| About Us | Contact Us | Homepage | Site Menu |
| 1. | The airlines have drastically cut commissions to travel agents for booking their flights. The commission is now generally one half as much as it was several years ago. In addition to this, most of the airlines have put a cap on the amount of commission that a travel agent can earn for booking an airline ticket. As a result, many travel agents have been forced out of business. In order for a travel agency to be able to book airline tickets it must use a booking engine which can be costly. The only way that a travel agency can afford to provide this service is to charge a fee. Despite this a travel agent can search for the best fare and often save clients a lot of money. The fee is usually small and averages about $20. Since travel agents make very little money booking air tickets with the airlines, it is necessary to book other kinds of travel like tours and cruises in order to survive. | |
| top | ||
| 2. | Consolidator tickets are discounted or wholesale air tickets sold by consolidators, a type of tour operator. The consolidator enters into an agreement with one or more of the major airlines to sell blocks of air tickets at reduced prices. These tickets are generally only available to foreign destinations from the USA. Many travel agents do not sell consolidator tickets because they can be more work than booking through the typical reservation system. Also, many consolidators are not reputable, so you have to be very careful which ones you use. We have made the sale of consolidator air tickets an important part of our business. As a result, we research consolidators and only book through those that have established good reputations. In the process we have saved many of our clients money. Consolidator tickets usually come with a large financial penalty if someone wants to make a change to a ticket. This requirement is due to the airlines, and is usually not a problem for leisure travelers who plan to fly on a specific schedule. To get good deals on consolidator tickets it is best to book early, especially if you plan to go during high season. Booking three to six months in advance is not too early. | |
| top | ||
| 3. | Not usually. The exception is airline tickets booked with the airlines because a fee is usually charged in this case. For booking tours, cruises, hotels, rental cars, and other travel products a fee is rarely charged. Most tours, cruises, and other travel products are sold by travel agents. Although some tour operators, cruise lines, and other travel providers sell directly to the public, the amount of their sales is usually quite small compared to the sales of travel agents. As a result, the travel providers are very much dependent upon the sales of travel agents, and they are very careful not to sell for less than travel agents in order to protect them. So you get our advice at no extra cost and we do the work. Another advantage of going through a travel agent is that a number of the best tour operators only sell through travel agents/consultant. If you book on your own you can not take advantage of these tour operators. | |
| top | ||
| 4. | The tour package will usually cost less, sometime a lot less than booking everything separately. Another reason for booking a tour package is that the tour operator has checked everything out including inspections of the hotels they offer. Tour operators only use hotels and other travel products that meet their standards. | |
| top | ||
| 5. | Some times there really are sales, but not always. An objective of marketing is to convince someone they are getting a good deal. However, it may not really be a good deal. Sometimes the airlines run sales that really are sales. But be careful. There are examples where the ad says the companion flies free. But by the time you buy the first ticket that price might be higher than if you just bought two tickets as the lowest price for published air. Before you buy an air ticket on sale find out what the price of the lowest published airfare is in the market for all airlines. In marketing cruises you often see ads of big discounts with 50% off. It sounds like a great sale. But the 50% is taken off of the brochure price which in the cruise industry is usually very high. Almost no one pays the brochure price. If the usual price is 50% off the brochure price then that to me is not a sale. World Class Travel & Tours refuses to advertise these kinds of deceptive sales. | |
| top | ||
| 6. | Yes, most definitely. The higher commissions are often based on the volume of sales meaning the more you sell of a given travel provider's products the more commission you earn. However, the higher commission does not raise to price of the tour, cruise, etc. for the client. Nevertheless, it is the policy of World Class Travel & Tours to choose the very best travel products for our clients independent of the amount of commission earned. | |
| top | ||
| 7. | Most people are very careful in choosing their medical doctor and their lawyer. They want professionals that are competent, that know them, and that charge reasonable prices for their services. It is therefore surprising that so many people give so little thought to choosing a travel consultant. This is especially the case when you consider that many people spend thousands of dollars on tours and cruises. In choosing a travel consultant the issue is really not price since for a given tour, cruise, etc. the price is set by the travel provider and not the travel consultant. You need someone that is more like a travel consultant than a travel agent. A travel agent can be thought of as someone that basically takes orders and does the bookings. A travel consultant is a travel agent that knows enough to properly advise you on planning your travels. The best travel consultants travel a lot to experience different places, are welling to take the time to research your travel plans, know which are the best tour operators to use, attend one or more travel meetings a year, read the trade journals, and offer great service. | |
| top | ||
| 8. | Once you pay for a tour or cruise you are expected to go, and if you do not go the tour operator or cruise line will not refund your money. They argue that if at the last minute you are unable to go it will be too late for them to be able to sell your tour or cruise to someone else. To protect your investment you can buy trip cancellation insurance. No all insurance plans are equal. But typically you are protected for covered sickness, injury, or death of you, your traveling companion, family members, and possibly others. There has to be medically imposed restrictions as certified by a legally qualified physician. The insurance under certain restrictions may also cover bankruptcy, weather, and other things including baggage and baggage delay. Discuss this with your travel consultant. | |
| top | ||
| 9. | When people from countries like the United States travel to third world countries they sometimes come down with traveler's diarrhea. It is not possible to promise that you will not get traveler's diarrhea. However, many people go to third world countries and never have any problems with diarrhea. There are things that you can do to lessen your chances of becoming ill. Only drink bottled water or other bottled drinks and make sure that ice cubes are made from bottled water. Do not eat anything at stands on the street, because they may not be clean. Eat only at quality restaurants where you know a lot of tourists frequent or in homes where you know that care is taken in the preparation of food. Finally, before you go check with your physician or druggist about medicine to take with you in case you become ill due to traveler's diarrhea. | |
| top | ||
| 10. | Many people go on cruises and never get seasick. Modern ships have well designed stabilizers that dampen out the motion due to ocean waves leading to smoother rides. If you are concerned about motion sickness you can improve your chances of not getting seasick by sailing on large ships. Also, choose a cabin that is located near the center of motion of the ship since these cabins experience the least amount of wave induced motion. The center of motion of the ship is near the middle from stern to bow and near the middle from top to bottom. Before you go on the cruise buy some wrist bands at a drug store. You can usually buy these bands onboard the vessel, but they might cost a lot more there. | |
| top | ||
| 11. | Choose "Links" in the horizontal navigation bar. Then choose "Travel Related" from the list and finally "Foreign Embassies in Washington, D.C. It is then easy to select the countries of interest. | |
| top | ||
| 12. | Only you can answer this question. However, we have had so many complaints from our clients about their timeshares that it is necessary to add these remarks. Owning them can be very restrictive as to when you can take vacations or where you can go. Although you are supposed to be able to trade for timeshares in other locations it can be difficult to accomplish this. If someone does not want to use a timeshare in a given year it can be difficult to find a renter of the timeshare to obtain financial relief. Getting to timeshare locations like Cancun, Mexico can be expensive. It is often better to book a hotel/resort package which includes wholesale air. You can book the tour package at the time of your choosing and you do not always have to go to the same location or the same hotel/resort. There are many vacations where timeshares simply will not work. For example, if you want to visit places like Costa Rica, Spain, and many other places it is best to move around throughout the country, possibly being in a different city each night. Further, timeshares and vacation clubs are expensive. They tend to be sold through high pressure tatics where you must commit to spending a lot of money at the conclusion of the sales pitch. If you are not allowed to think overnight about such a large expenditure of money before signing a contract then something might be wrong. It is also important to realize that if the timeshare or vacation club package is in a foreign country then you will not have the protection of the laws of your own country with regards to the purchase. | |
| top | ||
| 13. | Digital cameras have a number of advantages. You do not have to buy film or pay for film processing. They are also not damaged by X-rays, whereas film is if passed through security X-ray machines. When you buy a digital camera you want one with lots of megapixels. If you plan to take action shots it is important to be aware of the limitations of a digital point and shoot camera. When you turn one on there is a time delay for power up and when you snap a picture there is a shutter lag. This means that you cannot take the picture at the instant that you want it. This is not a problem if you are shooting landscapes where the scene does not change, but it can prevent you from getting the picture that you want of dancers, whales, tropical birds, or anything that moves or is changing. It is possible to take pictures at the instant you want with a more responsive digital SLR camera. These cameras offer a lof of advantages over digital point and shoot cameras, and because of that they are more expensive. Another thing to consider is the processing required to get your pictures. With film the processing is done by a lab. With a digital camera you load the images into your computer and you carryout any necessary processing of the images. If you do not like doing this you will be unhappy with a digital camera. Film cameras will remain the preferred choice for many people. However, with a digital SLR camera and the proper use of image software and a computer the digital camera offers much greater potential for taking pictures under a variety of conditions than found with a film camera. | |
| top |
| About Us | Contact Us | Homepage | Site Menu |
These pages were created by World Class Research & Technology. Some of the animated gifs were created by ProMotion. These pages are best viewed using Internet Explorer Version 6.0 or later. Send comments about these pages to the Webmaster.
Copyright 2000 - Current Date, World Class Travel & Tours, all rights reserved.