caseheld

I did post a message earlier about travel agents and if they had any fees. Someone asked me what they were charging. We are going to Athens, the island of Santorini, and Barcelona. We are staying in very nice hotels. The total trip package is 9,790. Is this seriously ridiculous or could we do this on our own??

P_M

caseheld, you really should post your replies on that same thread. Please click your name, find that thread, and post this message. And yes this price is seriously ridiculous.

P_M

I just thought of a better idea. Here is a link to your other thread. Click it to open your other thread. Then at the bottom of that thread click "post a reply." Then give everyone the info you have posted here. It's always better to answer a question by using the same thread instead of starting a new one. I know this board can seem confusing when you are new, but really once you get the hang of it you will find it to be a valuable source of info.

Here's your other thread:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34742269

tuscanlifeedit

If you would post on the Europe forum, you might get some excellent help from the Greece experts there. A subject like "Greece: please help me plan" would get their attention.

That price is nuts.

nytraveler

I don;t know if the price is nuts or not because:

1) We don't know how many "we" are

2) We dont know what hotels they're staying at, for how long (1 night? 10 nights?) or what type rooms are they getting (suites? penthouses?)

3)We also don;t know how they're traveling from city to city (charter boat? first class air?)

Obviously this is a lot of money - but it may be due to requirements of or decisions by the OP.

P_M

caseheld said on the other thread that this is a honeymoon trip, so I assume there will be 2 people. But yes, we do need more info.

caseheld

Sorry. It is a honeymoon trip. We are staying at nice hotels for 12 nights altogether. Santorini- Sun Rock Villa Apts.

Athens: Astir palace
Barcelona: Avenida Palace

We are flying from Chicago to Athens to Santorini, back to Athens, to Barcelona, to Chicago. Two of the hotels are suites. We are taking three tours throughout the trip. We are renting a car in Barcelona for three days. I priced things out separately and it ended up being 8,400 without tax. i don't see where she is getting the other money from. Thanks.

janisj

caseheld - you really need to post this over on the Europe Forum.

P_M

caseheld, please do the following:

1. Post this on the Europe forum and

2. Stay on the same thread. Do not start a new thread to answer questions or reply to something on the thread you've already started.

Good luck.

earl30

the bottom line is what have you been doing. if you went to a travel agent and already had him find all your hotels and get prices as well as all your other plans, it is only ethical to follow through with what you asked the agent to do. but if you went to the agent with a list of places you wanted to stay and asked what the price would be to stay there, then you are not bound to use that agent if you can find prices on your own for the places you selected if cheaper. the question isn't is the price to high, since we don't know how much you want to spend. but if you went to a travel agent and asked him to plan your trip for you and he has done just what you asked, i think it's pretty rotten to go somewhere else and book his ideas.

nytraveler

Agreed - if you've had the travel agent do all the work to sort this out for you - down to airport transfers, car rental and organizing day tours is advance it is really not kosher to then go and try to do the same thing cheaper yourself.

Of course you can do it cheaper - you've taken away the profit the travel agent would get for spending all the time making the arrangemnts.

(And we don;t know if this is one set of arrangements or lots of toing and froing and changing decisions - which would drive the price up even further.)

If you are going to use a travel agent for anything you need to ask in advance what their rates will be. (Otherwise it's like handing your car over to a garage to be fixed without discussing what might be wrong and getting an estimate - they could charge anything and you would have no real right to complain.)

suze

1- Post on the Europe board since your question is about Europe

2- Stick with one thread rather than start new ones so all your information stays together

3- Yes most people can plan vacations on their own cheaper than thru a travel agent

nytraveler

One further thought.

You said that the travel agen wants 9,790 but you can get the same stuff for 8400 WITHOUT TAX. That's a difference of 1390 - or about 14%.

I don't know what you included tax on or not - but in europe VAT can easily be 17% - so depending on how you figured - the agent may actually be gettig it for you for LESS than you would pay (we're comparing apples and oranges here).

But - asume 10% tax (unlikely). That would mean the agent is getting around 500 - or 5% of the total - does that sound outrageous to you for the time/effort involved?