Why Don't TA's Tell Us The Inside Scoop?

do they ever tell us what they make in commissions? do they ever tell
us about the REAL prices they pay for group cruise cabins? Do they
tell us about all the freebies and perks and goodie sand all that
neato stuff?

OK, I'll bite.

If I open up Ace Travel tomorrow to sell cruises I'm going to get 10%
commission on almost any cruise I sell right off the bat. All of the major
cruise lines have 10% as their base commission. But remember, that commission
will only apply to the cruise fare, not to what used to be called port charges
and is now generally called Non-Commissionable Charges.

Let's say I do a million dollars of sales in my first year. What my commissions
will be for the next year will depend on the mix of cruise lines that I've
sold. For example, if that full million was all with Carnival then I'm probably
going to be making 16% in the future.

But realistically, that $1M volume will be spread among all the major lines so
maybe I'll only be at 13% on average if I do the same $1M business in the
following year.

This illustrates why the cruise lines tie the commission to volume -- it's an
incentive for the agency to move as much volume to a select few "preferred"
providers. In the extreme example above, if all my volume goes to CCL in year
#2 I'll make $160,000 in commissions. If it's spread around to everybody that
same total volume will only net $130,000 in commissions.

Now suppose I'm not an agency but an independent agent who works with one or
more agencies to handle my bookings. What I make will depend on the arrangement
I have with my "host" agency. We might split the commission 50/50 or 60/40 or
whatever. I might keep the 10% base commission with the override of 1% - 6%
going to the host. There's hundreds of ways of making the split depending on
what each party brings to the agreement.

On top of this there are occasionally opportunities to make extra commissions.
The cruise line might need help moving some space and may offer a $25/cabin
bonus commission or something similar.

As an agency owner I may choose to join a consortium -- a conglomeration of
agencies that pool their selling power to get higher commissions. This might
get me 14% commission with a cruise line when my sales volume technically only
entitles me to 12%.

For groups the agency normally gets whatever their individual res commission
currently is. Pricing on groups can be exactly the same as an individual cabin
booked at the same time the group is contracted or maybe a few bucks less. The
thing to remember about groups is that there's more factors involved in
establishing the cabin pricing -- size of the group, makeup of the group, etc.
One Princess rep told me about an agency that charters a couple ships a year
for Christian groups. Princess actually prices this group's cabins $100 or so
higher than normal because they get very little bar/casino revenue.

The hope for every agency is to book "spec" grouop space every year. Say I hold
eight cabins on one Alaska sailing. I sell three cabins to one family, four
cabins to another family, and one to another couple. Yippee!! I've earned one
TC berth which might mean a $600 - $700 bonus on top of the regular commissions
I earned.

Some cruisers assume that an agency gets rich by handling a group but it
normally doesn't make any more than it would have if it sold the same number of
cabins on a one by one basis. Any extras that the cruise line offers for the
group booking is usually in the form of additional amenities to the group
participants (parties, shipboard credits, etc.), not as additional $$$ to the
agency. But, just like with some individual bookings, if it's a "soft" sailing
there might be some sort of bonus commission to help fill an empty ship.

The big question mark is always rebating. Many cruisers expect the agency to
give some of its commission back to them. Some agencies will, some won't. A
small agency that has to pay a reasonable wage to get good agents that provide
good service may not be able to give back any of its 13%. A large agency that
is making 16% - 17% and competes on price rather that service can kick back 3%
- 5% to keep their volume up.

Bottom line? The average salary for a full-time agent the last time I looked
was under $25K. And the average agency is barely breaking even. And the average
agency owner who has spent years nurturing a business is probably sitting on an
asset that's worth about $10 if he/she were to try to sell it. In most cases,
the only way to get some value out of a travel agency upon retirement is to
burn the place down and hope the insurance adjuster hasn't got a clue.

Ten or fifteen years ago a normal seven night Caribbean cruise went for about
$1000/person. Now you can get it for maybe $699. That's a 30% cut in pay for
agencies during a period of time where overhead and other fixed expenses have
probably increased at least 20%. Not a good trend.

Rather than trying to figure out how agents are screwing the cruising public
you should be asking how they can afford to even keep the doors open.

I would have thought for sure you'd rather be on top.

--
Greg
lid
(Remove the '.invalid' twice to send Email)


"Cruising Chrissy" wrote in message
...

Yes, top posting is for numbnuts.

From: Lloyd Parsons

I must be bad too, I also sell product for a living and I do not reveal
my margins, nor my commissions. It isn't anyone's business

Well, except for the government of curse!

Sometimes typos are truer than the word intended ... but if you intended curse
.... nicely done ...


Be seeing you
In the Village
Number 6

You noticed I posted the Island Gal return when she was bigchested,
CC, and all the other crap she/he creates. The idiot forgets their ID
is told to us.
So everyone can killfile all of them, as I did.


"Dick Goldhaber" wrote in message ...
Not that it matters, but "Cruising Chrissy" is not a new contributor but
simply a new ID for an old contributor who was killfiled by a lot of people.

Anyone remember "Island Gal"?
--
DG in Cherry Hill, NJ


"Lloyd Parsons" wrote in message
...
In article , Jmpngtiger
wrote:

I work for a living. I make money by buying a product and selling it
for
more.
I don't reveal my margins. I am a bad person.

jt

I must be bad too, I also sell product for a living and I do not reveal
my margins, nor my commissions. It isn't anyone's business

Well, except for the government of curse!

Lloyd

Hi, This is 4 cruising crissy. I sent u an e-mail & it came back 2 me.
Why? How come u know so much about cruises? Ronnie

Have a nice day.

We let TA's like Ray and Leppla come here to RTC and spamadvertise us
with infomercials and they make a tidy profit from a free Usenet
newsgroup.

what do they tell us about the "insiders" part of the business?

Nada.



uh....darling Chrissy, there's this search engine called Google, ever heard of
it? The answers to your very questions lie within. ;-)

It is not difficult to find someone who is both an anti-Semite and a
homophobe, but it is difficult to find one who openly brags about it.
--
DG in Cherry Hill, NJ


"Brenda" wrote in message
om...
You noticed I posted the Island Gal return when she was bigchested,
CC, and all the other crap she/he creates. The idiot forgets their ID
is told to us.
So everyone can killfile all of them, as I did.


"Dick Goldhaber" wrote in message
...
Not that it matters, but "Cruising Chrissy" is not a new contributor but
simply a new ID for an old contributor who was killfiled by a lot of
people.

Anyone remember "Island Gal"?
--
DG in Cherry Hill, NJ


"Lloyd Parsons" wrote in message
...
In article , Jmpngtiger
wrote:

I work for a living. I make money by buying a product and selling
it
for
more.
I don't reveal my margins. I am a bad person.

jt

I must be bad too, I also sell product for a living and I do not
reveal
my margins, nor my commissions. It isn't anyone's business

Well, except for the government of curse!

Lloyd

Why would it shock you that she would list a fraudulent e-mail address? I
don't know that to be true since the last time I e-mailed her she was
"Island Gal".
--
DG in Cherry Hill, NJ



"Ronnie G" wrote in message
...
Hi, This is 4 cruising crissy. I sent u an e-mail & it came back 2 me.
Why? How come u know so much about cruises? Ronnie

Have a nice day.

Stupid its called BUSINESS, I would do the same if I was in the cruise
business. Theres a thing called making money and its none of your business how
much they make, if you dont like their prices, do it yourself.

On 22 Jan 2004 05:35:46 -0800, (Brenda)
wrote:

The idiot forgets their ID
is told to us.

LOL

Speaking of idiots.......


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