Do Travel Agents Get Free Trips?

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Do travel agents get free trips, GTI TravelFrequently, people that work as travel agents encounter the question, “Do you get to travel all over the world for free?” Sometimes the people asking the question are interested in working as business travel consultants themselves, or they may just wonder how travel agencies make money. Here is what you need to know about travel agents and their perks:

Not Many Freebies

In truth, most of the time, travel agents don’t get free travel although they sometimes get discounts or a chance to keep the commission they would get on their own travel plans. An agent might have the opportunity to travel at a discount if:

  • Convention properties give them a cheaper trip to let them learn about their property on a working vacation.
  • They learn about last-minute trips that haven’t been filled and are being offered at low prices to agents.

How Travel Agents Make Money

In the past, most travel agents made the most money off of airline commissions, but changes in booking travel have reduced that stream of income. Now business travel consultants get revenue through service fees and commissions. Some of these fees are paid by businesses, and others are paid by the vendors themselves.

How Travel Agents Really Travel the World

Most of the time, when travel agents take trips, they pay the same way that you do for their personal travel, out of their own pockets, although they may be able to book their own travel and earn a commission. Occasionally, if they are lucky, they could get a trip as a door prize at a convention, just the same as you might at your business convention.

Do Travel Agent Commissions Add to Business Travel Cost?

Not in the long run. Often the service fees or commissions might be something rolled into the cost of the trip no matter who makes the arrangements. However, when you work with a travel agent, you have someone who knows your needs and is personally interested in making sure your business travelers are safe and have a well-planned trip.

Are Corporate Travel Consultants Worth Paying For?

While your business may pay for the travel planning, that service fee will more than be made up by:

  • Saving employee time to book trips.
  • Better travel arrangements and often better travel itineraries that save time and money.
  • Upgrades available only to agents.
  • Protection of having your business travelers able to have access to travel help 24/7.

Why Travel Agents Enjoy Their Job

If there isn’t free travel, what makes people enjoy being a travel agent? Most travel consultants are people-oriented and love organizing trips and helping other people. They find their job fun and love it when a trip is more successful than the business traveler expected. So if your corporate travel agent planned a particularly successful trip, be sure to tell them!

 

6 Ways Travel Agencies Make Your Business Travel Easy

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Business Travel, Travel Agency, GTI Travel

While booking your own travel is possible, more and more companies are discovering that while “DIY” is great for home improvement projects, it can backfire big when you apply that to important aspects of your business like travel arrangement. Here are 6 ways travel agencies make your business travel easier:

1. Someone to Call

With weather delays, lost luggage, changed meeting times and illnesses, the list of potential challenges that could interrupt your well-planned business trip are practically endless. In fact, when you are traveling for business and need to be on time, it seems that delays and problems are the norms, rather than the exception. When you use a GTI travel management consultant, you have someone to call 24/7 that can help you:

  • Reschedule.
  • Find the information you need.
  • Get emergency supplies or help.

2. Peace of Mind

Ever hear a report about terrorism in another country or political demonstrations and worry about your business travelers? With a travel agent in charge, you and your travelers have the peace of mind of knowing that no matter what they encounter, an expert is in charge of getting them to their destination and home safely.

3. Better Travel Arrangements

Even though you can get all of those flights, hotels, and other arrangements on your own, you can’t do it as well as an experienced travel agent who has:

  • Access to special pricing and discounts.
  • The ability to get upgrades or extras.
  • Experience in creating itineraries that provide for better travel.

4. Save Money

Not only can a corporate travel consultant save you time, they usually save you money both in planning the trip and in managing your business travel expenses for your company. Why? They can help:

  • Develop best practice travel policies.
  • Train employees on policies.
  • Track compliance.
  • Analyze and articulate business travel goals.

5. Tips and Tricks

A travel agent has heard your question a thousand times. That is good news. It means they are more than prepared with any possible answer that you need. They can give you good information about preparing to travel. Moreover, they can help you avoid many travel glitches with their tips and tricks on:

  • Best itineraries for your route.
  • Which areas of the town or hotels to avoid.
  • The easiest way to get around a city.
  • What you need to pack and what you don’t for a particular country.

6. Local Information

Whether you are traveling domestically or internationally, business travel agents can help you be prepared by providing:

  • Local weather information.
  • Currency conversion information.
  • Information about visas and identification you will need.
  • Travel warnings and information about vaccines.
  • Directions to hotels, transportation or business meetings.
  • Where to buy things you forgot to bring.

Who wouldn’t want instant access to the best travel industry knowledge and information for their business travelers? You would not handicap sales people by not providing them everything they need to succeed. By using travel agent services you let your business travelers focus on what they do best: represent your business.