Why do we require a Trip Research Deposit or a Planning Fee?

For most, planning a trip is an exciting task… You start dreaming about your destination, and the activities you will be doing… You start researching your trip, reading reviews, looking at hotel pictures, trying to figure out the best flights… Choices are limitless these days, and you can find tons of information online.

But what if the amount of information available is starting to be overwhelming and confusing? What if you don’t have all this “free” time to research every detail of your trip? That’s where professional service, like It’s Worth Traveling LLC, comes in.

When you decide to work with a travel advisor, you are utilizing their services, and their time. By reaching out to a professional travel advisor you are most likely overwhelmed by the travel options available online, or you are too busy to spend hours researching best hotels, and activities. You may also just want a professional advice and support, so your trip is the best it can be.

Let’s start with a question of, how do travel agents make money? In most cases, travel agents are paid commission by tour operators and hotels (but not always). However, commission is only paid once the traveler actually comes back from a trip! If you don’t travel, we don’t get paid!

So when we spend hours working on your trip, and you decide not to travel, or you book somewhere else, we not only are not getting paid, but we also just wasted our time, that we could have spend with clients who are serious about working with us. So by charging an upfront deposit, or a planning fee, we are just protecting our time investment.

When you, the traveler, pay an upfront deposit, or a planning fee, you are showing your travel advisor that you are serious about booking your trip, and that you value their time, and expertise.

A travel advisor who charges an upfront deposit or a fee is also more obligated to provide a faster and better service, because they are already being compensated for it! They are not working for free, so they don’t feel like they are being used by a random person, who just wants to pick their brain.

An agent who provides free quotes all the time (we have been there and done that), and is in the end not booking those trips, for whatever reason, is going to feel discouraged, and even annoyed with people who reach out and never book. This is causing worse customer service, which in turns hurts both, travel agent, and a potential client.

An agent who provides free quotes will be bombarded with travel inquires from people who are shopping around, or just want to pick their brain, and who are not loyal to that agent… That is not a way to build relationships and trust in this (or any) business. And we are not saying that you shouldn’t shop around! Sure, if you have time, and will, feel free to check out some travel options online, and see what your potential trip may cost. But when you reach out to a travel agent, be serious and ready to work with them, and be ready to pay them for their service, time and expertise they provide!

Can you imagine a lawyer or an accountant NOT charging for their time and expertise? Yes, they may offer a free initial consultation (and so do we), but they don’t actually spend hours working and researching your case without charging for their time! Just something to ponder about…

When we ask for a small deposit before we spend hours working on your trip, we are not being greedy or unprofessional. We are actually showing the world that we are a professional service, we value our time, and we deserve to be compensated for the service we are providing.

Ultimately, we are requiring the deposit/fee to benefit our clients! We want to be able to get back to you with quotes and travel options faster, and with more detail. We cannot do that if we are busy working with people who are “just shopping around,” “just wondering”, or “just want to pick our brains.” If you are not willing to pay an upfront deposit or a planning fee, that’s OK. We may just not be a good fit to work together… But know that when you book with us once, you will never question our deposit or a fee ever again… because you will know that we are well worth it! 😉