I have an excellent travel agent too. The same one for 20+ years and I’m on the west coast and she’s on the east coast. I’ve been in a couple of dilemmas while traveling with no fault of ours (only the airlines; and that’s enough to deal with) and she and/or her team assisted us without us doing any of the work while traveling. I don’t go away to spend alot of money on a vacation to deal with aggravating issues from a cancelled flights or a delayed flight. I’ve spreads done alot of the work planning the trip.
Interesting! We don’t have Chase , use Amex Platinum and have never used an agent, we don’t know any
A Travel Agent doesn't cost you any money - they are paid by the tour/cruise company. A good travel agent will know quite a bit about travel and perhaps even the destination you're planning to visit - and will give you good advice. Travel agents are courted by travel companies. They may even receive free trips so that they can experience what their customers will encounter. As you can expect, the TAs are treated quite well on those "education" trips. They want the TA to recommend their trips.
Travel agents do not get any payment for making airline reservations. If you book a tour or cruise most TAs will make your airline arrangements as part of the deal. But if you call them to make an airline reservation not part of a tour/cruise, they will charge you to make the reservations. That's why Shawn Power will only make your cruise reservations - he won't do your airline reservations.
If you would like to try a travel agent, ask here on the forum for a reference to a TA and try him/her for one tour. It can offload you from a lot of searching and planning.
My travel agent knows what I like and when she makes reservations for me she takes care of those things. For example, I like a walk-in shower for a suite on a ship or hotel room, rather than a tub shower.
And when you have a problem on a cruise/tour, they can often solve the problem. They have phone numbers to people in various companies who can help. Numbers that you're unlikely to have or to be able to reach on short notice.
I understood all that, but the Amex platinum people can do all this for us. Not just travel. Some ,of the examples for us have been getting tickets for a hard to find tickets for a popular Broadway show., asking them to get reservations on a particular date when a booking periods opens for a top restaurant in New York City. And of course helping us with canceled flights. Tauck have been very difficult to contact a couple of times when flights booked by them have been canceled.
I don’t understand how a travel agent can be concerned when it is in the middle of the night US time when you need to urgently contact them.
Obviously we have all talked about this subject before, but it is interesting to see it come up frequently.
Has anyone who used to book themselves started to use a travel agent?
To Ken From Vegas; Why would Tauck care who pays them, Chase Travel or the customer, as long as they get paid. Tauck even has a spot that says " Do you want to make a payment for someone else". Asking because I have a Chase Reserve Card and was going to book my trip through Chase Travel. Thanks
@rileyboy - This is just a guess, but a travel agent gets a commission for booking a tour or cruise (it's a decent amount of money). If you book a tour or cruise directly with Tauck, they do not pay you a commission.
I expect that Chase wants that commission because they are acting as a travel agent. Tauck may have calculated that this will increase their costs because guests who would have made the reservation directly (no commission) will use Chase to make it, so Tauck is trying to encourage guests to make their reservations by calling Tauck and not Chase.
[If you pay for someone else's trip, there is no commission.]
[All those benefits Chase gives you have to be paid for somehow. Tauck just doesn't want to be the one who pays for it.]
Let me talk about the relationship between travel agents and tour companies a bit. The first thing to recognize is that everyone involved gets something out of it.
Most of the people who become travel agents do so because they want to travel. Most don’t get rich being a travel agent.
Why does the tour company pay a commission to the travel agent? The travel agent is providing a service to the guests, not to the tour company. The reason is that the tour companies recognize that the travel agent has a significant influence on which tour and tour company the guests will choose, especially for the first tour/cruise.
For the travel agent, the most important part of the relationship is the commission, how much they will make in booking the tour/cruise. The standard commission is between 10% and 16%, but there may be some “extras” in the booking that do not go towards the commission. What the tour company gets out of it is a paying guest, and many guests continue to use a tour company if they are happy with the first tour/cruise.
Additionally, many tour companies have a graduated commission – the travel agent will get a larger commission (or a bonus) if they book a lot of tours with a tour company in a calendar year, so there’s an incentive for a travel agent to push the company they do the most business with. Shawn Power books a lot of Tauck tours, for example
Tour companies go to great lengths to “court” travel agents. The travel agent may get a free or low cost “educational tour” of an area. This allows the travel agent to talk about what a tour provides to the potential guests and gives the tour company a chance to “sell” the travel agent on their company and the benefits that the travel agent will receive for booking with them.
[Added note: Chase doesn't have any loyality to Tauck - they just book whatever tour the customer tells them to book. So Tauck is not getting anything of value from Chase, and therefore doesn't want to pay them the travel agent commission. To add insult to injury, Chase would get the fee for the use of the credit card (maybe 3%) AND they would get the 10% to 16% travel agent commission.]
This costs money and some tour companies attempt to encourage the guests to book directly with them. Vantage, for example, will pay a commission to a travel agent for the first booking with them by a guest, but if the guest books a second tour with them, they will only pay the travel agent a flat fee of $500 (this was told to me by my travel agent). It’s unlikely a travel agent will recommend a Vantage tour/cruise. Vantage also encourages (makes it easy for) the guest to pay with a deduction from their checking account so they avoid the credit card fee.
She also told me that a few tour companies will not work with a travel agent – meaning they will not pay a commission. I don’t remember which ones she mentioned. The travel agent would never even mention those tours, and if you wanted a travel agent to book those for you, you’d probably be told that they can’t do it and you’d have to book it yourself. I expect that ultra low cost tour companies cannot afford to pay a commission.
Note that the airlines stopped paying travel agents to write tickets because travelers don’t care which airline they use – they want the best routing and cheapest price.
I belong to a travel club, with one of its components being arranging travel (tours, cruises, etc) at a discount. For the first three years Tauck was one of the tour companies that allowed a tour to be booked this way. It resulted in getting a tour at a 5-15% discount below what you'd pay if you booked direct. This was one of the drivers for joining the travel club.
After about three years Tauck no longer allowed tours to be booked this way (wouldn't pay the travel club a fee - like Mike described airlines not paying travel agents for writing tickets).
So another negative for using a travel agent for me if they are only going to push tours that they get commission for.
It also explains why some people book a tour through an agent without researching exactly what the tour is and the level of stamina etc required.
@British - There are benefits to using a travel agent, especially for someone just starting to travel. Someone like you, who has traveled a lot and knows about the different tour companies, may not receive as much benefit. You have developed a lot of knowledge of travel and tour companies over your years of travel.
I would recommend to anyone just booking their first tour/cruise to work with a travel agent. They can provide valuable guidance.
I believe a good travel agent is worth her or his weight in gold. There are more advantages than you might believe if you’ve never used a reputable agent (especially during a family emergency), and planning your trip. I would think I’m a savvy traveler and have benefitted using a travel agent; the same one for 20+ years. I believe when finding the right one, and a relationship develops she or he learns what type of travel your family enjoys. It’s a process.
A lot of people here and on fb ask whether you should book with a TA or direct to Tauck. We've always booked direct but I think if you want to plan additional travel beyond the tour and don't want to do any research yourself you'd be better with a good TA. I like doing the research. Even if I have Tauck book the air, I always do my own research first. We've done several back to back tours and tours with additional stays so by now I've figured out all the steps, what info Tauck needs, what my options are, etc. But one of my good friends does not like to do this stuff so she's better with a TA (plus asking me questions LOL).
An additional note: Most travel companies prohibit sharing of the commission with the guests. There was a travel company (maybe Gate1 but I’m not sure) that used to do that, but I doubt if they do it directly anymore. What they probably do is provide some freebies to the guests, maybe a bottle of Champaigne in their cabin or hotel room.
Chase gives a lot of points to someone who books a tour or cruise through them, and a company like Tauck could claim that Chase is sharing the commission and try cutting them off because of that. Whether that would stand up in court, I don’t know.
I have booked all of my tours with a travel agent (Amex Platinum). I always decide what I want, and then contact the TA to book it (at no additional charge). My long-time agent (who, unfortunately has recently retired) told me that she doesn't receive a commission for doing so, though I suspect AMEX does. The travel agent has a direct line to Tauck, which has served me well.
You used to be able to get $500 or $1000 gift vouchers from Amex points to use on Tauck tours. I’m talking about when a tour might be as little as $2,500, so it was a substantial saving. We had quite a few. Then like everything else, the perk was taken away.
Comments
I have an excellent travel agent too. The same one for 20+ years and I’m on the west coast and she’s on the east coast. I’ve been in a couple of dilemmas while traveling with no fault of ours (only the airlines; and that’s enough to deal with) and she and/or her team assisted us without us doing any of the work while traveling. I don’t go away to spend alot of money on a vacation to deal with aggravating issues from a cancelled flights or a delayed flight. I’ve spreads done alot of the work planning the trip.
A Travel Agent doesn't cost you any money - they are paid by the tour/cruise company. A good travel agent will know quite a bit about travel and perhaps even the destination you're planning to visit - and will give you good advice. Travel agents are courted by travel companies. They may even receive free trips so that they can experience what their customers will encounter. As you can expect, the TAs are treated quite well on those "education" trips. They want the TA to recommend their trips.
Travel agents do not get any payment for making airline reservations. If you book a tour or cruise most TAs will make your airline arrangements as part of the deal. But if you call them to make an airline reservation not part of a tour/cruise, they will charge you to make the reservations. That's why Shawn Power will only make your cruise reservations - he won't do your airline reservations.
If you would like to try a travel agent, ask here on the forum for a reference to a TA and try him/her for one tour. It can offload you from a lot of searching and planning.
My travel agent knows what I like and when she makes reservations for me she takes care of those things. For example, I like a walk-in shower for a suite on a ship or hotel room, rather than a tub shower.
And when you have a problem on a cruise/tour, they can often solve the problem. They have phone numbers to people in various companies who can help. Numbers that you're unlikely to have or to be able to reach on short notice.
I understood all that, but the Amex platinum people can do all this for us. Not just travel. Some ,of the examples for us have been getting tickets for a hard to find tickets for a popular Broadway show., asking them to get reservations on a particular date when a booking periods opens for a top restaurant in New York City. And of course helping us with canceled flights. Tauck have been very difficult to contact a couple of times when flights booked by them have been canceled.
I don’t understand how a travel agent can be concerned when it is in the middle of the night US time when you need to urgently contact them.
Obviously we have all talked about this subject before, but it is interesting to see it come up frequently.
Has anyone who used to book themselves started to use a travel agent?
To Ken From Vegas; Why would Tauck care who pays them, Chase Travel or the customer, as long as they get paid. Tauck even has a spot that says " Do you want to make a payment for someone else". Asking because I have a Chase Reserve Card and was going to book my trip through Chase Travel. Thanks
@rileyboy - This is just a guess, but a travel agent gets a commission for booking a tour or cruise (it's a decent amount of money). If you book a tour or cruise directly with Tauck, they do not pay you a commission.
I expect that Chase wants that commission because they are acting as a travel agent. Tauck may have calculated that this will increase their costs because guests who would have made the reservation directly (no commission) will use Chase to make it, so Tauck is trying to encourage guests to make their reservations by calling Tauck and not Chase.
[If you pay for someone else's trip, there is no commission.]
[All those benefits Chase gives you have to be paid for somehow. Tauck just doesn't want to be the one who pays for it.]
Let me talk about the relationship between travel agents and tour companies a bit. The first thing to recognize is that everyone involved gets something out of it.
Most of the people who become travel agents do so because they want to travel. Most don’t get rich being a travel agent.
Why does the tour company pay a commission to the travel agent? The travel agent is providing a service to the guests, not to the tour company. The reason is that the tour companies recognize that the travel agent has a significant influence on which tour and tour company the guests will choose, especially for the first tour/cruise.
For the travel agent, the most important part of the relationship is the commission, how much they will make in booking the tour/cruise. The standard commission is between 10% and 16%, but there may be some “extras” in the booking that do not go towards the commission. What the tour company gets out of it is a paying guest, and many guests continue to use a tour company if they are happy with the first tour/cruise.
Additionally, many tour companies have a graduated commission – the travel agent will get a larger commission (or a bonus) if they book a lot of tours with a tour company in a calendar year, so there’s an incentive for a travel agent to push the company they do the most business with. Shawn Power books a lot of Tauck tours, for example
Tour companies go to great lengths to “court” travel agents. The travel agent may get a free or low cost “educational tour” of an area. This allows the travel agent to talk about what a tour provides to the potential guests and gives the tour company a chance to “sell” the travel agent on their company and the benefits that the travel agent will receive for booking with them.
[Added note: Chase doesn't have any loyality to Tauck - they just book whatever tour the customer tells them to book. So Tauck is not getting anything of value from Chase, and therefore doesn't want to pay them the travel agent commission. To add insult to injury, Chase would get the fee for the use of the credit card (maybe 3%) AND they would get the 10% to 16% travel agent commission.]
This costs money and some tour companies attempt to encourage the guests to book directly with them. Vantage, for example, will pay a commission to a travel agent for the first booking with them by a guest, but if the guest books a second tour with them, they will only pay the travel agent a flat fee of $500 (this was told to me by my travel agent). It’s unlikely a travel agent will recommend a Vantage tour/cruise. Vantage also encourages (makes it easy for) the guest to pay with a deduction from their checking account so they avoid the credit card fee.
She also told me that a few tour companies will not work with a travel agent – meaning they will not pay a commission. I don’t remember which ones she mentioned. The travel agent would never even mention those tours, and if you wanted a travel agent to book those for you, you’d probably be told that they can’t do it and you’d have to book it yourself. I expect that ultra low cost tour companies cannot afford to pay a commission.
Note that the airlines stopped paying travel agents to write tickets because travelers don’t care which airline they use – they want the best routing and cheapest price.
I belong to a travel club, with one of its components being arranging travel (tours, cruises, etc) at a discount. For the first three years Tauck was one of the tour companies that allowed a tour to be booked this way. It resulted in getting a tour at a 5-15% discount below what you'd pay if you booked direct. This was one of the drivers for joining the travel club.
After about three years Tauck no longer allowed tours to be booked this way (wouldn't pay the travel club a fee - like Mike described airlines not paying travel agents for writing tickets).
So another negative for using a travel agent for me if they are only going to push tours that they get commission for.
It also explains why some people book a tour through an agent without researching exactly what the tour is and the level of stamina etc required.
@British - There are benefits to using a travel agent, especially for someone just starting to travel. Someone like you, who has traveled a lot and knows about the different tour companies, may not receive as much benefit. You have developed a lot of knowledge of travel and tour companies over your years of travel.
I would recommend to anyone just booking their first tour/cruise to work with a travel agent. They can provide valuable guidance.
A travel agent is like a real estate agent in that they will push what they make the most money on.
Perhaps the new Tauck should offer a direct booking discount, less than a TA commission, to increase their bottom line.
I believe a good travel agent is worth her or his weight in gold. There are more advantages than you might believe if you’ve never used a reputable agent (especially during a family emergency), and planning your trip. I would think I’m a savvy traveler and have benefitted using a travel agent; the same one for 20+ years. I believe when finding the right one, and a relationship develops she or he learns what type of travel your family enjoys. It’s a process.
A lot of people here and on fb ask whether you should book with a TA or direct to Tauck. We've always booked direct but I think if you want to plan additional travel beyond the tour and don't want to do any research yourself you'd be better with a good TA. I like doing the research. Even if I have Tauck book the air, I always do my own research first. We've done several back to back tours and tours with additional stays so by now I've figured out all the steps, what info Tauck needs, what my options are, etc. But one of my good friends does not like to do this stuff so she's better with a TA (plus asking me questions LOL).
An additional note: Most travel companies prohibit sharing of the commission with the guests. There was a travel company (maybe Gate1 but I’m not sure) that used to do that, but I doubt if they do it directly anymore. What they probably do is provide some freebies to the guests, maybe a bottle of Champaigne in their cabin or hotel room.
Chase gives a lot of points to someone who books a tour or cruise through them, and a company like Tauck could claim that Chase is sharing the commission and try cutting them off because of that. Whether that would stand up in court, I don’t know.
Yes, but that would hurt their relationship with the travel agents.
I have booked all of my tours with a travel agent (Amex Platinum). I always decide what I want, and then contact the TA to book it (at no additional charge). My long-time agent (who, unfortunately has recently retired) told me that she doesn't receive a commission for doing so, though I suspect AMEX does. The travel agent has a direct line to Tauck, which has served me well.
You used to be able to get $500 or $1000 gift vouchers from Amex points to use on Tauck tours. I’m talking about when a tour might be as little as $2,500, so it was a substantial saving. We had quite a few. Then like everything else, the perk was taken away.