Duties of a Travel Agency

[richwmn]

No wonder cruise fares are going up! You use the resources of the cruise line to get your vacation all arranged and then at a select time you transfer it to a TA who gets 10% from the cruise line , then gives you a small perk and pockets the rest of the commission for doing absolutely nothing in relation to the booking. I'm surprised the cruise lines allow these transfers as they are paying two people to do a single booking.

Over the time before I transfer the cruise, I might use 30 minutes of my PCCs time. I really don't think that is going to make any huge dent in the profits of Holland America or Carnival Corporation. As Iancal mentioned, I have all the details already worked out prior to the call and other calls are just for payments or fare adjustments, neither of which takes much time.

[Randyk47]

No wonder cruise fares are going up! You use the resources of the cruise line to get your vacation all arranged and then at a select time you transfer it to a TA who gets 10% from the cruise line , then gives you a small perk and pockets the rest of the commission for doing absolutely nothing in relation to the booking. I'm surprised the cruise lines allow these transfers as they are paying two people to do a single booking.

 

I've never felt comfortable using a PCC to do the initial booking then transferring it. That's not to say it's wrong or improper in any way it's just not what I do. While I'm not sure there is a direct relationship between increases in fares caused by booking with a PCC and then transferring to an external TA certainly a cruise line makes more money if booked through a PCC. To the best of my knowledge most PCCs do not work on a commission basis and instead work some kind of salary and bonus arrangement. None of my business so I can't say I've personally spent time researching or worrying about it. Might add my TA gives me a substantial discount in the form of a cash rebate not a small OBC, bottle of wine, etc. I don't ask much more than just booking the cruise so that works for me.

[Hlitner]

Let me clarify my earlier post. When I talked about having leverage when booking directly with a cruise agency...rather then transferring from a PCC (to the same cruise agency) I was talking about real money. As a very basic example, one of our favored cruise agencies will generally add additional bonus OBCs (above other OBCs and amenities) ONLY when you book directly. If I were to transfer a booking to them that I made through a PCC (or any other cruise line) they would still give me some extras....but we would lose out on their bonus OBC...which generally amounts to hundreds of dollars (on top of other OBCs). There are also other potential OBCs.....such as those offered by some major credit cards which are only extended when you book with certain agencies.

 

So the basic question with which we wrestle is whether using our PCC is worth giving up hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars. I will admit that our PCC has a nice voice, seems like a very nice lady, and likely has some good knowledge of HAL. On the other hand, our cruise agents also know a lot about HAL and more then a dozen other lines. I will also confess to never having booked a cruise with a "Big Box" store...many of whom do offer OBCs and amenities that will beat a PCCs deal. Our preference are several (we currently use 4) high volume online Cruise Agencies that have very good online booking engines and also are easy to contact via phone or e-mail.

 

Hank.

[Flatbush Flyer]

No wonder cruise fares are going up! You use the resources of the cruise line to get your vacation all arranged and then at a select time you transfer it to a TA who gets 10% from the cruise line , then gives you a small perk and pockets the rest of the commission for doing absolutely nothing in relation to the booking. I'm surprised the cruise lines allow these transfers as they are paying two people to do a single booking.

 

 

Don't know about HAL. But I can tell you that, on Oceania, if you do a book direct onboard with the O Club rep, you get 30 days to do a transfer (which then allows you to shop around for the best extra perks deal). And the "book onboard" gets you an approx 5% cabin discount, a price match guarantee (up until sail date) and current cruise OBC. I assume, the same goes for other direct bookings.

 

As for some of the other comments on this thread:

1.) Cruise lines encourage the use of TAs because the cruise line gets a significant ROI ("free" advertising, phone time, other problem handling, group formation, et al.)

2.) PCC/PVPs are employed by some cruise lines to do one single thing: sell cruises. Their only real value is for the cruise line in that they may talk "fence sitters" into committing to a purchase. Though, I guess you could say that the convenience of not having to find a good TA makes the loss of extra perks some sort of "value" to an unsavvy cruise customer.

3.) Depending on the cruise line, the TA commission is far better than 10% (particularly on those lines that use a sliding scale that rewards its best selling TAs). BTW, this is where the commission sharing comes into play.

 

 

 

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