Travelers love trains, so it’s no surprise that rail-based tour packages, luxury trains and destinations offering rail holidays have proliferated dramatically in recent years. Vacations by Rail (VBR) is a source for every kind of rail trip, and, moreover, the tour operator rewards agents who sell its products with commissions of up to 15 percent.

The latest sweetener from VBR is a starting 12 percent commission to “preferred” agencies that sell four or more vacations. Qualifying agencies receive a series of benefits based on their ongoing volume of sales, including higher commissions, potential overrides, bonus commissions, exclusive promotions and the chance to experience new products. Agents who move to the 12 percent plan remain there, subject to periodic reviews of their production.

CEO Todd Powell said he is a longtime rail buff and worked on a German rail line right out of college. He founded VBR in 2004 when he saw an opportunity for a tour operator that specializes in rail vacations and could help agents piece together a rail-inclusive program.

“Nobody had a comprehensive product that provided 24-hour support,” Powell said. With a soft launch in 2005, the company now offers a diversity of programs, including escorted tours (tour manager always on hand), hosted vacations (tour manager on train but travelers spend time on their own) and independent tours.

What’s unique to VBR is that the company is not beholden to any individual railroad, so it can offer unbiased information to help agents create getaways for clients, Powell said. If, for instance, your clients want to go to Canada, which has numerous rail options, they have many decisions to make: Should they sleep on a train or in hotels? What level of luxury do they want? Would they prefer vintage or modern equipment? Travelers also must decide how much time they want to spend in a destination. VBR can help answer all those questions.

What consumers don’t expect, Powell said, is that there are rail trips available in so many places, offering so many kinds of experiences. He said that when agents think about rail they should see it in two ways: as an experience in itself or as simply transportation.

Either way, the possibilities for a rail-based trip are dizzying. Travelers might fly to a national park, meet up with an escorted tour, take the train to another park, then a motorcoach to still another park, etc. “Everything is customized,” Powell said. On the independent side, they might combine experiences—for example, taking the Rocky Mountaineer luxury train in western Canada and tying that in with hotels in Banff, Lake Louise or Jasper; or simply riding a train all the way across the country.

And there are many options within each trip as far as price and style of travel are concerned. There might be multiple price levels of hotel or sleeper-car accommodations. “If agents call and ask about the best way to do a certain trip on a limited budget—or an unlimited budget—we can work with them to make any criteria work,” he said. Flexibility, in fact, is another plus for a rail vacation. There is always another train coming.

As for good prospects, Powell said agents should consider clients who have enjoyed river cruises or other escorted tours. Trains are ideal for multigenerational travel, a great way for even older parents and their older children to spend time connecting and reconnecting. “There’s always a rail connection somewhere,” he said, be it a grandfather who worked for the railroad or simple nostalgia for this kind of travel.

In Powell’s opinion, rail travel is “the last accessible adventure.” As the train leaves the station, there is “an immediate sense of excitement” that reveals itself over the miles as passengers meet new people, spend time in the dining car, and pass through small towns and big cities, he said.

Agents will be happy to know there are luxury trains available in many destinations. Just one example: the Belmond Hiram Bingham in Peru goes to legendary Macchu Picchu. With the advent of highspeed rail, sleeper trains are becoming less common in Europe, “so if clients want to have that experience, they should be doing it sooner than later,” Powell said.

Looking ahead, VBR is expanding its Switzerland program and adding more exotic destinations and independent trips, Powell said. There are new escorted packages to Italy (“Best of Italy”) as well as Eastern Canada (“Quebec to the Maritimes featuring VIA’s Ocean.”). And there are expanded safari options in Africa, including “Shongololo Express—The Good Hope Adventure,” which travels across a broad swath of southern Africa. “We are constantly out there looking for new product,” Powell said.