A guide to buying travel! Explains the different players within the travel industry and how you can use them to ensure you are getting competitive prices on your vacations.

1. The Insider’s Report on How to Pay Less for Travel
You are an eager traveler who loves getting a fabulous
deal on your vacation. You might even pride yourself FACT: If not for the tax revenues gener-
on your ability to find cheap cruise fares, discounted ated by the travel industry, every
household in America would have to
hotel rates and airfares that appear to be priced be-
pay $995 more in annual taxes1.
low the market. Wonderful, because that makes you
exactly the person who can benefit most from what OPINION: It’s more fun to spend $995
you are about to read. a year on your vacation than on your
taxes.
A lower price, or thrill of the chase?
As you read every word of this report, you may realize that finding discounted travel is not
your ultimate objective after all—-some travelers actually waste hours picking around the
Internet for travel deals, solely because they love the thrill of the chase. And there’s nothing
wrong with that, unless you consider that you may not be getting the great deal you think you
are.
Here’s some food for thought: Expedia.com receives an estimated 10 million U.S. visitors
monthly2. Do the math and you’ll see that 10 million monthly visitors equates to about 13,888
visitors per hour. If you stumble upon a smoking-hot airfare deal, you have to remember that
there could be thousands of other eager travelers looking at that same fare. Clearly, finding
something that’s readily available to thousands may not qualify you as a super-savvy travel
deal sleuth.
What if there were a way for you to get more luxuri-
Same Old, Same Old: What everyone
ous vacations without spending more? Or to save
says about saving money on travel
hundreds of dollars on the vacations you desire? Are
you willing to spend a few minutes of your day to • Book early
learn how? • Book late
• Book when no one else will
I ask because I can only explain what I have to say • Book off-season
• Shop around
credibly by giving some inside secrets about the travel
• Collect rewards points
industry. So please bear with me: this may not be the • Be a loyalty traveler
most riveting reading of your day, but it could be the • Bundle airfare with hotel and car
most important.
These are effective ways to trim your
Before you do anything else… vacation spend. But clearly they’ll only
get you so far. Really, what if you don’t
want to see Palm Springs when it’s too
If you are skeptical, grab a sheet of paper and write hot to golf, even at midnight? What if
this on it: here’s what I learned about saving money you wait so long to book that you end
on travel. Now set that paper aside. By the time up staying home?
you’re done reading, you will a few juicy morsels of
knowledge to put on that list.
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2. The Insider’s Report on How to Pay Less for Travel
Travel industry, a hodgepodge of players
Who wants a piece of your
The truth is, there are many businesses out there that vacation dollar?
want to get a piece of your vacation. Suppliers, whole-
• Direct suppliers
salers, consortia, agencies, PLUS all of the businesses • Wholesalers
that cater to those businesses. The latter group in- • Consortia
cludes travel magazines, support services, printers, • Agencies
web hosting solutions, etc.
The best possible scenario for everyone is when one or more of these players can give you a
real and valuable vacation solution. Since you are reading this, you are obviously willing to pay
for scintillating travel when the price is right. The problem is, as I’m sure you know, some-
times these industry players can tell you the price is right, tell you that you are paying a good
price for a valuable service, when that may not really be the truth of things. So let’s take a look
at each player to better understand where travel deals actually come from.
Direct Travel Supplier: An organization that supplies travel and travel-related services
• Many travel bargains result from supplier
discounts Examples of direct suppliers
• American Airlines
• Most suppliers sell their services direct to the • Hilton Hotels
public and through travel agencies and • Carnival Cruise Lines
wholesalers
• Supplier promotions can be advertised or What you should know
unadvertised; unadvertised promotions are sold
exclusively through agencies and wholesalers • Consider working an agency that
buys group space direct from sup-
• Suppliers do sell blocks of inventory to large pliers; you can get group rates
without being in a group.
agencies and wholesalers at below-market rates
• Agencies often get advanced noti-
• Agencies and wholesalers may be authorized to fication of upcoming supplier
sell travel at below-market rates, but there will discounts. Since the supplier
usually be a restriction on advertising those rates. puts capacity limits on promo-
tional rates, getting linked in to
This keeps the supplier from competing with these advanced notifications is
those who sell its products. crucial to obtaining the best travel
price.
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3. The Insider’s Report on How to Pay Less for Travel
Wholesaler: An entity that buys travel products in bulk from direct suppliers, packages them
and sells them to consumers
• Wholesalers buy from suppliers at discounted Examples of travel wholesalers
rates and created bundled vacation packages;
pricing is usually competitive compared to if you • GOGO Vacations
purchased each component of your trip separately • FunJet Vacations
• FareBuzz
• Some wholesalers sell direct to consumers; others
do not
What you should know
• Wholesalers that do not sell to consumers prefer
to rely on a travel agent network; this structure • GOGO Vacations, a top U.S.
allows them to focus their operations solely on wholesaler, has a price-beat
buying and packaging travel (i.e., they don’t need promise. GOGO will beat any
verified quote by $10 per adult
to add the cost of a huge consumer support staff and $5 per child.
into their prices)
• GOGO also offers a vacation mem-
• Wholesalers run promotions too. They notify their bership plan that’ll get you free
travel agent network and past consumers of flight insurance, free room nights
and other perks for $25/year. Go
special discounts. here for more information.
Did you know…
• You can keep tabs on airfare trends by visiting the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
• The Bureau of Transportation Statistics also publishes data on airline market share and
airline on-time statistics.
• You can search for flight and schedule changes here.
• You can find entry and exit requirements for foreign countries at the U.S. Department of
State website.
• You can look up guides for destinations all over the world here.
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4. The Insider’s Report on How to Pay Less for Travel
Consortia: travel organizations that negotiate exclusive travel services and products for
member agencies and travel consultants; functions as a sophisticated buying group for agents
• Consortia are membership-based groups, where Examples of travel consortia
the membership consists of travel agents and
consultants (no consumers). • Ensemble Travel Group
• Virtuoso
• Some consortia are nonprofit. • CCRA Travel
• Some consortia buy group space and allow their
member agents and consultants to book clients What you should know
into that group space; this gives the client access
to group rates and group perks. • You can’t access travel consortium
perks and deals unless you book
with an agent who is a consortium
• Consortia direct a lot of business towards travel
member.
suppliers; for that reason, clients booked through
the consortia often receive VIP treatment and • See the special deals offered
perks, particularly with hotel and cruise bookings. through consortia by sending
Normally these VIP perks are pre-negotiated. BrockComm Travel an email re-
questing the Ensemble hotel direc-
tory.
• Some consortia are more exclusive than others,
meaning they only offer membership to highly • Ask prospective travel agents if he
reputable agencies and agents. or she belongs to any consortia
and, if so, which ones.
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5. The Insider’s Report on How to Pay Less for Travel
Agencies: travel agencies and their agents have sales arrangements with suppliers, wholesal-
ers and consortia to book travel and travel-related services
• Travel agents generally don’t set prices; they Examples of travel agencies
quote them.
• Montrose Travel
• Many travel agents strive to bring a personal • American Express Travel
touch to the industry, by offering guidance, advice • Expedia Travel
and planning support to their clientele.
• Travel agents don’t make commission on domestic What you should know
airfare.
• Because travel agents can book
• Travel agents have visibility to the whole industry, through suppliers, wholesalers and
consortia, they have access to a
and can quickly look up special promotions and
range of unpublicized fares and
pricing from suppliers, wholesalers and consortia. rates.
• The most effective way to work with a travel • You have to trust your travel
agent is to consult with him or her at least once a agent; not all are reputable.
Interview prospective agents until
year about your travel needs; that way, the agent
you find one you trust.
will be watching for the right promotions on your
behalf. • Ask prospective travel agents
about the history of their agency
• If you do your own Internet research and call an and whether the agency buys
agent expecting to find a better deal on a specific group space. This will tell you how
well established the company is.
hotel for specific dates, the agent’s ability to im-
mediately find you a better rate could be limited,
depending on your itinerary (you can’t get a deal
on a Christmas cruise two weeks into December.)
• Large agencies buy group space on cruises and
pass the related savings on to their customers.
Generally, these group rates cannot be widely
advertised.
• With respect to cruises, a good travel agent will
watch market fares after you book; if the fare
goes down, he or she can contact the cruise line
and (depending on cruise line policy) have your
fare reduced.
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6. The Insider’s Report on How to Pay Less for Travel
Finally, the answers to the cheap travel dilemma…
Travel agents put it all together
You can continue to dig around on the Internet for pricing, but you won’t find the unpublicized, unadver-
tised deals offered by suppliers, wholesalers and consortia. You also may not even find the advertised
deals because you won’t know exactly where to look (since certain suppliers and wholesalers specialize in
certain destinations). The only way to get to these deals is to find a travel agent you trust.
Working with a travel agent effectively involves being able to openly discuss your travel agenda, including
your budget, your timeline and your preferences. Once you discuss your travel needs with your agent,
that agent should act as your eyes and ears on the industry—searching for vacation ideas and promotions
that will provide you with unforgettable and affordable vacation experiences.
BrockComm Travel, a Montrose Travel affiliate
www.BookCheapAndGo.com
562-760-1730
CST# 1018299-10
FOOTNOTES
1
TIA, http://www.tia.org/pressmedia/fun_facts.html (accessed March 5, 2009).
2
Quantcast.com, http://www.quantcast.com/expedia.com (accessed March 8, 2009).
3
Wikipedia contributors, "Travel agency," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/
index.php?title=Travel_agency&oldid=273524194 (accessed March 8, 2009).
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