question about Travel Agents?

hey so the Watermill's recommended travel agent is Creative Travel, and I met with their rep the other night at a showcase....she was soooooo nice and helpful!!!

i told her we already booked St. Lucia, but we're also going to do Disney and only need a one way flight to orlando, etc...

so she said that she can arrange all of that, get deals, etc...and that she'd call me...

she just called me this morning to tell me she called disney and they're not starting to book for May 2010 until August, so she said 'so just relax and do whatever else you need to do until then, ill call you again august 1'

so my thing is, do you know if when booking w/Creative Travel (or any travel agents) if i will be paying MORE than if i did it on my own??

Cuz shes been so nice, just offered to call me back and do all this for us, and ive heard u dont pay more for a travel agent...

but me n my mom get into HUGE fights over it!! she says 'How do u think they're getting paid if ur not paying more for them to plan the trip???' and i say, 'How can they say ur not paying more if u are?'

so i'd like for someone to just clear this up for me, cuz if we have her set up the Disney part of our HM, i know my moms gonna have a fit, i need some concrete info to have to back up my decision,.. so

- do u get charged more for using a travel agent??

- if not, how do they get paid?

thank u!!!!!!

bump...nobody?

TA definitely get better deals for bulk stuff.....personally you can probably book a trip to Orlando cheaper or at the same price....but most TA will match it anyway. For the honeymoon, I would prefer to book with a TA b/c they can get you the upgrades for being a honeymooner and make certain requests that I can't.

So its really up to you. The only thing I agree with is the hotel promotions and waiting. Alot of places still don't have their promotions out yet....I still haven't booked my honeymoon for this reason. So my suggestion would be to wait awhile. Most hotels come out with their promotions about 6-9 months prior.

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Posted by stinenandy2010

just to add - i would research and price it out and tell her what prices you got....chances are she will beat the price you found.

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thats a good idea...so that way if i could have done it better on my own, she will end up doing even better than that!!

thanks christine!

hey there,

im a travel agent.. we usually charge service fees.. depending on what the company charges it can be anywhere from a 35.00 fee - 50.00 fee.. or possibly more.. but I highly doubt it. sometimes they may add it in the cost of the trip and you prob wouldnt know about it.. also... we work for commission as well and sometimes the trip itself will give us the commission already in the price quotes. hope this helps!:)

thank u shelby!!!

i love ur caricature btw!! :)