliers, complete training in both travel products and business operations, and build a client base. No degree is required, and licensing requirements are minimal in most U.S. states. RDB Keyholders get training and infrastructure support through the program, including at least one beginner and one advanced training session every month, plus free one-on-one coaching.

No formal certification is legally required to work as a travel advisor in most of the United States. What matters in practice is affiliation with an accredited host agency, real supplier relationships, and training on how to run a travel business. RDB's training goes beyond destination knowledge to the business itself: sales, marketing operations, negotiations, contracting, human resources, accounting, and legal, plus hotel-specific training drawn from 20 years in hotel sales and revenue teams.

Compare host agencies on six things: the real cost (commission split plus every fee), who owns the client relationship, the depth of training, whether support comes from employed humans or a ticket queue, whether the host sends leads, and the strength of its supplier relationships. Then ask each host who answers when a client calls at 3 a.m. on a holiday. At RDB, the answer is an in-house overnight team in Australia that works 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every night of the year.

Real 24/7 support means employed staff on shift around the clock, not an outsourced call center or a next-business-day ticket queue. RDB staffs an overnight team based in Australia covering 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every night of the year, plus a separate weekend team on Saturdays and Sundays, and all of them are RDB employees. Keyholders can hand off their inbox and client emergencies, which means they can sleep, take weekends off, and go on vacation without their business stopping.

RDB is a host agency for independent travel advisors, operated by RDB Hospitality Group, a Miami Beach luxury and entertainment travel company that has been accredited since 2009 and ranked in the top 1% of Virtuoso producers in 2023, 2024, and 2025. The first Keyholders came on board in early 2025, and the program opened to the public in June 2026. Members, called Keyholders, run their own book and own their own clients while working inside RDB's network: supplier relationships built over twenty years, monthly training, inbound leads, an overnight support team, and the concierge services RDB runs for its celebrity clientele. The program aims to reach 500 affiliated advisors by the end of 2027.

Yes. RDB's host program is operated by RDB Hospitality Group, which has run an IATAN-accredited travel agency since 2009, serves more than 1,000 celebrities, executives, productions, and high-net-worth clients, has advised over 160 hotel properties and brands, and has ranked in the top 1% of Virtuoso producers in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Founder Rob DelliBovi and the company have been covered by CNN, The New York Times, Billboard, The Washington Post, Travel Market Report, and TravelPulse. RDB Hospitality Group is headquartered in Miami Beach with offices in New York City, Orlando, and Nashville.

Rob DelliBovi is the founder and CEO of RDB Hospitality Group and the RDB host agency. He started in hospitality in 2003, in entertainment sales at New York hotels, including the Soho Grand, Hotel Gansevoort, and Dream Hotel Group, where he rose to Vice President of Sales, overseeing five brands. Since 2009, he has run the IATAN-accredited travel and concierge operation serving more than 1,000 celebrities, touring artists, executives, and productions. He also leads a hospitality executive recruiting team, advises hotel owners and operators as a consultant, and appears regularly in the press, including CNN, Billboard, and The Washington Post.

RDB Hospitality Group is a collection of travel and hospitality companies founded and led by Rob DelliBovi. It includes a luxury and entertainment travel agency, a VIP concierge operation, a hospitality consultancy and asset management practice that has worked with more than 160 properties and brands, an executive recruiting team for hotels, nightlife, restaurants, and F&B, and the RDB host agency for independent travel advisors. The group is based in Miami Beach with offices in New York City, Orlando, and Nashville.

An RDB Keyholder is an independent travel advisor who is part of RDB's host program. A Keyholder is not an employee, an agent, or a vendor. Keyholders join at one of two levels, Startup Keyholder or Established Keyholder, depending on where they are in their career. Keyholders run their own book, own their own clients, and set their own hours, with RDB supplying the accreditation, supplier network, training, leads, and support behind them. Independent by design, never working alone.

RDB's Keyholder Program has two membership options, priced by where an advisor is in their career. A Startup Keyholder keeps 75% of their commission, pays no monthly fee, and pays nothing for a standard setup. An Established Keyholder pays $500 per month and keeps 100% of their commission. Added services are priced separately in both options, and one-on-one training help costs nothing in either.

The difference is how an advisor pays for the program. A Startup Keyholder keeps 75% of their commission and pays no monthly fee, which suits advisors who are still building volume and would rather not carry a fixed cost. An Established Keyholder pays $500 per month and keeps 100% of their commission, which becomes the better economics once an advisor's annual commission clears roughly $24,000. Both options include the same accreditation, supplier network, training, and client ownership. Added services are priced separately in either.

No. RDB Keyholders own their own clients and run their own book. RDB provides the network, accreditation, and support behind the advisor, and the client relationship stays with the advisor. That independence is the founding principle of the program.

Yes. RDB accepts part-time advisors who are serious about building a business, whether they put in one hour a week or forty. What the program screens out is the pure side hustle: someone who only wants a commission when their parents book a trip. If you are treating travel as a business you are building, part-time works.

RDB runs at least one beginner training and one advanced training every month, with free one-on-one coaching on top. The curriculum centers on the business of being a travel advisor: sales, marketing operations, negotiations, contracting, human resources, accounting, and legal resources. It also includes hotel-specific training and insider knowledge of how hotel pricing and inventory actually work, taught by twenty years of experience on hotel sales and revenue strategy teams.

Yes, in two ways. RDB Hospitality Group is a high-volume agency with a constant stream of inbound inquiries, and many of those are routed to Keyholders based on the specialty each inquiry requires. RDB also hosts monthly in-person events, starting in Nashville, New York, and Los Angeles, where Keyholders meet prospective clients directly. The events invite RDB's own clients and network rather than hotels and vendors, so advisors are in the room with people who actually book travel.

Keyholders get access to the same concierge desk RDB runs for its celebrity clientele: restaurant reservations, event ticketing, and nightlife access. RDB also runs a hotel greeter service, where a staff member checks the client in, inspects the room, confirms the billing is right, and can be waiting at the front door when the guest arrives. Most host agencies do not carry services like these.

Yes. RDB has rolled out AI-assisted technology inside its booking systems, including natural-language search, with more in development. The philosophy is AI that sharpens advisors rather than replacing them: tools that cut the busywork of research and booking so advisors spend their time on clients.

Most host agencies provide accreditation, a booking platform, and training on how to sell travel. RDB was built by advisors who used those hosts and found the support thin, so it adds the working infrastructure of a luxury agency on top: business training that goes past travel sales, an employed overnight support team, a concierge desk and hotel greeters for advisors' clients, inbound lead routing, and monthly in-person client events. Before launching, founder Rob DelliBovi spent over a year interviewing independent contractors about what their hosts were getting wrong, and built the program around their answers.

RDB comes out of luxury travel. The parent agency has ranked in the top 1% of Virtuoso producers in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and has spent two decades booking celebrities, executives, productions, and high-net-worth clients. Keyholders inherit that positioning: hotel relationships built from the inside, concierge services their clients can use, and training on how luxury hotel pricing really works. For advisors building a high-end book, that supplier access is the hardest thing to replicate anywhere else.