|
If you've decided
to use a Turkish travel agency for
help in arranging your trip, here's
what you need to know to get
the most out of the partnership.
A travel agency makes
reservations and bookings for travel
services such as flights, hotels, tours,
yacht cruises, guides and rental cars.
It may also arrange so-called "F.I.T" tours—private
one-of-a-kind itineraries planned
especially for you. A travel agency
may also operate a limited number of
small-group guided tours.
Travel agencies don't work
for free. They are paid commissions by
hotels, airlines, car rental companies
and other companies that provide
the services which the travel agency
reserves for you. Commissions vary,
but may be around 10% or 15% of the
price you pay for the service. So
if a travel agency reserves a hotel
room with a retail price
of TL150
for you, the hotel pays the agency
TL15
to TL20
for its help in making the connection
to the traveler, and the hotel retains
the remaining TL130
or TL135
as its earnings.
In most cases you may not
save money by making the reservations
yourself, because travel
businesses don't usually lower their
retail prices. If you make the hotel
reservation yourself, chances are
that you'll still pay TL150
for that hotel room,
and
the
hotel
will
keep the total amount.
Indeed, in some cases a tour operator
or travel agency may negotiate bulk
rates for rooms at that hotel,
and may be able to sell you the room
for TL130
(earning a TL13
commission)—a better
price than you could get yourself.
Agencies often work closely with particular,
trusted hotels that have a record of
satisfying their clients. If you want
a reservation at a particular hotel
that the agency does not customarily
work with, you may want to make that
reservation on your own.
If you're planning plane
travel within Turkey and
you buy your ticket from a travel
agency outside of Turkey, you
may pay twice as much for
it as you would if you bought it
from an agency in Turkey. Why?
That's just how international airfares
are set—a good reason
to use a good
Turkish travel agency. An agency
within Turkey can get the ticket at domestic—not
international— rates, and can also arrange
airport shuttles and transfers.
Turkish
travel agents are
usually very
helpful. They love
booking trips and working with people,
and they often give extra
service for
which they may earn no money, such
as re-booking cancelled flights for
you, sorting out missing
hotel reservations, or helping
out in case of illness. My recommended
agencies' staff all speak fluent
English and often several other languages
(French, Spanish, Portuguese, German,
Japanese) as well.
Keep in mind that they cannot
afford to work for nothing.
If you buy only a TL50
cheap flight, and the agency earns
only a TL5
commission, they simply cannot spend
hours helping you to plan your trip.
They'll go bankrupt.
If you plan to use a travel agency,
it's best (if possible) to ask
only one agency to
do everything you want done,
rather than asking various agencies
to arrange various parts of your trip.
You become a more valuable
client to the agency,
they can afford to provide more help
(including providing some services
for free that they might normall charge
for), and they'll have a better
grasp on
all aspects of your trip and can often
make it run smoother.
And it's simpler for you.
Some travelers ask several
agencies to quote prices for the same trip in
order to compare prices. However, it's
expensive for agencies to do all the
trip planning with no assurance they
will be paid for their time, so some
may decline to help, and others may
agree among themselves to all
quote the same price to the traveler.
Many agencies are happy to help with unprofitable
services in exchange for
a reasonable service fee.
For example, many airlines no
longer pay commissions to agencies,
so if you ask a travel agency to
book an airline ticket, they may
add a fee (perhaps
TL15
or TL25)
to the ticket price to pay for their
time, effort and expenses.
You used to pay this service fee to
the airline (it was hidden in the price
of your ticket), which then paid it
to the travel agency. Now you pay it
directly to the agency. No big difference.
You're still paying for the useful
service you receive.
When shopping for travel services,
some travelers ask agencies for detailed
price lists of their services. It's
often not possible for agencies to
provide such breakdowns because of
the ever-changing markets and prices
for travel services; and agencies with
special
arrangements with suppliers may look
upon individual prices as protected
company information.
Here are my recommended travel
agencies.
Here's how to decide if you need a
travel agency.
Here's
how to check a Turkish travel agency to
see if it's legitimate.
|
