Travel Agent Question
 

I've been working with a travel agent for 8 months on an Ireland trip for next year. She's just been giving me general numbers about the cost of the trip. Now that we are ready to put a deposit down, I asked for a complete breakdown of costs: how much each hotel costs, how much drivers will cost per day, etc. In all my experiences with travel agents, I've always gotten that kind of breakdown. But this travel agent has refused, saying that she has special rates with these hotels that she doesn't want public, so she won't tell me. That may be true, but my immediate feeling is she's over-charging me and doesn't want me checking the rates (which is what we always do, and then we start haggling and working out what we do and don't want to spend -- standard operating procedure). She is a well-respected agent, picked as one of the best by a big travel magazine. So do I bite the bullet and trust her or do I so thanks but no thanks and move on to someone else?
Have any of you had this happen to you? What's your opinion?

WHY are you using a TA? - and what on Earth has taken her 8 months to arrange a trip for next year?

Just my questions - not answers to yours.

But IMHO - for the customer to not have access to the cost breakdown seems really REALLY weird.

Again - why do you need a TA at all?

Sounds a bit shady, but I really don't know anything about travel agents. (they still exist?) Why not make the arrangements yourself? It's easy & a fun part of the traveling experience to do the research and make your own arrangements

I use a TA who's an expert in an area I know nothing about. This has resulted in fab trips all over the world. This woman is an expert on Ireland and made many suggestions I wouldn't have thought of. But I still want my cost breakdown.

I guess I'm not well versed in how travel agents work or how people work with them. But it seems to me if you've been working with someone planning a trip for 8 months, now isn't the time to start discussing prices and "haggling" as you say --"standard operating procedure". It seems to me that early on you'd establish the prices you'd want to spend and would then have enough trust to let the agent do her work. What's the point of having someone else do all the work and then haggle with them -- or possibly calling to book the hotels she's selected yourself because you can save money? I've never known of people who use a travel agent to plan their trips and not expect things to cost more than if they were doing it all themselves.

So my bottom line suggestion is -- if for someone reason you really don't trust her, then I'd cut the cord now and tell her now. Otherwise if you do have trust for her, then I'd say let her go ahead and do her work. If she's done a good job, so what if the hotels cost you a few more dollars through her -- hasn't she earned it?

How many times has she been to Ireland.? And did she travel like normal mortals - or on TA junkets??

I find most TA "region/countryl experts" are really conversant w/ airfares and major hotels and car rental agencies. But know little or nothing about small villages, B&Bs, country house hotels or local beauty spots.

Maybe your TA is different - but there is usually more collective knowledge about Ireland on these boards than w/ any 20 TA'S.

But even IF your's is an Ireland genius - the fact she won't tell you what things cost seems really shady to me.

Thanks -- she does seem conversant with things other than the usual hotels (as many brilliant TA's I've used have been). If any TA's out there can tell me what they think, I'd appreciate it.
The reason it's taken 8 months (please don't get hung up on that) is because of ME -- I start planning trips well over a year in advance. That's just the way I am. And we did agree on a general price, but I'd like to see specifics.

Has she told you what the hotels are? Can you look them up online?

If you put the detailed info here about the type of trip she's put together, I'm sure someone can tell you if it's within a reasonable range.

How many times have you had conversations or meetings with your TA? Are you just using her to pick her brain? Maybe she is getting the feeling that you are using her, wasting her time and then book on your own. Will you take her good ideas and run? If you are satisfied with her service and feel the trip price is fair, then what's your problem. When I book trips, sometimes you are quoted a package price - hotel, food, transfers and they are not able to break down the price by individual components. I usually book trips on my own, but have used TA's for some things and have always gotten good tips from them so I feel the prices they gave me were fair.

I have planned trips of my own and worked with travel agents in the past. I have never received a breakout of the price. I assume that they are charging me the rates they are able to get plus a commission. Some of the hotels or activities are also probably purchased as a package and don't break down to the individual level.

That being said, I have priced out trips that an agent put together for me and the price is usually comparable.

Once an overall price came back on the high side, and I worked with the agent to reduce it by getting rid of parts of the package - like private transfers.

Now I'm planning my own trips, but I do see the value of an agent in some instances. I imagine if I decide to go to India or somewhere else totally unknown to me, I would consider hiring an expert to help me.

Are you using a travel agent because you do not want to attend to all the details yourself? If so she may be worth every penny you are paying especially if she is an expert on Ireland. Important questions to ask her: How many times has she been to Ireland? Has she visited all of Ireland and Northern Ireland or just bits and pieces? Does she just know about hotels or also other types of accommodations such as B&Bs and guest houses?

Have you paid anything yet for all her advice or is she doing it in hopes of getting a commission? Has she given you a total price for everything? Is she doing your itinerary for you? Are you self-driving or hiring a chauffeur?

It is easy enough to check a few things to see if it is adding up right.

California9, I have occasionally used an excellent travel agent who works with AAA. She always showed me the breakdown of prices if I asked. She was excellent, and in fact the top-selling agent at her office, and believe me she never took 8 months to plan any of my trips.

Now she has moved on and up and I lost touch with her. Plus I prefer to plan my own trips now.

On our summer 2006 trip to Ireland, when I priced things, I thought that the family-run Guest Houses and b&bs were the best deals and the most fun for Ireland. We had a wonderful time. Some people like to splurge with a castle stay a couple nights, though we didn't.

Your travel agent won't like to hear this, but you can plan a great trip using the advice of Michele Erdvig on-line...I recommend you buy her book, the Best Little Guide to Ireland, and see her web-site www.IrelandYes.com. I like to plan my own trips, but I know that if you don't like to plan yours, Michele also has a service where you pay a reasonable fee, and she sets up your itinerary for you (not the same as a package...see her web-site for details.)

I collect travel books and believe me I have quite a collection for Ireland!

I also think you have a whole lot of "free" travel "agents" right here on fodors.com!

If you really want to use a travel agent, you really need to find one who will show you exactly what you are paying for. My husband always wanted to know where every dime was going when I booked a package and the AAA travel agent was very good about showing me.

IrishEyes is right...ask her how many times she has been to Ireland, a major important question.

One reason she may not want to give you prices is that sales are often available on the internet that a travel agent cannot match in price, not with the packages they book. But that's no reason for her to hide the prices from you. My AAA travel agent was honest with me. We had a mutually respectful relationship. I tried not to waste her time, and she in turn didn't hide things from me. If I booked a package with her, I knew I was doing it to save myself the trouble, and not necessarily to save any money...packages can cost you more sometimes...but as I said I always knew what the money was going for.

I knew exactly how much I would need to spend if I wanted to upgrade the view of my room or if I wanted to change to a different hotel for example.

Good luck with your decision.

What is the cost Per person and durations, areas visiting and hotels and I can say roughly if its high or not. There are a few of us living in ireland on the Board and we could give a rough ide what you would pay for the hotels or B&B's depending on the time of year.

As a travel agent I found this post particularly interesting... because I too have rates that do not break down, not because I don't want them public but because it's a "package" rate. Sure, I can price out a hotel, B&B or car rental for whatever you want but when I price a "package" (combination of everything over an extended time period) then it comes as a package.

Travel agents do exist and they work for clients without being paid upfront - they receive a commission from tour operators and travel providers IF you book your vacation with them. If you book that vacation yourself you will pay the SAME RATE and the tour operator/provider will keep that commission and increase their profit margin.

Many agents dont' like to discuss how they're paid but I'd rather be upfront because I've heard too many horror stories of do-it-yourselfers who thought that booking direct cut out the agent and saved money.

Back to Ireland -- ask your agent for an accurate quote and have it emailed. You should have access to the hotels and other items priced. Go to the Internet and look up all of the prices individually and ensure your price.

Cheers,
Chris

Rhetorical question: Is it ethical to fire the travel agent after you have used an unbelievable amount of her time and gained so much information from her? I suggest you try to negotiate your working relationship and tell her your expectations as this did not occur 8 months ago.

Thanks everyone. I will post my itinerary soon for comments. Good ideas from all of you!

I'll be more than happy to answer Janis' "question" about why to use a TA...when that TA gets you a business class seat from Washington, DC, N/S to Tokyo, Japan for HALF of what could found on the internet or directly through the airline involved, THAT, Janis, is why some of us use TAs.

As poster above, I've never gotten an itinerary broken out by price... how much each hotel, transfer, inter-country flights, tours, etc. One price. Sure, I knew which hotels and could check their prices, but the TA is including me getting from the airport to hotel, from one city to another, hotel to another, has guide waiting for my tours, etc.

With her itinerary and quote do be sure to read the "inclusions" and "exclusions" so there are no surprises.

The fee/commission for TA is paid by the hotel or other ground operator in-country. Again, as stated above, usually clients seeking pricing on their own, are given rack rates by a hotel (the highest) and the percentage included that would have gone to a TA is profit for the establishment.

Sure you can price using one of the online services, but then you have one confirmation for one hotel, another for another; have to arrange transfers; schedule tours, etc. etc. Some people have the time and enjoy doing so themselves, others, as you have decided have chosen to use a TA who has been responsive to your needs even providing ideas and information you wouldn't have had otherwise.

Few agents doing a packaged trip, breakout prices - take a look even at the high-priced tour operators... one price... maybe a supplement for internal air.

If the price she's provided is too high, then discuss where changes can be made. Otherwise, if the price is right, what would a breakout accomplish?

After a night of thinking, I'm beginning to see the other side of this issue. As someone else above said, "perhaps she doesn't trust YOU either". Perhaps she thinks you're picking her brain. Are you? If she provides you a list of the hotels and you check on the internet and get them for less, is that what you will do? Or will you pay her the higher price for doing the work for you?

As an interior designer, I frankly always knew at a certain point when the client wanted the list of actual wallpaper patterns or fabrics, that something was up -- mainly that she had a deal somewhere and was planning to buy all my selections somewhere else. If we had set a budget for a room of $10,000 and she was liking the plans and we were staying within the budget -- something was clearly "up" if she needed the actual numbers. I suspect this travel agent feels the same thing. If you set a budget, she's keeping within in, and you like the looks of the hotel selections and activities, I can't blame her for thinking there's another reason you need those exact figures.

It's also possible that she has made "deals" along the way -- three different hotels in different towns from the same supply at a special rate, for example. Or perhaps a rental car as part of a package with some other transportation or the flight. If you want to only do one of those, that becomes a problem, because her "deal" has fallen through. So in some cases it really isn't even an exact figure she can give you for each hotel or each part of the tour.

I agree that you shouldn't "waste" a travel agent's time if you're just going to book the trip on your own. The reality is that travel agent's aren't actually getting rich off of their clients.

But on the other hand it is your money that you are spending, and if something just really isn't right, it is best to back out of the deal before you have spent too much time with the travel agent...

I suggest that next time you begin working with a travel agent, get the rules cleared up in the very beginning about cost break-downs. If you don't like how she/he works, duck out right away before you spend 8 months with her. When I use a travel agent, I ask enough questions so that I can tell by my first or second visit with that agent whether I will be able to work with this agent or not. This way it is fair to both of us.

Have you made a lot of changes in this 8 month period while working with this travel agent? I'm not sure I understand why it took 8 months to plan a trip with a travel agent. The point of using a travel agent is so that you can wrap up decisions neatly and quickly. (I can plan the trip on my own in 8 months!!!)