First, let’s explain what exactly is a Plan To Go fee? Essentially, it is a non-refundable deposit, if you will… a research fee or simply put- a plan to go fee that is applied to your final balance when you book with Abundant Journeys or its retained if you choose not to book with us for any reason. It is designed to maintain the integrity of the relationship between client and travel agent. The premise is to avoid dealing with “shoppers” or otherwise people who will abuse our knowledge, time, and energy only to book our well-researched itinerary on their own… you know… just using and abusing us. Furthermore, it just simply says, “you respect our time and value and, as agents, we certainly respect yours”.

We want to give our best to our clients. Thus, if we are wasting time with people who are collecting hours and hours of research from us with no intention of actually using our services, then we are doing our actual clients a disservice. We don’t want to do that. They deserve the very best from us.

Now we have given “referrals” a waiver on the plan to go fee because, well, they were referred to us by clients who believe in us. However, referrals do not often come with the same integrity as the client. After all, they are two separate people, right? So, to avoid ruining a relationship with our clients who refer people to us, we are separating them, so to speak. Our client will still get the benefit of our client referral program; however, the referral will have to pay our plan to go fee before we can perform any sort of research on their behalf to preserve the integrity of the relationship.

If you still need clarification on plan to go fees, then check out this article written on ConsumerTraveler.com for a more in-depth explanation.

We want to be very clear, our repeat clients are still only charged a plan to go fee on a case-by-case basis, but any new client (whether referred or not) WILL be charged the $75 per person plan to go fee after the initial consultation before we will perform any research on their behalf. If you are a serious buyer, this should not be a problem because it will be applied to the final balance of your trip anyway. We understand our plan to go fee is LOW in comparison to other luxury vacation planning agencies who charge fees beginning at $100 per person up to $500+ per person. Especially when you are an agency like Abundant Journeys whose focus is luxury travel and not budget travel. This non-refundable deposit should be a non-issue amongst this crowd.

No business can stay afloat doing work for free.

A common objection to the plan to go fee: Real Estate Agents do not charge a deposit. So why do some travel agents?

My response: While Real Estate agents do not charge an upfront fee, they do secure the integrity of the relationship, so to speak, through use of contracts. You agree not to use anyone else, but them, typically. You know those lovely forms you must feel out before they pour all of their energy and time into you. Yes, those forms.

Furthermore, real estate agents sell higher based products. Usually a 6% commission is more than likely split between the two agents (buyer and seller agent). Let’s take a standard $200,000 house – 6% commission would bring a base of a $12,000 commission to split between the two agents. And now let’s take a standard vacation of $2,500 – a 10% commission of $250 is given by the suppliers to the agency… yes, that’s about it folks. And for luxury agencies, the average vacation price point is typically higher, but you are still bringing in minimal amounts of commission.

And guess what, travel agents are not booking that many more full vacations than real estate agents are selling houses. And there are no commission on airline tickets at all I might add. If we want you to value us, then we must value ourselves. We do not have contracts like real estate agents, but we do have the plan to go fee (or non-refundable deposit). And, Abundant Journeys will enforce this fee with all new clients, whether referred to us or not.

Now we would be remiss not to mention the biggest difference: a real estate agents fee is added to the bottom line at closing generally. In comparison, a travel agents plan to go fee is deducted from the bottom line when you make your final payment. In other words, it is truly a deposit and not a fee. It only becomes a fee when you choose not to complete the transaction for any reason.

After reading Stacy Small’s article, Living In Your Top 1 Percent today, it inspired us more to “take stock of our goals”. Our goal is to provide exceptional service to our client base. We cannot achieve this goal if we are focusing too much time on people who do not value our service or who are seeking out budget travel from a luxury travel agency. We must hold firm to our position. That being said, our Plan To Go fee will be wholly enforced by all of Abundant Journey’s vacation planners and support staff effective immediately.

If you want to support us when you self-book, then go ahead and book your travel needs using one of our online partners. Supporters means as much to us as clients. They just realize they prefer to book on their own or would prefer budget travel; however they still want to show their support for Abundant Journeys. We certainly appreciate our clients and supporters. And we want you to appreciate us too.

And lastly, for clarity, a plan to go fee is applied to your final balance when you book with us. Click here to learn more about how we work and our flexible payment plans.

Mariah is a travel blogger for Abundant Journeys blog at Prepare2Blossomblog. The goal is to encourage everyone to prepare to blossom through abundant travels.

Mariah is a travel blogger for Abundant Journeys blog at http://www.Prepare2Blossomblog.com.

Author Bio: Mariah is a travel blogger for Abundant Journeys blog at Prepare2Blossomblog. The goal is to encourage everyone to prepare to blossom through abundant travels.

Category: Travel
Keywords: travel agent fee, travel agents, vacation planner