If you know me, then you know I love everything about traveling. I love to be traveling, I love to be reading about traveling, and I love helping others with their trip planning. I have planned most of our trips by myself, spending hours scouring Pinterest, Facebook groups, google searches to plan the most perfect trips.
About a year ago, I decided to make the decision to become a travel agent. I figured if I already help people, I should take the step to have more access to trip planning options and make money for my time.
Why use a travel agent? A travel agent is like using a wedding planner. I take the time to listen to your wishes for your trip, and then do all the work for you to make it happen! I will do the research, send you what I find, book the trip, help with planning, etc. I can even help you in the middle of your trip should you encounter any issues.
Effective this month, I have decided to start incorporating a fee schedule for my services. You may be wondering why. I have many reasons why I am beginning to charge a fees.
- My time is valuable. I think everyone’s time is valuable. I love helping plan trips for others, but I have often spent a good deal of time pricing countless things, only for the client to decide they weren’t going to book after all, or decide to book it themselves.
- A lot of people I know want to travel on a budget. A lot of my options as a travel agent are not always conducive with budget travel. If I help you find a cheap flight or a cheaper accommodation than I could find through my operators, then I make nothing for my time and for saving you money.
- Commission is not quite what people think it is. Sometimes I am spending hours of work and making peanuts in commission for it.
- I am a highly experienced traveler, and know a lot of ends and outs for finding great deals, and feel my experience is worth a fee.
There will be two services that will not encounter a fee:
- Cruises – I will not charge anything for cruises. Cruises are the easiest thing for me to book. I could book a cruise in my sleep. I will continue to book cruises free of charge. What is nice about cruises is i can find the same price you can or better, and it costs you nothing to use my services, and I get the commission that Carnival or Royal or whoever would pocket. It is win win. Should you cancel the cruise, I will be charging a fee of $30 per room for my time.
- Disney/Universal Studios Tickets Only – I will not charge anything to book just tickets for Disney or Universal Studios. This is very similar to cruises. It does not take much time for me to do this, it does not cost you any different price than booking yourself, yet I get the commission that Disney or Universal would keep themselves. The tickets are non-refundable, so there is no option to cancel.
I am happy to announce my fee schedule for travel agent services effective January 2020:
- All-Inclusive – If you are planning an all-inclusive vacation, the fee for my services is $50 per couple for up to 5 price quotes. Should their be children in the quote, it is $25 for one child or $50 total if more than two children.
- Disney Experiences – Disney planning is a lot of work, which is why you are probably seeking a travel agent. For the Disney Experiences package, I charge $100. This covers booking your resort and tickets, as well as help with meal planning, fast pass planning, and assisting in making a ride schedule.
- Airfare – If I am booking the tickets myself, I will charge $30 for each domestic ticket, and $60 for each international ticket. Most of my clients want budget airfare, and if that is you, I charge $25 per person for my time for searching for cheapest prices. Once I have a price you are satisfied with, I will talk you through where and how to book yourself.
- Accommodations – I charge $30 per hotel reservation being made. If you are requesting my services for finding budget accommodations, I charge $60 for my time in searching for this, and you will book it yourself. If searching for budget accommodations for a group, my rate is $100.
- Custom Trip Planning – This is the service I am most excited about, as I love trip planning. This service is for a customizable trip schedule just for you. Going to Germany for ten days? Tell me what you are looking for, and I will do all the research and make your entire schedule. My fee schedule for this is: $150 for 7 days or less, $225 for 8-14 days, $300 for 15-21 days, and $400 for greater than 22 days.
- Family Trip Planning – These rates are all-inclusive, and cover booking airfare, accommodations, and rental car. I charge $150 for a family of five or less, $25 per each additional child. This does not include custom trip planning. See fee schedule above for custom trip planning.
- Group Trip Planning – Group travel planning has two rates. These rates are all-inclusive, and cover booking airfare, accommodations, rental car, and travel planning. If this is going to be an independently made travel schedule using no tour operators, I charge $100 per person. If this is a trip utilizing tour operators in my planning, I charge $60 per person. A group is defined as ten or more people traveling together. Please note group trip planning, especially independently without operators, takes an immense amount of my time to help plan your dream vacation.
- Rental Car – I charge $30 per booking.
- Visa Processing – I charge $50 per visa for most countries.
When and how to pay fees? This is simple. When you contact me to plan your trip, I will send you a form to fill out to give detailed information for me to start planning your trip. At the same time, you will let me know how you prefer to pay for my services. You can pay virtually via Venmo, Zelle, or Paypal, or I can send the credit card authorization form to do the payment via Credit. It is easy. Payment is due upfront for services before any trip planning will begin.
I would be so honored to be part of helping you plan your dream vacation. If I could be of help in your planning, please reach out to me.
– Shannon
