"kick-ass" is used colloquially, in informal conversation, to me "very good." Sometimes "kick-ass" is used to mean that the travel agent is "cool" or "fun to be around." To understand which one is correct, you have to look for context clues. Your sentence could mean one of two things: He is a very good travel agent. OR He is a travel agent that is fun to be around.

kick-ass = brilliant If you are very good at something, then you kick your opponents ass.

Usually when you see something like @#!%, it is an expletive - so instead of writing the bad word, they replace the bad part with symbos.

There is a Little ass kicker from The Walking Dead :P