One of the main benefits of working with a travel agent is your ability to sit back and relax while we do the work of researching your destination for you. Another benefit is that we usually have an established relationship with suppliers so we have people there on the ground that we can communicate with to get insider information before your trip. This post is going to give you an overview of information that you should be prepared to share with your travel agent to make your vacation planning go as smooth as possible.
Some travel agents may charge an up-front fee to compensate them for their time researching the trip. This could be called a deposit, a research fee or an administrative booking fee. Travel agents are not compensated until 30 to 45 days after your travel is complete so if we don’t get some type of financial commitment from the consumer we could spend a lot of time doing research and not getting paid.
Travel agents do not receive commission on flights so it's not in your best interest to use a travel agent for flights only unless it is something that you really despise searching for on your own and you're willing to pay a fee for someone else to do it for you. My fee is $50 per itinerary payable upfront which would include the booking of 2 tickets. If there are additional tickets on your itinerary there will be an additional fee of $10 per ticket starting with the 3rd ticket due at the time of booking.
**These fees do not apply if you are booking a holiday package that includes a flight & hotel.
Questions that you should be prepared to answer include the following.
1. What are your arrival and departure airports? Would you consider layovers to reduce the cost of your trip? How many?
2. What are your travel dates? Do you have any flexibility to those dates?
3. How many nights do you plan to stay at your destination? Keep in mind for long trips you may lose a day or night with the time change.
4. How many people are in your party? How many rooms do you need? What is the allocation of people to rooms? For example 3 rooms may have 1 room with 4 people, 1 room with 2 people, and 1 single occupancy room.
5. Would you like to have travel insurance to protect your investment in the trip? Travel insurance is completely optional, but I will ask you to sign a disclaimer saying that you decline travel insurance for my protection.
6. What is the budget range of your trip per person? Do you need a payment plan?
