Following a suggestion by travelhub user Iamozy about charging a £15 consultation fee to stop time being wasted by people who do then not book through the agent, another website called Travel Rants picked up on the suggestion and put it to its users.
The result was a very heated debate about whether agents should charge.
What do you think about what the consumers have said?
OH EM GEE! I AM FUMING AFTER READING SOME OF THESE COMMENTS!
Why should agents NOT charge a fee? Yes it may drive clients away, but if a client says 'No' to this, it clearly determines how serious they are about the booking. Obviously those longstanding clients will not be charged something, but if people have the same customers coming in time & time again (which we do!) asking for you to look at holidays and they never book with you, you are going to get cheesed off.
To use the excuse of a car dealership not charging you for to look at cars is slightly different, it's like a Travel Consultant saying ''Have a look at the brochures'' but then it's going one step further & making numerous phone calls, sending lot's of emails & faxing that starts to mount up!
I find this industry and the people who put it down very morally degrading! I'd love those who don't work in a travel agency to go work in one for a week, do lot's of quotes for clients, work on a commission type wage, and see how much they suffer!
Then you have your answer WHY we want to charge these small, nominal fee's.
Oh & did we mention that we would refund it?
Now this has made the Mail Online!!! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1215827/Travel-agents-charge-15-booking-holidays-beat-credit-crunch.html
HI-larious! At least the Daily Mail aren't slating us like Travel Rants! x
I know I am not a travel professional ;) but I couldn't help but jump into the discussion here.
I wouldn't say that the majority of comments were slating travel agents.
Giving a quote and charging for it is like asking a builder to come around and then charging you for a quote, in my mind it is no different.
I have seen for my own eyes, travel agents who want you out of the shop as quick as they can, and I have money to spend, and I am no timewaster.
Then I have seen agents who want to spend quality time with you (Trailfinders is one that comes ot mind) and want to get you the best holiday.
I still wouldn't pay £15 for that quote though because I want to shop around and get the best deal.
That aside, a great discussion by all. It's just a shame that the Daily Mail couldn't be bothered to link through to you post, where they took the quotes
Darren
Thanks for that Darren.
Any agents out there who have started charging? If so, it would be great to hear for you about how it has gone.
Emily
Emily, we charge. But only on complicated itineraries, there is nothing worse than feeling you’re being used from the start. The Charge is small £10 and so far only been used 14 times, which just 2 refusals. Managed to speak to one customer down the pub and they admitted they had no intention of booking just wondered how much it cost as a friend had done something similar.
How it works for us is we issue a £10 voucher, can be used against anything even car parking.
Sounds a very sensible way to do things, particularly as it is only on complicated itineraries - which would take someone hours to research on the web anyway, so think the argument that consumers will simply switch and book online if charged falls down in this case.
Let us first be clear what we are dealing with – price comparison is one thing but we must be able to put a value on professionalism, knowledge and experience.
There is a growing element of the travelling public who use a travel agent as they would use a reference library (but with the added bonus of having their own personal librarian who just happens to have expert knowledge on their research project)
These people; who know the price of everything but the value of nothing; have no intention of making their booking through the agent but whilst advice, information, expertise and reassurance are there free of charge they will take advantage.
If you are an agent who retails straight forward packages, cruises and flights etc. then you are in a very competitive market and you probably can not afford to charge for your time.
If however you are a professional agent with expert knowledge of the destinations, airlines and accommodation you are selling and you spend a considerable amount of time advising your clients and talking them through all the options available; you should be comfortable in charging a fee. This fee; most agents would agree; should be classed as a forward payment of commission and therefore credited to the clients booking. Every enquiry needs to be considered and assessed but those of us who strive to be professionals in our industry have a clear choice. Do we continue helping those intent on bypassing us or do we charge a reasonable fee for our expertise? It is up to each individual to make their own decision but my advice is, “do not be a busy fool”!
P.S.
Next time you need your car repairing try asking your local garage how to do it and where to get the cheapest parts!
Thanks Old Dog.
I quite agree, very good points. I think good agents who do complicated itineraries can be confident about charging a fee, but can see how it would be a problem for those agents who work in the competitive package holiday environment.
To use Darren's builders example. If a Builder charges for a quote then they would not give many. There quote takes after all a short amount of time. However there is time when a builder may say, you need a survey, now try and get one of those done for free. Hours of work done be a Professional with a report at the end.
The problem is the travel industry, both of these people the builder and the surveyor is called a Travel Agent. That is where customer gets confused. An hour or so's work = free, 8 hours work and report = charge. Keeping in mind the charge is refundable if you take up the offer or in some cases even if you do not.
WOW. Did I cause all this fuss. Having been away due to an illness in a hospital and then back to the grind, I missed a lot of posts. I have to say thatI am heartened by the posts on all different portals. It shows that most agents feel the same way. If it is a complicated enquiry then we should charge and I totally agree with NickBroadland. Take it off the final cost.
There is a new trend now. The customers finding the cheapest fare and not getting extra info fro the internet or Thomas cook, in my case. They tell you sob stories to make you make calls to the airlines etc and then book it on the internet.
i am still learning. This is going to cause another stir and I do not mean to do so but it happened after three customers used me for information and then booked on the internet. I had a right to react. No I did not chraged them a fee.
A customer came into the shop asking for a Sweden brochure. I informed him that There are file copies only and he is welcome to look at it in the shop. he asked me to get him some information. I asked if he was booking on the day, he stated that he was only looking for information. I asked him if he had access to internet, he was thrown back a bit but admitted that he had. Basically he did not wish to waste his time on finding the best tour operator or information.
It gets interesting. He turned around to go but then aske what did I offer. I told him politely that I offered all kinds of holidays including extras and detailed information for clients who have either booked holidays with me or intend to book with me. At this he looked uncomfortable but walked out.
I wanted to go out with him and show him that it said a travel agency and not an information bureaue but that would have been too sarcastic. Some people will find it debateable that I lost a customer but he was not my customer or even a potential customer.
Someone mention on the this other forum about all agents must work together, that is not going to happen but most people on this forum understand how difficult it is and how time consuming it is to spend an aweful amount of time to get nothing.
The free loaders who think that information is free and they can get it on the internet should pay £500 to gazetteer to get the same info when they click their fingers. The personal experience of travelling goes with it.
All those people who have lost money when booked on the internet, I hope will learn a lesson but I know that they won't. And there for the grace of God, we continue to live in a selfish world. What I do not like about this is that these customers are changing my views on customer service, which is starting to give me an understanding for the lack of service we are being offered by various organisations. Did we force them to be good at bad customer service to start with? Here is the question for all those who think that the internet is the NEW GOD.
Welcome back Iamozy! I hope you are feeling better. It is amazing what happened after your initial post, but it just goes to show that you went right to the core of the issue! Best, Emily
welcome back Iamozy. Your right it did cause a stink, but just went to prove customers do not understand travel agents. We are not information centers.
After picking up the peaces of customers making so many mistakes on the internet after getting quotes from us, we said enough is enough. Sometimes it pays to be tough.
Thank you. I did not have the chance to say thank for sticking up for me in the Rant forum. I just speak my mind and it comes from the heart. I am no saint but I try not to use people. Two of my customers actually told me that they thought that it was a good idea to charge a fee. It could be that they had already booked the holidays and are now repeat customers. .
In all seriousness, I am definitely planning to charge £10.00 which will be taken off from the final cost. It has reached to a point that three customers gave me the sob stories in recent days ranging from cancelled honeymoons to taken young children on the plane and again like a fool, I made the phone calls. one booked it on the internet the other never came back but he had told me that as a teacher they get discount from Thomas Cook, there staff could not be bothered to find a suitable holiday and I found him his perfect holiday.
I do npt like to wish anyone bad but I hope that they had a great time and one day they will be in the same position where they are living hand to mouth but people would be taking advantage of them. What goes aroung, comes around.
On the positive side, I made a good booking today. I thought that it was going to be another information enquiry as the customer did say that she will have to consult her partner. I found the perfect one for her and she gave me the go ahead there and then and bought a lot of extras.
I spend over two hours giving her all the information that she needed to enjoy NewYork including subway maps and places to eat and a lot more. I asked her if she thought she would have got the same level of service from The multiples and her response was, "You are joking" .
Thank you and good night. lol
Thank you. It is nice to know that the travel agents are sticking together on this issue. It is truly a serious issue and yes we are all competitors but still providing services to the best of our abilities. thanks for all of your support and Good luck to each and every travel agent who is not discounting heavily, standing their grounds and providing the best service. lol
Hi, I own a tour operator iin the Dominican Republic and my partner and I have been discussing the idea of charging a consultation fee. We're just not sure how to actually charge this. Do you have any suggestions? If a person contacts us e.g. by e-mail and says he/she would like to know the price of a service, or receive a quote for a vacation including e.g. hotel, transfers, golf, etc., how would we go about charging the fee before/after replying to this person? I'd love to hear your suggestions. Thanks.
I am a Canadian Travel Agents and I do charge fees. I learned my lesson after a client decided to take all the research I did with them and then booked online. The great thing is that a few weeks later upon their return, they tried to get me to refund part of their trip for suggesting it.
I handed them an invoice for thousands of dollrs instead and told them that I only cover a problem if I book it.
If a client is not interested in paying a service fee, then don't share your information with them. They are just wasting your time.
Hi Rawnie
If you read the previous posts, you will notice that most people agree that if it is not a complicated itinerary, then we won't charge. If you have to start making calls etc and it takes hours of your time, you would charge. I send a newsletter twice a month with offers and sometimes get one liner emails about a quote on a holiday. I request all the information i.e. dates, number of people, destinations, budgets, type of flight etc. Sometimes I do not get response beacuse they can not be bothered which meant that they were not serious in the first place. When I do get information, I would know if it was a complicated itinerary or not. If it is just a package, flight etc then I will send the quote, subject to availability etc. If it is complicated then ring them and explain the situation and send the form with T&C's by email, get their card details and agreement. If they do not agree to paying £10 which would be taken off from the holiday price then they are not serious in booking with you. Let them spend days on the internet themselves and when things go wrong as they are at the moment, let them get stranded on the airports or hotels without any financial protection.
Regards