This afternoon I was working in the agency when I got a call from a very nice lady who asked a question we get all the time. The first words out of her mouth were, “How much does it cost to have you book our vacation?” I was thrilled to tell her exactly what I tell everyone else—absolutely nothing. Not a proverbial red cent, not a single penny, not a dollar, not a hundred dollars—NOTHING! It costs you no more to book a cruise, a hotel, a rental car or in some cases a flight  with us than it does for you to call the cruise line and book it yourself. In fact it may cost you more to book it directly. More about that below.

But first I want to explain why we work for free. The cruise lines and the hotels and the car rental companies and in some cases the airlines pay us commission. If you book directly with a cruise line, hotel or rental car company, you will pay exactly the same price, they just keep the commission they would pay us. As well they should. Because if you deal directly with a travel provider they have to pay someone to answer all your questions. The only problem is, once you get the answer to your questions, if you want to call that same person back to get another questioned answered—good luck. Those folks (who do a great job) sit in a big room someplace in the middle of the USA (or in some cases they sit in other countries) and answer phones. They take those calls, first-come, first-served so your chances of talking to the same person when you call back are pretty small.

So, since we (travel agents) don’t cost you anything (and in many cases can save you money) why aren’t you booking your vacations with us?

Here’s an example of what I am talking about. Today the caller who wanted to know if it cost more to work with us, told me she had called a cruise line the night before. She said all she wanted to do was ask some questions about cruising because she had never cruised before. The person wouldn’t even talk to her until she gave them her name and phone number. I explained I would want those too, but first, ask me the questions. She did. Before I ever knew who she was, I answered all her questions. She then told me that the cruise line had quoted her a particular price for a particular stateroom on a particular cruise. I told I could match that and I would take care of booking her airfare as well. She said, “WOW! That’s super!” And I told her not to forget she would need transfers from the airport to the ship and back again. She had not thought of that.

I then spent about 25 minutes on the phone with the cruise line, got the stateroom for less than she had been quoted (because she had never been on a cruise and I knew what to ask for) and got her a great flight and transfers as well. I emailed her the pricing and she replied with a few more questions and said she would call in the morning to book. I have already told her what I need to know when she calls and the call should take no more than five minutes of her valuable time (unless she has more questions), then I will be the one dealing with the cruise line and getting everything set for her. If there is a problem later on with any of it, the cruise line will contact me and I will deal with it. That’s the way a real travel agent should work.

Then at the end of the day, we heard this from another Expedia office: “Woot! Just obtained a new customer from (A Particular Cruise Line). They told us that (A Particular Cruise Line) is getting too expensive to book with now that they charge research / booking fees.” Not sure this is 100% accurate at this point but to be honest, I totally understand why they would do that. Since I can spend hours talking travel and getting info from a new client, I can see why they might feel the need to do that. Especially when it comes to new cruisers or inexperienced travelers who would have to have a lot of things explained to them. That’s our job and where you are concerned…we do it for free.

“Smile, it’s free therapy.” –Douglas Horton