Uh-Oh: Travel Agent Etiquette (or: is $200 worth it?)
 

A little backstory: my guy and I had originally planned our honeymoon for an exotic tropical island, so we paid a small deposit to book a travel agent.

Those plans fell through, and we researched/put together a very happy alternate honeymoon to CA and Mexico (thanks to the great folks on these boards!) We figured we might as well use our travel agent to book places, since we paid the deposit.

We essentially planned everything ourselves and told him exactly what/where to book, with the sole exception of the two hotels we'd be staying at in California, which he chose at his discretion.

The proposal has come back, after a few changes, and it's a solid $400 more expensive (even if we include the loss of our deposit) than if we book the exact same things ourselves. I realize the travel agent's quote includes trip insurance, but we could get insurance ourselves for less than $200 and still come out ahead.

I feel horribly guilty NOT going with this travel agent, but at the same time it's a decent chunk of change! Not sure what to do, and don't want to burn bridges since I really like this agent. Could use some advice...

Since the travel agent did what you asked him to do, he deserves your business. You might ask him if there is any way he can get you a discount on what he has already booked.

Travel agents don;t work for free. they have to charge you fees since airlines and most hotels no longer pay them commission. Your problem is that you didn't ask up front how your agent charges. You should understand if they charge a flat fee per item (airline ticket, each hotel, rental are etc) or if they charge on an hourly rate - and what that rate is and how many hours it takes to organize a trip of a week or two weeks or whatever.

If you're saying the agent ticketed everything and got reservations and is charging you $200 for it - that sounds very reasonable to me.

But this should all be open - so there are no surprises - and you don't feel cheated.

Does it come out to be a "percentage" of what the total is. That is probably his fee. As someone said, they charge for what they do because the airlines and hotels don't pay any more. I think you should have sort of expected that you were going to pay more if you used an agent.

i have had terrible experiences with travel agents in the past few years, and it all comes down to not knowing why their rates come out so much more than if I booked the same itinerary on my own, and what on earth that overcharge is going toward. I'm lucky (supposedly) that my credit card includes free access to a (supposedly) exclusive travel agent. I take that to mean that the agent fees are already being covered by the credit card company. But every time that I have attempted to use them they have come up with a lovely itinerary, but the price quoted was twice what I could have booked the identical itinerary for independently (same hotel, same room category). I have tried asking why the price was so much higher, but never got a satisfactory answer - just a rather huffy "well if you want to keep it under XXX dollars, then we'll have to use different hotels." Someone please explain to me how travel agent pricing works!

Just tell him you've found a better price-it shouldn't bother him in the least. Perhaps he can explain the reasons for the price difference.

tejana, I believe the hotels and airlines give the agent some sort of % age off and it's up to the agent to decide how much to mark it up from there. Groups like American Express and AAA can get a lower price (for them) with their volumes.

Once in a while, you can get a good price with hotel or air on your own. It just depends on who's at the helm.

No travel agent works for free unless they are corporate employees (that's how they get paid). A travel agent through a credit card is not free - they are getting you better deal of upgrades - or just dong the work - and they have to be paid.

If you aren;t charged then the agent would be working for free.

This is like supposing that the tickets you can get through credit cards are free - there is always a charge for each ticket - what they are getting you access you couldn;t get by your self.

Tell the agent what price you found. He may well be able to match it. We often book through an agent for convenience, but I usually tell them exactly what I want and what I believe the price to be. They can usually do what I worked out on line.

Now, I use a large mass market firm that I'm sure is still commissioned, but it is in the agent's best interest to attempt to match, since I'm sure he knows you'll never book through him again if he doesn't.

Just a quick follow-up: took what you said to heart, and we booked through the agent. Very happy with the decision - will report back on how the trip goes :)