How much extra is a travel agent worth vs booking on your own?
 

I normally research and book my own trips, but this time around with everything going on, I decided it might be easier to go through a travel agent. The quote I received from one of the more popular outfits came in higher than I expected. So I went through their entire itinerary, and just did a quick check on how much it would cost if I booked it all directly with each suggested option. After only ten minutes of searching, I found out that if I just followed their exact itinerary and booked it myself, I would save almost $1500!

I feel a little guilty for moving forward and booking it on my own, since they did all the research and suggesting for me, but $1500 sounds like enough reason to go that direction. Am I missing something where that $1500 can actually be worth still sticking with the agent? I expected to pay a little bit of a surcharge for the convenience and follow up support in case something went wrong, but that sounds like a lot. Should I feel bad for just "stealing" their suggested trip?

A little more info: my trip is very straightforward (one safari, two hotels, one domestic flight) and I did factor in all taxes and fees when I did my follow up pricing validation. Thoughts?

$1500 out of how much total?

Their quoted trip is $13,500, my price is $12k.

The $1,500 is a tad over 10% which can be mark-up, and more than reasonable as a commission. Would, however, suggest you post your itinerary so comments can be made.

Sure, here's the proposed agenda:

SFO to Johannesburg international flight
JNB to Madiwke
Staying at Mateya Resort for 4 nights
Madikwe to JNB, JNB to Cape Town (domestic flights)
Staying at Four Rosmead for 3 nights
Cape Town to JNB flight
Staying at The Peech Hotel for 2 nights
JNB to Cairo to SFO international flight
(Cairo trip to be planned independently)

So that is the trip for $13,500. It sounds like 10% markup is customary then; would you advise that it is worth it to book with them knowing that?

I don't see anything on that itinerary that would cause me to pay the extra. It looks pretty straight forward. Is there a meet and greet at each aiport? Do you need to get to FedAir for the the Madikwe legs (different airport)? Were there any tours in Cape Town or Joburg included? Ethically, I would make a few changes before booking without the agent.

$12K for two inclucing int'l air?

<i>"The quote I received from one of the <b>more popular outfits</b> came in higher than I expected."</i>

Then may I ask?
1) Who is the outfit? Some are known to be quite high.
2) What did the quotes from other queries sent come in at?"
-- Same? Higher? Lower?

If all are for the same itinerary - where, # of days, etc. - I can understand not going with that which is higher, but if any were lower, why not with that company? Or have still another operator price for further comparison. I know it's time consuming and while I feel 10% is reasonable, if you're not... pursue further.

Sounds as if you're traveling solo. If so and if it was me I'd prefer to know I had one contact (this outfitter or another) should the unforeseen happen... volcanoes erupting, airline strikes, and who know what else these days.

The travel agency is Go2Africa. I haven't quoted it out with any other agencies yet. Not sure which is the least ethical choice - booking their itinerary on my own, or shopping their itinerary with other agencies? (I am happy with their picks for airlines and accommodations.)

@christabir: The price is for two people, including air. No tours are included. Airport transfers were built into their price. I'm not sure about the FedAir part, but I figured the resort could help me with that information, if I were to go through them direct.

@sandi, I guess that's what I was trying to figure out....I know unforseeable things can happen, which is where an agent comes in handy. Now that I know that 10% markup is customary, I guess I just need to determine for myself if that is worth a little more peace of mind. :)

Where, which items, were the biggest difference in cost to you? The TA should break down each major cost item for you in their quote. If not, ask for it.

regards - tom

Oh for a repost/edit capability - you listening FODORS?????
We have booked several safaris with the same (my TA), more complex than yours involving three countries and three camps, two hotels, connecting flights etc. and TA provided detail cost of each item. Which were exactly the same as if I had booked any/all myself. But we always do the international air (USA to usually JNB) ourselves. Soooo . . . .

Wondering, airfare differnces can be huge. What is you international airfare quote from TA, if from USA say JFK should be less than $1,500 RT (maybe a lot less).

regards - tom

OK - let's assume they included transfers to/from hotels and lodge. They are about $100 each way. If you need to get to/from FedAir for your Madikwe flights (and I don't know about that) then it's another $100 each way. So it's not really $1500 as there are some extra costs that you haven't taken into account. I like using an agent for the above reasons. Fortunately we never had any problems.

It is not unethical to get a second opinion, in my opinion.

Indeed, I would be surprised if go2africa quotes a rate that is higher than what you would pay if you book direct. As far as I know they do not add any booking fees (most tour operators don't add a booking fee, traditional travel agencies do sometimes add a booking fee or service charge).
The best way to compare is to get a complete breakdown of the quote, including all transfers, air fares, everything. Then see how much was charged for accommodation at each destination, and I'm reasonably sure you will find that they charged the normal published rate for that lodge or hotel (the same as what you will find on the website for that lodge). Some tour operators can even offer discounts on the normal rate, because of their buying power with the lodges. Im short, it should not cost more to book through a tour operator than booking direct. If you find it does cost more, find another tour operator.

Doubt go2africa added anything, commission comes from the lodging/s, airlines, etc. As others, the difference has to be some items you have overlooked and for 2/paxs... the price is good.

While not every outfitter will breakout all costs, you can at least inquire as to your per night room/tent rates (knowing there are daily park fees and taxes), to compare with online prices or another outfitter. Even if the outfitter's price is higher, they can often be providing a preferred room, beverages, and other bennies!

But, there is no reason not to put the itinerary out to another outfitter in South Africa.

I used to be a travel agent - back when we all worked on commission from the airlines, hotels, etc. Now, no one pays a TA any commission, so the few that are still in business have to pay the bills somehow. They do it in one of two ways, by marking up the products they sell or by charging you a flat fee to plan the trip.

You are a very independent traveler, used to doing your own booking, so the 10% price seems high. Its because you don't value your own time. I put in hours, days, weeks, months - sometimes years of research planning our travels. I do it for free, but I wouldn't expect anyone else to do it for free. The travel business is like many others, sometimes the work is farely easy and the 10% is more than enough, sometimes things go wrong and the 10% doesn't begin to cover the time one will invest to make it right. In the end, you just pray that the average will cover the payroll.

Go2africa is a web based "travel agent" with a lot of personal experience in Africa. Time invested to acquire that knowledge is their product, whether they invested that time before or after you contacted them. After reading their "About Us" section, I'm guessing that you chose them because they have first hand knowledge about your destination - you wanted someone with a very good base of information. You can't look at how many hours they put into your intinerary, you have to look at how many years it took them to gather the information, contacts and personal knowledge to become "one of the more popular outfits". Having owned a TA, I can tell you they probably spent years with little or no profit before they had a "product" (base of knowledge) to sell. You used their knowledge - you should pay them for it. Lesson learned on how these things work.

TC

Very good points!

I am wondering.............is there anybody out there who would like to work for free?

If I were Go2Africa I would certainly not again plan a trip for a client who requests quotes after quotes expeting consultation regarding the trip and then go shopping on the net. Something like loyalty obviously isn't considered anymore.

I would book myself and then also sort out my flight delays, cancellations, overbookings, de-gradings et etc in order to safe money :o)

Happy travels!

((@))

.....the mark up of 10% should be considered a bargain.

If the package is reasonable why should a travel agent break down costs? Since when does a consultant break down a hourly fee to all the overhead's involved?

Costco - does it tell the customer about its margin?

The "packaging" offers the opportunity to do a mix-calculation and most TA are obliged to not undermine a venue's rack rate.

I do the booking myself because I love it but certainly not in order to save money.
Also exploitation of a business in order to block its time and then go shopping for the cheapest deal using all the information provided is nothing but bad style.

((@))

Well TC and SV I'm sure my TA and his staff does not work for me for free. I'm also sure they charge me no more than the prices I find on the internet. Believe me, I check it all going in. And I'll put their invoice from my last trip if you want to see it. So how does my TA and staff get paid, any ideas?

regard - tom

Alina,
Ethically, the right thing to do is to contract with Go2Africa. To use take their knowledge and expertise and use it to your own gain is just plain ummm, how do I say...slimey.

I too usually make all our travel arrangements myself, but I used Go2Africa a couple of years ago to plan a trip which involved several lodges, ground transfers and a boat transfer.

I didn't press them for details or breakdown of the costs because they were within the budget I had specified and I was happy that the arrangements were what I wanted for a price I could live with.

Whatever their margin was, it was worth every penny. Our flight into JNB was delayed, which meant we missed our onward flight, which meant we missed transfers, our first night's lodging, etc. Like a game of dominoes, the effects of that delayed flight tumbled down through the next few days.

One call to our Go2Africa agent and she took care of the whole mess, notifying those who needed notification, rescheduling transfers and boats, cancelling the first night's lodging and rearranging things so we didn't miss out on several special parts of the trip, and on and on. She saved the trip for us, stopped our anxiety and fretting in its tracks, checked back with us during the next few days to make sure thins were going as planned. She was our guardian angel and, as I said above, worth every penny.

Wow, come back home to a lot more input. :)

To be clear, when I asked Go2Africa for the quote, I had no intentions of shopping it around or using their information to book it on my own. It wasn't until the number came in much higher than I expected (I actually had estimated the trip to be closer to $10k, but after calculating it out realized it was $12k) that I did a double take. I don't want folks (or the TA) to think I was just using them for information.

After digging into the numbers, it appears that the bulk of the cost difference is in the Mateya portion, where my rate (as found through Luxury Link) is $600 less than the TA's rate. I sent it to her with the hopes she can match the rate; if not I may just book the Mateya portion through LL and then give her the rest of the itinerary. It'll still be a few hundred dollars more than me going direct but I agree with some of the others that the convenience and service would be worth it.

Just to clarify what TC said, there is a difference between a travel agent (TA) and a tour operator (TO). Mostly, a TA works as an outbound agent and does not get much commission from the lodges, hotels and airlines they sell. Very often, they sell packaged tours and products from wholesale tour operators (bundled with flights), and they get about 10% commission from lodges and hotels. It is common practice for a TA to add a service charge or booking fee on top, to make sure they remain profitable as a business.

A TO can be very similar to an agent, and they can be a ground operator who owns their own vehicles. Go2Africa is not a ground operator, but as an agent they work directly with the lodges and hotels (they don't buy from a wholesale tour operator) and like someone else said they are based in South Africa and have expert local knowledge. Their income comes from the commission they earn from the lodges or hotels they sell. This could be 20% or 30% off the normal rate published on the lodge's website, and there is no need to mark up the rate beyond the normal rate, or add a booking fee. A TA gets much less commission or no commission, and they have to add a booking fee. A TO gets decent commission and normally they do not add any booking fees on top.

If you find (as you did with Mateya) that you can find a much cheaper rate than what they quote, then you did exactly the right thing: inform the agent and ask them to match the price you found. More often than not it may be a special the agent was not aware of, and they should be able to match the rate. I'm still surprised that the overall package is a few hundred dollars more than what you worked out going direct. Most TO's will try their best to come in slightly below what it would cost to go direct.

Well, I sent the TA the link and it turns out that the resort was not aware of the low rates on LL, and will be pulling them off the site. However Go2Africa was able to get them to honor the price on an exception basis for me, which is fantastic news! So I'll definitely be moving forward with the entire reservation; I am incredibly pleased with how quickly they handled the situation. My hopes are that it reveals how quickly they would handle any other unexpected issues that may pop up down the road. :)

Isn't Luxury Link a "consolidator"? A consolidator is yet another type of travel booking service. Different from a travel agent and different from a tour operator. A consolidator works with specific hotels, airlines, cruises, tours, etc. to fill space that might be left unsold. They forge relationships with specific providers. Think of them as an outlet for overstock. With a consolidator you will be able to book only their relationships. With a travel agent you can book anything.

It is to your advantage this time that LL has an opening in the lodge you want at the time you need. I would guess that your TA will be able to match the price. Although you are now asking them to do more and make less. I have to say, when I worked as a TA, those were the clients we loved the least. Prior to non-refundable airline tickets, I had clients that would call and make us change their ticket every time the airline lower the price by $5. We were paid 10% on the one ticket -- nothing additional for doing a reissue. It didn't take long for time invested to eat up the small commission on a $200 ticket.

<u>From the Luxury Link web page:</u>
<i>".......find exceptional values. Through our Auction and Buy Now offers, ... often up to 65% off its retail value. We hand-select.... each property"</i>

Allina555, Looks like we were posting at the same time. I didn't see your latest until after I put my post up. Now you understand why the TA earns their money. You really can't always believe everything you find on the Internet. You're doing the right thing and hopefully feel better about the fee you are paying Go2Africa for their services. They are earning it.

<i>"turns out that the resort was not aware of the low rates on LL, and will be pulling them off the site"</i>

My guess is that LL might not have been able to come through with the advertised price in the end. It is a bit like bait and switch.

<i>My guess is that LL might not have been able to come through with the advertised price in the end. It is a bit like bait and switch.</i>

While some posters have been lucky with a Luxury Link offer, I agree with TC, more often that is not the case and can be considered "bait & switch." Besides, with the TA, go2africa, can often get preferred rooms/tents and other bennies.

I know this post is old and I am not even sure why it came up but the answers were scary!
The traveler was spending over 13,000 dollars!
They had every right to ask for a break down of their trip cost.
And, at least look around to see what this exact trip was being sold for by other outfitters.

TA and outfitters should not complain because first they are making commission.
Second, it is their job!
Third, you are not alone. Car salespersons, realtors, contractors all work on quotes and hope for a sale.
These are competitive businesses.

That BS excuse about how Go2Africa wasn't making any money and people who asked for quotes were time wasters was ridiculous.

At the end it seemed that Go2Africa was able to soothe their customer's anxiety and got the sale.
That is how you do it. Customer service!

Sometimes TAs become super spoiled. If a room rate is 450 all over the internet. Then it is 450. The TA will get commission on that.
Just because the TA feels it is a hassle to book another hotel reservation it does not give them the right to charge clients 450+ unless they are clearly announcing a service fee which should be paid at the buyer's discretion.

In my opinion travelers deserve to be fully inform of their options out there just as much as the TAs.
Learn your competition and win them over with overall superior customer service.

Hi travel2eat
What a fantastic post.
For the last 18 years we have been doing just that.
Serving the International community with our first and foremost customer service.

Yours on Safari
Mark