Calling all Travel Agents. Do you charge a planning fee? Why or why not?

Yes, we charge a research and planning fee! We have to in this business or else we wouldn't be able to survive. The commission from suppliers isn't high to sustain us and it is time-consuming to plan a special trip for someone. We all pay to go to the doctor or to use a lawyer, a physical therapist, a coach, an oil change, or for a massage, nails etc, so someone using our service, should understand that we need to get paid for the work we do as well as it is our profession, service, and livelihood.

I do not charge any fees. Never did, and never will.

A real travel agent helps his clients and gets paid by the vendors. I personally don't charge fees.

Sometimes i do, depends on the amount of work and what they are looking for. But I never call it a planning fee, I always call it a non refundable prepaid deposit or something like that. A planning fee, To me it makes it sound like you wont talk to somebody without taking their money. It just sounds more polite to word it differently in my opinion.

For flights only, or non commissionable products, I charge a service fee. But than I explain that it's due to me not making any commission on flights.

Yes, I charge planning fees. They are not credited to the trip. They are what I charge for planning and research. Sometimes it may take several hours or days to provide a quote.  There are way more hoops to jump through post COVID. That, my friend is work.

And if you don't charge service fees, you are doing yourself a disservice. We are  professionals who provide a service just like any other service provider. We deserve to be paid for the work we perform for our clients.

of course we charge. it is our time, our expertise, our knowledge,

no question about it.  

I would never disclose a full itinerary until an established non-refundable fee had been paid that would cover the hours spent doing the research. If he has the money to do the trip, he certainly can pay your small fee. As I told a client once (who thought my fee was too high), "Let's put this in terms you can understand. My fee is less than 1 billable hour of your time spent with a client." She quietly paid the fee and never said another word. We can't afford to give away our time or talent. If you do, he WILL tell everyone to use you because you don't charge.

in this age of free, free, free everything.  People have come to expect it, however those of us who are realistic, understand that you get what you pay for.  Also when someone says no fee, it just means that the fee is hidden from the prospective customer.  My fee is upfront and credited if the clients book through me and not a website.  I am not in the business of providing information I am in the travel booking business.

Yes, we charge a planning fee.  We do this to avoid those people who are just shopping around.  I let people know up front that there is a "planning fee" - or whatever you want to call it - and that we will be sending them a Credit Card Authorization form for them to fill out and return by email or fax.  Once we receive the CCA we can begin planning their vacation.  We also tell them the fee is part of the trip cost and the CCA is a form they will ultimately need to fill out in order to pay for the vacation.  We do not do any business with anyone without the fee or the CCA, when it is over the phone especially.  If I am physically meeting with some one they can pay with cash, or check; and we give them toe CCA to fill out right then.  The CCA helps us avoid charge-backs.

I totally agree with you.  Your expertise and first hand knowledge and time are worth something.  Years ago we never charged fees for things and it's always difficult to transition but we have seen other agencies go out of business and we have all trained ourselves and taken specialty courses in order to provide the highest level of service to our clients and I definitely charge a fee on FIT's.    

I personally do not charge a planning or service fee. I used to work for a company that required it and after numerous complaints and questions about what the fee is for, i determined that having happy repeat customers is better than making as much as possible and losing them as customers over a small fee.

That is also what makes GNSA Travel unique. 

Most agencys do charge a fee so i can save the customer money just by not charging a service fee.