Best bonus you've got booking with a TA

[Autumnrose]

have used a travel agent for the first time for an upcoming group cruise, she is nice and all... so i thought of transferring january celebrity cruise, 2 cc aft cabins, over to her, asked her if i would keep the same cabins and price and what would be the incentive to switch? hint, hint, she emailed back that i would have a devoted ta, that would work hard for me. since i have allready made the booking and reservations for 4 people, don't see why i should transfer without some sort of incentive. or am i just being greedy?:cool:

 

I am sorry but I have to say greedy as well. Perhaps she can not afford to give an incentive or she works for an agency that doesn't give many incentives and she can't do it on her own because either it is against their policy or she just makes a small hourly wage regardless of how much your cruise booking is. Did it cost you anything different to transfer? You may have lost out on a very good agent.

 

I have seen many complaints on this board about agents and it seems it is usually the agents that give tons of incentives that lack knowledge and good customer service. Please keep in mind that your average leisure travel agent makes between $8.00 and $13.00 an hr most with no benefits.

 

I would like to see a thread titled "What are the best gifts you ever given your TA".

 

Sorry I really don't mean to sound rude but this is a bit of a sore subject. Some of us can not compete with the large online agencies that are willing to give away most or all of their commission in exchange for overides. I am a good agent willing to do anything for my clients. I always keep up with training and just recently received my CTC. I can not afford to personnally buy gifts for my clients that my agency does already provide, when I can barely pay my bills and daycare.

 

Sorry! I am done now I hope I didn't affend anyone that really wasn't my purpose.:o

[cs]

I am sorry but I have to say greedy as well. Perhaps she can not afford to give an incentive or she works for an agency that doesn't give many incentives and she can't do it on her own because either it is against their policy or she just makes a small hourly wage regardless of how much your cruise booking is. Did it cost you anything different to transfer? You may have lost out on a very good agent.

 

I have seen many complaints on this board about agents and it seems it is usually the agents that give tons of incentives that lack knowledge and good customer service. Please keep in mind that your average leisure travel agent makes between $8.00 and $13.00 an hr most with no benefits.

 

I would like to see a thread titled "What are the best gifts you ever given your TA".

 

Sorry I really don't mean to sound rude but this is a bit of a sore subject. Some of us can not compete with the large online agencies that are willing to give away most or all of their commission in exchange for overides. I am a good agent willing to do anything for my clients. I always keep up with training and just recently received my CTC. I can not afford to personnally buy gifts for my clients that my agency does already provide, when I can barely pay my bills and daycare.

 

Sorry! I am done now I hope I didn't affend anyone that really wasn't my purpose.:o

I'm sorry you feel that way. I think that everyone likes to get a good deal. When we're looking at cars, we don't ask the car salesman how much he's making per hour or whether he's getting benefits. We try to negotiate the best deal. Same goes for buying a house, if there are two identical houses, we're not going to pay the higher amount because the seller can't afford to sell it as low as the other seller.

 

I don't think getting the best bargain is greedy at all. And I don't think people should pay more due to someone else's inability to compete.

[Autumnrose]

And I don't think people should pay more due to someone else's inability to compete.

 

I never said anything about paying more. While I don't think buying a car can be compared to booking travel. I will stay with your analagy by asking. If you did go to purchase a car and the dealership did not offer incentives would you then go directly to the factory and pay the identical price and still not get incentives? If someone is offering a much lower price than that is different I completely understand wanting to save money. Although I have had many clients tell me that they would rather book through me at a higher price than through some online company they know nothing about. Remember you get what you pay for.

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that if the price was exactly the same I would rather invest my money in my local economy.

[Ivanova]

I'm sorry you feel that way. I think that everyone likes to get a good deal. When we're looking at cars, we don't ask the car salesman how much he's making per hour or whether he's getting benefits. We try to negotiate the best deal. Same goes for buying a house, if there are two identical houses, we're not going to pay the higher amount because the seller can't afford to sell it as low as the other seller.

 

I don't think getting the best bargain is greedy at all. And I don't think people should pay more due to someone else's inability to compete.

 

Real estate and car buying aren't really the same as travel ... in essence what you are asking is for a travel agent to give you some of their income ... the realtor and car salesman are not kicking in their salary in order to lower the price on the car or house.

 

I don't know what industry you work in, but how willing are you to give up your paycheck in order to secure a sale?

 

I doubt a sales person in the local department store will kick in some of their paycheck just so you'll buy from them versus the department store around the corner....

 

To expand a bit further ... when SELLING a house you can negotiate the commission with your selling agent (and how he/she splits the commission with the buying agent is up to them) ... but based on first hand experience (three times in the past 3 years) I can tell you that the amount of commission that the selling agent gets directly corresponds with how hard they will work to sell your house ... yes, they'll put it in MLS even if it's only 2% commission, but they'll also pay for ads in Homes & Land magazine, etc. if they are getting 6% commission; and for a paltry commission don't expect them to spend hours of their time doing open houses.

 

As for the car salesman ... not all are paid on commimssion (although they might get end of the month bonuses for reaching certain goals) ... and even if they let you think you're getting a deal on the car, in reality you really aren't ... they find plenty of other ways to make up for any "discounts" you think you are getting (as told to me by a car dealership owner).

[chazg]

I booked last years cruise with an Warehouse Store Chain last year and got $200 off D1 Cabin Price and $75 Gift Card for their store 30 day's after the cruise.

 

This cruise I booked thru and online Cruise Dealer and got Pre-paid Gratuities for 2 of us. She aslo setup for B-day cakes for both of my DS's since the Cruise is shortly after thier B-Days. We shall see if that works out.

 

Chaz G.

[cs]

Real estate and car buying aren't really the same as travel ... in essence what you are asking is for a travel agent to give you some of their income ... the realtor and car salesman are not kicking in their salary in order to lower the price on the car or house.

 

I don't know what industry you work in, but how willing are you to give up your paycheck in order to secure a sale?

 

I doubt a sales person in the local department store will kick in some of their paycheck just so you'll buy from them versus the department store around the corner....

No, but we are talking about commission here. Realtors and Car salespeople earn commission. If they want to make the sale, sometimes they discount their commission.

 

I've have had car salespeople "throw in" stuff to sweeten the pot. My husband always asks for mats - that's the bonus he wants when he buys a new car. Hey, they can say no thank you or they can throw in the mats to make the sale.

 

The people who are offering the incentives are making the money off of volume. They are making less per sale but they are doing more sales.

 

The person here who is being accused of being greedy did all the leg work. They booked and wanted to transfer so that the travel agent could make some money off of the booking - for basically doing nothing. I would say that the travel agent is the one who's greedy here. She did nothing yet can't share the wealth with her customer?

[cs]

I never said anything about paying more. While I don't think buying a car can be compared to booking travel. I will stay with your analagy by asking. If you did go to purchase a car and the dealership did not offer incentives would you then go directly to the factory and pay the identical price and still not get incentives? If someone is offering a much lower price than that is different I completely understand wanting to save money. Although I have had many clients tell me that they would rather book through me at a higher price than through some online company they know nothing about. Remember you get what you pay for.

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that if the price was exactly the same I would rather invest my money in my local economy.

 

But the price isn't exactly the same. If someone gives me an onboard credit worth $500, that's $500 less that I'm putting out of my pocket. So even if the fare is identical, those incentives are really attractive.

 

If I booked the cruise already, and could get $500 onboard incentive by transferring my booking, I wouldn't care about the service so much. I've already did most of the work anyway. Why should I feel greedy about the TA sharing part of his/her cut with me?

[Autumnrose]

No, but we are talking about commission here. Realtors and Car salespeople earn commission. If they want to make the sale, sometimes they discount their commission.

 

But you are assuming that your TA is working off of commission. Whereas in reality only homebased agents are working purely on commission. Those of us who work in what is referred to as brick and mortar are hourly employees.

[cs]

But you are assuming that your TA is working off of commission. Whereas in reality only homebased agents are working purely on commission. Those of us who work in what is referred to as brick and mortar are hourly employees.

Okay, so then why would you be upset if you lost a deal? If you get paid hourly, then you didn't lose anything by the customer going elsewhere. Are you required to meet a quota?

 

It sounds to me that the problem is with the agency that you work for. They are losing business by not offering incentives. Maybe it's time to approach the boss about this?

[Autumnrose]

But the price isn't exactly the same. If someone gives me an onboard credit worth $500, that's $500 less that I'm putting out of my pocket. So even if the fare is identical, those incentives are really attractive.

 

If I booked the cruise already, and could get $500 onboard incentive by transferring my booking, I wouldn't care about the service so much. I've already did most of the work anyway. Why should I feel greedy about the TA sharing part of his/her cut with me?

 

That wasn't what was asked. The person who posted was saying that they would just keep the booking with the cruise line rather than transfer so in that case there was no price difference.

 

By the way I have never had a client transfer a booking to me and then not had any other contact with them. They have always ended up booking things such as air which takes time and I don't make a dime on or just had tons of questions. Which is fine I enjoy taking time to make sure they completely understand their vacation and answer all their questions. Answering lots of questions takes time and time is money.

[crazy 4 cruising]

The online agency we used to book our 8/19 cruise included free prepaid gratuities if you booked a balcony or suite...so we booked a balcony...we owuld have booked one anyway but it was a nice little extra.

 

I probably used the same on-line agency & got pre-paid gratuities. Transferred my 4 other cruises from RCCL to them & got the same deal on them. First time to use a TA, hope I don't regret it.

[jfrenaye]

Gosh, I must have missed the memo. When did it become de riguer to assume you are entitled to a gift for giving someone your business? Did you get a trip to China the last time you did Chinese take out? What about when you buy a new pair of shoes--do you ask the salesperson to toss in a few dozen socks? When you buy china, do you insist on the flatware to go with it?

 

What is with all the bottom feeding here? I don't get it. Because you come into the Chevy dealer knowing what model you want, are you entitled to gifts galore? TO be hones you all should be ashamed of yourself.

 

Are people no longer allowed to earn a living? Fine if a TA wants to rebate a commission to earn the business that is his decision. But you are not getting it any cheaper going directly. And why would you not support someone in your own hometown that is paying taxes to enable your kids to go to schools and to provise the service you demand?

 

This is bullcrap and I am likely to get banned but, someone needs to speak up. I know probably a thousand PROFESSIONAL travel agents and to be honest, with attitudes like most on this thread--they don;t want your business just as bad as you want the freebies!

 

have used a travel agent for the first time for an upcoming group cruise, she is nice and all... so i thought of transferring january celebrity cruise, 2 cc aft cabins, over to her, asked her if i would keep the same cabins and price and what would be the incentive to switch? hint, hint, she emailed back that i would have a devoted ta, that would work hard for me. since i have allready made the booking and reservations for 4 people, don't see why i should transfer without some sort of incentive. or am i just being greedy?:cool:

Yes, you are greedy. Is not having someone work on your behalf for a small commission worth anything? Maybe ask her for a feww scooter--gas prices are out of control.

 

We received an OBC of $1650.00 for our upcoming cruise. This is pretty much what we have received (give or take a few hundred bucks) for our past few cruises. Needless to say, I LOVE our online TA!

Pinnocchio---stop it, your nose will get caught in the Grand Atrium elevator door!

 

We are supposed to receive $400 OBC ($200) pp on our next sailing. My TA says their policy is 9% of ticket price back as OBC.

TA's make anywhere from 10% to maybe 17% as a commission. This is not on the TICKET price. Take your ticket price, subtract the taxes, port charges and this new fangaled thing called Non-Commissionable Fees and your $999 cruise is commissionable at 15% on $699. So they are making $104 on that booking and you are saying they are giving you 9% of the $999? Hey for the lousy $14 I say good riddence to you.

 

I had a bunnch of replies to many of these posts...but I realized that it has turned into a penis envy conversation. Oh, well mine is bigger than yours.

 

Well, I just booked a $299 per person special on the Fantasy. I found a coupon on the floor at Wallmart and insisted my agent use it (which she did) and then because I made the effort to drive to her office, she reimbursed me for gas and paid for my lunch. But since she is obviously making so much money off of me, I asked for a discount. She could not do it, but offered me a $200 shipboard credit. And imagine my surprise when I got on board and there were robes, a case of wine, 10 complimentary shore excursions, first class plane tickets for the return trip to Podunk, AND when I got home, there was a chauffer driven Rolls Royce waiting for me. After he took me home, he hopped on his bike and handed me a note that simply read, "Thanks for your business, I hope you enjoyed the gifts I arranged for you. Please accept the Rolls as a small token of my appreciation. I hope you will consider booking with me in the future." --Your TA

 

There you go---beat that!

[Autumnrose]

Okay, so then why would you be upset if you lost a deal? If you get paid hourly, then you didn't lose anything by the customer going elsewhere. Are you required to meet a quota?

 

It sounds to me that the problem is with the agency that you work for. They are losing business by not offering incentives. Maybe it's time to approach the boss about this?

 

Yes we do have very strict goals. I have not heard of an agency tha doesn't. I don't think my agency is worried about losing money as they are one of the top ten in the country. And we do offer some incentives but not on all cruises and tours. I don't see them offering more to get clients that are only price driven because those clients tend not to be very loyal no matter how good your customer service is. We never advertise that we have the lowest prices (even though most times we do), because that is not what we are about. Those types of companies tend not to stay around very long whereas we have been around for over 100 yrs.:)

[cruzinnluvinit]

I booked last years cruise with an Warehouse Store Chain last year and got $200 off D1 Cabin Price and $75 Gift Card for their store 30 day's after the cruise.

 

This cruise I booked thru and online Cruise Dealer and got Pre-paid Gratuities for 2 of us. She aslo setup for B-day cakes for both of my DS's since the Cruise is shortly after thier B-Days. We shall see if that works out.

 

Chaz G.

Originally Posted by Alexru12 View Post

have used a travel agent for the first time for an upcoming group cruise, she is nice and all... so i thought of transferring january celebrity cruise, 2 cc aft cabins, over to her, asked her if i would keep the same cabins and price and what would be the incentive to switch? hint, hint, she emailed back that i would have a devoted ta, that would work hard for me. since i have allready made the booking and reservations for 4 people, don't see why i should transfer without some sort of incentive. or am i just being greedy?

 

I think you are right on. You do all the work and she gets credit.

 

If your TA is paid hourly then transferring them over to her would get her nothing. She is paid if she is on the phone or not. I think, if she gets nothing then keep things the way they are

 

Linda

[lvtotrvl1]

No, but we are talking about commission here. Realtors and Car salespeople earn commission. If they want to make the sale, sometimes they discount their commission.

 

I've have had car salespeople "throw in" stuff to sweeten the pot. My husband always asks for mats - that's the bonus he wants when he buys a new car. Hey, they can say no thank you or they can throw in the mats to make the sale.

 

The people who are offering the incentives are making the money off of volume. They are making less per sale but they are doing more sales.

 

The person here who is being accused of being greedy did all the leg work. They booked and wanted to transfer so that the travel agent could make some money off of the booking - for basically doing nothing. I would say that the travel agent is the one who's greedy here. She did nothing yet can't share the wealth with her customer?

 

Realtors and car salespeople are dealing with a much higher commidity, so I do not think it is fair to put all in the same category.For example.. Suppose your cruise costs 2000.00 (excluding port charges and taxes), at the highest commission rate the commission amount will be $320.00...If agents are making commission it is most likely split with the agency etc, so even at 50% (which is a high split) the agent would be making 150.00. Most of the OBC's you all are talking about are cruiseline OBC and not the agents. I work with probably 20-25 clients per day and very few will "ask" for anything but a good price. These are the clients that will return to book their next vacation with me. This is how I build my business...not by discounting and giving my small commission away. As Autumn Rose said...I don't think any of you would give your paycheck away at the end of the week, or expect someone to.

[Autumnrose]

Well, I just booked a $299 per person special on the Fantasy. I found a coupon on the floor at Wallmart and insisted my agent use it (which she did) and then because I made the effort to drive to her office, she reimbursed me for gas and paid for my lunch. But since she is obviously making so much money off of me, I asked for a discount. She could not do it, but offered me a $200 shipboard credit. And imagine my surprise when I got on board and there were robes, a case of wine, 10 complimentary shore excursions, first class plane tickets for the return trip to Podunk, AND when I got home, there was a chauffer driven Rolls Royce waiting for me. After he took me home, he hopped on his bike and handed me a note that simply read, "Thanks for your business, I hope you enjoyed the gifts I arranged for you. Please accept the Rolls as a small token of my appreciation. I hope you will consider booking with me in the future." --Your TA

 

There you go---beat that!

 

 

:eek: :D :D Now that was funny.

[Autumnrose]

If your TA is paid hourly then transferring them over to her would get her nothing. She is paid if she is on the phone or not. I think, if she gets nothing then keep things the way they are

 

Linda

 

That is completely not true. If she is paid hourly believe me she will have a goal and if she does not meet that goal she will be fired. So she does get something...a job. Nobody becomes a travel agent to get rich we do it because we love it.

[Ivanova]

Okay, so then why would you be upset if you lost a deal? If you get paid hourly, then you didn't lose anything by the customer going elsewhere. Are you required to meet a quota?

 

It sounds to me that the problem is with the agency that you work for. They are losing business by not offering incentives. Maybe it's time to approach the boss about this?

 

salaried TAs have quotas/goals they have to meet, or be fired ... I haven't find a brick & mortar agency that doesn't have sales quotas for their salaried agents (otherwise agents could sit there, give away free advice all day, and not book a dime in sales) ... I know of a certain national travel agency linked to a auto club where a friend used to work ... something like $35,000 annual salary and the annual sales requirement was $1,000,000 in sales (not sure if they are looking at total, or just commissionable total) ... yeow-ouch.

[Ivanova]

No, but we are talking about commission here. Realtors and Car salespeople earn commission. If they want to make the sale, sometimes they discount their commission.

 

I've have had car salespeople "throw in" stuff to sweeten the pot. My husband always asks for mats - that's the bonus he wants when he buys a new car. Hey, they can say no thank you or they can throw in the mats to make the sale.

 

The people who are offering the incentives are making the money off of volume. They are making less per sale but they are doing more sales.

Most states make it illegal for realtors to rebate commission. Yes a SELLING agent can negotiate UP FRONT their commission with the seller, but they cannot rebate ... and if you negotiate a low commission, you won't get a lot of work out of said realtor (why will they spend thousands of dollars on ads if they won't have a high enough commission to cover it?).

 

Most realtors have a commission split with their office too ... plus they split it with the buyer's agent too.

 

And not all car salesmen are paid commission ... some get a flat salary, and based on sales they might earn bonuses.

[honeydog714]

Our TA always gives us an OBC out of her own pocket, she calls it in like a gift, I think she bases it on what catagory we are in and the length. For our 15th anniversary though she went WAY over and above and had a bottle of Dom Perignon waiting for us in the cabin on top of the credit, probably cost most of her comission but we do book a lot with her. The best thing she ever did though was federal express our luggage we left in Ca. to florida overnight so we could have something to wear on the cruise. Thank Goodness she gave us her home number I don't know what we would have done-important lesson always count your bags (don't trust DH to do it!)

[Autumnrose]

I know of a certain national travel agency linked to a auto club where a friend used to work ... something like $35,000 annual salary and the annual sales requirement was $1,000,000 in sales (not sure if they are looking at total, or just commissionable total) ... yeow-ouch.

 

While the salary is a few thousand high the goal is about right if not more. ;)

[Ivanova]

Realtors and car salespeople are dealing with a much higher commidity, so I do not think it is fair to put all in the same category..

Good point. A 6% commission on $150,000 home sale would be $9,000 - half usually goes to the buying agent, leaving $4,500 for the selling agent - no clue on what the agency cut would be, but even if they get half that still leaves $2,250 for the selling agent. A 2% commission on a $600,000 house would be $12,000. Totally different than travel sales.

 

A 17% commission on a typical $2,000 cruisefare $340. As John mentioned, if they split the commission with their agency (with the agent getting 50-70% maybe) then it drops to $170-$238 for the agent. But realistically, many agents don't get 17% commission ... a 10% commission would be $200 giving the agent $100-$140 after the agency split.

 

Now if the agent truly did no work (client booked themselves, paid the deposit to the cruiseline, then transferred it, arranged final payment with the TA and never called again), then MAYBE there'd be some room for DISCUSSION. But to this date, when clients have booked and transferred, there has never been a case where there's been no further contact ... I get calls wanting me to handle their online check in, booking excursions, changing dining assignments, rebooking for a lower rate, wanting to change room number assignments, etc. I've even gotten up at 2AM to do Palo reservations (Disney Cruise Line) for clients.

 

They figure I'm "getting paid for it" then I should work for it ... yet, because they booked themselves someone thinks they did "all" the legwork???

[cs]

Gosh, I must have missed the memo. When did it become de riguer to assume you are entitled to a gift for giving someone your business? Did you get a trip to China the last time you did Chinese take out? What about when you buy a new pair of shoes--do you ask the salesperson to toss in a few dozen socks? When you buy china, do you insist on the flatware to go with it?

 

What is with all the bottom feeding here? I don't get it. Because you come into the Chevy dealer knowing what model you want, are you entitled to gifts galore? TO be hones you all should be ashamed of yourself.

 

Are people no longer allowed to earn a living? Fine if a TA wants to rebate a commission to earn the business that is his decision. But you are not getting it any cheaper going directly. And why would you not support someone in your own hometown that is paying taxes to enable your kids to go to schools and to provise the service you demand?

 

This is bullcrap and I am likely to get banned but, someone needs to speak up. I know probably a thousand PROFESSIONAL travel agents and to be honest, with attitudes like most on this thread--they don;t want your business just as bad as you want the freebies!

 

No one said there was an entitlement factor here. Business is about competetion. I sorry that some companies out there can't afford to compete but that's the nature of business.

 

We owned a Roofing/Siding company. Most of our customers had numerous quotes and would haggle with us based on their other quotes. We were never insulted by it. That's the way things are.

 

All agencies are making the same profit on Royal Caribbean sales because they can't discount the sale. So some agencies have decided they would rather keep all of the profit for themselves and other agencies have decided to share the wealth. Why shouldn't the consumer choose the comapny that gives the extras?

 

This would be the equivalent to booking full price on another cruise line because your travel agent can't give price discounts.

[jfrenaye]

If a trip is particularly profitable, I can see it MAYBE. But the cruise lines have cut the pricing to the bone and the commission to go with it as well. So there is very little to work with.

 

One rule of thumb was that a gift for a client was 10% of the commission. So, if the agency earns $300 commission, $30 does not even buy a half bottle of wine on board!

 

In the old days before the Wallmart crowd began clamoring all over the gangplanks, cruising was an expensive proposition. People dressed for dinne and even to FLY to the port. No one would come to the dining room in a wife-beater tank top like they do now.

 

Back then, a cruise for a week may have set someone back $7000 to $10,000. With the agency earning maybe 15% to even 20% of the TOTAL SALE. Now, if someone comes in and I work with them and am looking to earn $2000 in commission, sure I might give them an OBC or gift. BUt now, it is the $299 special Breakfast at Denny's mentality that has taken over!

[RareBird]

NOTHING! we've used the same TA for 3 cruises now.. this one, i'm booking directly with RCI.