The proliferation of ‘factory outlets’ or ‘manufacturer-direct’ prices has become commonplace, but are we getting true ‘outlet or direct’ prices? The middleman, agent, or retailer suffers in our modern Internet-based environment. Big-box stores, which appear to offer rock-bottom prices but still make enormous profits, are commonplace.
The world of agents from insurance to travel to financial are feeling the crunch as they are rapidly being considered expensive cost overheads by the producer, provider, or manufacturer.
The airlines started the demise of the travel agency system when they started eliminating agent commissions and overrides and turned to online booking systems aimed directly at the consumer, forcing some retail agencies to charge additional booking fees. Now, airline reservation sites charge fees for online seat selection and anything else they can get away with. Are the savings they are making being passed on to the consumer?
Insurance companies began advertising for direct dealings, as did banks with their development of in-house financial planners (not at all independent, but merely another name for a bank products salesperson). Are they keeping the old commission for themselves, or do they pass on the savings to the consumer?
Let’s focus on one of the consumers’ largest expenditures over a lifetime – recreational travel, business travel, vacations and trips, and the Retail Travel Agent or Agency:
1. These were needed before the consumer could access websites from B&Bs to Hotels,
Luxury Lodges and Tour Operators or if you wanted to pick up an expensive glossy brochure.
2. These were needed before travel providers and tour operators enabled the consumer to
please book directly with them on the Internet with reservation systems and booking requirements that require little training or expertise.
3.These were really needed before airlines promoted their own booking services, became greedy for any extra percentage or fee, and wanted to eliminate travel agents as expensive and redundant overheads.
READ MORE :
- Which Undergraduate Classes Should I Take Before Law School?
- The Case for Flag Football As an Olympic Sport
- Complete Study Guide for WordPress Website Building
- Groupon is selling the unlocked Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ for $150 off
- WordPress – More Than Just A Blogging Platform
These agents are only needed if travelers want knowledge, experience, and expertise of specific destinations, activities, or tour companies. Of course, those travelers are still not using the web.
Let’s not feel too sorry for retail agents, as top-notch travel consultants are essential to travelers with complex itineraries or are venturing into lesser-known areas of the world. All is not dark for travel agents with knowledge, experience, and expertise as consumers who need these professionals now have access to the web wherever they may be located and no longer need to use local agents unless they have the requisite skills. But, they still have to be found as they may not be in your local area or even your country.
There are various forms and levels of travel intermediaries – Inbound Tour Operators, Wholesalers, and Retail Agencies, all of which earn a percentage from the original travel provider for their advertising, promotion, and sales efforts; these percentages can be anywhere from 10% to 25% or even more! You are still paying the commission when you see a travel advertisement offering $200 off per person and book through a retail agent. You should get a special offer and save the commission by booking directly with the operator.
Some travel operators offer their products directly to the consumer but at the same prices as the consumer would get from a retail agent. Fair enough, if these providers do not use middlemen, but if they also sell through retailers, their prices should be ‘net of commissions’ for direct bookers and ‘retail’ for agency sales.
When the consumer goes directly to the travel provider, these middlemen percentages should not apply, but the provider is sometimes in a predicament. To show net and retail prices on their website could deter the intermediaries from handling their products until now.
Travel providers can now offer net prices directly to consumers by using the TopTravelVoucher services at TopTravelSites.com. This website operates as a travel agent that does not sell travel on behalf of travel operators but generates travelers who go directly to the providers for information and bookings. As the website does not need bricks and mortar offices, expensive glossy brochures, familiarization trips, computer reservation systems, and all the other paraphernalia of operating a travel agency, it can rebate sales commissions to travelers as a reward for handling their arrangements directly with the travel operators.
This innovative consumer travel service offers travel discounts in over 70 countries to travelers who purchase their deeply discounted TopTravelVouchers. They offer their services to the global travel trade community and the global traveler. They do not charge the travel trade for any promotion services and allow multiple listings for any travel product as long as the consumer gets net pricing.
The consumer does not have to buy before seeing the travel offer and can also buy the vouchers as gift certificates. All vouchers come with a 100% money-back guarantee, and even if the traveler is unhappy after completing the travel, the vouchers’ monies are still 100% refundable.
At present, you can get TopTravelVouchers for Escorted Tours, eco tours, Adventure Tours, Small Boat Cruises, Lodges, Resorts, Hotels, and B&Bs, and new products are arriving daily.
Some tours offer a flat percentage of the retail price, while other vouchers have a fixed value. One coupon for a Greek Cruise has a value of 1,500euros and can be purchased for only $100usd, and there are many escorted tours around the world offering a 10% discount on the tour price, which can be significant depending on the length of time and number of travelers. If you have a family or group of travelers, you can often buy a voucher for each person (a particular seven day Thai River Rovers cruise appeals to me if I can find a few friends to join the charter).
So now, no matter where you live or want to go, you can book discounted travel from your home, cyber cafe, or laptop anywhere in the world. You could be in the offices of a tour operator, go online, get a voucher, and then hand it over to get instant savings. Not bad, eh?
This website and concept are a first for the internet. With the support of the global travel trade from the smallest travel operators to the giants, it can only grow larger with expanded product selections and savings as this aspect of internet travel is on a seemingly endless growth path.
Travelers who go directly to travel websites must do their due diligence, talk free via Skype, 800 number, or email with the operators, read testimonials, check the latest pricing and last-minute deals, make a booking, and check for deeply discounted TopTravelVouchers to get fairer fare prices. If your tour operator does not offer a ‘net of commissions’ tour price when you make your bookings, ask for it or suggest they start to provide these vouchers, and you will start saving on your travel.
Although this service is not yet a household word for travelers, the TopTravelVoucher service from TopTravelSites.com is on the way to making a difference in that we can now find true outlet prices for a lot of travel choices directly from tour operators, wholesalers, and even retail travel agents who often operate their in-house tour programs. All want to expand their reach to the ever-expanding international client base of travelers comfortable with handling their travel arrangements and who want fairer fare prices.
