Traveling Cheap
One of the reasons I started this blog, was to educate prospective travel agents on all aspects of this business: the good, the bad and the ugly.”The good” of course being perks like commission on sales, Traveling Cheap, FREE hotel nights by hotels luring you in to sell them, and so much more. “The bad” such as stingy tour operators giving you very little commission (7%, really??); airlines which give you 0% but you kinda sorta have to book them anyway. Kind of a main part of traveling. “The ugly” being the crazy times we deal with like flight delays, travel insurance policies that don’t quite cover the passenger in the way they need it to, etc.
Today, I’d like to talk about part of “The Good” which is how Travel Agents travel cheaply. How travel agents make commission off of tours. I’ve been wanting to go to Thailand for awhile. Was searching high and low for a great tour operator that will get me to the 3 main areas I want to visit: Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket.
Commission with Tour Operators
At first I was looking at Affordable Asia tours, however after calling them and realizing they do not give commission to travel agents I decided to scratch that idea. I came across a Custom tour operator called ‘GoWay‘ travel, and they not only have personalized, custom tours you can build from scratch, they also give 15% commission! Yippee!
I posted the Thailand trip to get interest with my Meetup group and ended up getting 4 people (including myself) to book. The total price for the Land Only package for the 4 of us came to $5,665.18. I made $727.12 in commission. I used my commission towards my trip and it reduced it down to $689.18. That price covers the following:
- All ground transfers to and from airports, hotels, and tours
- Domestic Thailand flights between Bangkok -> Chiang Mai -> Phuket
- All hotel accommodations in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket
- Pretty much all tours with the exception of 2-3 days
- Some meals
- Taxes and gratuities
Not too shabby for a 2-week dream trip to Thailand. If I would have been able to book more people, my trip would have been completely free. International flights were $614 with Air China.
I knew going into this field I wanted to travel the world so I can increase understanding for this industry. I also want to become knowledgeable on many destinations so I can better help my prospective clients. One of the best ways to do it is by working hard to sell tours and gaining yourself a cheap (or better yet, FREE) one. Stay tuned for details on Thailand. I’ll be there March 20, 2017 – April 1, 2017 if you would like to follow my journey. Instagram: @travelagentdiary
