How Travel Agents Get Paid

The biggest question I get is how do Travel Agents get paid. There are actually several answers to this question. Most travel agents get paid commission directly from the suppliers. The percentage paid out depends on a few different things such as volume and who your host agency may be.
Travel agents do not charge more for the trip itself. So for an example if a Disney trip for a family of four is $4000 directly with Disney it is $4000 with the travel agent through Disney. We are paid the percentage directly from Disney which means you are getting a one on one service directly with your agent who follows you from the booking right through your travel and follows up when you get home.
A travel agent only gets paid once you have booked your travel, paid in full and traveled. So when asking a travel agent for lots of quotes or shopping around they put lots of time and effort and get no compensation unless you actually book and travel.
Some travel agents have put into place plan to go fees. This is where you are charged a planning fee and once you book it is applied to the booking as a payment. Many travel agents do this especially when booking wedding or group travel because of the scope of work required to handle group bookings.
Other agents have straight up fees. Some are a standard amount and some charge based on the type of trip being booked. It really depends on when searching for a travel agent you need to ask questions up front about what it costs.
For myself personally I do usually charge a $50 fee for a Disney booking and I will help you with everything. Making and suggesting your dinning reservations. Fast pass+ reservations as well as suggested itineraries.
Our agency also charges a cancellation fee. This is charged only if you cancel your vacation as it is the only way we will get paid for the work we have done. As once you cancel we lose our commission from the supplier.
Most travel agents work very hard for their clients going above and beyond being available most of the time. You can reach us while you are vacationing if problems should arrive. Should there be issues with a flight we can often find a solution to get you home while other people are standing in a line waiting for a reservation clerk at the airport. Online booking engines do not provide you with this same service. If you do call in you get a different agent helping you every time while with s Travel Agent we are your service provider from start to finish.
We do have a booking engine on our website which can help you look for what you are interested in or book quickly if you think rates are going up. If you book on our website you will still get that same service all the way through and should anything happen again we will be the dedicated person to help you.
It is a shared site so if you do book just make sure to put the agents name you want to book with in the notes to make it easier on all of us.

Here are my details: www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca or www.exclusivetoyoutravel.com
www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagentnextdoor