Travel Agents Say MoneySaving Is Immoral!

travel12041984

Ermmmm I'm planning a holiday for three to Turkey my girlfriend her child and myself . Which travel agent would you recommend? Or if anyone has any stories of past experiences with travel agents can you share them with me please.
I really want to get this holiday right.


Regards

Luke

TRAVELMAN_2

Luke-feel free to give me a shout (contact details in my profile)-I work for Co-Op Travel.

Chris

travel12041984

Thanks mate im going to send you a email right now.

Anyone else want to join in to this discussion about past experiences in travel agents please do. I would be interested in anyones general opinion of travel agent customer services from the likes of thomson, thomas cook and co op travel. As i said im planning on booking a hoiday for 2 adults and a child.
I went into Thomson and a thomas cook over the weekend and all they did was hand me a catalogue... tell me to ave a look through it then come back once i was more decided. To be fair the girl in
I was not impressed...

Regards

Luke

travel12041984

message got cut off my bad

the girl in thomas cook was quite nice she was friendly and helpful but the end was result of the conversation was her offering me a catalogue and advising that i flick through then return.

Luke

travel12041984

Thank you for your contribution Mixu.
Im just sitting on the fence at the moment because I have little experience with Travel agents.
I noticed a particular sentence you wrote

"they're offering a service. Indeed, they often get — and have access to — better prices and those with the knowledge and the know-how are priceless"

But what is the quality level of this service?

Is it worth the price premium that travel agents command?

Can anyone contribute a past experience or story of good or bad service from a particular travel agent???

Regards

Luke

clawson44

Holiday prices are usually higher because I guess more people travel. Travel agents are not paid well enough, so I guess it is only fair for them to get a lower fare.

thanks.

https://www.booklowertravel.com

blowstar

Addy wrote: »

Brilliant response to an unjustified argument.

The Tour Operators are selling a product from an industry which is renown for it's unethical and heavy-handed methods - the main example being the way it browbeats the accommodation suppliers into supplying the product at an almost unfeasible low price and then taking an age to pay them.

They can't have it both ways. They've had it good for too long!!

I think it's right to identify the Tour Operators as the power players here, and acknowledge that high street or even online travel agencies and call centres are pawns in the game.

A high street agent might have an opportunity to negotiate within his 15% gross margin on the sale of a holiday package, but the "raw" operating cost of package holidays is generally only 50% of the headline/retail price, and so the tour operator has the most control over pricing and therefore most room to manoeuvre, hence the "flexible pricing" based on demand and yield management so many of them introduced in the last few years.

It would be good for Martin to show us how to play one tour operator off against another, to secure comparable holidays (and we're mainly talking about similar charter flights to identikit block hotels) at keener prices.

With now only three major players in the market: German KarstadtQuelle AG (MyTravel/Airtours group plus Thomas Cook if the merger goes ahead on 19 June) German TUI AG (Thomson/Portland/Austravel/Lincoln internet/Crystal/Lunn Poly and First Choice if approved by the European competition commission on 4 June) and American Group Voyagers Inc (Globus/Cosmos) ... how do we play these three off against each other to drive down the price of the commodity?

John

woohooman

I dont post very often, mainly a post reader. Ive been reading this site and watching martins TV appearances :money: and to the most part, its a good thing to have someone battling the industrys that we all have tanglings with from time to time and we know they certainly dont care about the small voice.
I read a lot of posts about how this is a good thing, but I just wanted to put in my view which is a bit different. I have a business and if I was in the travel industry (which im not) i would be dissapointed with the battering of holiday costs.
If you go for the cheapest holiday firm and at the cheapest price, and to be fair Martins words carry quite a bit of swing nowadays (as in, hes quite influential I believe, hence the complaint maybe?) then all you will end up with in the end is companys that give us what we all ask for. For two or three weeks of a year I, and I think most people, like to be treated to a taste of a better life, in a fantastic hotel with a view and nice food etc. If the focus comes down to price alone its not a good thing. Next year it means that either the holiday companies and travel agents will offer existing hotels and flight carriers a lower price for their services or they will maybe switch to inferior hotels. If I was a holiday company or travel agent proudly providing a decent level of customer support, for which 99.9% of customers had a really good time, and maybe they are £50 PP more expensive then so be it. To push them towards bargain basement prices for holidays in my opinion seems is wrong - its not something I search around for to get the lowest price. Insurance, bank accounts, high street products, that are the same, yes. But certain things like holidays, then I think the subject of who can get to spain and stay in a cardboard box for the cheapest price ever isn't really a holiday I would like to be going on in the future. Making price the focal issue of a holiday is wrong - no one wants to be stuck in hell for 2 weeks, as does happen from time to time.

And, if I was in the travel industry business and providing a good service but was dearer than an unreputable firm and Martin came on TV and my customers started trying to shave my prices to the bare minimum, I would be gutted and my choices would be to make nothing or next to nothing and provide the same level of service or to get rid of the customer service staff that answer the phone within a reasonable amount of time and forget trying to help people who are having problems on their holiday, and pull it all into the cheapest package I can provide. In some industrys we dont mind it, but not on something as important as holidays.

Sam_Bee

woohooman - you say a lot sensible things.

My tuppenceworth does not come from the angle of one of the big boys at all, but looking at the hundreds of talented, independent travel agents / tour operators.

I noticed that Martins 'Travel Agents - what are your secrets for cutting prices' thread sunk like a stone - didn't surprise me at all. It was a strange encouragement for Travel Agents to further cut off their nose to spite their faces, particularly as they have been so heavily criticised by Martin. i.e. see this thread!

It's no secret that people that work in travel sales are paid terribly, with a large amount of their money coming from commission, so they can suffer financially from endless timewasting from clients utilising their knowledge and taking it elsewhere. Why should they work to the benefit of others for free?

There is a massive difference from the corporate monoliths that are banks with their excessive charges and £1 billion a minute profit (or whatever) and the majority of travel companies who are teetering close to financial ruin as margins, and profits are continually cut. I can't (so am not) comment(ing) on the big companies who run packages to Europe as that's not my thing.

Do you know another industry of this size that struggles by on 10% margins? Do you know that online travel companies mark-up flights by as little as 3% (and most havn't made a profit in years!?). That's why customer service is based in India. We complain about increased taxes, and surcharges, but even if we ignore low-cost carriers, real air prices have dropped dramatically over the past 10 years. Australia for £550 - return. Think about it - 50 hours of flying, and the airline is making about £8 an hour off you (including food drinks & education) - it's absolutely crazy. Great, but crazy!

But browbeating and knocking agents endlessly does not help anyone. OK, for example - if someone came to me for a 3 centre tailor made honeymoon to SE Asia, i'd probably spend 1-3 hours with them, checking flights, hotels, recommending specific routes, hotels that would suit them, trips, answering questions from weather to vaccinations to cuisines to personal tips. They take my advice, I put together a quote they are happy with, built around my knowledge, experience and recommendations. They can then take that quote that to a rival who would happily knock £100 off because they can just copy the quote I put together, saving them the 1-3 hours I spent with them.

Is that really fair? Yes, it might be driving down prices, but it also is driving all the talented, skilled and knowledgable people out of the industry. Most professionals get paid for the work they do. Travel Agents get paid for around 20% of the work they do (presuming conversion of 1 in 5).

ash333

Sam_Bee wrote: »

It's no secret that people that work in travel sales are paid terribly, with a large amount of their money coming from commission, so they can suffer financially from endless timewasting from clients utilising their knowledge and taking it elsewhere. Why should they work to the benefit of others for free?

Surely it is just sales. You go to a shop/internet site/phone them, and they try to sell to you. As they are paid on commision it is in their interest to sell, and in your interest to look around. If I was buying anything else I would look to see what the competition had to offer, why should travel be any different?