Should I charge a trip planner fee?
Starting off as a travel agent, you will interact with a variety of different clients. Some will stay and some will go. Some will buy your package and connect you with many more customers while others will frankly leave to purchase their trip online. While exposure to all types of clients is important in developing your experience and learning about client engagement, you will reach a point in your career where it is important to also select your customers, the same way that they select you. It is important to select clients who are truly looking to work with travel agent, an advisor who will make their trip significantly easier, not those who are
simply looking for the cheapest possible deal. The cheapest possible deal is not with you.
At the end of the day, people who are buying a vacation from a professional travel agent are paying a premium for the personable advice and swift management employed by the agent. They want a hassle-free experience in which all they have to do is swipe their card—the rest is done for them.
Therefore, if you are a travel agent who has reached a point at which it is time to take responsibility of the type of clients you choose to work with, it would be a good idea to consider charging a trip-planning fee. This fee eliminates clients that only contact you to gain travel information without buying the final product or compensating you for your work and research. It attracts clients that are seeking a travel professional who is confident enough to charge a fee for their work. After all, this fee is small compared to whatever travel product they will eventually purchase from you but establishes their commitment to your services and begins a likely lifelong client relationship.
It is hard to say no to clients, but, remember, that employing a fee will mean saying yes to those that are the best fit for your business.
We are happy to introduce a new feature – “Charge Service Fee” Now you have the opportunity to charge a fee for your services online. A service fee can be billed for the following services provided by BNT Travel Group independent agents. 1. Travel planning and research. 2. Non-commissionable airline tickets (if booked not through one of our preferred vendors which already offer a service fee option). 3. Any other non-commissionable or low commission products which are time consuming for our agents. This feature is available at the back office and requires you to back office login Follow these simple steps in order to get paid. 1. Select the amount you would like to charge as a service fee from the drop-down menu below. 2. Be sure to include your full name as well as the client's full name. 3. Please enter the reservation number any additional information on the next page in the “Description” field otherwise you will not receive credit for the billed service fee. 4. Submit this transaction at the back office. Enter "Service Fee" in the vendor's name field
Happy Sellin!
