Do I need my own contract with the airlines and hotel suppliers, or can I use the ones already connected to the booking system?

No, you do not need your own contract with every supplier before you can start selling. Most booking systems already have a number of supplier connections built and tested, so you can switch on hotel, flight, transfer or activity content and begin taking bookings without signing anything directly with that supplier yourself. For a new agency this is usually the quickest way to get a website live with real inventory.

It does depend on the supplier, though. Airlines, consolidators and some of the bigger hotel wholesalers insist on a direct relationship. They want the agreement in their own paperwork, credentials issued in your business name, and in many cases proof of accreditation, a deposit or a bank guarantee before they hand over access. When a supplier works that way, what we do is plug your own credentials into the system rather than give you content, and the timing then sits with the supplier, not with us.

The difference matters for your margins. Where you trade on your own contract, you keep whatever rates and commission you negotiated and you deal with that supplier yourself on payments, chargebacks and booking disputes. Where you sell through a connection that is already in place, the rates reach you with terms already set by the party holding the contract, and your earnings come from the markup you add on top. Neither is wrong, but you should know which applies to each supplier you switch on.

Before you launch, write down the suppliers you actually want to sell and ask which of them are already live on your plan and which will need credentials in your own name, so you can start those applications early.