To wonder how travel agents stay in business

[rookiemere]

So on recommendation of a mumsnetter we are hoping to go to a specific destination next summer and do a bit of traveling round. On the basis we haven't been before and that it would be nice to have everything organised at once I rang up a specialist travel agent for a quote.

The call went on for quite a long time, but she did gather good specific information about what we wanted, but then said she would ring back when she had the hotel prices to talk me through the quote. I missed her call so when I called back yesterday she wasn't in. Asked to have the quote emailed to me, but had to get a specialist to talk me through it instead . Eventually I had to ask him to stop as all I really wanted to know was the price and then once I'd digested that I could think about the other aspects.

So he grudgingly sent through the details and my goodness the price is ridiculous. Granted it's an exotic location and they've included a number of trips, but a bit of quick googling shows I could price up the same trip for at least £3k less and probably more like £5k. I expect the travel agent to make some margin but I thought they'd get some of it through suppliers and the cost to the customer would be a few hundred more than what you'd pay independently.

I'm now avoiding calls from her - has left a number of calls on the answering machine - as there is no point discussing it. If there was a way I could email her that to let her know I'd be happy to do so , but it's so weird to have a phone based model in this day and age that I don't want a protracted discussion about it.

I feel awful to say this as it wasn't my intent, but the itinerary is rather good so I'll probably nick that and book it up myself . Is this other people's experiences of travel agents or do I have unrealistic expectations ?

BS jobs make the modern economy go around. That's the gist of it. Same goes for estate agents.

I think it's a well- known fact that travel agents are often far more expensive than booking things yourself.

I have to admit a bias as I work in the travel industry (not as an agent), but a good TA is worth their weight in gold tbh. Your experience sounds odd and no agent I know would purposefully price themselves out of the market, it sounds like you’ve maybe been to more of a tour operator? Some will be expensive as plenty of people like paying for a brand name (I.e Kuoni or Virgin), a good independent agent would often be able to match anything you can DIY.

As an aside there are a lot of independent chains expanding and independent start ups doing well as they absolutely can offer a great service at the road for price.

right price

So it was one of the ones well known for long distance flights. I don't want to name them as the lady was very helpful and the service was good, it's just the price was OMG.

Was it a tour operator agent or an independent?

Well they'll have put significant work into finding those trips and organising the itinerary - if it's so easy why didn't you do it yourself originally?

Of course it's cheaper to book it all yourself, what you're paying the agent for is their time and expertise to find these things. In the same way that a tin of paint is ten times cheaper than getting someone to paint your house.

I presume you have looked at a tailor made holiday by a country specialist agent? Yes you do pay a significant premium for those companies but you are paying for their expertise and vast knowledge of the country. If I am right you would have spent about an hour on the phone going through your likes and dislikes, things that appeal and not to your family etc?

I am not a travel agent or connected in any way but we have done a tailor made holiday twice (through different agencies) and yes we realise we have paid a premium but the service was fantastic and worth it. An example being that a flight got cancelled and they just sorted rerouting us with no hassle, I was just given a solution. Also we had an accident on holiday and they were fantastic sorting the medical care required and were willing to change activities on the holiday as required. It was an expensive service but one we found worthwhile.

I would only use that sort of company for a trip to somewhere exotic and off the beaten track though as that is where their knowledge is most useful (and therefore worth paying for).

Lockheart as I said I would expect - and be happy enough- to pay a premium of up £500 lets say for the trip in mind, over and above what I'd pay to arrange myself. The margin on this is £3-5k that's not a price for arranging something, it's a rip-off.

I think we paid a premium of about £3k for our last holiday BUT we found that we couldn’t have done exactly the same things by ourselves as the agency had exclusive access to certain properties and tours. Still very expensive and we did try pricing it up similarly but couldn’t get the exact same unique experience that we wanted on a once in a lifetime holiday.

I’d be really surprised if you can do the exact itinerary with the same flights, room types etc for that much less. Also with ground handling in an emergency and ATOL protection. Thanks have to be honest I’m really curious who it was as it would normally be a tour op selling in house product that you’d see a significant price difference.

I looked into using a company for a month long trip around a country in East Asia. I had already got a good idea of what i wanted to do, found myself disappointed they left out things I wanted to do and included things I wasn't bothered about, and it seemed way more expensive. So I just did it all myself and I really enjoyed organising it all. Wouldn't have the time now with a baby mind!

We used an agent for our honeymoon as we wanted peace of mind but I agree, we ended up paying $30 instead of $3 for some attractions and we realised that the whole thing was essentially a scam. For the tours we ended up using the attractions own tour guides (who make their living from tips) but we couldn't afford to shell out more when we'd paid so much in the first place ($150pp in one instance).

Actually @rookiemere if you're planning to use the travel agents product (the itinerary) without paying for it, I would gently suggest it's not you that's being ripped off. If you don't want to pay for it then that's of course your right, but i don't think is on to then use their ideas as well.

It's really not right to commission a product, obtain the finished product, decide it's too expensive but then still use it anyway. I imagine this is why they were reluctant to email you the details.

To be fair we have quite specific requirements which rules out a lot of hotels as we don't want to share a room with DS13 ( and to be fair he doesn't want to share with us) but we do want interconnected rooms or a suite with a separate living room and pull out bed. I know that a lot of properties don't offer that and it's often a bit of work to find that.

I had a not dissimilar experience. I'd tried them because I was nervous about attempting that destination off my own back. The price was so ridiculous (even once I asked them to take out a bunch of extra stuff that wasn't what I asked for) there was no chance of me using them, but I was so disappointed I looked up the details to organise it myself, contacted a local operator for assistance where I needed it, realised it actually wasn't that difficult and then decided to proceed!

I had a much better trip than what they had proposed.

They exist though for all the reasons both of us considered using them. Independent travel can be too intimidating, scary, stressful, etc for some people in some circumstances (or at least the idea of it). And some people would rather pay a premium for it than not go at all.

Is this itinerary actually so unique it's not already posted on the Internet by other people?

We have used companies such as Kuoni and Wexas for tours - they always ask about budget so not sure how you were offered something so distant from what you felt reasonable. Kuoni got us out of a very tricky situation once so always grateful for their expertise. But for European breaks, happy to compile ourselves but recognise we don't have a cross to their contacts and expertise in a crisis.

So they’ve spent their time researching that for you. Are you saying you would have found that easy to do yourself? Why go to an agent if that’s the case?

But lockheart I asked for the itinerary to be sent in good faith. I mean to be honest they could have just sent me the price and that would be enough for me to have changed my mind. I do get what you're saying though, hence why I'm saying that their business model needs some adjusting.

Rookie are they a tour ops agent?

Often they have access to places/deals you don't as an individual, i saved £200 over self booking. Just depends,

We had the same experience when we went to Thailand a couple of years ago.
We ended up booking better hotels and the price still came in 2k less than TA price! Won't ever use them again.

I had the same experience trying to book our holiday this year. We went on a cruise and I though it might be better to book through an agent who had knowledge of cruising.

First place I was there for 45 minutes while the guy got our details. Tried another place and it was the same agent just kept going on and on and on.

They then kept phoning me and I kept emailing them as I was at work, hate talking on the phone and like you wanted the price and details so I could mull it over. I stopped answering the phone to them and they did give up.

I was very clear about what I wanted and they kept sending me alternatives. Nor could they better the price I was getting online.

I swore never again would I use an agent.

My dad needed to travel for business recently, the cheapest flights he could find were £800 but he called a travel agent and they got him flights for £650 so they do have their uses