Why Bother with a Travel Agent?

[Ourusualbeach]

22 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

i just wrote to my TA asking why some of the payment on my CC is to royal and some to his agency. he wrote and said sometimes they run payments inside and then pay the cruise line thru the agency and he said it helps with OBC or any discounts i may have gotten

 

so i just did a final payment to royal. 5362.36 was due. my gf and i split it evenly. on my CC i got 2229.18 charged to royal and 452 to his agency. our  OBC was 500. does this mean his commission was likely 452x2 and he gave me 500 of it? i'm assuming obc is totally at his discretion and we literally use him for nothing but booking, never need advice, we are literally perfect customers..very ez. so maybe we get higher OBC vs someone who needs his advice and handholding?

How he did this is that he underpaid your booking by the commission or part of the commission.  He then charged that directly so they would not have to wait for Royal to send him the commission.

 

This has absolutely no bearing on any of the perks they offer or how much commission they receive from Royal.

[luckyinpa]

15 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

How he did this is that he underpaid your booking by the commission or part of the commission.  He then charged that directly so they would not have to wait for Royal to send him the commission.

 

This has absolutely no bearing on any of the perks they offer or how much commission they receive from Royal.

 

so are you saying royal accepts less than full payment so they dont have to send him a check. i'm assuming royal is ok with this otherwise they would tell him to stop it?

 

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also i found in my travel insurance that indeed i'm covered for a bad agent and of course id be notified at final payment if the payment wasnt made on time. also i didnt dig deep but i know he's registered legally in florida so there's probably some kind of insurance that down the road id get reimbursed. i could cover that 452 if i had to but i'm sure the trip insurance would pay me quicker.  

 

Other Covered Reasons” means................Bankruptcy or Default” means the total cessation of operations due to insolvency, with or
without the filing of a bankruptcy petition by an airline, or cruise line,
tour operator or other travel provider

[Ourusualbeach]

6 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

so are you saying royal accepts less than full payment so they dont have to send him a check. i'm assuming royal is ok with this otherwise they would tell him to stop it?

Yes, Agents only need to pay the invoice to net and that is perfectly acceptable.  Personally I feel it is better for tracking and potential refund purposes if 100% of the payment is made to Royal.  I have dealt with issues where my clients previous agents paid their bookings to net, the clients cancelled and it is a fight to get the money from the TA as opposed to getting it from Royal, whether cash or FCC.

[CruisingSince1982]

1 hour ago, luckyinpa said:

i just wrote to my TA asking why some of the payment on my CC is to royal and some to his agency. he wrote and said sometimes they run payments inside and then pay the cruise line thru the agency and he said it helps with OBC or any discounts i may have gotten

 

so i just did a final payment to royal. 5362.36 was due. my gf and i split it evenly. on my CC i got 2229.18 charged to royal and 452 to his agency. our  OBC was 500. does this mean his commission was likely 452x2 and he gave me 500 of it? i'm assuming obc is totally at his discretion and we literally use him for nothing but booking, never need advice, we are literally perfect customers..very ez. so maybe we get higher OBC vs someone who needs his advice and handholding?

The reason this happened is because your TA bought a group of cabins at a reduced rate. The payment to the cruise line is what your actual cabin cost. The additional payment is going directly to the travel agency. Happened to me once. I will never book with that agency again.

[CruisingSince1982]

58 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

How he did this is that he underpaid your booking by the commission or part of the commission.  He then charged that directly so they would not have to wait for Royal to send him the commission.

 

This has absolutely no bearing on any of the perks they offer or how much commission they receive from Royal.

Not true at all. I responded with the correct answer to the OP. The issue is, IF you were to encounter another pandemic, and have to cancel for a FCC, you only get a FCC for what was actually paid to the cruise line. The balance would be an "in house" credit, forcing you to use the same TA again. They tried it with me, and lost. I got a FCC for the cruise line, and a refund from the TA for the rest. 

[Ourusualbeach]

28 minutes ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

Not true at all. I responded with the correct answer to the OP. The issue is, IF you were to encounter another pandemic, and have to cancel for a FCC, you only get a FCC for what was actually paid to the cruise line. The balance would be an "in house" credit, forcing you to use the same TA again. They tried it with me, and lost. I got a FCC for the cruise line, and a refund from the TA for the rest. 

My apologies.  I simply omitted that the bulk of the FCC or refund came from Royal and the rest they had to fight the TA for.  Much easier to just go after one person

[Ourusualbeach]

32 minutes ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

The reason this happened is because your TA bought a group of cabins at a reduced rate. The payment to the cruise line is what your actual cabin cost. The additional payment is going directly to the travel agency. Happened to me once. I will never book with that agency again.

That is one way that this could have happened but not the only way.

[luckyinpa]

regarding TA buying group of cabins, thats cool that he just happened to buy the cls i was interested in.  weird coincidence though. what if i picked a cabin he didnt buy? i booked many  cruises thru him and he always has the cabin i want in stock ...i wont complain though. 

 

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as far as refunds..for the record i had a june 2020 cruise booked. cruise cancel letter received 4/18. 

 

my refund was on 5/10. pretty darn fast if you ask me compared to how long others waited.

 

matter of fact, interesting story there. i forget all the details but i picked a balcony, did confirmation and deposit then all of a sudden i got  call that the cabin was really to go to someone else but their TA dropped the old cabin and didnt book the new one soon enough. so they bumped me free up to concierge class. darn i missed out on that freebie.. i want it back 🙂

 

[jeh10641]

I have used the same travel agency to book my last three cruises (all HAL). Each time it was with a different agent (long story). Each time I got multiple onboard credits and specialty dining. I usually do a lot of research myself and go in person to the agency office. The agent and I then check with the cruise line as to availability and pricing. I always get a good price because I have researched that with multiple sources beforehand. 

 

If I do all that research, why do use an agent? Because if something goes haywire, there is somebody (I trust) to fix the problem. As many of you know, during this trying time of cruising, hold times can be hours long. I have better things to do.

 

Jim

[Morecruisesplz]

11 hours ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

It depends on your annual sales. The base line is 10%, up to 30%

Annual sales for cruises on a specfic cruise line?

[Lane Hog]

1 hour ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Annual sales for cruises on a specfic cruise line?

Correct, although I'd think Carnival would include sales for Princess or Holland America. 

Edited April 2, 2022 by Lane Hog

[SNJCruisers]

4 hours ago, Lane Hog said:

Correct, although I'd think Carnival would include sales for Princess or Holland America. 

I would doubt it.  That would lump in Costa, Aida and the other smaller European lines under Carnival Corps umbrella.  It would then also lump Royal and Celebrity together.

[grandgeezer]

How about the over $10,000 in refundable obc, or maybe the few free spa treatments, or even the dozens of free specialty restaurants we’ve received over the 47 cruises we’ve booked through them. I probably shouldn’t mention not having to wait hours on the phone or having to call back the the cruise line multiple times to resolve an issue, that would be rubbing it in. Last comment, we have never knowingly missed out on a price change or changing canines.

[Lane Hog]

8 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

I would doubt it.  That would lump in Costa, Aida and the other smaller European lines under Carnival Corps umbrella.  It would then also lump Royal and Celebrity together.

 

Comparing to hotels, I know IHG looks across the entire brand portfolio when sales incentives are involved.  So do Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt.  

 

Where the sale is made isn't as important as long as it's under their umbrella.  Selling ten rooms at $100 a night with Holiday Inn Express vs one suite at $1000 a night for Intercontinental is still about the same in net revenue. In terms of volume, you're more likely to sell the lower priced rooms and they'll be less likely to cancel at the last minute...

 

So... Why would a cruise line care?  Revenue from Aida vs Princess is still reported on Carnivals bottom line, no?

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, Lane Hog said:

 

Comparing to hotels, I know IHG looks across the entire brand portfolio when sales incentives are involved.  So do Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt.  

 

Where the sale is made isn't as important as long as it's under their umbrella.  Selling ten rooms at $100 a night with Holiday Inn Express vs one suite at $1000 a night for Intercontinental is still about the same in net revenue. In terms of volume, you're more likely to sell the lower priced rooms and they'll be less likely to cancel at the last minute...

 

So... Why would a cruise line care?  Revenue from Aida vs Princess is still reported on Carnivals bottom line, no?

Hopefully an actual TA can respond, but I would hypothesis that the commission percentages that the TA's earn would be broken down by individual cruise line, not the same percentage given to each line under the umbrella.  If an agency primarily books Carnival and Costa and once in a blue moon books Silversea, they are not going to get the same percentage on that substantiality more expensive booking just because Carnival Corp owns them all.

[Lane Hog]

I just confirmed this with a TA owner.  Commissions and revenue targets are set and measured on a consolidated basis, not individual brand.  

 

Additionally, cabin levels have different commissions e.g. that suite on Seaborn or Princess will qualify for a higher commission % than an inside or oceanview on Carnival or Aida might.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

Why use a TA?  Once she got us $900 in OBC.  Between AMEX, past customers, etc we couldn't spend it all.  However, here's the big reason.  About 15 years ago we were three days from sailing when our DIL suddenly passed away leaving our son and six year old grandson.  I made one call to our TA.  She took care of everything.  We had booked our own air using FF miles.  She got the information and got my points reinstated.  Needless to say we were occupied for many days taking care of family and arrangements.  Our TA handled everything while we were busy and just needed a death certificate when we got back.  That's why we use a TA.   

[luckyinpa]

is it the norm for TA OBC not to be available till you are on board

[Ourusualbeach]

30 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

is it the norm for TA OBC not to be available till you are on board

Yes.

 

Only OBC issued by Royal shows up on your cruise planner

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

On 4/3/2022 at 9:59 AM, luckyinpa said:

is it the norm for TA OBC not to be available till you are on board

Yes sometimes our TA OBC didn't show up for a day or two after we sailed.