Warning: I’m about to get a bit controversial, so only stick around if you want the hard truth!
If your Travel Advisor does not charge you a fee, that is a red flag! And let me tell you why.
The Expertise Factor
From a very young age, my husband and I taught our kids that nothing in life is free. And if it is, there’s some sort of catch.
The truth is that when you hire a professional to help you, their fee reflects their level of expertise, years of experience and the level of service you can expect. This holds true in every industry from your car wash to your lawyer’s office.
So if this is true, I ask you, why is it that Travel Advisors are exempt from this standard?
We provide a professional service backed by training and certifications. Many Advisors specialize in niches that require extra knowledge and certifications. For example, in my accessible travel niche, I decided to become a Certified Accessible Travel Advocate to be able to more fully serve my clients’ needs.
If your lawyer charged you nothing for his services, you’d probably question his credentials and skill. Or at least, I hope you would!
The Commitment Signal
When you hire a free Travel Advisor or Agent, you can safely assume that in order to sustain their business, they will be relying on a higher volume of transactions than an Advisor that charges a fee for service. This often results in the client feeling like just a number.
I experienced this many years ago when booking my honeymoon. I used a free Travel Agent and got what I didn’t pay for. I did receive a booked cruise and flights, but I did not receive anything extra that would’ve made our honeymoon extra special.
Now that I look back as a Travel Advisor, I shake my head. There were no Bon Voyage well wishes, no wine in the room, no upgrades, no special arrangements, no excursion suggestions or bookings… nothing! We didn’t even get a Welcome Home phone call! Thankfully, nothing went wrong because I know we wouldn’t have had any help with problem-solving.
We got a bare bones service with our basic level transaction.
Transparency and Trust
When you hire a Travel Advisor that charges a service fee, you now have an Advisor that works for you, not for the supplier!
In days gone by, suppliers paid Travel Advisors very healthy commissions because all travel had to go through a Travel Professional. They also worked out of brick-and-mortar agencies, receiving a salary or hourly wage. Today, consumer-facing booking systems have eroded the buying power of the Travel Advisor and commission percentages have slowly but surely shrunk over time. Combine that with the dawn of the home-based agency and under the old model Travel Advisors would be expected to work for free, and then wait to be compensated with smaller commissions once their client leaves on their trip. If the trip then must be cancelled, they would receive nothing for their time and efforts!
When a Travel Advisor’s time and efforts are covered in advance through a fee, they’re free to source the best options for their client’s needs, instead of guiding them towards the options that pay the highest commissions.
What You Receive
When working with an Advisor who charges a service or design fee, you can expect to gain a partner in travel. We focus on building relationships with our clients and serving them from the initial call until they return home. You can expect customized itineraries and attention to detail in every step.
Anyone can book travel, it takes a professional to design and manage it.
If having your travel planned and managed by a professional feels dreamy, reach out and claim your complementary consultation call today.