The travel sector has never lacked for schemes promising the moon. Points, perks, VIP tiers, free nights somewhere warmer than Parramatta in July over the years, agents have seen them all. Most arrive with a flourish and fade just as quickly.
So when MyBookingRewards.com (MBR), the UK-founded incentive and training platform, formally announced its expansion into Australia and New Zealand this month, the reaction across the trade wasn’t disbelief so much as curiosity. The company has been active quietly overseas for more than a decade, building its footprint across Europe, the Americas and the Pacific. Now it wants a place at the Australasian table and appears ready to earn it.
The platform brings together a blend of rewards, automated tools, and training systems designed to tidy up the often-untidy relationship between agents and suppliers. It does not promise miracle cures, only structure. And in a region where agents are once again juggling booming demand, shrinking margins and the digital expectations of clients who know “just enough” to be dangerous, structure is worth more than it sounds.
A platform built for people who rarely sit still
The pitch is simple enough: log your bookings, earn rewards, learn the product. MBR’s technology handles the rest.
Rather than asking agents to remember which hotel chain offers what incentive this week, MBR’s “log any booking” tool takes one entry and automatically checks every relevant supplier program attached to it. If a booking qualifies for three different rewards, it registers all three. If it qualifies for none, at least an agent hasn’t spent their evening rummaging through a folder of outdated program PDFs.
Training is threaded throughout the platform rather than tucked behind a submenu. Advisors can access a steady program of webinars, complete unlimited modules, and test their product knowledge at their own pace, something the next generation of agents tends to appreciate far more than the industry’s old “learn by osmosis” approach. A Resource Centre houses images, copy, product sheets and videos in one place, making it easier for advisors to keep their sales information consistent.
For self-employed agents, the platform’s financial management tools might prove the most valuable addition. End-of-year reconciliations are rarely enjoyable, particularly for sole operators who often discover too late that their recordkeeping system was “optimistic” at best.
Suppliers gain something rarer: visibility.
If agents stand to benefit from simplicity, suppliers gain something just as precious: clarity.
MBR’s tools allow suppliers to automate reward fulfilment, maintain consistent communication with the trade, and run targeted incentive pushes at key points in the sales cycle. A QR-based “ROI tracker” lets them follow an agent’s engagement from webinar attendance through to logged bookings, a minor feature, but one that gives suppliers a more realistic sense of what is actually influencing sales.
Where things become more interesting is the OPTIMUS tool, a sales-force management system designed to help BDM teams plan their activity more strategically. Given Australia’s size and the expense of travel, any tool that reduces guesswork in trade engagement will not go unnoticed.
Darren Pearson, CEO of MyBookingRewards, says the company’s arrival in Australasia is a natural step in the platform’s evolution.
“MBR currently operates in worldwide markets including Europe, Latam, North America, the Pacific Ocean region, and now Australasia. Within the last 12 months, our member agents have generated $1.3 billion in revenue for our supplier partners, and we have transacted over $4 million in tangible rewards to our agent community. We are truly excited to bring our responsive technology to the Australasia market, where we hope suppliers and agents alike can begin to reap the benefits of engagement, education, and the potential to drive both earning and sales conversion.”
MBR is not positioning itself as a disruptor, despite the temptation to do so. It is positioning itself as a facilitator — a more modest claim, and a far more believable one.
A second platform arrives in 2026, with tighter controls
Arriving behind MBR is its sister brand, MyAgentRates.com, slated for an early-2026 launch. This one is not for the general public or casual users. It will operate as a private, invitation-only environment for verified MBR agents, giving them direct access to personal and educational travel rates.
Educational trips have long been the backbone of agent expertise. Nothing replaces standing inside a hotel suite, walking a resort’s grounds or flying the very airline you intend to recommend to clients. But as budgets have tightened and FAM trip allocations have shrunk, securing opportunities has become harder.
MyAgentRates offers agents another route they can use at their own pace and expense, with pricing reserved for the trade. For suppliers, it provides an expanded pool of motivated, product-engaged sellers who can become advocates in a far more organic way than traditional hosted trips allow.
Pearson says the move reflects the broader goal of strengthening supplier relationships in a more practical sense.
“The launch of MyAgentRates.com is an important strategic move for the business, that will see our efforts to strengthen the relationship between agent and supplier take another giant step forward. These relationships are at the heart of what we do via MBR and the launch of the MyAgentRates.com private platform levels this up by delivering multiple benefits to both suppliers and the agent community.”
The process is cyclical by design. Agents travel, understand the product more deeply, sell more confidently, earn rewards, and can then use those rewards to subsidise further educational travel. Suppliers, in turn, gain a larger network of informed sellers who move beyond surface-level product knowledge.
An industry in need of steadier pathways
What differentiates MBR from other platforms is its lack of flash. The company does not market itself as a revolution, nor as the next wave of AI-driven disruption. It is instead pitching a fortified version of something the travel industry has always relied on: cooperation between sellers and suppliers.
The industry’s post-pandemic recovery has been marked by shifting expectations. Travellers want more personalised itineraries; suppliers expect sharper ROI from trade engagement; and agents, attempting to satisfy both, often find themselves caught between the need to educate clients and the need to justify the hours that go into each enquiry.
Platforms that reduce administrative friction, strengthen supplier communication and offer meaningful incentives tend to gain traction. Those who overreach lose it. MBR appears comfortable staying in the former category.
Whether it becomes a long-term fixture in the Australasian trade ecosystem will depend on how well it adapts to the region’s unique culture: a market that values relationships, straight talk, and tools that do what they claim without fuss.
For now, curiosity remains high and cautiously optimistic.
More information can be found at www.MyBookingRewards.com and www.MyAgentRewards.com.
By Bridget Gomez – (c) 2025
Read Time: 7 minutes
About the Writer
Bridget has never been one to sit still. Of Portuguese heritage, she first trained as a nurse. She threw herself into work at the Commonwealth Veteran Affairs Repatriation Hospital, tending to old soldiers with stories almost as colourful as her own would become. It was rewarding, steady work — but wanderlust has a louder voice than routine.
So, she swapped starched uniforms for a backpack and set off on a twelve-month gallop around the globe. Along the way, she scribbled in journals, capturing the dust, the laughter, the odd missed train, and the occasional glass of wine too many. Those notebooks soon became a travel blog, her way of reliving and sharing the journeys with anyone willing to read.
Eventually, Bridget stumbled across Global Travel Media and, in her words, “the rest is history.” Now she writes with the same mix of heart and mischief that fuelled her travels.
