Should I become a TA?

[newmexicoNita]

that no one has mentioned whether TAs will be relevent in the future with all the computer agencies out there. I use a TA for my cruises and have always had great service because I was lucky to have a good TA. Just thinking about the future.

very good point. I am glad, at my age, I am not counting on lots of business 10 years down the road. NMnita

[ocngypz]

that no one has mentioned whether TAs will be relevent in the future with all the computer agencies out there. I use a TA for my cruises and have always had great service because I was lucky to have a good TA. Just thinking about the future.

 

The recent report just finished by CLIA indicates an overwhelming preference for cruisers to book through a live agent, not a cold online booking. I left the report at work, otherwise I'd pull the numbers for you.

[donnajo]

Well I guess I have the best of both worlds then, because I work for my agency's internet division!

My customers can book online OR directly with me :) .

There are alot of last minute deals out there, and sure, we get an added discount on those (mostly we get the commission back), but it's no different than say.. the military discounts that Carnival gives.

My husband gets the military discount from Carnival and we can sail on the Miracle (for example) for about 699pp in a balcony (obviously certain sailings). I would also get the commission back if I booked that particular cruise for myself, which would lower the price to quite a deal. However, if I just called in to Carnival to get a standard TA rate, it wouldn't be that low.

We also get friends and family rates on occasion as a thank you from the cruiselines.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that if you add in any discounts or money saved from my personal cruises to what I get paid, it still isn't alot. Plus, we have sales quotas we have to meet in order to keep the company profitable. I also work two nights a week and Sundays. Again, not complaining, I like what I do, but as stated in many earlier posts, if you are going to get in the business just to get cruise discounts, well..... that's kind of like working retail so you can get a discount on your clothes! LOL

Just my two cents :D

Donna

[dkjretired]

The recent report just finished by CLIA indicates an overwhelming preference for cruisers to book through a live agent, not a cold online booking. I left the report at work, otherwise I'd pull the numbers for you.

 

Good, I hope it stays that way, just a little fearful that everything will be done by computer in the future. Just thought it would make for a good discussion on the board.

[newmexicoNita]

Good, I hope it stays that way, just a little fearful that everything will be done by computer in the future. Just thought it would make for a good discussion on the board.

And I still think it will turn to the computer in the next 5 to 10 years. My guess is the poles which I usually don't take to seriously anyway reflect the number of seniors who cruise (a large portion of the industry business) who either don't have computers, don't use them or are so accustom to TAs they wouldn't think of doing it any other way. As those in thier 20s and 30s cruise even more and we oldsters are no longer a part of the market the internet will take over. I am normally not negative and I wish this wasn't the case, but I fear it will be.

 

Nita

[first celebrity cruiser]

how much is the TA company paid? I'm not interested in the individual agent. I'm just curious how much of my fare the cruise line is willing to hand over.

 

It varies as someone else said. Between 10% to 18% is pretty normal. If you meet certain quotas there are additional bonuses and benefits.

[Sky Sweet]

Good, I hope it stays that way, just a little fearful that everything will be done by computer in the future. Just thought it would make for a good discussion on the board.

 

A few years ago, I thought that the computer age, as well as the option of booking directly with the cruise line, would have weeded out the weaker travel agents. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. My gut feeling is that there are so many people who used travel agents at a time when they were a necessity just accept the fact that they are working with one who is not very knowledgeable, responsive, or service oriented. However, as more people become aware of alternative options for planning and booking a cruise, they will probably be less inclined to tolerate poor service from a travel agent. That will probably help the good travel agents, and put the weaker ones out of business. At this time I have two cruises booked. One was booked through a travel agent, that I have used before, and includes multiple cabins for a family cruise, while the other one was booked directly through Celebrity and only includes one cabin. Ironically, I am getting much better service with the one that I booked directly through Celebrity.

[twirlgirl]

Hi. Think real hard about becoming at TA. I owned aqn agency for 20 years. I also trained all of my employees. The cost to become an agent is very hight and most agents don't learn enought to be of much help after their training. I usually had to start over any way. Perks? That is a thing of the past. Fam trips were a great learning tool but they were not vacations. Looking at 50 hotel rooms in 3 days is not a vacation. For cruising you can apply but you don't know if you are on the cruise for at least 30days prior to sailing. Thats of course if you are lucky enough to even get on a ship. No agents on sold out ships. Working as an outside agent is very hard work. Working on fees charged by the agency. No commission for air. You do a lot of work for nothing if you want to keep your clients. I have hardly ever used a TA discount on the airlines now. Cheaper and safer to just buy an advance purchase ticket. Traveling doesn't make you a travel agent. Thank god we sold our agency before the airlines took away commissions and we had real people for reps.

Good Luck. Bev

[Scott Cyn]

It varies as someone else said. Between 10% to 18% is pretty normal. If you meet certain quotas there are additional bonuses and benefits.

 

Thanks for giving a straightforward answer, which some people seem to have a hard time doing.

 

Scott

[newmexicoNita]

Thanks for giving a straightforward answer, which some people seem to have a hard time doing.

 

Scott

Scott, I don't know about others, but for me it has nothing to do with a hard time, I just see it differently; 1-it isn't anyone else's business:2-what the agency gets and what the agent gets is two totally different things, depending on the type of company you work for and your arrangements with them, 3-I can't see what relavence this has to do with cruisine and pricing: 4-the commission is only on part of the cruise price and can be very little or very great; 4-you can see spread is so varied that it serves no purpose to discuss this on a board like this.

 

End of the story

Nita

[krewzin]

Scott, I don't know about others, but for me it has nothing to do with a hard time, I just see it differently; 1-it isn't anyone else's business

 

What the heck is the big deal? Nobody is asking what you personally are making...they just wanna know how much a TA can make on a per cruise basis.

 

Is it so terrible to want to know this (especially if deciding whether or not you want to become a TA)?

 

Back on topic:

My uncle used to be a TA many years ago and would get 3% of the total amount of the cruise booked...so on a $10K cruise he'd pull in $300.

 

I dunno if this is high, low...or the norm, but as other have said, it ain't much for the amount of work.

[first celebrity cruiser]

you can see spread is so varied that it serves no purpose to discuss this on a board like this.

 

With all due respect to you I use the fact that the agency is getting a minimum of 10% to 18% of my cruise fare for their services to my advantage when booking.

 

Depending upon the value of the cruise the commission can turn into a significant amount of dollars. As such it is a bargaining tool for me in what I ask for as a credit from the agent prior to finalizing my booking. The worst we have ever done is obtain a 5% rebate in the form of onboard credit (the best was 10% on a large suite once which was available just prior to sailing). We also look for the smaller independent on line agents who don't have to split their commission several ways - thus being able to easily afford us the rebate. You will also have to establish an ongoing relationship with the agent in order to start receiving those rebates. Admittedly for the low cost inside cabins the rebate amounts to next to nothing and is not worth the bother haggling over.

[ParrotTops]

In many states, you do need to obtain a business liscense to start a travel business and also purchase insurance. I am not sure how much you have to sell first to become eligable for a CLIA or IATA card, does any know?

[Sky Sweet]

Prior to reading this thread I thought that a travel agent's commission was considerably less than it actually is. In fact, when the travel agent we used for our Baltic Cruise refused to give a receipt to either me or our friends who also booked with them, after we made our final payment, I thought maybe she earned too little from those bookings to provide good service. Now that I have done the math and realize that between us and our friends she received a substantial commission for that cruise, her lack of service bothers me a lot more. Especially considering the fact that her husband owns that travel agency and she didn't even have to split her commission!!

[donnaw]

Several friends have insisted that I should become a TA and I think all the reasons that I don't have been listed here. I set up about 30 trips a year for friends and family and have a great success rate which I am not going to mess up by taking on more. I do the work and then hand it over to our TA who just enters it in the system. In a few cases, I have handled all the details with the TA and just handed over the phone for the charge card number.

 

Now, as a TA, I would be expected to handle a lot more than this and it would no longer be fun! Yes, some people do make a decent living at it but most that do have been around forever and have built a very strong client base by giving excellent service. Years of cutting commissions have made it very difficult for breaking in and actually making a living.

 

End result, I will continue to have fun doing it as a hobby and let the real TA's handle the rest. If I had to do it all, then I would have much less time to play with our own travel and get the best deals for us.

[Petoonya]

Sky Sweet,

 

About your agent who would not give you the receipt for your Baltic cruise....

 

You really don't know how much she was willing to discount your cruise...ie. reduce her commission...in order to get your business.

 

If you came to her with a price from another agency that was already discounted, and she needed to match or best that price, she may have really dipped into her commission. And the amount of work she did vs. her commission could be very small. Or it could be very nice- it's really hard to guesstimate.

 

Also to anyone who is considering getting into the travel business as an outside sales agent, remember that most outside sales agents do not even get a 50/50 split with agent owners when they are first starting out- more like 30/70. So your $2000 sale after taking out taxes and airfare even at 14% commission is pretty puny. Most cruise clients are not as savvy as those who regularly visit Cruise critic and require a lot more time and energy. In other words don't go into it with the expectation of making good wages. Outstanding agents with established clientele who've been at it for many years can do very well, but takes years to get there.

 

:)

[newmexicoNita]

What the heck is the big deal? Nobody is asking what you personally are making...they just wanna know how much a TA can make on a per cruise basis.

 

Is it so terrible to want to know this (especially if deciding whether or not you want to become a TA)?

 

Back on topic:

My uncle used to be a TA many years ago and would get 3% of the total amount of the cruise booked...so on a $10K cruise he'd pull in $300.

 

I dunno if this is high, low...or the norm, but as other have said, it ain't much for the amount of work.

It isn't such a big deal, but has no bearing on becoming a TA. The commission paid goes to the company, not to the agent. That is one of my points: every company has their own policy for payment to agents, unless someone is thinking of going into business for themselves knowing the commission that cruiselines pay has no bearing. The other point is, even at 16% the net is much less because of overhead. NMNita

[newmexicoNita]

Prior to reading this thread I thought that a travel agent's commission was considerably less than it actually is. In fact, when the travel agent we used for our Baltic Cruise refused to give a receipt to either me or our friends who also booked with them, after we made our final payment, I thought maybe she earned too little from those bookings to provide good service. Now that I have done the math and realize that between us and our friends she received a substantial commission for that cruise, her lack of service bothers me a lot more. Especially considering the fact that her husband owns that travel agency and she didn't even have to split her commission!!

Sky Sweet, there are lots of agents out there that do very little and still are able to make a living, but those are the ones we wish we could get rid of; for those of us who work our butts off, we do it because it is usually a happy job. We know we are not going to get rich. I am sorry your agent wasn't that good, hopefully one day you will find one that you can brag about cause there are many good ones. I do think, for anyone who says they should know how much we make, they need to also consider the overhead. Owners have bucca dollars in overhead and agents have their share as well, not to mention we are asked to throw stuff like insurance in or cut our commission etc. Don't think 10-16% is all that much. Even though it seems like a lot, you also have to remember commission is not paid on any fees. The actual fees including port charges that we make nothing on can be 25 to 30% of the cruise cost. Example: $1000.00 per person cruise: $250.00 may be fees bring the commissionable rate to $750.00 x say, 15%: $112.50 commission per person; sounds good? Now consider the overhead cost plus maybe a gift etc. Some sales are easy; we just enter in the computer, send out docs (an added cost of course) and order a gift: good profit. Others take hours of research; not a good profit. Then there are those who we work hours to find the right cruise, they book but cancel before final payment or they don't book at all. NMnita