Top Virtuoso Agency RDB Hospitality Group Launches Two-Membership-Tier Host Agency

When their experience with host agencies left them feeling adrift, executives at RDB Hospitality Group, a luxury and entertainment travel agency that is within the 1% of top Virtuoso members, decided their best course of action was to build a new one themselves – one that provided the services they felt they were missing out on.

The result – The Keyholder Program by RDB Hospitality Group – is a two-tier Host program created after months of researching what independent contractors say they need.

The host soft-launched in January 2025 with 20 members. Since its full launch last month, membership is averaging about one new member a day, with additional advisors currently in various stages of the onboarding process. It aims to grow to 500 affiliated advisors by the end of 2027.

“We found personally, and through our talks with other people who worked with host agencies, that a lot of us found the support wasn’t there,” said RDB Hospitality founder and CEO Rob DelliBovi. “We had a bunch of ideas and we needed a lot of support that we simply didn’t get. The answer we got was, this is not what we provide.”

He added, “We spent the last year or two talking to other ICs, going on the boards on Facebook ad Reddit, seeing what everybody loves and hates and is complaining about.”

Business Training

In particular, DelliBovi said he felt like he wasn’t getting the business building help he needed from his previous hosts.

“Host agencies provide you training on how to be a travel agent, but many of our peers and ourselves let a bit lost after those trainings.”

In response, The Keyholder Program has made continuing education a key element of its host services, offering at least one beginning training and one advanced training every month for members. One-on-one help is also available at no expense, DelliBovi said.

The most important training that The Keyholder Program offers is business training, he emphasized, things like how to run a business, sales and marketing operations, negotiations, contracting, human resources, accounting, legal resources, and more.

DelliBovi also emphasized the new host agency will offer AI-assisted technology, with some already rolled out, including natural language searches in the booking system.

The host agency will also specialize in hotel-specific training.

“I come from the hotel business, so secrets in the industry, insider info, how to get a better deal. If you’re booking a hotel in New York in January, go back to the hotel and say, ‘New York is empty in January, you can do a better rate.’ Those kinds of insider tips.”

Meet-a-Client In-Person Events & Free Leads

A unique offering with The Keyholder Program are monthly events where members – or keyholders – can meet and mingle with prospective clients.

Events are already planned for Nashville, New York City, Los Angeles, and Paris, with more planned.

“We’re not inviting hotels. We’re not inviting vendors. We’re inviting everyone we know in town and our own clients and saying, networking is an important part of acquiring clients. Meet people and learn how to network. Give your business card out and hopefully we can help you grow your client base through these events.”

Leads aren’t only provided at the events. RDB Hospitality Group is a large-volume agency with “a ton of inquiries.” As part of its value proposition, many of these inquiries will be passed along to Keyholder ICs, typically determined by the specialty required for the inquiry.

24/7 Support

The next piece of The Keyholder Program offering is human support, DelliBovi said.

“I have a full team that lives in Australia that works every night of the year, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. You can call us 3 a.m. on Christmas. We have people working. They work for me. It’s not a weird 800 number or call center,” he explained. “We also have a weekend team that works Saturdays and Sundays.”

ICs will have access to these teams so, “they can sleep. They can be with their families on weekends, so they can go on vacation. We have people to watch their email if they want.”

Concierge & Hotel Greeters

Members of The Keyholder Program by RDB Hospitality also have access to a group of services not always offered by other host agencies.

“I have people that are booking restaurant reservations, event ticketing, nightlife reservations that our ICs have access to,” DelliBovi said.

More unique is a hotel greeter service.

“We have people checking people in, inspecting the rooms, getting the keys, and making sure the billing is right. Even waiting for you at the front door to make sure the room is the right temperature and everything is set up,” he explained.

Two Membership Options

The Keyholder Program has two membership options, one for newer advisors and one for more experienced advisors.

In the former, ICs split their commission 25/75 and receive access to everything with no extra fees. For the latter membership option, ICs pay $500 a month and keep 100% of their commission, but not all services are included. Some, like the 24/7 support team, cost extra.

“Experienced people don’t need as much, often they have their own infrastructure,” DelliBovi said.

He added that while part-timers are not excluded from joining, the program is not appropriate for people looking for a low-effort side-hustle.

“We don’t own these businesses. We don’t manage these businesses. If it sounds like they’re serious about starting a business, whether they spent an hour a week on it or 40 hours a week. We’re just avoiding people that want some side money, like ‘if my parents are traveling, can I make money on that?’ That’s not starting a business.”