How Travel Agents Get Paid

If you've ever wondered how travel agents get paid, this episode is for you.   

Your vacations are such an important part of your life.  Please use a reputable agent for these important memories!

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Transcript

Speaker: 0:00

Welcome to the vacation inspiration podcast. I'm Paula, your host and owner of Black Dog Luxury Travel, where we design custom vacations for the discerning traveler. If your vacation plans are in need of some serious inspiration, you're in the right place and I am so glad you're here.

Paula: 0:20

Hey there everyone. It has been a hot minute. Actually longer than a hot minute since I've done a podcast. I honestly, wasn't sure still I'm actually not sure if I'm going to keep up with them or not. Just because of the amount of time that's involved in doing them. But there has been something that's been brought to my attention and I wanted to come on and kind of. Maybe educate a little bit and clear up some things for some people, because there seems to be a lot of confusion. Around it. and how travel agents work, how we get paid, things like that. So it was actually a client mind that brought this situation. to my attention, it appears. It's someone that I actually met early on in the industry. And I. I really want to stay in my own lane. I really want to keep my head down. you guys keep me. So busy that I really don't have time or desire to pay attention to anyone else. So I honestly didn't know that this person was still acting as a travel agent at all. but from what I understand, This individual has been directly collecting money from clients for the vacations and the money has been going directly to the agent. And unfortunately, from what I understand, It looks like. The vacations. Are not getting booked or have not been getting booked. And it looks like there's going to be some legal repercussions for this. So. I'm not involved in this at all. Again, this. What it does is it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart so bad. As you, as, you know, if you know me at all, you know how seriously I take your travels? How seriously I take your vacations. I know the memories that you guys make when, when you're on, I know how important these things are to your lives. And I want to treat them. As if, as if it was my probably more important than if it was my own, honestly. So. This one has been a struggle for me again, it's it's just been heavy on my heart, which is why I'm here doing a podcast. So. First things first. And people ask me this all the time. I'm very open and honest about it. Full disclosure, but people will say, how do you get paid? So travel agents. Get paid commission off of the bookings that we make. So if we book a hotel for you, we book a tour for you. Book a transfer for you. There's a commission for us built into that price. And after you travel, we get paid that commission. Now. I have what's called a host agency and a consortia. So the commission gets paid to the host agency. They take their cut. Which is totally fine. I love my host agency, loved them to death. And then I get the, the rest of the money and I get to pay taxes on that. That income. So that is generally how a travel agent gets paid. Now the client, my clients. The only time they pay me. me directly. Is when I charge a planning and design fee, which for itineraries that have a lot of moving parts and a lot of moving pieces, I do charge a design fee just because of the amount of time that it takes to put all of those puzzle pieces together. And if you've done any of your. Of your own travel planning, but is a little bit. You know, beyond the basics, you understand how much is involved in that. So, I do, I do charge a fee for that. That would be something that the client pays directly to me. But anything. That we decide is a go and we go ahead and book. That gets paid directly to the suppliers and the vendors. It does not come to me. So. And I have booked some. Heftier price point vacations. I think the most expensive one that I have ever designed and booked for a client. Was about$196,000. And that money did not come to me. That was not paid to me. That was paid to the vendors and the suppliers for the services that they're doing. In, in the locations that my clients are traveling. And then again, I got paid commission after they travel. So. For the most part, like that's how travel agents work. If you are working with someone and they are putting together a, you know, 15, 20,$30,000 trip and, and they want you to pay them directly. I would maybe question that. Another thing you can do too, is, you know, please ask for references. I have people ask me for references all the time. I'm happy to give them. You know, check out who you're working with. For sure. My host agency, again, I love them. I would. I'll give you my host agency named no problem, but consortia and consortia is an umbrella. Above my host agency. So a consortia is like a big worldwide company. And they negotiate contracts with suppliers. The ups guy is here. Hold please. Okay. So it looks like the black dogs have officially graded the ups guy and made sure that he was safe. So I don't know, he dropped off, but that's okay. So anyways, I was talking about. Consortia, which is a big worldwide company and they negotiate contracts with suppliers and what these contracts do, or they help lock in rates. They help lock in, Vetted properties, services, things like that for my clients, they can have the best experience possible. We can maximize their dollar. We can maximize their experience. Everything is just, it's checked out. It's vetted all of the things. If I were to ever. Ran into some issues, heaven forbid, but if I were to run into some issues with a supplier or something and things are not working out the consortia goes to bat for, for my client and then under the consortia is B host agency, which mine is based in California. I love them to death. They're called Montecito village travel. They're fantastic. And they provide again so many. Great contracts and so many great. Vendors and suppliers for my clients and things I can use there. So. That is. You know, really how travel agents. Work. That's how we get paid. That's how we provide services for our clients. So when I'm booking a trip for my client, Really. The only funds that come directly to me or as if I'm designing. A very extensive itinerary. We call them MITs. With a lot of moving parts and a lot of moving pieces. Because again at the time that it takes to put that together. So. I, if you ever have a question, you know, please. Please reach out to me and let me, you know, let me know. I'm happy to answer questions, things like that. But just. I again, my heart is just breaking for these people. There are some that there's one that she's supposed to be in Greece in four days. And it. It doesn't look like any of her reservations were, were actually made. And I love Greece, but that does breaks my heart. It breaks my heart that they're having these experiences. It breaks my heart, but this whole thing is happening. I'm hopeful that some good can come out of it. I just, I love to live life. More rose colored glasses. Oh, wait, you guys know that, but. I just, it again. If this helps anyone. That's the reason I'm doing it. Please do your due diligence. And. Man. I just, I hope that this never actually happens to you, but if you have any questions about, again, further on about how the travel agent works, you know, please feel free to reach out. I get them all the time. So I'm more than happy to answer them. But I hope, I hope you all have a great. I hope you have summer vacations planned and I hope they're absolutely amazing.