How to Travel Cheap and 5 Things Your Travel Agent Will Never Tell You!

These days many people are living paycheck to paycheck and are facing the possibility of tougher economic times, but at the same time, at last one yearly vacation is necessary for your sanity! But with less money to spend, many vacationers are looking for advice on how to travel cheap whether with an online travel website or with a brick and mortar travel agency. It is often cheaper to use an online travel agency, right? But should you?

There are pros and cons to which kind of travel agent to use, and you can find cheap travel deals with either one at any given time. However, keep in mind that if you use a traditional travel agency, there are some things you will never hear from them.

1. “Oh, you won’t find the best deals here, you should check online.” The traditional “brick and mortar” agency is going to consider online travel agencies as their arch rival, so they will never tell you to go check online and try to get a better deal. It doesn’t matter if you end up paying substantially more for your tickets, they want you to stick with them. Of course, this does not mean you will never get a better deal at a regular agency. You often can and will because these professionals know the ropes, know the ins and outs, and can negotiate a deal for you that you may or may not get on your own. However, if they can’t, you won’t be told this!

2. You may be paying numerous service charges. Years ago travel agent personnel could end up making quite a lot of money on commissions. For example, you would book a flight and the airline would pay the agent a “commission” of sorts, allowing them to make a very good yearly salary if they booked a lot of airline fares. However, with the advancement of the Internet over the past decade or so, this practice has all but stopped. Now the agents receive money with service charges rather than commissions. So be sure to check up front how much the charge will be, as it may not be disclosed to you until later toward the end of your visit or even after you have secured your tickets.

3. “We make a lot of mistakes!” Ever hear that from your travel agent? No? Thought not. The fact is, agencies make a lot of errors, bookings get messed up, tickets get entered in wrong, and all sorts of problems. The one good thing though is that you will have a human to speak to when you get to your destination and find things are not as they should be.

4. “We don’t have the best customer service.” This from your online agency. The reason? It’s tough to speak to a real live person sometimes when you have a problem. Oh, you can find one eventually, but by then your vacation might be over!

5. Wrong info. Yes, you might get bogus information from your travel agency. How so? Well, let’s say for example you plan to travel abroad and you need information on currency exchange or perhaps what documents you require. Write down what your agent tells you but double check. It is certainly not always going to be wrong but it does happen quite a bit.

Career Opportunities as a Travel Agent

As recently as 15 years ago, serving the public as a travel agent was a hot job. People even went to college specifically to land a position in the travel agency career field. Fast forward to now, and some who graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Travel and Tourism Management are watching their diplomas gather dust as they work in a completely different endeavor.

The main reason is simply because of the widespread influence and general availability of the Internet. The Internet is now how most people make their plane reservations, secure their hotels, pull together their travel package deals, and almost anything else related to travel. No longer do they need to walk into an office and have the agent search for a great deal and then pay a commission afterward. Now it is much easier to search online and find the deals there.

Hence, travel agents are falling off left and right. Businesses are closing shop and being paid even less than ever – a stark contrast to their popularity just a short time ago. However, there are those few people who cannot dream of doing any other kind of work. And agents still venture out many times per year to explore the world with their families for less than it would cost just one person to make a trip across their own country. The deals are what lure them in and the enjoyment of the job is what keeps them motivated.

For some people, the allure of becoming a travel agent is intense. If this is you, then the time to get started is now. You don’t necessarily need to graduate from an accredited university to become a travel agent, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. Those who do graduate from college are normally the higher paid travel agents because, though you can attend a 9-month technical school, you won’t receive the quality and depth of education that you would at a typical university.

For this career, it is important that you possess good computer skills since there are many different systems and software packages you must know and use each day. You must also learn the “ins and outs” of the travel agency business, and be up-to-date on current travel advisories, passport information and special deals waiting in the wings.

If this sounds like a career path you might enjoy, then go for it. There is nothing wrong with following your dream and doing something you truly love, even if you know that salaries in the travel agency industry aren’t what they once were.

Tony Morrison, The X-Travel Agent Out For Revenge!

Tony Morrison was a hard working travel agent for 16 years at one of the major airlines we all have used until he was FIRED! Yes FIRED! We all Know how big business works, if you are not doing exactly what they want they can dream up all kinds of reason to let anyone go no matter who or what position you are! Tony’s number was called! Tony bowed out graciously knowing it was useless trying to fight back against this mighty conglomerate! Tony was a very hard worker and took pride in doing his job well when his boss gave him the news he took it to heart and promised REVENGE! The Real kicker is his boss that was a friend he had known most of his life was the one who had the pleaser of throwing him out!

Tony spent some time digesting his new found freedom and could not help but feel like he had been let holding the short end of the stick. It did not take Tony Morrison the X-Travel long to plan his Revenge and how else could he get back at the airlines, Hit them where it hurts!! In the pocket book! Tony was having some revelations about what he was considering doing and decided that the small guy needed the money a lot more then the big guy that just happened to be the one who had FIRED TONY WRONGLY! Besides what is more noble then helping others! Just look at it like the David and Goliath story!

After releasing Tony Morrison’s My Airfare Secret’s he knew that he must be doing something right because of all the positive response from his new clients and not to mention all the negative response from the Airlines! Tony had received a number of threatening letters, harassing late night phone calls, they even threatened with legal action and when all else failed they begged and pleaded with him! They would go to any length to stop Tony from releasing these confidential secrets to the public! They even offered Him a new contract earlier this year with a 17% salary increase which is unheard of, can you believe that? Anything to keep there industries secrets from the public

The information that is in the Tony Morrison My Airfare Secret Guide will BLOW YOUR MIND! I Believe the quote from Tony himself is “I promise you the secrets I’ll expose here will shock you more than any horror movie you’ve ever watched.” He is not Joking in the least bit, He will show you How to knock $100 right off of your next ticket, how you can earn free vouchers for airfare tickets just from making a phone call and knowing what to say to the agent, How to get free food during your flight, What days of the week to stay over on your flight to wildly lower the price of your ticket and so an and so on! I could go on for hours with all these secrets that you are told about in are Tony Morrison My Airfare Secret Guide!

Tony even throws in some awesome bonuses just for good measure and they are absolutely unbelievable. Some of the bonus’s are Good Seats Guide, Hotel Reservation Secrets Manual, Car Rental Secrets Manual, Cruise Travel Secrets Manual, Holiday Plus Travel Planner Software, Seven Language Phrase Guides and so much more! It just keeps getting better and better!

Thank you and look forward to seeing all of you on the sunny sanding beaches of the world!

I purchased Tony Morrison My Airfare Secret Guide some time ago and have not even begun scratch the surface in regards to saving money with all the secrets exposed in this guide! It will take us a life time to use all of Tony Morrison’s My Airfare Secret Guide. If you travel or are considering a trip in the future you can not afford not to have this guide!

How to Reduce Travel Agent Transaction Fees

TMC’s earn their money by apportioning a fee for each travel transaction being processed through them. The fee covers expenditure and profit margin. The fee is levied per traveller and is dependent on the mode of travel and destination.

For example, if your business travel programme involves travelling by air to the Americas, Europe or within the UK, then you will have 3 different levels of transaction fee.

To compare pricing between different suppliers, don’t be fooled into comparing a transaction fee in isolation. I recommend you undertake some internal analysis. Create a list of your transactions broken down by area. Ask your current supplier for this information.

Use an Excel spreadsheet to aggregate totals and compare total costs. Use a full year of transaction data and multiple each TMC’s transaction fees, by the number of transactions for each mode of transportation or accommodation. The totals will give you an accurate assessment of future costs.

Travel Agent Transaction Fees

Remember, most fees can be reduced by over 50% if reservations are purchased using your suppliers self booking tool. Automation reduces the cost of salaried staff being involved. Salaries are the biggest cost of any travel supplier and are reflected in service fees.

Transaction fees cover the cost of;

1. A centralised payment and settlement credit scheme

2. Providing cost savings reports, purchasing data,

3. Traveller tracking to cover security and well being

4. Monitoring of service for quality and efficiency

5. Travel policy advice

6. Support on mandatory governance issues

7. Investment to cover improved systems

The above is a snapshot view of how transaction fees are apportioned. Undertaking the analyses and benchmarking can be time consuming, especially if managers are juggling other projects. If this sounds familiar, the Academy offers a programme that may be of interest.

We provide a cost review as part of our Health Check Report, focusing on transaction fees. We’ll give you an honest and accurate assessment of current charging, make comparisons against market rates and identify the amount of savings available.

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