How do travel agents charge you?

Question

My husband and I want to take a big trip to The bahamas next year! preferrably the Atlantis Resort! We are spening a lot of money on this trip, we have 2 kids there is no telling when we might get a trip like this again! That being said we want to have the best experiance we can. We want to do it all, scuba, boatin, paragliding alot more. not to mention we want a great room. we are willing to spend 5,000-6,500. We arent people that come from families that went on trips like this. so we have no idea wat the protocal is with travel agents. How do they charge you? please answer it would mean the world.

Answer 1

They don't charge you, they get commission on your tickets and reservations. Shop around for best deal.

Answer 2

they dont charge you directly

They are paid a percentage of the sale by the airlines hotels resorts,etc  whose services they"book" for you. this fee is called a commision and is how the travel agency earns its income

Answer 3

If I understand what you mean, their company gets part of the money from whoever you book through.

They may pull some stuff together for you, and that will cost you a fee directly.

For example, my travel agent could have book flights for us for our cruise in January, but it would have cost me extra versus doing it myself online.

Answer 4

If I were you, I'd skip the travel agent and book an all-inclusive package online.  You're almost guaranteed to get a better price and 80 million Americans consider the internet their travel agent.  They can't all be wrong.

I use http://www.flybymetravel.com

In the orange and blue "Your Travel Search" section select hotels.  Then, click on "advanced" in blue below the Search button.  Type Paradise Island in the "city" field, the number of guests and beds, the dates, country (Bahamas), number of rooms, and if you have a bed type and smoking prefrence.  Then hit "Search".   Now, on the right of the box at the top, select "Change Your Search" and change the number of adults and children and set the childrens ages and you should see several packages and some very competative prices.  If you want to view other resort prices, perhaps some all-inclusive ones just select the "change you search" feature and delete Paradise Island from the city field, while keeping everything else the same.  You should now see every resort offering available in all of the Bahamas.

You can check customer reviews of all of the resorts and you can even book all of your activities through this site.  Just click on the Vacations section of the main page, select the city and country that you'll be in and you should get a list of several activities and attractions.

A little tip, when searching for hotels there is no "back" button so use the Backspace key on your keyboard.  Also, the prices on this site are all front loaded with applicable taxes and fees, so the price you see will be the price you pay.

You can book through Fly By Me Travel with confidence knowing that they are a part of the YTB Travel Network (the 35 largest travel agency in the world) and members of the DSA (Direct Sellers Association)

If you have any questions or need help navigating the site, call the couple in the Contact field.