Fee Structure

PROTECTION

It is very unfortunate, but all too cmoon, for someone to ask a travel agent to curate the details of a trip, call around for quotes and provide a complete itinerary; just to turn around and "shop that around" or book it themselves. You see, what most people may not realize is that 95% of the work a travel advisor does happens before you depart from your trip, and 90% of it happens before you even make your first payment on that trip. A service fee is a layer of protection to assure that we are paid for the vast amount of effor that is put in and the knowledge that is dispursed (knowledge that has taken years of education and money to gahter). in order to help travelers around the world enjoy a Custom Adventure that they will cherish.

EDUCATION AND EXPERTISE

Custom Adventures is an agency that has amassed global affiliations, education and training all directly related to our service offerings. Whether it is the multiple annual familiarization trips to a desitnation, where guests are lounging around the pool in the tropics and I am invetigating properties and ammenities, to attending conferences, trainings, webinars, participating in networking groups we focus on continually educating ourselves on travel trends and developing situations (i.e. weather, political/conflict, pandemic, etc.) but just as importantly on the vendors we use and products we sell. Afterall, how would you feel after buying a car from the BMW salesperson to see them drive off in a Lexus? Whilte it appears we can recommend a proprety or detination with little thought, it is our extensive education, sacrifice and financial inventment to having an advisor who can speak knowledgeably to you about your travel plans and reocmmend options that will elciti the experience you want. Just as with any professional service industriy (Attorny, Medical professional) you pay a little for education and experience. 

TIME

Once we have completed our initial consultation with you and begun to formulate an idea of what you want and need from us, we start working on your travel plans. The name of our company was not chosen by accident, in that we provide Custom Adventures. Meaning, all itinteraries and quotes that we present to you, were created custom for you and your travelling companion(s). We do not have an auto-quote button. Everything that you recieve from us is hand-picked and personally typed. This process takes time, but it is our commtiment to our customrs that we provide Custom Adventures to help people reailty THEIR travel dreams.

Some additional significant factors that go into that time before you even leave for your trip:

- Re-Quoting. This is done on every single booking. Rates and available change daily if not more frequent, so when you are ready to proceed we must reconfirm all the details again to confirm any changes. WE NEVER CHARGE YOUR CARD FIRST AND THEN TELL YOU THERE WAS AN INCREASE IN PRICE. We will always do our due diligience with you prior to collecting payment.

- New Promotion Pricing. We want to make sure you get the best deals, so if any new promotions aris that we can add to your trip, we make those changes for you!

- Reschedule/Cancel Options. The current travel climate requires hours and hours of hold times with airlines, hotels, etc. Terms are continually changing, and communication with suppliers is tedious. We handle that for you.

- Adding Information to your Client Portal. All of your trips, and important documents are uploaded into your own personalized client portal. You can access that portal via the web or your phone. Inputting the information to keep current with all of your current and future trips so it's accessible to you anytime you need it.

- Providing our travel tips, advice and area recommendations to maximum your experience. These are customized to each client based on what I learned about you as we work together.

- Staying abreast of ever-changing entry requirements for the region that you are traveling to. Even before COVID-19, we created step-by-step instructions with photos to familiarize you prior to travel of the arrival expectations and any details you need to be aware of to make your trip as seamless as possible.

- Updating any changes to your travel plans or flights. Airlines adjust their flight schedules, so we must update your invoice and itinerary accordingly. If any changes to the schedule are not ideal, it is our job to work with the airline to get a better schedule if possible and ensure to get you on a flight that is more reasonable.

- Communicating celebration or requests to the hotels or suppliers. Celebrating an anniversary or have dietary restrictions? Upon reservation we reach out to all the contacts involved in your booking to ensure your requests are noted accordingly. Furthermore, we take the extra step and reach out a few weeks prior to your trip to reconfirm and make sure the staff is ready for your arrival.

COMISSIONS

Yes it is true, that travel agents get paid comission, but I'm going to let you in on some industry secrets here as we go. But first, two main points on commissions:

Commission is only paid AFTER travel is completed. So, if you cancel your trip or are unable to travel due to unforeseen circumstances – well then, we don’t get paid. At all.

Commission is NOT paid on the total trip package. In fact, more often, we get a commission of the hotel stay only. And that comes with its own set of terms, conditions and loopholes for the hotels to get away with paying us as little as possible.

So this leads me to industry secret number one, and it's one that I dislike so I have no heartburn sharing it. Suppliers will offer periodic perks and higher commissions if you utilize their products. At face value, that sounds pretty smart, but it actually ends up hurting you and me both, and here's why. There are a lot of travel agents out there that will steer their clients to those properties that they know will get the higher commission for selling, and I DISLIKE that. This is part of the reason why I charge a service fee. I might be taking on a lower commission because I am recommending the property that is BEST for YOU, instead of the one that is best for my bank account.

Beyond that there are some items that are exemption from commission altoghter. For example, there is not commission provided for airfare (well sometimes it's very rare  and is is very low). Even though you just booked that $10,000 first class lay flat bed for your european vacation that we found you at an unbeatable rate that wasn't available to the public; and even thouch Custom Adventures is going to track your flight, schedule changes, call the airline when needed, organize your seat preferences, fill in your rewards nnumbers, let you know of any airline policy chances (i.e. masks) we will not get paid for any of it.

That's not to mention many suppliers have tricks to keep the commission minimal. Cruises, hotels, transfers, tours, excursions, drink packages - there is no guarantee for commission, and usually they are small or non existant regardless of how much time and effort we put into building the perfect itinerary with days filled with the pefrect activites to enrich your travels!

TOO LONG DIDN'T READ (TL;dr) VERSION

Thank you if you took the time to read all of that preceding information. If you didn't, and just want the down and dirty summary of everything we just said I think it can be summarized best like this:

WE CHARGE A SERVICE FEE FOR SOME OF OUR SERVICES BECAUSE WE NEVER WANT TO BE IN A POSITION WHERE WE HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THE CUSTOM EXPERIENCE WE PROVIDE OUR CLIENTS AND OUR BILLS.