What do you think is a TA's commission?

George Leppla wrote:
"Ike" wrote

I'm sure there are a lot of variables in the equation, and some TAs focus
more on one line than another to build volume, a relationship, and better
pricing. But it seems to me that the biggest "discount" possible from one
TA to another is a small number -- perhaps a percentage of the commission.

The commission is probably about 10%... and when a particular cruise needs
bookings the number goes up to get TAs to focus on it.

What do you think?
What do TAs know?

Ike

if I'm treading on holy ground... offending someone... violating TA
ethics... exposing TA secrets...


Yeah... we are sending the black helicopters to your house right now. vbg

Most cruise lines pay TA's a base commission of 10%. The more volume you
do, the higher the commission. Usually, the most a good, average sized
travel agency can hope for is around 15%. Anything paid over 10% is called
an "override". Some of the mega sites get up to 17% and possibly more, but
their volume is so high that you could count these agencies on both hands.
(Travelocity, Expedia, Cruise.com, etc)

...

Does cruise lines pay more commission that land based vacation? There
seems to be more discount for cruise then other form of vacations packages.

"Blackbird71" wrote

LOL, but my question is there a cap to commission. ??? If a TA books a
couple
on a World Cruise for a total price of say $150,000 does the agency get
the
full 10% (assuming they were at the 10% level to start with).

No, there is no cap to commissions... at least, not yet.

The most expensive cruise I ever sold was $44,000 on an expedition type
cruise and my commission was the full 10%.

BTW, in spite of cruise lines making record profits, there is always talk
about how commissions will be cut. In the past 5 years, some cruise lines
have made a concentrated effort to get more direct bookings and while they
had some initial success, they did not have the impact on the market that
they hoped for. One line wanted 25% direct bookings by 2005 and ended up
getting 14-15% instead. That is still an awful lot of bookings. As a
whole, it is estimated that travel agencies still sell between 85 and 90% of
all cruises and while that number remains high, I think it is unlikely that
the cruise lines will make drastic changes to the distribution system. They
might nickel and dime us to death.... but I think most cruises will be sold
by travel agents for a number of years to come.

Just my opinion and worth what you paid for it.


--
George Leppla http://www.countryside-travel.com

Cruise Specials BLOG http://www.countryside-travel.com/3834677_6105.htm
October 29, 2006 - SLEAZY 4! http://cruisemaster.com/sleazy4.htm
February 10, 2007 - Valentine's Group - http://cruisemaster.com/grandeur.htm

"newbie" wrote

Does cruise lines pay more commission that land based vacation? There
seems to be more discount for cruise then other form of vacations
packages.

For the most part, land vacation packages pay similar commission rates as
the cruise lines and you are right, there seems to be less discounting of
prices for land vacations. This is something that travel agents and cruise
execs have been wondering about for years.

Years ago I sold all-inclusive resort packages and I am seriously
considering adding that product mix back into my business again.


--
George Leppla http://www.countryside-travel.com

Cruise Specials BLOG http://www.countryside-travel.com/3834677_6105.htm
October 29, 2006 - SLEAZY 4! http://cruisemaster.com/sleazy4.htm
February 10, 2007 - Valentine's Group - http://cruisemaster.com/grandeur.htm

"George Leppla" :

Do some travel agents focus on fewer cruise lines to raise their
commission?
Absolutely. A million dollars in volume with one cruise line might get you

15%. A million dollars spread out over 10 cruise lines will probably keep
you at 10% on all of them. The goal is to sell enough different kinds of
cruise lines to provide a variety of products that will satisfy that
agency's customers.... while still selling enough volume on enough cruise
lines to make a decent override. If an agent is making 15% on ever cruise
line, he/she probably could stand to add more product into the mix. If an
agent is getting 10% on everything, he/she could probably stand to drop a
few cruise lines and concentrate sales in these "preferred suppliers".

Ah, that explains alot about the mix of brouchers I see at diffirent travel
agents.

Earl Colby Pottinger

--
Cruising, building a Catamaran, Rebuilding Cabin, New Peroxide Still Design,
Writting SF, Programming FOSS - What happened to the time?

(George*Leppla)

BTW, in spite of cruise lines making record
profits, there is always talk about how
commissions will be cut. In the past 5 years,
some cruise lines have made a concentrated
effort to get more direct bookings and while
they had some initial success, they did not
have the impact on the market that they hoped
for. One line wanted 25% direct bookings by
2005 and ended up getting 14-15% instead.
That is still an awful lot of bookings. As a
whole, it is estimated that travel agencies still
sell between 85 and 90% of all cruises and
while that number remains high, I think it is
unlikely that the cruise lines will make drastic
changes to the distribution system. They might
nickel and dime us to death.... but I think most
cruises will be sold by travel agents for a
number of years to come.

Do you think that the cruise lines would like to move to the economic
model that the airlines now have, no commission for travel agents?

"Jeff Gersten" wrote

Do you think that the cruise lines would like to move to the economic
model that the airlines now have, no commission for travel agents?

Do I think they would like to? A couple of years ago I would have said YES.
Now I am not so sure.

While most cruise lines are actively seeking direct bookings, even the most
aggressive companies have fallen way short of their projected goals.
Selling or buying a cruise is not like selling or buying an airline ticket
and consumers seem to be a bit more resistant to purchasing directly.
There are a few reasons for this.

1) Air tickets are transportation, cruise sales are vacation. One is a
simple A to B transaction, the other involves many facets such as dining,
entertainment, facilities, etc.

2) Airlines are perceived as providing almost identical services while
cruise line "brands" are perceived as being different from each other. A
seat on a Delta plane is the same as a seat on a US Airways plane. A
Carnival cruise is not the same as a Celebrity cruise.

3) Generally, cruises are more expensive than air tickets and people seem to
want some human contact when making a large purchase, rather than the simple
information exchange that is involved in an airline seat sale. Clicking on
the "Submit" button to buy a $200 air ticket has a different "feel" than
doing the same for a $2000 cruise.

4) Generally, the consumer demands more product knowledge when buying a
cruise than when buying a plane ticket. While much of that knowledge is
available online, it appears that the majority of consumers want a real
person to communicate with. As a TA, I can tell you that most of my job
involves answering questions.... many of them after the sale is made.

One thing I have noticed within the past year is that some cruise lines are
once again stressing that you should use a travel agent. In advertisements
I have seen the return of "Call your Travel Agent today" type of tags....
where last year the sales tag went "Call us at 1-800-Cruise-Line". I have
noticed that there is more contact between the cruise line's sales force and
the travel agent. I seem to be getting a lot more offers for freebie or
reduced TA rates on cruises. (I seldom get to go).

Yes, I think that cruise lines would love to sell more cruises directly to
the consumer just like the airlines, but fortunately for me, I don't see
that happening any time soon. But... I could be wrong. Only time will tell.


--
George Leppla http://www.countryside-travel.com

Cruise Specials BLOG http://www.countryside-travel.com/3834677_6105.htm
October 29, 2006 - SLEAZY 4! http://cruisemaster.com/sleazy4.htm
February 10, 2007 - Valentine's Group - http://cruisemaster.com/grandeur.htm

"George Leppla" wrote in
:


"Jeff Gersten" wrote

Do you think that the cruise lines would like to move to the economic
model that the airlines now have, no commission for travel agents?

Do I think they would like to? A couple of years ago I would have
said YES. Now I am not so sure.

While most cruise lines are actively seeking direct bookings, even the
most aggressive companies have fallen way short of their projected
goals. Selling or buying a cruise is not like selling or buying an
airline ticket and consumers seem to be a bit more resistant to
purchasing directly. There are a few reasons for this.

1) Air tickets are transportation, cruise sales are vacation. One is
a simple A to B transaction, the other involves many facets such as
dining, entertainment, facilities, etc.

2) Airlines are perceived as providing almost identical services while
cruise line "brands" are perceived as being different from each other.
A seat on a Delta plane is the same as a seat on a US Airways plane.
A Carnival cruise is not the same as a Celebrity cruise.

3) Generally, cruises are more expensive than air tickets and people
seem to want some human contact when making a large purchase, rather
than the simple information exchange that is involved in an airline
seat sale. Clicking on the "Submit" button to buy a $200 air ticket
has a different "feel" than doing the same for a $2000 cruise.

4) Generally, the consumer demands more product knowledge when buying
a cruise than when buying a plane ticket. While much of that
knowledge is available online, it appears that the majority of
consumers want a real person to communicate with. As a TA, I can tell
you that most of my job involves answering questions.... many of them
after the sale is made.

One thing I have noticed within the past year is that some cruise
lines are once again stressing that you should use a travel agent.
In advertisements I have seen the return of "Call your Travel Agent
today" type of tags.... where last year the sales tag went "Call us
at 1-800-Cruise-Line". I have noticed that there is more contact
between the cruise line's sales force and the travel agent. I seem to
be getting a lot more offers for freebie or reduced TA rates on
cruises. (I seldom get to go).

Yes, I think that cruise lines would love to sell more cruises
directly to the consumer just like the airlines, but fortunately for
me, I don't see that happening any time soon. But... I could be
wrong. Only time will tell.



I think you are right. A few years ago when Carnival did it's famous
Carnival Loves Travel Agents, I was thinnking yeah right, untill you can
get 50-75% without us and then boom car and air industry boom will fall.
But I have noticed better treatment by the reps lately, it is a push.
And when I complained to Oceania about an unfair practice by one of the
psuedo websites, it at least got me a lot of feather smoothing behavior
even if my client didn't come back to me.

--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 20:03:38 -0500, George Leppla wrote
(in article ):



4) Generally, the consumer demands more product knowledge when buying a
cruise than when buying a plane ticket.

LOL I am a brochure freak. I love the wall of cruise brochures and always
pick up a couple more than I went in for. AND because of that I have taken
cruises I would not have taken without a brochure.

Thus spake "George Leppla" :


"newbie" wrote

Does cruise lines pay more commission that land based vacation? There
seems to be more discount for cruise then other form of vacations
packages.

For the most part, land vacation packages pay similar commission rates as
the cruise lines and you are right, there seems to be less discounting of
prices for land vacations. This is something that travel agents and cruise
execs have been wondering about for years.

Years ago I sold all-inclusive resort packages and I am seriously
considering adding that product mix back into my business again.

It's made things nice for me. I can sell either experience, depending
on the particular need. The problem is that land based vacations tend
to take more work, trying to get "the right" flights, etc.
--
dillon

Could have been is in the past
Could be is in the future
There is only the now

In article , newbie says...

Does cruise lines pay more commission that land based vacation? There
seems to be more discount for cruise then other form of vacations packages.

The Commission structure is very similar. But there are huge differences in the
basic business model. The Cruise business is hugely capital intensive and is
getting more so. There are relatively few suppliers for the market. The booking
procedure for departures from domestic ports has become simplified and it is
easy for a mass marketer to grab the low hanging fruit by means of discounts,
rebates, etc.

On the other hand it is fairly easy to become a "Tour Operator" because you are
using someone elses hotel, bus, airplane, etc. That is why there are so many of
them out there, and there can be so many variations in tours and hotels that
there is still a degree of complexity that you do not find in a Cruise package.
There is very little to be gained by discounting or rebating and that is why it
is not common. It takes a lot of the Agents time to complete a sucessful
booking.

Time is the key because time is money after all.

More can be said on this but time is running out .......

Cal Ford
Lido DEck Cruises