Travel Agent Fee to Prepare Itinerary?

[Deleted]

Hi Everyone,
As some of you know I'm in the process of preparing about a week long itinerary for a trip to Turkey. I contacted our US based travel agent who prepared our expensive (10k) trip to Egypt 2 years ago. She advised me that she has been doing trips for several clients to Turkey and that she would charge me $150 to prepare an itinerary. Obviously we can afford it but I thought agents made their money off commissions from travel tickets, tours, et cetera. Is this a new practice or am I being taken for a ride? Thanks!

Edit: Yes I did send a courteous e-mail stating I wasn't being petty but hadn't come across this practice before. Could she clarify...

[Deleted]

Bonnap, I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the model is shifting. Everything is getting so discounted that the airlines and hotels don't want to pay the fees.

I wish I remember where I read this, but I read so much general finance stuff. But my point is that I think this is becoming more common. At the same time, I don't see what is particularly wrong with asking her about it in a nice way. I'd say just what you said here: it's not particularly the money, but you were under the impression that her services were paid for by the companies she books you with.

[Deleted]

Airlines have really cut travel agent compensation to the bone. They used to give them something like 10%. Now it's zero but they do give the bigger ones some incentive based on volume. Hotels may pay some commission, but not as much as they used to. It also protects them from doing all the work and then you shopping the itinerary around to other travel agents or trying to book it on your own- or deciding not to go at all.

I love planning travel and got DH and me to and from St. Petersburg, Russia on a wonderful trip in 2003. Of course, I had to make up a fake "travel agent itinerary" for the visa application! There are a lot of resources on the Web but if you don't have the time or the inclination to do it yourself, pay for the advice.

[alabamagal]

With access to the internet, you can do the same thing a travel agent does and prepare your own itinerary. The travel agent is a position being replaced as most can prepare their own itineraries. They're commissions have probably disappeared, as others have pointed out. You are paying for them to research and book your hotels and transportation, plus some of their knowledge. If you want someone to take care of this for you, you will have to pay. It may be worth it, if you have a knowledgeable agent. Since you have experience with this person, it may be good to use her. If you are paying someone who you don't know, you could end up with some lousy arrangement.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Direct booking through the internet has essentially rendered the travel agent business irrelevant.
The only travel agencies that are still in business for the most part are companies like Liberty Travel, who put together all inclusive travel packages.

[Deleted]

Thanks guys, I just modified my post. I did send her a return e-mail asking her to clarify. I have read some of the same information as some of you but haven't heard of the practice yet. Wondering if any of you smart people have actually paid for such a service.

I have an idea for an itinerary, can book flights and hotels but need help with good guides and probably transportation down the Western Coast. No train service. DH is afraid to drive (Lonely Planet is pretty negative, Tripadvisor seems 50-50).

[Deleted]

Bumping before I go to bed tonight.

Thanks for your help!

[Deleted]

I highly recommend flyertalk.com for advice on the open points you list. They have separate Boards by area; this one would cover Turkey.

www.flyertalk.com/forum/middle-east-481/

Just make sure you do a Search of the Board first; they get a bit testy if the question has been discussed previously. There's already a thread on getting a Turkish visa, for example. But that would be a great place to ask your questions about transportation and guides.

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"The only travel agencies that are still in business for the most part are companies like Liberty Travel, who put together all inclusive travel packages. ":::...

Or the ones that have managed to get a death grip on government/corporate travel, and provide absolutely no value while acting as a middleman driving up prices. I bet eliminating some of those travel agencies would make a bigger difference than freezing pay.

[Deleted]

Jan 5, 2011 17:13:48 GMT -5 8 Bit WWBG said:

Or the ones that have managed to get a death grip on government/corporate travel, and provide absolutely no value while acting as a middleman driving up prices. I bet eliminating some of those travel agencies would make a bigger difference than freezing pay.

You got that right. Our corporate TA can be pretty clueless and their on-line "tool" is so stupid that experienced travelers go to real travel sites first. A friend who works for the government refers to their travel agency as "Satan".

[wvugurl26]

Thanks for the reminder WWBG! Omega jacked up their fee and I had the new fee on my reimbursement spreadsheet. My oh so helpful admin put the old fee on my reimbursement and I didn't notice it when I signed. The amount was going to be different from my spreadsheet anyway bc they did away with phone fees. So I think there's $3 sitting on my travel CC that I need to pay. Thankfully the asst IG caught it after I'd been paid of course.

[upstatemom]

I have a good friend who is a travel agent and she gets nothing from airlines for booking. A huge advantage of using a good trusted travel agent is if something goes wrong on the trip, they will help solve the issue. If you booked it on line yourself, its up to you to sort it out and that is not always easy when away from home.
I don't ever use her to book my trips since my trips are all with my RV and GPS.

[Deleted]

Jan 5, 2011 19:20:51 GMT -5 upstatemom said:

A huge advantage of using a good trusted travel agent is if something goes wrong on the trip, they will help solve the issue.

I agree. Too bad our corporate agency isn't that good. I got stuck overnight at O'Hare last month after coming in from London- just about everything out of O'Hare was cancelled that night due to what looked like a piddly amount of snow to me. I called the TA's emergency # since it was Sunday evening and (a) was informed via recorded message that I'd incur an additional charge for using the line and (b) the reconrding continued that it might take awhile to get a human because- duh- lots of flights were being cancelled across the US due to weather.

I waited on Hold 5 minutes, hung up and got my own darn hotel for the night.

[Deleted]

Update: I did hear back from my agent. She says she started charging the fee about 2 years ago (shortly after our trip to Egypt). The fee will be credited against any future bookings. She says she started it so that she doesn't spend a lot of time researching information and having someone not follow through.

This practice seems fair although I'm hurt we're not "special". Sniff-sniff (just kidding)!

Before I commit, I'll check out Athena's referral.

Thanks everyone!

[mrsgords]

My mom has been a self-employed travel agent for about 40 years. She used to get nice big fat commission checks from the airlines, cruise companies, car rental companies, and hotels. Those are now gone, and she has to charge for her time to survive financially. She mostly puts together and sells group trips. She still has tons of clients, many of whom have been with her for most of those 40 years. Believe it or not, there are still plenty of people who are not comfortable buying travel over the Internet, plus those who would have no idea where to start in planning a trip.

Chances are that whatever you pay for your TA's advice will be money well spent. I book travel online all the time and am comfortable with it, but I still ask my mom for advice. Fortunately, she doesn't charge me.