Tripdash vs KHM Travel Group

Short answer: KHM Travel Group is legitimate, long-established and one of the better places for a beginner to learn the job. It costs $64.95 a month with a one-time $149 registration fee, or $649 a year with a one-time $50 registration fee, and pays 80% of the commission KHM receives until you have earned $5,000 in paid commissions in a 12-month period, then 90% (KHM Travel Group, Host Agency Reviews). Founded in 2005, roughly 5,500 agents, about $458 million in annual sales.

The real difference is not the fee. KHM's model is: pay a low monthly, learn thoroughly, then go and find your own clients. Tripdash includes training too, pays 80% or more from the first booking with no volume gate, and puts traveller briefs on a leads board that you can claim — plus itinerary planning, live flight and hotel search, invoicing and payments in one workspace.

All KHM figures below are as of September 2026 and sourced to KHM's own pages or Host Agency Reviews.

What KHM charges

Two ways in, both published:

• $64.95 per month plus a one-time $149.00 registration fee, or
• $649.00 per year plus a one-time $50.00 registration fee

Host Agency Reviews records the same: start-up fee $50-$149, annual fee $649, commission split range 80% to 90% (Host Agency Reviews). The membership fee covers the education, tools and technology, one-on-one coaching, regional coordinators and team-up events, and a $2,000,000 professional errors-and-omissions policy (KHM programs). For what is included, that is fair pricing and KHM does not hide it.

The commission split, and the $5,000 gate

KHM pays 80% of the commission it receives on your first $5,000 in gross commissions, then 90% for everything above $5,000 within a 12-month period (KHM programs). KHM's own FAQ explains what that means in practice: supplier commission averages around 14%, and you receive 80% of that amount, or 90% once you have hit $5,000 in paid commissions in a calendar year (KHM FAQ). Their preferred suppliers pay 10-16%, and in some cases up to 20% (KHM commissions).

So a new KHM agent starts at 80% and earns their way to 90%. Tripdash pays 80% or more from the first booking with no volume threshold to clear first. If you are going to sell heavily, KHM's 90% tier is genuinely competitive; in your first year, most agents are on the lower rate.

Training — KHM's strongest card

This is what KHM is known for and it deserves the credit. Structured on-demand and in-person education, one-on-one coaching, regional coordinators running local team-up events, and a support team with a long-standing reputation for actually answering. For someone with no travel background who learns best with a person to call, that support depth is worth more than a couple of points of split.

Tripdash includes certification and training in the subscription, self-paced, with the community forum for advisor-to-advisor questions. It is a lighter-touch education than KHM's coached model. That is an honest trade.

Where the client comes from

KHM teaches you to generate your own business — marketing tools, lead-generation training, coaching on prospecting. It does not hand you clients, and it does not claim to.

Tripdash does both. Travellers plan a trip on the Tripdash site with Marlow, our AI planner, and the resulting brief — destination, dates, budget, party size, their own notes — lands on the advisor leads board. First advisor to claim it owns the lead and the client relationship. A trip that arrives that way pays the same 80%+ split as one you brought in yourself: no lead fee, no reduced rate.

Fora vs KHM vs Avoya vs Tripdash, for beginners

The usual beginner shortlist is Fora, KHM and Avoya. Here is how the four actually differ, in one place.

• Fora — low flat monthly, strong tech and brand, big community, fast to get selling. You find your own clients.
• KHM — $64.95/month (or $649/year) with registration fee, the deepest coaching and support of the three, 80% split rising to 90% after $5,000 in commissions. You find your own clients. See Tripdash vs KHM above and Tripdash vs Fora.
• Avoya — $495 affiliation setup, $79 licence fee and $79/month, and it does supply leads, but pays a lower commission split on those lead-sourced bookings. Details on Tripdash vs Avoya.
• Tripdash — one published subscription, 80%+ split from day one with no volume gate, training and certification included, and traveller briefs included at the same split with no lead fee, plus AI itinerary planning, live flight and hotel search, invoicing and payments in one workspace.

If your worry as a beginner is "can I actually find clients", that is the question the shortlist usually leaves unanswered. Start with how to become a travel advisor.

What KHM does better

Scale and longevity — twenty years in business and 5,500 agents means stable supplier relationships and processes that work. Coaching and human support are genuinely strong. The included $2,000,000 E&O policy is real money you would otherwise buy yourself. And a 90% split, once you get there, is at the top of the market.

Where Tripdash fits

One published subscription, 80%+ of supplier commission from the first booking, training and certification included, leads included at the same split, and the whole operation — planning, search, booking, invoicing, payouts — in one place. No registration fee, no volume gate, no exit fee. Full pricing is on commission and fees.