do travel agents charge a fee nz

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Breaking Down the Pros and Cons of Using a Travel Agent

You're convinced that having a travel expert by your side will be useful. But how do you go about knowing when and how to book with them?

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Confession: I’m a big fan of travel agents (whoops, sorry, travel advisers ), even though I could technically book all my trips through websites and apps. And despite the fact that many of us might consider this industry old-fashioned and out-of-date, research shows that travelers, and millennials in particular, are once again turning to these specialists to help plow through TripAdvisor detritus. If you’re wondering: how much does a travel agent cost, and why would I book with one anyway? Read on.

How to Know If You Need a Travel Agent

Once you’ve come around to the idea of hiring a travel agent, ask these three questions before booking:

• Is this a domestic trip or one that involves traveling to a part of the world you’ve never been? If it’s the former you don’t need a travel agent.
• Can I get a better deal by using a travel agent? (This question requires you pricing out your trip with and without one.)
• Is this a big-budget, special-event kind of trip? If the answer is yes, go with a travel agent.

The Pros of Using a Travel Agent

They can find crazy deals..

This is literally their job. If they have been in the travel business for many years, they likely have supplier relationships in place that can help leverage better deals for you. Many travel agents specialize in locations (i.e., cruise vacations in Europe). Some travel agents offer package deals, with more savings passed on to you then booking the trip on your own—that is good news to your wallet.

They will be your advocate.

One of the best ways to utilize a travel agent is as an advocate should something derail on your trip. They can help you with lost luggage, in the case of natural disasters, if you get stuck in a location before your trip, etc. They are there to help you get your trip back on track.

They’ll take care of the little things.

I love my travel agent, and I love all the extras she provides when we use her services for a trip. For instance, when we traveled to the Bahamas, she made sure there was a nice bottle of champagne and strawberries in our room on our arrival, and she also upgraded our room free of charge. While this certainly is not a guarantee when you use a travel agent, there are a lot of added-value extras you can expect when you use a travel agent. Why? Because travel agents know you don’t have to use them to book your trip, and they want to say thank you.

They’re true experts.

Most travel agents have been working in the industry for years now, and it’s their job to stay on top of travel trends and upcoming hot destinations. When I spoke with my travel agent about a trip to Europe recently, she offered a few alternate destinations. I was not thinking about the destinations she suggested, but the alternatives offered great activities, culture, food, interesting boutique hotels, and more options for less money than my original destination.

They don’t usually cost extra.

It’s a myth that working with a travel agent will automatically cost you more; most get paid via commissions from the hotel or outfitter. Sure, some travel agents do charge a fee for putting together an itinerary, but most will credit you that fee if you end up booking the trip through them. Make sure you know all the potential fees before you use a travel agent, and do not hesitate to negotiate away.

The Cons of Using a Travel Agent

They’re not going to help with cheaper airfare..

Back in the day, you would use a travel agent to book every aspect of your trip. However, with so many options to find low-cost airfare, like Google Flights , Scott’s Cheap Flights , and  Skyscanner , booking your own flights is easy and cost-effective. Most travel agents cannot score discounted flights, and many travel agents will not even bother. Follow these tips on how to find the cheapest flights possible , instead.

They’re not you.

This may seem obvious, although it’s still important to consider. A travel agent not only finds you the best deals, but they also offer suggestions for activities, restaurants, and more. This is great if you’re someone who doesn’t like to research these things, but you run the risk of working with someone who doesn’t get your personal preferences (maybe they lean toward road tours rather than technical singletrack). Do your own research first, and come up with a list of activities that you want to do. Once you have that list, pass it along to your travel agent to see if they can rustle up any deals as they book.

How to Find a Great One

One of the best ways to find a reputable travel agent is to get referrals from your friends and family. Anyone that has used that travel agent for a previous trip and enjoyed their service is someone worth checking out. As with anything, I always suggest talking to at least two different travel agents to see who you feel most comfortable with. Remember, they are there to work for you.

Know your travel budget before you reach out to a travel agent. Likely, this will be the first question they ask you and will help steer them toward the best destinations for that budget. If you are traveling somewhere that’s specialized, like going on that once-in-a-lifetime African safari , find a specialist that knows that region inside and out. They will usually have the best deals and relationships with hotels and activity companies in that area.

How Much Does a Travel Agent Cost?

Usually, the cost of hiring a travel agent to organize a trip for you is fairly minimal. Many agencies charge a flat fee of around $100, and others may charge a certain small percentage of your trip. Most of their take-home profits come from the hotels, wholesalers, resorts, and businesses they work with, but be sure to as your travel agent about fees upfront and before you start working with them to plan your next dream vacation. (No one likes hidden fees and surprises.)

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Travel agent fees – the new normal

By: Author Megan Singleton

Posted on Last updated: April 29, 2022

As the world begins to travel again, travel agents are digging around for the office keys in the bottom of the junk drawer and heading back to their desks.

But things have changed. Many agents had to pivot and find other jobs as Covid saw the travel industry come to a grinding halt.

They’re not coming back. They’re real estate agents now, florists, builders, some even went milking cows (looking at my niece Libby!)

New Zealand used to have about 5,000 travel agents. Now there are about 1,500.

Some agents managed to keep their hand in while adding second (and even third) jobs, and helped their clients process the multitude of refunds and credits – for no pay.

Those are the ones who are in it for love. They get a kick out of creating trips of a lifetime. Crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s so their clients have a wonderful holiday.

Their years of expertise was valuable before, but now with the ever changing rules in every country, they are more essential than ever. Imagine trying to keep up with the Covid test requirements on a Europe trip that includes three or four countries, by yourself!

But then just as things begin to move again, BOOM, the airlines decide that the commissions they pay agents for booking clients on their planes are no longer going to be paid. Or if they are, it’ll be in the ballpark of 1% on a big international flight and nothing for short-haul flights.

The decision of airlines to come out of Covid by cutting agent commissions is big boy bullying if you ask me. They want their seats sold, but will not pay anything to the person who does the selling.

They can do this because they are in one big bonded organisation called IATA and there is no choice of multiple airlines. Except, shout out to Qatar Airlines, they have not (yet) dropped their agent commissions!

So here’s the new normal: using a travel agent will likely include a consulting fee, paid up front and usually deducted from your final cost, for them to work on a quote and plan your trip.

I spoke to a few travel agents, brokers and travel managers this week, and while there is no industry standard rate for this work, you can expect to pay a fee of $50 to $500, depending on how much work is required.

And let me give you an idea of how much work is required.

I work with travel agents to put my tours together. Just this week I got together with Josh who puts my Europe tours together and he’s going to work on a 9-day Italy tour for me to host after my Adriatic/Greek Islands cruise in 2023.

It’ll start in Rome (it’s easier for flights), include Naples, Florence and Venice, then join the ship. But his tours are not about just going from one city to the next, the reason I use Josh is his extensive knowledge of Italy. He lived there for the better part of 20 years. That’s what you’re paying for.

This tour will take around 10 days just to quote. He needs to contact every hotel to get a price, plan the train timetables and costs, the private coach and driver, tentatively book the local guides in each city, and even plan how much to spend on little extras day to day including where we’ll have lunch and dinners.

For my New Zealand tours I’ve been using Andrea. Her company usually plans high-end NZ tours for international visitors, but their pivot included putting tours together for me to host fellow Kiwis around New Zealand over the last two years (Bay of Islands, Central Otago, West Coast) in boutique hotels, lovely restaurants, wineries and all the extra activities we planned for each day.

Just to quote up my Nelson-Abel Tasman-Punakaiki-Hokitika tour with the train and transfer to the hotel in Christchurch (which I took earlier this year), took her at least a week. It included line by line every day what time we’d depart, where we’d stop en route to the next place, where to have wine and gin tastings and how much they cost, private tours of galleries, etc.

We worked together to plan which restaurants we’d book, when to add free time, where to take lunch stops, and most importantly, book it all in with every operator along the way.

I could never have done this myself. Nor would I want to. This is not my lane. Plus they know their destinations inside out – and that’s what we’re paying for.

I am paranoid about T crossing and so nervous I’ll leave some crucial element out. Josh and Andrea are those people.

I spoke to Anita, a travel manager who specialises in overseas weddings and honeymoons, and while she’s had a fee in place for a while for wedding planning, she’s seeing them become normal for other agents too.

She explained, with so many businesses short staffed they just can’t afford to waste time on “tyre-kickers”; the people who get a quote from one travel agent, then go down the road and get another quote from another agent – all for free, all taking hours of work, and leading to no business for at least one agent.

So as the travel industry slowly fires up its engines and people contact them to help plan their itineraries and pick their brains for all the new requirements and protocols, we can expect to pay a consultancy fee.

I mean, you pay every other service provider right?

How much would you pay?

A range of $50 to $500 seems to be the norm at the moment, here in New Zealand anyway, and obviously depending on how much work is involved.

This is likely then deducted from your trip cost if you go ahead. (A bit like getting your makeup done for a wedding at the Mac counter for $50 and having the cost deducted from any makeup purchase). We’re used it already, we just need to understand travel agents should be paid for their expertise too.

What do you get for your fee?

1) their years of expertise and local knowledge of the place you’re travelling to. You’ll get ideas for things to do or places to visit, detours to take, that you might never have known about. You’ll get their advice on things like travel insurance, visas and have them make all those arrangements.

2) you’ll also get their diligent admin skills to put the whole thing together.

If you’ve ever booked multiple flights yourself, you might have learned the hard way (like I have) that if one flight is delayed or cancelled, causing you to miss the next one, it’s no one’s responsibility to sort you out. However if the whole trip is booked on one ticket, through a travel agent, they will sort you out – even while you’re on the other side of the world asleep!

3) since Covid, there are ever changing rules and regulations and their job is to keep on top of that and help you with your pre-departure tests, where to get them, how much they will cost, etc.

So, after all this, what’s your take on paying a travel agent a consulting fee to put your bespoke itinerary together?

Can travel agents be cheaper than shopping online?

Travel trends post-Covid

Pros and cons of guided tours vs going on your own

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Tuesday 1st of November 2022

Thank you Megan, great article and something we have been looking in to since before the pandemic, but the number of time wasters post covid has grown out of control for our agency.

So many times I have written a 2 or even 3 week fully detailed itinerary for them to have either copied my recommendations and booked themselves, or booked elsewhere with no income and lots of time and energy spent.

It now time to introduce fees and glad to see its happening more for other agents too.

Thanks Simon Travel Agent Hanoi

Tuesday 3rd of May 2022

I used to be a travel agent and this was something was in discussion even then (I left the industry in 2013 after burning out). People treated T/As as libraries without realising how much work we put in - the number of times I put together a bespoke itinerary over a week or so for clients, rang them the next day to see if it worked, only to find out they had booked everything online overnight was distressing, to say the least (as no booking meant minimal/no pay). Other customers would refuse to book with us because we wouldn't book what they had found online (frequently flights that wouldn't actually work together either because of being separate airlines that didn't work together or did not meet minimum connection times). I had one person ring me from somewhere in the Middle East who had booked their flights online after I refused, screaming at me that I had to fix it, as they had been stranded in the country and the airline and online booking company wouldn't help. And the difference between the flights they booked (using budget airlines) and what I quoted was only around $150 (using full-service airlines). Even though I am out of the industry, I book using agents, even now - I do my research, and then send it all through to them to book for me, because if something goes awry, it means I have support and help to fix whatever is messed up. And I ALWAYS have travel insurance.

What a brilliant piece of research into this new normal. I'll definitely share this with people. And a good reminder as to the skills, expertise, and peace of mind that great travel agents bring.

Megan Singleton

Thank you Katherine. I think it makes sense for the future of agents and the expertise they bring.

About Megan Singleton

Hi, I'm Megan Singleton and I'm the word slinger of this travel blog as well as on radio in NZ every Sunday. Former Travel Editor at Yahoo NZ and current freelance writer for a few newspapers and mags from time to time, I set off on this travel writing journey 20 years ago and I've pretty much always got a suitcase half packed (or half un-packed!) I'd love you to join me on Facebook or Twitter and sign up for my newsletters if you want loads of travel tips, advice and deals!

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Charging Your Clients Travel Fees [Beginners Guide]

If you travel to provide services to your clients, there is a good chance you've considered implementing travel fees. In this article, we'll cover everything you need to know about travel fees and provide some actionable advice to ensure you're doing it right.

What is a travel fee?

A travel fee is an additional fee added to your standard pricing. Often, travel fees vary based on the distance one travels. The further one travels, the higher the travel fee. 

👉 Use a quality online booking system with travel fees built-in, like Check Cherry, so you can automatically calculate and charge clients travel fees. It saves a lot of time and ensures accurate billing.

Why do people charge travel fees?

If you package your services, there is a good chance you've factored some travel into your pricing. However, if a client needs you to drive 62 miles, your standard pricing may no longer be profitable. Travel fees allow you to service a larger geographic area by offering clients the option to compensate you for travel.

Should I charge travel fees?

If you're open to traveling further distances to work and leveraging packages to sell your services, you should charge travel fees because they will ensure you are operating profitably.

If you are unwilling to travel outside a smaller area or send proposals with custom pricing to each client, you might want to lump all costs into one price to ensure each booking is profitable.

👉 Travel fees give more people the opportunity to hire you because it expands the geographic area you are willing to serve.

Distance-Based Travel Fees

We often see our customers include a free travel range with all packages. For example, the first 30 miles are free, and if they must drive more than 30 miles, it's $2.00 per mile. Distance-based travel fees are outstanding because they are granular and account for time and fuel costs best.

Flat Rate Travel Fees Tiers

Some people like to charge a flat fee for travel. For example, one's travel fee structure might look like this:

0-25 miles - FREE

25-50 miles - $35 Flat Fee

50-100 miles - $125 Flat Fee

This option is much less popular. One positive aspect is you can make one tier meaningfully more expensive than another.

Round-trip or one-way?

The majority of Check Cherry customers charge one-way travel fees. If a wedding venue is 55 miles away, they charge a travel fee based on 55 miles (single trip). Another option is calculating based on the length of getting to and from the service address (round trip).

One-way calculations make it easier for the client to understand your fee structure because most clients will not think to double the distance. If you opt to charge on a one-way basis, consider increasing your per-mile fee to account for the trip back home.

On the other hand, the round trip calculation will make the per-mile fee appear lower than a single trip fee. This may be helpful during the initial sales process. Round-trip is also a more accurate representation of actual costs associated with you traveling on behalf of a client.

Should I just use the rates provided by the IRS?

Each year, the IRS releases Standard Mileage Rates . In 2022, the amount was 58.5 cents per mile. Check with the IRS or your tax professional each year and track mileage for any business purposes. Regardless if you charge travel fees or not, you can deduct the cost per mile that you travel for business. Talk to your accountant about how to do it right.

Remember that the number provided by the IRS each year is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile. It's probably a mistake to charge clients based on rates set by the IRS.

How much should I charge my clients for mileage?

This answer will vary by market, service type, and ideal customer profile. Here are three factors to consider when calculating a travel fee:

Travel time

One of the more significant expenses is your time, and travel will effectively increase the time you need to dedicate to complete your service. If you have staff, you probably want to pay them for travel time to ensure they want to work a booking or event.

Gas prices are outrageous. Do a rough calculation to see what it goes to drive 15, 25, or 50 miles based on your fully-loaded vehicle.

Vehicle wear and tear

The more you drive a vehicle, the more it costs to own due to depreciation, interest on your loan, insurance premiums, maintenance, and repairs. Estimates can be as low as $0.21 per mile and more than $0.62 per mile. You can use this handy calculator to get an estimate for your vehicle.

Example Travel Fee Calculation

Here is an example of how one might estimate the true costs of travel.

Fuel - $0.206 per mile

Cost per gallon of fuel: $4.33

Miles per gallon of fuel: 21

Fuel cost per mile = $0.206 cents per mile ($4.33 / 21)

Wear & Tear - $0.66 per mile

5 Year Vehicle Wear and Tear = $49,515

Vehicle Wear and Tear Per Year = $ 9903 ($49,515/ 5)

Per Mile Wear and Tear = $0.66 ($9903 / 15,000 miles)

Staff Costs - $0.517 per mile

Distance to Venue: 38.7 Miles

Travel Time: 1 Hour

Hourly Rate: $20

Cost per mile = $0.517 ($20 / 38.7 miles)

Estimated Travel Fee

$1.38 per mile ($0.206 + $0.66 + $0.517)

Automatic Travel Fee Calculations

Watch how Check Cherry makes it easy to  calculate and charge travel fees . You can create multiple travel zones, limit bookings outside your service area, and more.

People will ❤️ how easy it is to book you online.

Try Check Cherry free for 14 days, no credit card required.

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Travel agents and agencies can help you plan and book your trip to New Zealand, whether you're on a budget or wish to experience a luxury holiday.

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If you see a ‘100% Pure New Zealand Specialist’ logo beside a travel agent listing, it means they are an accredited expert on New Zealand airlines, accommodation, activities, and more. They have undertaken specific training with Tourism New Zealand to increase their knowledge of our country.

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Each New Zealand Specialist listed on this website has either Gold, Silver, or Bronze status. These statuses are only available through the 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist Programme (NZSP). The status of a specialist may change over time depending on what NZSP modules and training the specialist completes.

All specialists must have completed 10 modules as part of the NZSP. In addition:

Bronze means that the specialist has also completed at least two additional modules every 24 months since achieving Bronze status.

Silver means that the specialist has at a minimum also:

• attended one NZSP Training Session (in the specialists’ country or via webinar); 
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• attended one Training Session every 24 months of achieving Silver status.

Gold means that the specialist has at a minimum also:

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• completed two additional modules every 24 months of achieving Gold status; and
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This website is a platform to help connect visitors with travel agents, but Tourism New Zealand does not verify all of the information provided, and in using this website you acknowledge that Tourism New Zealand is not responsible for verifying the information provided by those travel agents. This website is not intended to provide assurance that any particular travel agent meets certain quality standards or legal obligations.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Tourism New Zealand expressly disclaims all responsibility and liability for any information in a travel agent listing. You acknowledge that if you rely on any such information, you do so solely at your own risk. Your use of this website is subject to the terms of use. You must not access or use this website unless you accept all of these terms of use. By accessing and/or using this website you agree to be bound by these terms of use.

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Travel 101: Booking Direct Vs. Online Travel Agents Vs. Travel Agents

Nz pocket guide is 10 years old. thank you for trusting us with your trip for over a decade, should you book direct, book online or book through a travel agent.

Planning a trip is a huge task! With so many different ways to book transport, activities and accommodation, it’s not always clear where you are getting the best deals or what’s going to be the easiest. We’ll go through the pros and cons of booking direct, booking with online travel agents and booking with travel agents in this guide.

While booking direct might be cheaper than booking with an online travel guide, you may find it’s harder to cancel and get your money back if things don’t go to plan. What’s more, you might even want to consider using a travel agent if the word “planning” scares you. Whatever booking method you prefer, we will tell you a few tips about each in the conclusion at the bottom of this article so be sure to scroll all the way down!

To help you save more money on your travels, be sure to check out the 11 Ways to Save Money and Stretch Those Dollars Further .

Booking Accommodation, Transport and Activities

These are the three main aspects of your travel that you will have to book. We’ll go through the pro and cons of booking direct, booking with an online travel agent, and booking with a travel agent below. Before that, see our tips for each type of travel booking in the following articles.

• Accommodation: What are the Best Websites to Book Hostels in New Zealand?
• Flights: How to Book a Cheap Flight to New Zealand
• Transport Around New Zealand: What You Need to Know About Booking Transport in New Zealand
• Activities: The Essential Guide to Booking Activities in New Zealand .

Booking Direct: The Pros and the Cons

With any travel company, whether it’s airlines, buses, car rentals, activities or accommodation, you have the option to book direct. In most case, you can book directly online. But because this is New Zealand and it can sometimes be a bit behind the times, in some small instances, you may have to book over the phone, by email or at their office.

What We Like About Booking Direct

Booking direct means the money you are paying for the service is going straight to the company. They get the reward for giving you the experience, as they don’t have to pay commission to travel agents. It helps support the business and gives you good karma.

You usually get the cheapest deals when booking direct! Without the middleman, which is the travel agent, there is no commission to be paid therefore they don’t have to raise their prices to make sure they are making a profit. If you do find a deal cheaper elsewhere, however, then it’s as simple as contacting the company directly and seeing if they will match the price. In most cases, they will.

In the case of airlines and some accommodation, they will give you better seats or rooms than they have listed with travel agents or online travel agents. They usually save the best services for direct bookings.

Making changes to your booking is more likely to be straightforward when booking direct than when having to go through an agent.

Because you are in charge of your own itinerary, you’re more likely to stick to your budget, rather than being tempted by add-ons that travel agents suggest.

What We Don’t Like About Booking Direct

This involves a lot of planning on your part. You have to take the time to do price comparisons on websites that links directly to several direct airlines (as well as online agents) for example, contact the companies and make your bookings. Make sure your itinerary all adds up and you don’t plan things on the wrong days or the wrong times!

In many cases, the cancellation policies with companies are pretty strict meaning you may not get a full refund if you cancel.

Booking with an Online Travel Agent

Online travel agents, or OTAs, are the websites you use to compare prices of flights, activities and accommodation. Think Booking.com and Hostelworld for accommodation, Viator , Tripadvisor and Tour Radar for activities and tours and more agent suggestions provided by meta-search engines like Skyscanner, for instance. You can find more details of using OTAs for accommodation in What are the Best Websites to Book Hostels in New Zealand?

What We Like About Online Travel Agents

They are at your fingertips! OTAs are so easy to use and can be accessed whenever it suits you. We all know how the Internet works – it’s just crazily convenient.

They do the comparisons for you. You can get an idea of what accommodation or flights suit your budget when they are compiled in a list together.

Once you have used them once, it’s easy to just use the same account to book activities and accommodation all over the country.

Online booking agents have more relaxed cancellation policies. To be listed on their websites, travel companies must adhere to their terms and conditions which usually involves cancellation policies with full refunds. This means you are not committed to staying in a specific accommodation or doing an activity. You can be more flexible.

Sometimes, these websites are the only places to book travel. Take Airbnb, for instance. You usually cannot find the spare rooms of locals listed anywhere else. Take a look at Everything You Need to Know About Airbnb in New Zealand .

Online Travel Agents often have reviews and ratings, which are more likely to be trustworthy compared to the positive ones used to advertise on the travel company’s own website.

What We Don’t Like About Online Travel Agents

They are not always the cheapest. You can sometimes find cheaper when booking direct. Some OTAs may involve extra fees to book with them.

The rooms or seats listed on OTAs are not necessarily the best ones.

Some booking sites can be misleading when saying there are “only two beds left” in an accommodation. What it really means is there are only two beds that can be booked through that specific website. You may still be able to book directly.

Most OTAs are based overseas, which means your money is going out on New Zealand and can have a negative impact on small New Zealand businesses.

Booking with a Travel Agent: The Pros and the Cons

Travel agents are companies who plan and book your travel for you. They can be travel agents from your home country or ones with offices in New Zealand. Think STA, Flight Centre, Student Flights, etc. Many hostels across the country also have travel desks which are travel agents.

What We Like About Travel Agents

They organise your itinerary for you. This takes the stress out of planning your travels.

Travel agents have often done free trips for activities so they can recommend them to you. This can be a good thing, but remember that the free trips they experience may be slightly different from the paying customer experience.

Some travel agents can offer good combination deals.

They can help you with the nitty-gritty of visas, and other things that you might not have thought about when planning your trip.

You only have to speak to one person. If there are any changes, then the travel agent can make those changes on your behalf.

What We Don’t Like About Travel Agents

Booking with an agent can be a little pricier considering they are paid commission from the travel products they sell, plus the service of planning the trip and booking for you. This is where it is important to use comparison websites to make sure you get a good deal as prices wildly vary from one agent to the other.

Like OTAs, many of the travel agent companies are overseas companies meaning the money is going out of the New Zealand economy. Try using travel desks of hostels or New Zealand-based agents for more ethical travel.

Travel agents may be less flexible with your itinerary, only able to offer you the specific products they sell.

They often are unable to match prices (or particularly cheap prices) due to not making enough commission.

Overseas travel agents have been known to charge outrageous prices to customers who don’t know any better until they land in New Zealand and see much cheaper deals. By then, it’s too late.

In Conclusion…

Choose a booking method which best suits you. If you are hopeless at organisation and are a complete newbie to travelling, then you might want to use a travel agent. Using a travel agent based in New Zealand is where you will find better travel agent deals.

On the other hand, if you prefer to be in charge of your own itinerary and budget, then we suggest using a mix of online booking agents and booking direct. You can use online booking websites as a tool to compare the prices of flights and deals. Once you have found a deal that you like, visit the direct website of the travel company and see if the price matches the deal and book! If the price doesn’t match, then it’s usually as simple as contacting the company directly and they will match the price.

For more advice on getting the best deals for travel, take a look at How to Book a Cheap Flight to New Zealand .

More About Travel Bookings in New Zealand

• BBH, YHA, BASE or NOMADS: What is the Best Hostel Network?
• Flight to New Zealand: Return Vs. Open Return Vs. One Way
• 30 Tips for Backpacking in New Zealand

The information in this guide has been compiled from our extensive research, travel and experiences across New Zealand and the South Pacific, accumulated over more than a decade of numerous visits to each destination. Additional sources for this guide include the following:

• Tourism New Zealand (General travel advice - Updated [2024])
• Immigration New Zealand (Visa and immigration advice - Updated [2024])
• New Zealand Customs Service (Customs and Biosecurity - Updated [2024])
• New Zealand Traveller Declaration (NZTD online platform - Updated [2024])
• Tiaki Promise (Care for people place and culture - Updated [2024])
• Safe Travel (NZ travel advisories - Updated [2024])
• Stats NZ (Statistics and travel data - Updated [2024])
• Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (Road and transport tips - Updated [2024])
• DriveSafe (Road safety - Updated [2024])
• Council websites and freedom camping maps (Local travel advice region by region - Updated [2024])
• AdventureSmart (Know before you go - Update [2024])

Our editorial standards : At NZ Pocket Guide, we uphold strict editorial standards to ensure accurate and quality content.

About The Author

This article has been reviewed and approved by Robin, who is the co-founder of NZ Pocket Guide. With more than 15 years of experience in the New Zealand tourism industry, Robin has co-founded three influential tourism businesses and five additional travel guides for South Pacific nations. He is an expert in New Zealand travel and has tested over 600 activities and 300+ accommodations across the country.

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Table of Contents

How much does a travel agent cost?

Do travel agents get discounts on flights, how can a travel agent help me, how do i find a good travel agent.

With a few keystrokes, you can find cheap travel deals on the web. But travel agents can do that and more.

Often, travel agents receive deals directly from hotels and tour operators that you may not have access to. They also have contacts with resorts and hotels, so they can bargain for better deals. But just how much do travel agents cost? Some people assume that travel agents are expensive, which may keep them from using their services. However, that's not necessarily true.

The cost of using a travel agent is generally marginal, and often, they won't charge you at all. Much of their money comes from commissions the hotels and wholesalers pay them. Before you decide to book with a travel agent, inquire whether or not they charge fees.

Also, if you’ve booked a trip with a travel agent and for whatever reason need to cancel, they might be able to help get the refund more directly.

» Learn more: How to become a travel agent

Generally not, and especially not for short distances. For the most part, any discount you'd get from using a travel agent would be for a combined package. Still, it never hurts to ask if your travel agent can get you a deal on your flight.

If you're traveling internationally — especially to a country you've never visited — a travel agent can be a useful resource in helping you plan your trip. They can manage all of your booking needs, which can be easier than juggling a long itinerary that includes flights, hotels and excursions on your own.

Group travel is another common situation that can benefit from an agent's assistance. Coordinating bookings across multiple parties can get confusing. A travel agent can keep things organized, negotiate with services and personally work out any complications that may arise. Rather than trying to reserve rooms in the same hotels and seats on the same flights with multiple credit cards and names, let a travel agent do that work.

Travel agents can also be helpful by providing destination advice. Many specialize in particular destinations and can offer insight as to how you should structure your visit. Agents can direct you to the services, facilities and entertainment that best align with your interests and needs.

» Learn more: Other things a travel agent can do that a search engine can't

Several websites can help you track down and contact suitable travel agents. TravelSense.org , part of the American Society of Travel Advisors, allows you to search by some useful parameters including specialty and geographic location.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2024 , including those best for:

Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

No annual fee: Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card

Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

on Chase's website

1x-5x 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases.

60,000 Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

1.5%-6.5% Enjoy 6.5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel; 4.5% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and 3% on all other purchases (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year). After your first year or $20,000 spent, enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.

$300 Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back!

on Capital One's website

2x-5x Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day. Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options.

75,000 Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

Understanding travel agency fees: the essential guide

Whether you're planning a business or leisure trip, you might want to save time by using a travel agency. The concept of a tour operator is simple: buy holidays in bulk and for less. This solution often saves you a lot of money, but it's essential to take travel agency fees into account. Here's what they include!

What are the travel agency fees?

Travel agency fees cover part of the administrative costs involved in booking and managing your trip. These may include flight searches, accommodation reservations, train or plane tickets, transfer coordination, etc. 

Not all travel agencies charge handling fees, but the vast majority do. When you're planning a trip with a travel agency, we advise you to find out about any fees beforehand. This should be done right from the start of the process, so that you clearly understand the costs associated with their services, and avoid unpleasant surprises at the final settlement!

To give you an idea, here's an overview of what a travel agency's handling fee includes.

Consulting fees

First of all, travel agencies may charge a consulting fee for the time spent talking with you, understanding your needs, your preferences in terms of destinations, airlines and type of accommodation, and developing a customized itinerary. Consulting fees also include planning fees, covering the time and effort invested by the agency in designing a trip tailored to your specific needs.

Service, management and transaction fees

Service fees refer to reservations for airfare, accommodations, car rentals, as well as certain travel-related activities. Travel agents coordinate the various elements of the trip to ensure that everything is synchronized, such as flight schedules and hotel reservations. Typically, transaction fees are charged as a percentage of each reservation, modification or cancellation on your behalf.

Service and management fees can also include administrative costs, linked to the agency's general administrative costs, such as the maintenance of reservation systems, personnel, office expenses, etc.

Assistance costs

The advantage of using a travel agency is that they often offer 24/7 assistance throughout the planning stage, as well as ongoing assistance during the trip in case of problems or unforeseen situations.

Insurance costs

Going through a travel agency sometimes involves extra charges for travel insurance, either included or optional. This offers protection to travelers in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Travel insurance costs cover various aspects:

• trip cancellation due to unforeseen circumstances such as illness, accident or death of a family member;
• trip interruption for medical emergencies or unexpected events ;
• medical insurance to cover emergency medical expenses abroad, including hospitalization;
• baggage insurance guaranteeing reimbursement in the event of loss, theft or damage to baggage during the trip;
• third-party liability covering damage caused to third parties during the trip.

Insurance costs in France may vary according to the coverage chosen by the agency and the duration of the trip. Find out which travel insurances are best for you , and contact your bank. You may already have adequate travel insurance with your bank card!

Booking through a travel agency: is it more expensive?

If you're thinking of entrusting your travel project to an agency, you're probably wondering: will I pay more? Because if the travel agency is working on my trip, there are bound to be costs!

The answer is no, it won't cost you more. On the contrary, it often saves you money! Whether it's for low-cost or first-class air tickets, accommodation, activities or tours, the travel agency negotiates contracts with various brands and companies at the best price, and obtains exclusive promotions. 

So, if you use a travel agency, the chances are that the price of your holiday will be lower than if you booked directly with each service provider. In many cases, travel agencies can help you save money. The only thing to bear in mind is the booking fee, which varies from one agency to another, depending on the services offered.

What percentage does a travel agency take?

Most travel agencies take between 9% and 15% commission for anything to do with services, stays or tours. For a single airline ticket sold, a travel agency might take 8% of the public price.

However, this percentage varies from one travel agency to another, depending on the services they offer. Some travel agencies may charge between 15% and 20% commission. Make sure you find out what the fees are before embarking on your adventure with a travel agency, and above all, use an agency that is transparent about them!

Why use a travel agency?

The first advantage of using a travel agency is that it saves you time . Travel agents can take care of your trip from A to Z. If you've ever planned a trip, you know how complex and time-consuming it can be. Travel agents take care of planning, hotel reservations, flights, transfers and other details that save you time and energy.

Travel agents are experts in their field and can provide you with useful advice on destinations, the best times to go there, activities to do, and so on. Their in-depth knowledge can help you plan a trip perfectly suited to your needs and preferences.

Then, the second big advantage is that they give you access to preferential rates and exclusive offers, having negotiated with their partners. This means you'll get better deals than if you booked with each provider yourself.

Finally, when you use a travel agency, you often benefit from assistance in the event of a problem (flight delays, cancellations or accommodation problems, etc.). This takes the stress out of your trip, and allows you to quickly resolve any unforeseen situations with a single point of contact!

What's the difference between a travel agent and a travel agency?

A travel agent is someone who works for a travel agency, or who works independently. They help you plan your trip, book flights and hotels, and advise you on visas, travel insurance and tourist activities.

A travel agency is a commercial enterprise that composes and sells a range of travel-related services. It is made up of one or more travel agents.

There is no better option between the two, it all depends on the quality of the services provided by the agency and the independent travel agent, and of course, the prices of the trips offered and the handling fees!

Travel agencies are required to provide a financial guarantee to ensure that travelers are reimbursed in certain situations, such as trip cancellation, non-performance of scheduled services or even bankruptcy of the agency itself. The aim is that, should something go wrong, you're protected from A to Z.

Today, the majority of companies work with a travel agency to plan their business trips, and find it a real added value in terms of travel management. 

To help office managers, we've developed Fairfees , which compares your travel costs across different agencies. This easy-to-use simulator will help you choose the travel agency best suited to your needs.

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Trip Planning // Getaways

How Much do Travel Agents Charge?

How to navigate the waters with a travel agent.

With trip bookings just a finger's touch away on your smartphone, you might think using a travel agent is an overpriced service for people who are too lazy to plan a trip themselves. However, a travel agent's insider knowledge of your destination can mean the difference between a "pretty good"trip and a once-in-a-lifetime experience available only to travel agent clients. You might even save more money than booking bargain vacations online.

How does a travel agent work?

The advantage to using a travel agent goes beyond insider knowledge. Although you can research YouTube videos and "ask a local" sites to find out the best off-the-beaten-track adventures, travel agents goes this one better. Their secret? Connections. Your travel agent can hook you up with one-of-a kind experiences, such seeing your destination through the eyes of archaeologists and architects that moonlight as tour guides. Tour guide connections with hotels, cruise lines and other providers can mean garnering free upgrades, credits or other perks that aren't offered to the general public.

• How to Book Cheap Flights
• Do Travel Agents Save You Money?
• How to Cruise for Free

When good trips go bad

The best perks of using a travel agent come with the unexpected monkey wrench. When bad weather grounds your plane, kick back in the hotel lounge or take a taxi to see a few sights while your travel agent tweaks your itinerary. From VIP phone line access to bumping you to the top of waiting lists or getting you a seat on a flight that might say "full," a travel agent's connections, expertise and diligent work lets you relax.

How does a travel agent make money?

Travel agents make money in a few different ways.

Commission: Your travel agent receives a percentage from the hotels, tours and other travel you book through him. This doesn't raise your costs. When you book online, the commission is already built into the price you see and is paid to the online provider. The amount your travel agent gets is exactly the same as what you see online. The only difference is your travel agent might have a relationship that can score you some perks for the price you'll pay, and he sometimes has access to deeper discounts.

Service fees: In the early 2000s, airlines stopped paying commissions to travel agents. Because they lost this stable part of their income, some agencies started charging service fees for the expertise and time to book your trip. Service fees could include a $25 to $50 fee per airline ticket, or up to $500 for full itinerary design and booking. Some agents charge by the hour, but not all agencies charge service fees.

Net based pricing: Some venues give your travel agent their bottom line price, and your travel agent makes the difference between that price and what you are charged.

Pros and cons of booking through a travel agent versus online

• A travel agent has direct access to specials, upgrades and deeper discounts than those offered online to the general public, based on her relationships with airlines, hotels and tour companies. 
• Your travel agent knows the reputation of airlines, hotels and tours. On your own, you might book with a bargain airline that has a reputation for delays and missed connections. Your travel agent can steer you to a better option.
• Your travel agent can manage unforeseen problems like missed connections due to weather delays while you take it easy.
• Not all travel agents have after-hours service. Your travel agent may or may not be available if problems happen outside of business hours. 
• You might be able to score a better deal on your own. When you're planning your honeymoon or exotic getaway, you're best off using a travel agent. When you're flying across the country for a weekend away, you might find the best deals online.
• Not all travel agents are equal. You can spend hours researching and vetting the best travel agent for your needs. Travel agents don't need to be licensed in some states, and some people are agents as a part time gig. The best way to find a reputable travel agent is from friends who recently used one and are gushing happily about their trip. 

More Travel Content

• What Is the Cheapest Day to Fly?
• 5 Things to Look for in a Travel Buddy
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• Travel + Leisure: Why use a travel agent?
• Gifted Travel Network: How and how much do travel agents get paid?

About the Author

Jodi "Jato" Thornton

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Booking Terms and Conditions

14/03/2024 • knowledge, article details.

Please read the following “Booking Terms and Conditions” carefully, as they contain important information about your legal rights, remedies and obligations.  You must not make any booking unless you understand and agree with the following Booking Terms and Conditions. References to “Flight Centre”, “us”, “we” and/or “our” in these Booking Terms and Conditions shall mean Flight Centre (NZ) Limited.   References to “you” and “your”, in these Booking Terms and Conditions shall mean the customer. Where bookings of travel products are made on your behalf through Infinity Holidays, references to "us", "we" and/or "our" in these booking terms and conditions shall also mean and include Flight Centre (NZ) Limited trading as Infinity Holidays   By making any booking, you agree to comply with and be bound by these Booking Terms and Conditions.  These Booking Terms and Conditions apply to any bookings you make with our travel experts (in-store, over the phone or by email) as well as online bookings you make on our website.  Note – these Booking Terms and Conditions do not apply to any bookings you make with Flight Centre’s [“Flight Centre Independent”/”Travel Associates at Home”] Independent Contractors.  These are independent businesses, and they will have their own booking terms and conditions that will apply to any bookings you make with them.   We will rely on the authority of the person making the booking to act on behalf of any other traveller on the booking (regardless of whether other travellers have made separate payments) and that person will bind all such travellers to these Booking Terms and Conditions.  

Table of contents

1. passports & visas.

All travellers must have a valid passport for international travel and many countries require at least 6 months validity from the date of return and some countries require a machine-readable passport. For international travel bookings, you must let us know if you have less than 6 months validity on your passport or if you do not have a machine-readable passport.  When assisting with an international travel booking, we will assume that all travellers on the booking have a valid New Zealand passport which is valid for the relevant destination and transit point. If this is not the case, you must let us know. It is important that you ensure that you have valid passports, visas and re-entry permits which meet the requirements of immigration and other government authorities. Any fines, penalties, payments or expenditures incurred as a result of such documents not meeting the requirements of those authorities will be your sole responsibility (except to the extent caused by fault on our part). If you need information regarding visas, passports and other travel document requirements for your trip, please let your consultant know or contact us on 0800 32 66 54 . We can provide you with general information only on visa and passport requirements that apply to international travel bookings you make with us. Our consultants can also obtain more specific information from an external visa advisory service provider on your behalf (if you wish, we can assist you to obtain visas through this external service and fees will apply). We do not warrant the accuracy or suitability of information provided by any external service provider and accept no liability for any loss or damage which you may suffer in reliance on it (except to the extent caused by fault on our part). 

If you are travelling to or transiting through the United States please see https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov or important information regarding compulsory pre-registration for their visa waiver program (“ESTA”). New Zealand passport holders will not be able to enter the United States without a valid ESTA (or visa). Please note, you may not meet the eligibility requirements of ESTA and may be required to obtain a visa.

If you are travelling to or transiting through Canada please see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/eta.asp for important information regarding compulsory electronic travel authorization for visa-exempt foreign nationals (“ETA”). New Zealand passport holders will not be able to enter Canada without a valid ETA (or visa or permit) from 15 March 2016. Please note, you may not meet the eligibility requirements of ETA and may be required to obtain a visa or permit. We urge you to apply for entry visas, permits and applicable waivers/exemptions prior to booking your travel, particularly if you have any concerns about whether or not you might be eligible for an ESTA or ETA.

2. Travel Documents

Travel documents include (without limitation) airline tickets, hotel vouchers, tour vouchers or any other document (whether in electronic form or otherwise) used to confirm an arrangement with a travel service provider.  Travel documents may be subject to certain conditions and/or restrictions including (without limitation) being non-refundable, non-date-changeable, and/or subject to cancellation and/or other change fees.  Travel documents cannot be transferred to another person to use.  All airline tickets must be issued in the name of the passport/photo identity holder.  Your name on your passport, visa and other travel documents must all be identical.  An incorrect name on a booking may result in an inability to use that booking, the booking being cancelled, and the application of additional change and/or cancellation fees.  Please review your travel documentation carefully and advise us immediately of any errors in names, dates or timings.  If you have booked with a consultant, it is your responsibility to collect all travel documents from us prior to travel.  As a general rule your travel documents will be available for collection 2 weeks prior to your departure date, however this will depend on your individual arrangements.  Please contact your consultant to confirm when your travel documents will be ready for collection.  If you have booked online, you should retain your electronic record of travel documents as provided to you by our website (or in a follow up email we send you).  Please ensure you retain the most up-to-date version. 

Please ensure you read your travel documents carefully for details on baggage allowances as these can vary from airline to airline and country to country.  Excess baggage (if your airline allows it) can be expensive and is your responsibility.  We will not be liable for any expenses, fees, penalties, costs, liabilities, damages or losses associated with baggage allowances and excess baggage. 

3. Travel Insurance

We strongly recommend that you take out appropriate travel insurance to cover your travel arrangements.   Your insurance protection should at least include cover for cancellation, medical and repatriation expenses, personal injury and accident, death and loss of personal baggage and money and personal liability insurance. Evidence of such insurance should be produced to Flight Centre on request. Travel insurance is strongly recommended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for all overseas travel.  Your travel travel expert can provide general information to you about travel insurance. For details of the services that travel insurers provide, including a quote, please refer to the travel insurer’s Financial Services Guide (“FSG”)/Product Disclosure Statement (“PDS”).   We are an authorised representative of CoverMore Insurance Services Pty Ltd (ABN 95 003 114 145) ("CoverMore") and receive financial and non-financial benefits when you buy CoverMore travel insurance products through us. We and CoverMore are authorised to provide you with general advice about, and arrange, travel insurance products on behalf of the insurer, Zurich Australian Insurance Limited (ABN 13 000 296 640, AFSL 232507).   You must read the CoverMore Combined FSG/PDS before you decide to buy the CoverMore travel insurance product you are considering purchasing to ensure it meets your needs and financial situation. The Combined FSG/PDS also contains information about the conditions, limits and exclusions that apply to the insurance, the 21 calendar day cooling-off period, and how you can access Cover-More's privacy policy and complaints handling procedures.   Please contact your travel expert, visit  https://www.flightcentre.co.nz/insurance/insurance-overview  or call 0800 24 35 44 to take out travel insurance through us or if you have any questions about Cover-More's travel insurance products.  If you make a travel booking through us and decline travel insurance, you may be required to sign a disclaimer.

You must ensure that you are aware of any health requirements and recommended precautions relevant to your travel booking and ensure that you carry all necessary vaccination documentation. In some cases, failure to present required vaccination documentation (e.g., proof of Yellow Fever vaccination) may deny you entry into a country. We recommend that you consult with your local doctor, travel medical service or specialist vaccination clinic before commencing your travel.  General health advice for the destination you wish to visit is also available from MFAT (see https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/ ).   Whether any medical requests can be accommodated, including (without limitation) access to power, refrigeration and travelling with the use of mobility aids, is subject to the travel service provider in their sole and absolute discretion, and will often depend on a number of factors, including (without limitation) any modes of transport and local standards at the destination.  All medical requests are beyond our control.  While we will include all medical requests as a file note to the travel service provider, we cannot guarantee that your request will be accommodated. It is your responsibility to follow up with the travel service provider directly either at the destination or prior to travelling where possible.   

All prices are subject to availability and can be withdrawn or varied without notice. The price is only guaranteed once your booking has been paid for in full by you. Please note that prices quoted are subject to change. Price changes may occur by reason of matters outside our control which increase the cost of the product or service. Such factors include, but are not limited to, adverse currency fluctuations, fuel surcharges, taxes and airfare increases. Please contact your consultant for up-to-date prices. 

6. Travel Expert Service Fee

7. financial arrangements.

We receive remuneration through commissions, financial incentives and other means (together, “financial arrangements”) from booking travel and travel-related products and services on your behalf with third party travel service providers. We are not required by law to disclose to you the nature or value of these financial arrangements. 

8. Deposit and Final Payment (Not applicable to online bookings, which must be paid in full at the time of booking)

You may be required to pay a deposit or deposits when booking. Your consultant will advise you of how much that will be. Subject to your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act, all deposits are non-refundable for changes of mind or cancellations by you, or if the travel service provider’s terms and conditions provide that your deposit is non-refundable.  If your deposit is refundable, this is subject to Flight Centre having received the funds from the travel service provider and/or being authorised by the travel service provider to refund your deposit. A deposit will secure your booking/seat, however prices quoted may change before you make the final payment. Final payment is required no later than 15 days prior to departure unless otherwise stated. Some airfares or services must be paid in full at the time of booking. 

9. Our Change and Cancellation Fees

Subject to your refund and remedy rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act, the following change or cancellation fees will apply to your booking (including online bookings and bookings made with a travel expert), as set out in sections 10 to 14 below:   

• Changes to Domestic bookings will incur a fee of $25 per person for each inbound and/or outbound journey  in addition to travel service provider fees (if applicable). 
• Changes to Trans-Tasman bookings will incur a fee of $50 per person for each inbound and/or outbound journey in addition to travel service provider fees (if applicable). 
• Changes to South Pacific Islands bookings will incur a fee of $75 per person for each inbound and/or outbound journey in addition to travel service provider fees if applicable). 
• Changes to all other International bookings will incur a fee of $75 per person for each inbound and/or outbound journey in addition to travel service provider fees (if applicable). 
• Cancellations of Domestic bookings will incur a fee of $50 per person (capped at $200 per booking) in addition to travel service provider fees. 
• Cancellations of Trans-Tasman bookings will incur a fee of $100 per person (capped at $400 per booking) in addition to travel service provider fees. 
• Cancellations of South Pacific Islands bookings will incur a fee of $200 per person (capped at $800 per booking) in addition to travel service provider fees. 
• Cancellations of all other International bookings will incur a fee of $350 per person (capped at $1,000 per booking) in addition to travel service provider fees. 
• Name changes will incur a fee of $125 per person per booking in addition to travel service provider fees (if applicable), Name changes may not always be possible due to travel service providers restrictions, please contact your travel expert to confirm.

These change and cancellation fees reflect the reasonable, direct and indirect costs, time and effort incurred or involved in us providing booking and advisory services to you, as well as processing and managing the changes to, or cancellation of, your booking.  From time to time we may run promotions and/or offers (such as our “Book with Flex” packages) that will affect these change and cancellation fees.  Please see the terms and conditions applicable to any such promotion and/or offer for details.  If you wish to change or cancel a booking that has been booked online and paid for using PayPal or credit card, please contact your travel expert or contact us on 0800 32 66 54. Applicable change or cancellation fees may be paid via credit card and will attract the applicable credit card surcharge. All bookings are made on your behalf subject to the terms and conditions imposed by the travel service provider.  If, for example, a travel service provider’s terms and conditions contain a “no refund policy”, we will only be able to provide you with the remedy provided by the travel service provider (if any), which may include a travel credit supplied by the travel service provider.       

10. Travel service provider Change and Cancellation Fees

Changed or cancelled bookings for any reason (including by reason of matters outside your or our control) may also incur travel service provider fees, which can be up to 100% of the cost of the booking, regardless of whether travel has commenced.  Travel service provider fees may also apply where a booking is changed for any reason and when tickets or documents are re-issued. Where we incur any liability for a travel service provider change or cancellation fee for any booking which is changed or cancelled for any reason, you agree to indemnify us for the amount of that fee.  Where you seek a refund for a changed or cancelled booking for which payment has been made to the travel service provider, we will not provide a refund to you until we receive the funds from that travel service provider (which may take 12 weeks, or longer, dependent upon the travel service provider processing time). In the event we are still holding the funds, we can only provide you with a refund once we are authorised by the travel service provider to process your refund, subject to that travel service provider’s change or cancellation policy.   

11. Change or Cancellation by You

If you change any aspect of your booking, we will do our best to accommodate your request, but it may not always be possible. All changes will be subject to any applicable travel service provider fees and Flight Centre change fees set out above, and you will be responsible for any increase in pricing that may occur as a result of your change request.  If you cancel any aspect of your booking, you will forfeit your deposit and you will be required to pay any applicable travel service provider fees and Flight Centre cancellation fees set out above, and we will provide you with a refund for the remaining funds (if any). Alternatively, the travel service provider may offer you a travel credit for the full amount paid by you without applying any applicable travel service provider fees. If your deposit or booking is refundable, this is subject to Flight Centre having received the funds from the travel service provider and/or being authorised by the travel service provider to refund your deposit or booking funds.  For instant purchase or non-refundable bookings, if you cancel any aspect of your booking, you will not be entitled to a refund, travel credit or other remedy from the travel service provider and/or Flight Centre.  

12. Change or Cancellation by a travel service provider

The following terms apply to a cancellation by a travel service provider, except in the event of unavoidable or extraordinary circumstances (which are dealt with in sections 13 and 14 below).    To the extent permitted by applicable law, if your booking is cancelled by a travel service provider, the travel service provider will generally offer you in the first instance alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard if available (and will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value), or a travel credit for the full amount paid by you.  Alternatively, subject to the travel service provider’s change or cancellation policy, the travel service provider may offer you a refund of all money paid by you in respect of the booking, from which the travel service provider and/or Flight Centre will deduct any unrecoverable costs, and any applicable travel service provider fees and Flight Centre cancellation fees set out above.    “Unrecoverable costs” means all reasonable, direct and indirect costs we have incurred in relation to your booking, and includes amounts paid by Flight Centre to other relevant travel service providers who are responsible for components of your booking and which may be non-refundable. For example, costs paid to overseas in-destination tour or transfer operators.  For instant purchase or non-refundable bookings, if your booking is cancelled by a travel service provider, subject to the travel service provider’s change or cancellation policy, you may not be entitled to a refund, travel credit or other remedy from the travel service provider and/or Flight Centre. 

13. Unavoidable or Extraordinary Circumstances

In the event of unavoidable or extraordinary circumstances, a travel service provider may materially modify or cancel your booking as set out below.    In these Booking Terms and Conditions “unavoidable or extraordinary circumstances” means any cause outside a travel service provider’s reasonable control which could not have been prevented or avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken by the travel service provider (including, but not limited to, war, threat of war, riot, civil disturbances, industrial dispute, terrorist activity and its consequences, plague, epidemic, pandemic, infectious disease outbreak or any other public health crisis (including quarantine or other employee restrictions), natural or other disaster (such as volcanic ash or hurricanes or similar events), nuclear incident, fire or bushfires, adverse weather conditions (actual or threatened, including snow and fog), closed or congested airports or ports or other modes of transport, unavoidable technical problems with transport, unforeseen alterations to transport schedules, transportation disruptions or cancellations, domestic and/or international travel restrictions, changes to travel advisories and restrictions, changes to health advisories and quarantines, changes to immigration, labour and free-movement laws resulting from BREXIT, rescheduling of aircraft or boats or other modes of transport, changes to applicable laws and/or other government mandates (including evacuation orders and border closures), and similar events).   A material modification is one that has a serious impact on your booking and would cause substantial inconvenience to you (including a change of departure date, departure point or airport, or change of departure time of more than twelve hours).   

14. Cancellation due to Unavoidable or Extraordinary Circumstances

If your booking is cancelled due to unavoidable or extraordinary circumstances the travel service provider may offer you a travel credit or the full amount paid by you.

15. Payments by Credit Card and Debit Card

Credit card surcharges of 2% for Amex, Diners Club and Q Card; and 1.3% for Visa Credit and MasterCard Credit, will apply when paying by credit card. Debit card surcharges of 1.1% for Visa Debit and MasterCard Debit will apply when paying by debit card.    When applying for long term  Finance, establishment and merchant fees will apply.  You authorise us to charge all fees incurred by you in relation to the services provided to the credit card designated by you.  If payment is not received from the card issuer or its agents for any reason, you agree to pay us all amounts due immediately on demand.    You authorise us to charge all fees incurred by you in relation to the services provided by us to the credit card or debit card designated by you. If payment is not received from the card issuer or its agents for any reason, you agree to pay us all amounts due immediately on demand.  If you choose to save your credit card details with us, they will be securely stored and may be used for your future transactions with us (including transactions agreed over the phone or by email). You can choose to remove your saved credit card details at any time. 

15a. Payments by Apple Pay

A 2% merchant fee will apply when paying by Apple Pay (only available for online bookings).

16. Payments by Cheque (Not applicable to online bookings)

Please note that cheque payments (excluding bank cheques) require about 5 business days to process. If you are paying by this method you will need to make the payment at least 5 business days prior to the actual due date. You agree not to stop payment of the cheque even when your booking is cancelled for any reason (including by reason of matters outside your or our control). You agree that we may apply the proceeds of the cheque to satisfy any liability you have to us, including any liability in respect of cancellation fees, before refunding the balance to you. 

Certain taxes are mandatory in various countries. There may also be an additional local tax charged at some airports. All taxes are subject to change without notice. Airline taxes will be confirmed at the time your airline ticket is issued. 

18. Service guarantees

Our booking and advisory services come with guarantees under the Consumer Guarantees Act that:

• they will be provided with due care and skill;
• they will be reasonably fit for the specified purpose;
• they can reasonably be expected to achieve the desired result; and
• they will be provided within a reasonable time.

If we fail to meet any of these guarantees, you have rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act. 

We act as an agent for, and sell various travel related products as agent on behalf of, numerous transport, accommodation and other service providers, such as airlines, coach, rail and cruise line operators, as well as all of our wholesalers. Any booking, advisory and other services (such as processing a change or cancellation with the relevant travel services provider) that we provide to you are collateral to that agency relationship. Our obligation to you is to (and you expressly authorise us to) provide booking and advisory services, including making travel bookings on your behalf and arranging relevant contracts between you and travel service providers. We exercise care in the selection of reputable travel service providers, but we are not ourselves a provider of travel services and have no control over, or liability for, the services provided by third parties.  All bookings are made on your behalf subject to the terms and conditions, including conditions of carriage, cancellations policy and limitations of liability, imposed by these travel service providers.  We can provide you with copies of the relevant travel service provider terms and conditions on request.  Your legal rights in connection with the provision of travel services are against the specific travel service provider and, except to the extent a problem is caused by fault on our part, are not against us.  Specifically, if for any reason (excluding fault on our part) any travel service provider is unable to provide the services for which you have contracted, your rights are against that provider and not against us.  

20. Liability

To the extent permitted by law, neither Flight Centre (NZ) Limited nor any of its related companies, directors, officers, employees, servants or agents accept any liability in contract, tort or otherwise for any injury, damage, loss (including consequential loss), delay, additional expense or inconvenience caused directly or indirectly by the acts, omissions or default, whether negligent or otherwise, of third party providers over whom we have no direct control, force majeure or any other event which is beyond our control or which is not preventable by reasonable diligence on our part.  Our liability will also be limited to the extent that any relevant international conventions, for example the Montreal Convention in respect of travel by air, the Athens Convention in respect of travel by sea, the Berne Convention in respect of travel by rail and the Paris Convention in respect of the provision of accommodation, limit the amount of compensation which can be claimed for death, injury, or delay to passengers and loss, damage and delay to luggage. Under circumstances where our liability cannot be excluded and where liability may be lawfully limited, such liability is limited to the remedies required of us under applicable law (including the Consumer Guarantees Act).  This liability clause is subject to your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act and nothing in these Booking Terms and Conditions is intended to limit any rights you may have under the Consumer Guarantees Act or the Fair Trading Act. 

21. Supplier Insolvency

Without limiting section 20, for the avoidance of doubt, in the event of a third party provider being unable to provide you with the product or service you have booked due to that third party provider becoming insolvent or being placed under external administration, subject to your refund and remedy rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act, we have no obligation to reimburse you for the cost of your booking, or for any loss or damage you may otherwise suffer as a result of any such insolvency or external administration. 

22. Special Requirements

Please liaise with your consultant or contact us on 0800 32 66 54 regarding any special requirements you may have for your travel arrangements such as special meal and seating requests, room type or disabled access. 

23. Frequent Flyer or Other Loyalty Program

When booking with one of our consultants, please let them know your frequent flyer membership details (or other applicable loyalty program details) for inclusion in your booking. If you are booking online, please insert these details in the space provided for inclusion in your booking. Please check your frequent flyer program (or other applicable loyalty program) for the specific terms of your membership. We cannot guarantee that the supplier of your frequent flyer or other loyalty program will credit you with points for your booking or provide you with any other particular benefit, including (without limitation) status credits or lounge access. It is your responsibility to check whether your booking is eligible for any such benefits and to retain all boarding passes to allow verification of your travel if required. 

24. Schedule Changes

We recommend that you contact the travel service provider to confirm your scheduled departure time 24 hours prior to your departure. 

25. Privacy Policy

We are committed to protecting your personal information and agree to handle your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy, which is available online at https://www.flightcentre.co.nz/privacy  or in-store.  By providing personal information to us, you agree that our Privacy Policy will apply to how we handle your personal information and you consent to us collecting, using and disclosing your personal information as detailed in our Privacy Policy.  In particular, you agree that in certain circumstances (such as where you request us to book international travel for you), we are permitted to disclose your personal information to overseas recipients.  Such recipients may include the overseas travel service providers (e.g. airlines, accommodation or tour providers) with whom you make a booking.  These travel service providers will in most cases receive your personal information in the country in which they will provide the services to you or in which their business is based.  We may also disclose your personal information to our overseas related entities (including those in Australia, the USA, the UK, South Africa, Canada, India and Hong Kong) and to service providers who perform services for us within and outside of New Zealand.  Generally, we will only disclose your personal information to these entities and/or persons in connection with the facilitation of your travel booking and/or to enable the performance of administrative and technical services by them on our behalf. Where we disclose your personal information to any entity and/or person (including any overseas recipients), you agree that: (i) in the case of travel service providers or other recipients who are providing services directly to you, we will not be required to ensure that recipient’s compliance with New Zealand privacy laws or otherwise be accountable for how they handle your personal information and you acknowledge and agree that your rights in relation to their handling of your personal information are governed by the contract between you and that recipient (which may include their privacy policy); and (ii) in the case of our related entities and travel service providers who perform services for us, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that recipient’s compliance with New Zealand privacy laws. When used above, “disclose” includes to transfer, share, send, or otherwise make available or accessible to another person and/or entity.    

26. Monies Not Held On Trust

You agree and acknowledge that such monies paid by you to us will not be held by us on trust for and on behalf of you and we may hold such monies in any account as we see fit, including with our own and/or other customer monies. All monies paid by you to us will be a debt due and payable to the travel service provider in accordance with the payment terms we have agreed with that travel service provider. Payment will generally be made to the travel service provider before the services to which the money relates are provided, however in some cases, payment will be made to the travel service provider once the services to which the money relates have been provided.  In respect of monies paid for flights for an IATA airline, such monies might be held on trust for that IATA airline in accordance with the payment terms we have agreed with that IATA airline. In the event we still hold the monies, we can only provide you with a refund once we are authorised by the travel service provider to process your refund, subject to that travel service provider’s change or cancellation policy.  

27. Flights for Unaccompanied Minors

Flights for Unaccompanied Minors cannot be booked online.  To provide for the wellbeing of children travelling alone (otherwise known as Unaccompanied Minors), airlines have specific requirements. Flights for Unaccompanied Minors cannot be booked online. To make a flight booking for an unaccompanied minor please call us on 0800 24 35 44 and one of our consultants will advise the conditions for the airline of your choice. 

The following information relating to general rules for Unaccompanied Minors is a guide only and may vary from airline to airline:

• Any child aged 5 to 11 years (inclusive) travelling alone on a flight must be booked as an Unaccompanied Minor.
• If your child is under 12 years of age and is not booked as an Unaccompanied Minor, then the child must be accompanied by another person 15 years of age or older. 
• Any child aged 12 to 15 years (inclusive) may also travel as an Unaccompanied Minor if requested by the parent/legal guardian. 
• Children between 5-11 years of age attempting to travel alone and who have NOT been booked as an Unaccompanied Minor may be denied travel by the airlines until they have been provided with all relevant details in relation to the child's travel arrangements. 
• An Unaccompanied Minor Form will need to be completed by the parent/legal guardian for this service. Also, there may be a fee involved for this service by the airline. 

Travelling on Jetstar - Jetstar requires that passengers are able to travel independently. The airline does not have the systems, staff or facilities required to assume responsibility for assistance and supervision of passengers. Children requiring supervision will not be regarded as able to travel independently on the basis that they may cause a disruption or endanger themselves or others if travelling unaccompanied. As a guide, children who are not yet attending secondary school will be regarded as unable to travel independently and will not be eligible to travel unless they are accompanied by an appropriate Accompanying Passenger. An Accompanying Passenger generally will be at least 15 years old. 

28. Modifications of these Booking Terms and Conditions

We reserve the right to modify any of these Booking Terms and Conditions (including the Travel Credit terms and conditions) at any time without prior notice. If we make changes to any of these terms and conditions, we will post the amended terms and conditions on the flightcentre.co.nz website, applications, or services, which are effective upon posting. The applicable terms that apply are those in effect at the time you make a booking (including by using any Travel Credit) with us.

29. Governing Law

If any dispute arises between you and us, the laws of New Zealand will apply. You irrevocably and unconditionally submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New Zealand, and waive any right that you may have to object to an action being brought in those courts. 

30. Assistance

For all queries related to you booking, please contact your consultant directly. For urgent after hours assistance related to your booking contact Flight Centre Assist on 0800 322 774 or from overseas +61 7 3170 7850. 

31. Acknowledgement

You acknowledge that you are 18 years of age or older and that you understand and agree with the above Booking Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy.   

Brochure Terms and Conditions

REGARDING OUR BROCHURES:   Please read the following “Booking Terms and Conditions” carefully, as they contain important information about your legal rights, remedies and obligations. You must not make any booking unless you understand and agree with the following Booking Terms and Conditions. References to “Flight Centre”, “us”, “we” and/or “our” in these Booking Terms and Conditions shall mean Flight Centre (NZ) Limited. References to “you” and “your”, in these Booking Terms and Conditions shall mean the customer. Where bookings of travel products are made on your behalf through Infinity Holidays, references to "us", "we" and/or "our" in these booking terms and conditions shall also mean and include Flight Centre (NZ) Limited trading as Infinity Holidays. By making any booking, you agree to comply with and be bound by these Booking Terms and Conditions. These Booking Terms and Conditions apply to any bookings you make with our consultants (in-store, over the phone or by email) as well as online bookings you make on our website. We will rely on the authority of the person making the booking to act on behalf of any other traveller on the booking (regardless of whether other travellers have made separate payments) and that person will bind all such travellers to these Booking Terms and Conditions. BROCHURE: This brochure was submitted for online publication on 13 Sep 2021. While Flight Centre has exercised reasonable care and skill to ensure that the content of this brochure is correct, accurate and up-to-date at the time of publication, please note that the content of this brochure is based on information supplied to us by third-party suppliers, and we do not have, and cannot be reasonably expected to have, personal knowledge about all of the facilities or services provided by each supplier; and facilities or services may change after the date of publication. Prior to making a booking, you should ask your travel consultant about any changes to the published information of which we may be aware. You should also make sure that if we are advised of changes that occur after booking, we can contact you. BROCHURE ERRORS & OMISSIONS: While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and currency of the information in the brochures, errors or omissions may occur. Flight Centre disclaims all liability to any party for loss or damage resulting from such errors and omissions. All such errors and omissions identified post the date of publication are notified to our retail partners. Please check with your agent for all up-to-date corrections, including prices and inclusions. AGENCY: We act as an agent for, and sell various travel related products as agent on behalf of, numerous transport, accommodation and other service providers, such as airlines, coach, rail and cruise line operators, as well as all of our wholesalers. Any booking, advisory and other services (such as processing a change or cancellation with the relevant travel services provider) that we provide to you are collateral to that agency relationship. Our obligation to you is to (and you expressly authorise us to) provide booking and advisory services, including making travel bookings on your behalf and arranging relevant contracts between you and travel service providers. We exercise care in the selection of reputable travel service providers, but we are not ourselves a provider of travel services and have no control over, or liability for, the services provided by third parties. All bookings are made on your behalf subject to the terms and conditions, including conditions of carriage, cancellations policy and limitations of liability, imposed by these travel service providers. We can provide you with copies of the relevant travel service provider terms and conditions on request. Your legal rights in connection with the provision of travel services are against the specific travel service provider and, except to the extent a problem is caused by fault on our part, are not against us. Specifically, if for any reason (excluding fault on our part) any travel service provider is unable to provide the services for which you have contracted, your rights are against that provider and not against us. LIABILITY: To the extent permitted by law, neither Flight Centre (NZ) Limited nor any of its related companies, directors, officers, employees, servants or agents accept any liability in contract, tort or otherwise for any injury, damage, loss (including consequential loss), delay, additional expense or inconvenience caused directly or indirectly by the acts, omissions or default, whether negligent or otherwise, of third party providers over whom we have no direct control, force majeure or any other event which is beyond our control or which is not preventable by reasonable diligence on our part. Our liability will also be limited to the extent that any relevant international conventions, for example the Montreal Convention in respect of travel by air, the Athens Convention in respect of travel by sea, the Berne Convention in respect of travel by rail and the Paris Convention in respect of the provision of accommodation, limit the amount of compensation which can be claimed for death, injury, or delay to passengers and loss, damage and delay to luggage. Under circumstances where our liability cannot be excluded and where liability may be lawfully limited, such liability is limited to the remedies required of us under applicable law (including the Consumer Guarantees Act). This liability clause is subject to your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act and nothing in these Booking Terms and Conditions is intended to limit any rights you may have under the Consumer Guarantees Act or the Fair Trading Act. TRAVEL DOCUMENTS:  Travel documents include (without limitation) airline tickets, hotel vouchers, tour vouchers or any other document (whether in electronic form or otherwise) used to confirm an arrangement with a travel service provider. Travel documents may be subject to certain conditions and/or restrictions including (without limitation) being non-refundable, non-date-changeable, and/or subject to cancellation and/or other change fees. Travel documents cannot be transferred to another person to use. All airline tickets must be issued in the name of the passport/photo identity holder. Your name on your passport, visa and other travel documents must all be identical. An incorrect name on a booking may result in an inability to use that booking, the booking being cancelled, and the application of additional change and/or cancellation fees. Please review your travel documentation carefully and advise us immediately of any errors in names, dates or timings. If you have booked with a consultant, it is your responsibility to collect all travel documents from us prior to travel. As a general rule your travel documents will be available for collection 2 weeks prior to your departure date, however this will depend on your individual arrangements. Please contact your consultant to confirm when your travel documents will be ready for collection. If you have booked online, you should retain your electronic record of travel documents as provided to you by our website (or in a follow up email we send you). Please ensure you retain the most up-to-date version. Please ensure you read your travel documents carefully for details on baggage allowances as these can vary from airline to airline and country to country. Excess baggage (if your airline allows it) can be expensive and is your responsibility. We will not be liable for any expenses, fees, penalties, costs, liabilities, damages or losses associated with baggage allowances and excess baggage.  TRAVEL INSURANCE:  We strongly recommend that you take out appropriate travel insurance to cover your travel arrangements. Your insurance protection should at least include cover for cancellation, medical and repatriation expenses, personal injury and accident, death and loss of personal baggage and money and personal liability insurance. Evidence of such insurance should be produced to Flight Centre on request. Travel insurance is strongly recommended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for all overseas travel. Your travel consultant can provide general information to you about travel insurance. For details of the services that travel insurers provide, including a quote, please refer to the travel insurer’s Financial Services Guide (“FSG”)/Product Disclosure Statement (“PDS”). We are an authorised representative of CoverMore Insurance Services Pty Ltd (ABN 95 003 114 145) ("CoverMore") and receive financial and non-financial benefits when you buy CoverMore travel insurance products through us. We and CoverMore are authorised to provide you with general advice about, and arrange, travel insurance products on behalf of the insurer, Zurich Australian Insurance Limited (ABN 13 000 296 640, AFSL 232507). You must read the CoverMore Combined FSG/PDS before you decide to buy the CoverMore travel insurance product you are considering purchasing to ensure it meets your needs and financial situation. The Combined FSG/PDS also contains information about the conditions, limits and exclusions that apply to the insurance, the 21 calendar day cooling-off period, and how you can access Cover-More's privacy policy and complaints handling procedures. Please contact your consultant, visit https://www.flightcentre.co.nz/insurance/insurance-overview or call 0800 24 35 44 to take out travel insurance through us or if you have any questions about CoverMore's travel insurance products. If you make a travel booking through us and decline travel insurance, you may be required to sign a disclaimer. PASSPORTS & VISAS:  All travellers must have a valid passport for international travel and many countries require at least 6 months validity from the date of return and some countries require a machine-readable passport. For international travel bookings, you must let us know if you have less than 6 months validity on your passport or if you do not have a machine-readable passport. When assisting with an international travel booking, we will assume that all travellers on the booking have a valid New Zealand passport which is valid for the relevant destination and transit point. If this is not the case, you must let us know. It is important that you ensure that you have valid passports, visas and re-entry permits which meet the requirements of immigration and other government authorities. Any fines, penalties, payments or expenditures incurred as a result of such documents not meeting the requirements of those authorities will be your sole responsibility (except to the extent caused by fault on our part). If you need information regarding visas, passports and other travel document requirements for your trip, please let your consultant know or contact us on 0800 32 66 54. We can provide you with general information only on visa and passport requirements that apply to international travel bookings you make with us. Our consultants can also obtain more specific information from an external visa advisory service provider on your behalf (if you wish, we can assist you to obtain visas through this external service and fees will apply). We do not warrant the accuracy or suitability of information provided by any external service provider and accept no liability for any loss or damage which you may suffer in reliance on it (except to the extent caused by fault on our part). If you are travelling to or transiting through the United States please see https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov or important information regarding compulsory pre-registration for their visa waiver program (“ESTA”). New Zealand passport holders will not be able to enter the United States without a valid ESTA (or visa). Please note, you may not meet the eligibility requirements of ESTA and may be required to obtain a visa. If you are travelling to or transiting through Canada please see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/eta.asp for important information regarding compulsory electronic travel authorization for visa-exempt foreign nationals (“ETA”). New Zealand passport holders will not be able to enter Canada without a valid ETA (or visa or permit) from 15 March 2016. Please note, you may not meet the eligibility requirements of ETA and may be required to obtain a visa or permit. We urge you to apply for entry visas, permits and applicable waivers/exemptions prior to booking your travel, particularly if you have any concerns about whether or not you might be eligible for an ESTA or ETA. TRAVEL ADVICE INCLUDING COVID-19 (CORONAVIRUS) GUIDANCE:  We recommend that you contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (“MFAT”) or visit their website at https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/ for general travel advice, as well as specific advice (including safety alert levels) relating to the destination you wish to visit. You can also register your travel plans with MFAT, so that you may be more easily contacted in an emergency. We strongly recommend that you familiarise yourself with the current status and updates to New Zealand's immigration and border arrangements during the COVID-19 outbreak, available at https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/covid-19 and that you check your travel insurance to ensure it provides you with adequate protection. In addition you should familiarise yourself with airline requirements around passenger safety, including the requirement for face masks and the need to produce evidence meeting airline and border control requirements in relation to a negative COVID-19 test both for transit and final destination passengers. This information is subject to change without notice so we recommend you update yourself in relation to the relevant airline and government policies for your transit and final destination at each of (i) the time of booking, (ii) as you approach your travel date, and (iii) immediately before travel. You acknowledge that you are choosing to travel at a time where you may be exposed to COVID-19 and that your travel plans may be impacted by COVID-19. It is your own responsibility to acquaint yourself with all relevant travel information, including applicable health risks and travel restrictions (including (without limitation) border closures, isolation and quarantine requirements). You acknowledge that your decision to travel is made based on your own consideration of this information, and you acknowledge and agree that you are aware of, and assume responsibility for, all of the risks associated with traveling at this time. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we accept no liability in relation to any of these additional risks. COVID-19: Due to the impact of Covid-19 some hoteliers and suppliers may have been affected or no longer operating, and as such, the information provided within this brochure is a guideline and indicative to star ratings, services and amenities offered at the time of its creation. For further details feel free to chat to a travel consultant in-store, on the phone or visit flightcentre.co.nz HEALTH:  You must ensure that you are aware of any health requirements and recommended precautions relevant to your travel booking and ensure that you carry all necessary vaccination documentation. In some cases, failure to present required vaccination documentation (e.g., proof of Yellow Fever vaccination) may deny you entry into a country. We recommend that you consult with your local doctor, travel medical service or specialist vaccination clinic before commencing your travel. General health advice for the destination you wish to visit is also available from MFAT (see https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/ ). In relation to the COVID-19 Pandemic, travel carriers, travel operators and local authorities at travel destinations may require specific testing prior to boarding and/or upon arrival at your destination. They may also require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations. Failure to present required Covid related information may result in you being denied entry into a country.  Whether any medical requests can be accommodated, including (without limitation) access to power, refrigeration and travelling with the use of mobility aids, is subject to the travel service provider in their sole and absolute discretion, and will often depend on a number of factors, including (without limitation) any modes of transport and local standards at the destination. All medical requests are beyond our control. While we will include all medical requests as a file note to the travel service provider, we cannot guarantee that your request will be accommodated. It is your responsibility to follow up with the travel service provider directly either at the destination or prior to travelling where possible. TAXES: Certain taxes are mandatory in various countries. There may also be an additional local tax charged at some airports. All taxes are subject to change without notice. Airline taxes will be confirmed at the time your airline ticket is issued. SERVICE GUARANTEES: Our booking and advisory services come with guarantees under the Consumer Guarantees Act that: they will be provided with due care and skill; they will be reasonably fit for the specified purpose; they can reasonably be expected to achieve the desired result; and they will be provided within a reasonable time. If we fail to meet any of these guarantees, you have rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act.​​​​​​​ DEPOSITS & FINAL PAYMENTS (NOT APPLICABLE TO ONLINE BOOKINGS, WHICH MUST BE PAID IN FULL AT THE TIME OF BOOKING): You may be required to pay a deposit or deposits when booking. Your consultant will advise you of how much that will be. Subject to your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act, all deposits are non-refundable for changes of mind or cancellations by you, or if the travel service provider’s terms and conditions provide that your deposit is non-refundable. If your deposit is refundable, this is subject to Flight Centre having received the funds from the travel service provider and/or being authorised by the travel service provider to refund your deposit. A deposit will secure your booking/seat, however prices quoted may change before you make the final payment. Final payment is required no later than 15 days prior to departure unless otherwise stated. Some airfares or services must be paid in full at the time of booking. TRAVEL EXPERT SERVICE FEE: We charge a Travel Expert Service Fee for bookings made with our travel experts in store, via email or over the phone. The fee is payable once per person per booking and the amount varies based on the destination you are traveling to as follows:  

OUR CHANGE AND CANCELLATION FEES: Subject to your refund and remedy rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act, the following change or cancellation fees will apply to your booking (including online bookings and bookings made with a consultant), as set out in the sections below: •     Changes to Domestic bookings will incur a fee of $25 per person for each inbound and/or outbound journey  in addition to travel service provider fees (if applicable).  •     Changes to Trans-Tasman bookings will incur a fee of $50 per person for each inbound and/or outbound journey in addition to travel service provider fees (if applicable).  •     Changes to South Pacific Islands bookings will incur a fee of $75 per person for each inbound and/or outbound journey in addition to travel service provider fees if applicable).  •    Changes to all other International bookings will incur a fee of $75 per person for each inbound and/or outbound journey in addition to travel service provider fees (if applicable).  •     Cancellations of Domestic bookings will incur a fee of $50 per person (capped at $200 per booking) in addition to travel service provider fees.  •    Cancellations of Trans-Tasman bookings will incur a fee of $100 per person (capped at $400 per booking) in addition to travel service provider fees.  •     Cancellations of South Pacific Islands bookings will incur a fee of $200 per person (capped at $800 per booking) in addition to travel service provider fees.  •     Cancellations of all other International bookings will incur a fee of $350 per person (capped at $1,000 per booking) in addition to travel service provider fees.  •     Name changes will incur a fee of $125 per person per booking in addition to travel service provider fees (if applicable), Name changes may not always be possible due to travel service providers restrictions, please contact your travel expert to confirm. These change and cancellation fees reflect the reasonable, direct and indirect costs, time and effort incurred or involved in us providing booking and advisory services to you, as well as processing and managing the changes to, or cancellation of, your booking. From time to time we may run promotions and/or offers (such as our “Book with Flex” packages) that will affect these change and cancellation fees. Please see the terms and conditions applicable to any such promotion and/or offer for details. If you wish to change or cancel a booking that has been booked online and paid for using PayPal or credit card, please contact your consultant or contact us on 0800 31 44 42. Applicable change or cancellation fees may be paid via credit card and will attract the applicable credit card surcharge. All bookings are made on your behalf subject to the terms and conditions imposed by the travel service provider. If, for example, a travel service provider’s terms and conditions contain a “no refund policy”, we will only be able to provide you with the remedy provided by the travel service provider (if any), which may include a travel credit supplied by the travel service provider. TRAVEL SERVICE PROVIDER CHANGE AND CANCELLATION FEES: Changed or cancelled bookings for any reason (including by reason of matters outside your or our control) may also incur travel service provider fees, which can be up to 100% of the cost of the booking, regardless of whether travel has commenced. Travel service provider fees may also apply where a booking is changed for any reason and when tickets or documents are re-issued. Where we incur any liability for a travel service provider change or cancellation fee for any booking which is changed or cancelled for any reason, you agree to indemnify us for the amount of that fee. Where you seek a refund for a changed or cancelled booking for which payment has been made to the travel service provider, we will not provide a refund to you until we receive the funds from that travel service provider (which may take 12 weeks, or longer, dependent upon the travel service provider processing time). In the event we are still holding the funds, we can only provide you with a refund once we are authorised by the travel service provider to process your refund, subject to that travel service provider’s change or cancellation policy.​​​​​​​ CHANGE AND CANCELLATION BY YOU: If you change any aspect of your booking, we will do our best to accommodate your request, but it may not always be possible. All changes will be subject to any applicable travel service provider fees and Flight Centre change fees set out above, and you will be responsible for any increase in pricing that may occur as a result of your change request. If you cancel any aspect of your booking, you will forfeit your deposit and you will be required to pay any applicable travel service provider fees and Flight Centre cancellation fees set out above, and we will provide you with a refund for the remaining funds (if any). Alternatively, the travel service provider may offer you a travel credit for the full amount paid by you without applying any applicable travel service provider fees. If your deposit or booking is refundable, this is subject to Flight Centre having received the funds from the travel service provider and/or being authorised by the travel service provider to refund your deposit or booking funds. For instant purchase or non-refundable bookings, if you cancel any aspect of your booking, you will not be entitled to a refund, travel credit or other remedy from the travel service provider and/or Flight Centre. CHANGE OR CANCELLATION BY A TRAVEL SERVICE PROVIDER: The following terms apply to a cancellation by a travel service provider, except in the event of unavoidable or extraordinary circumstances (which are dealt with in the sections below). To the extent permitted by applicable law, if your booking is cancelled by a travel service provider, the travel service provider will generally offer you in the first instance alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard if available (and will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value), or a travel credit for the full amount paid by you. Alternatively, subject to the travel service provider’s change or cancellation policy, the travel service provider may offer you a refund of all money paid by you in respect of the booking, from which the travel service provider and/or Flight Centre will deduct any unrecoverable costs, and any applicable travel service provider fees and Flight Centre cancellation fees set out above. “Unrecoverable costs” means all reasonable, direct and indirect costs we have incurred in relation to your booking, and includes amounts paid by Flight Centre to other relevant travel service providers who are responsible for components of your booking and which may be non-refundable. For example, costs paid to overseas in-destination tour or transfer operators. For instant purchase or non-refundable bookings, if your booking is cancelled by a travel service provider, subject to the travel service provider’s change or cancellation policy, you may not be entitled to a refund, travel credit or other remedy from the travel service provider and/or Flight Centre. UNAVOIDABLE OR EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES: In the event of unavoidable or extraordinary circumstances, a travel service provider may materially modify or cancel your booking as set out below. In these Booking Terms and Conditions “unavoidable or extraordinary circumstances” means any cause outside a travel service provider’s reasonable control which could not have been prevented or avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken by the travel service provider (including, but not limited to, war, threat of war, riot, civil disturbances, industrial dispute, terrorist activity and its consequences, plague, epidemic, pandemic, infectious disease outbreak or any other public health crisis (including quarantine or other employee restrictions), natural or other disaster (such as volcanic ash or hurricanes or similar events), nuclear incident, fire or bushfires, adverse weather conditions (actual or threatened, including snow and fog), closed or congested airports or ports or other modes of transport, unavoidable technical problems with transport, unforeseen alterations to transport schedules, transportation disruptions or cancellations, domestic and/or international travel restrictions, changes to travel advisories and restrictions, changes to health advisories and quarantines, changes to immigration, labour and free-movement laws resulting from BREXIT, rescheduling of aircraft or boats or other modes of transport, changes to applicable laws and/or other government mandates (including evacuation orders and border closures), and similar events). A material modification is one that has a serious impact on your booking and would cause substantial inconvenience to you (including a change of departure date, departure point or airport, or change of departure time of more than twelve hours). CANCELLATION DUE TO UNAVOIDABLE OR EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES: If your booking is cancelled due to unavoidable or extraordinary circumstances the travel service provider may offer you a travel credit or the full amount paid by you. PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS: Product descriptions featured in this brochure are based on current international hotel guides and information provided by hotels and suppliers. Any facilities shown as included are subject to change at any time. Tours may not operate on certain dates, and durations and departure times are approximate only. The standard of accommodation and other services is based on various factors, which are generally accepted as indicative of a certain class. However, Flight Centre does not guarantee the standard, class or fitness for purpose of that accommodation or service.​​​​​​​ MAPS & PHOTOGRAPHS: Maps are shown for general information and are an indication only; they may not necessarily reflect actual routings, hotel and attraction locations, or services provided. Photographs show places in the geographic areas, but are not necessarily included in the holiday. Hotel room photographs are representative only, and the actual rooms occupied may vary in décor and inclusions from those shown. Many images are supplied courtesy of tourist bureaus, hotels and tour operators.​​​​​​​ PAYMENTS BY CREDIT CARD AND DEBIT CARD:  Credit card surcharges of 2% for Amex, Diners Club and Q Card; and 1.3% for Visa Credit and MasterCard Credit, will apply when paying by credit card. Debit card surcharges of 1.1% for Visa Debit and MasterCard Debit will apply when paying by debit card. When applying for long term Finance, establishment and merchant fees will apply. You authorise us to charge all fees incurred by you in relation to the services provided to the credit card designated by you. If payment is not received from the card issuer or its agents for any reason, you agree to pay us all amounts due immediately on demand. You authorise us to charge all fees incurred by you in relation to the services provided by us to the credit card or debit card designated by you. If payment is not received from the card issuer or its agents for any reason, you agree to pay us all amounts due immediately on demand. If you choose to save your credit card details with us, they will be securely stored and may be used for your future transactions with us (including transactions agreed over the phone or by email). You can choose to remove your saved credit card details at any time. PRIVACY POLICY: We are committed to protecting your personal information and agree to handle your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy, which is available online at https://www.flightcentre.co.nz/privacy or in-store. By providing personal information to us, you agree that our Privacy Policy will apply to how we handle your personal information and you consent to us collecting, using and disclosing your personal information as detailed in our Privacy Policy. In particular, you agree that in certain circumstances (such as where you request us to book international travel for you), we are permitted to disclose your personal information to overseas recipients. Such recipients may include the overseas travel service providers (e.g. airlines, accommodation or tour providers) with whom you make a booking. These travel service providers will in most cases receive your personal information in the country in which they will provide the services to you or in which their business is based. We may also disclose your personal information to our overseas related entities (including those in Australia, the USA, the UK, South Africa, Canada, India and Hong Kong) and to service providers who perform services for us within and outside of New Zealand. Generally, we will only disclose your personal information to these entities and/or persons in connection with the facilitation of your travel booking and/or to enable the performance of administrative and technical services by them on our behalf. Where we disclose your personal information to any entity and/or person (including any overseas recipients), you agree that: (i) in the case of travel service providers or other recipients who are providing services directly to you, we will not be required to ensure that recipient’s compliance with New Zealand privacy laws or otherwise be accountable for how they handle your personal information and you acknowledge and agree that your rights in relation to their handling of your personal information are governed by the contract between you and that recipient (which may include their privacy policy); and (ii) in the case of our related entities and travel service providers who perform services for us, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that recipient’s compliance with New Zealand privacy laws. When used above, “disclose” includes to transfer, share, send, or otherwise make available or accessible to another person and/or entity.​​​​​​​ BAGGAGE: Carriers publish baggage allowances applicable for carriage over their own services. Allowances include cabin baggage and checked baggage. These allowances tend to be based on a weight allowance or a piece system. We recommend you check your baggage allowance carefully, as you may incur a charge for the carriage of baggage in excess of their free baggage allowance. Carriers also publish baggage safety notices, which detail items that cannot be carried or can only be carried in checked baggage. Again, we recommend you ask your chosen carrier about the applicable baggage safety requirements.​​​​​​​ PRE-DEPARTURE CONTACT: Please ensure you provide your travel consultant with a telephone number or address where you can be reached within 24 hours prior to your departure from New Zealand. SPECIAL REQUIREMENT: Please liaise with your consultant or contact us on 0800 32 66 54 regarding any special requirements you may have for your travel arrangements such as special meal and seating requests, room type or disabled access.​​​​​​​ FREQUENT FLYER OR OTHER LOYALTY PROGRAM: When booking with one of our consultants, please let them know your frequent flyer membership details (or other applicable loyalty program details) for inclusion in your booking. If you are booking online, please insert these details in the space provided for inclusion in your booking. Please check your frequent flyer program (or other applicable loyalty program) for the specific terms of your membership. We cannot guarantee that the supplier of your frequent flyer or other loyalty program will credit you with points for your booking or provide you with any other particular benefit, including (without limitation) status credits or lounge access. It is your responsibility to check whether your booking is eligible for any such benefits and to retain all boarding passes to allow verification of your travel if required.​​​​​​​ SCHEDULE CHANGES: We recommend that you contact the travel service provider to confirm your scheduled departure time 24 hours prior to your departure.​​​​​​​ MONIES NOT HELD ON TRUST: You agree and acknowledge that such monies paid by you to us will not be held by us on trust for and on behalf of you and we may hold such monies in any account as we see fit, including with our own and/or other customer monies. All monies paid by you to us will be a debt due and payable to the travel service provider in accordance with the payment terms we have agreed with that travel service provider. Payment will generally be made to the travel service provider before the services to which the money relates are provided, however in some cases, payment will be made to the travel service provider once the services to which the money relates have been provided. In respect of monies paid for flights for an IATA airline, such monies might be held on trust for that IATA airline in accordance with the payment terms we have agreed with that IATA airline. In the event we still hold the monies, we can only provide you with a refund once we are authorised by the travel service provider to process your refund, subject to that travel service provider’s change or cancellation policy. ​​​​​​​ MODIFICATIONS OF THESE BOOKING TERMS AND CONDITIONS: We reserve the right to modify any of these Booking Terms and Conditions (including the Travel Credit terms and conditions) at any time without prior notice. If we make changes to any of these terms and conditions, we will post the amended terms and conditions on the flightcentre.co.nz website, applications, or services, which are effective upon posting. The applicable terms that apply are those in effect at the time you make a booking (including by using any Travel Credit) with us.​​​​​​​ GOVERNING LAW: If any dispute arises between you and us, the laws of New Zealand will apply. You are irrevocably and unconditionally subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New Zealand and waive any right that you may have to object to an action being brought in those courts.​​​​​​​ ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: You acknowledge that you are 18 years of age or older, and that you understand and agree with the above terms and conditions and our Privacy Policy.  Flight Centre (NZ) Limited trading as Flight Centre. Last updated 06 July 2023

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Taking the Plunge: A Travel Agent’s Guide to Charging Fees

Charging travel agent fees can be a hot-button topic among the travel industry. So why charge them? The (very) short answer is that hosted advisors who charged fees earned a 42% higher income average than peers who opted not to charge a fee in 2023.

No wonder charging fees is becoming the norm. Nearly half of hosted travel advisors charge fees 1 . In 2023 travel advisors trade representative, the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), released a credo further normalizing and encouraging professional fees.

hosted advisors who charged fees earned a 42% higher income average than peers who opted not to charge a fee in 2023.

As travel has become more complex, your job as a travel advisor has become more complicated. If you're fee-curious, or on the fence, consider these three reasons to consider charging fees:

• It's stabilizes your income volume and flow: Commissions may not land in your bank account until final payment or even after travel. That could be months. Fees offer more a more immediate and steadier income stream to help stabilize your bottom line.
• It's helps attract clients you want. Charging fees (even a plan-to-go fee, which may be applied in full or in part to a booked trip) can help weed out tire kicked, and magnetize the type of travelers who are going to value your work and expertise. It may seem daunting when you're starting out, but future you will thank right-now you for it.

Those are the crib notes. See below's article highlights to get a taste of our full deep dive!

⭐️ HAR Article Highlights: ⭐️

• A Travel Agent Fee Cheatsheet
• How (and Why) to Build a Fee-For-Service Travel Business in 8 Steps , an EduSpot from Madeline Jhawar
• Advice from over 150 travel professionals on charging fees
• A pep talk on service fees, and when you should definitely charge them.
• Still not sold? This may encourage you to warm up to service fees.
• An overview of different service fee types (and which structures might be best for new agents)
• Recommendations for Fee Processing Systems

A Travel Agent Fees: A Cheatsheet!

Before I launch into a pep talk, I want to show you the goods. We have a cheatsheet that will help you navigate charing a fee (or reevaluating your current fee structure). When you download the pdf, you'll be able to fill it out as a form. The cheatsheet will help you:

• Figure out what your “hourly wage" is with commissions to help you see If you're on target with your earnings goal.
• Identify your level of expertise and how it impacts what type of fee you might charge ( NOT how much).
• Assess how much hand-holding you offer clients
• Figure out median fees, by region

You can download it here!

How (and Why) to Build a Fee-For-Service Travel Business in 8 Steps

Sometimes it's helpful to hear direct from personal experiences of travel advisors. Madeline Jhawar offered an EduSpot during HAR's 2023 Host Week event and it's still relevant today (if not more relevant.) Take a look if you're more of a visual leaner :)

Need more? Well we always have more because we're kind of extra in the best way here at HAR.

Over 150 agents weighed in, offering advice on verbiage they use with clients when they address fees, a confidence booster for those who are hesitant to charge, and how they transitioned into charging fees (if they didn't charge from the get-go). It's (almost a literal) ton of info! Here it is, uncut:

Phew! That's a lot to consider! Here's the rest of HAR's pep talk (and practical advice), below!

The Pep Talk in Support of Charging Travel Agent Fees

Repeat after me: "i am a professional".

When you seek medical care, you don’t go to a doctor and tell them that you’re just going to pay for the labs and prescriptions. No. You pay your doctor oodles of money because they’re trusted professionals who went to school for a long time to gain the skills to (hopefully) successfully diagnose your symptoms and steer you toward recovery.

Travel agents are professionals too. You’ve invested in professional development with conferences, FAM trips, and training. You deserve to get paid for the time, knowledge, expertise, and research that goes into booking a great trip. Time that a supplier does not compensation for.

Advisors save travelers hours upon hours of time researching, planning, and booking . Seriously, it’s borderline obscene how much time people spend planning vacations. And you don’t do it with the wave of a magic wand or the click of a button.

Commissions Might Not Be Enough

Unfortunately, the travel industry doesn’t default to compensating travel agents for the added value they provide beyond the logistics of booking. This is where fees come into play.

While travel agent commissions may be the bread and butter of a travel agent’s income), it can be difficult to earn a sustainable income on commissions alone. In 2023, fees accounted for 20% of a hosted advisors' total income. Can you imagine a 20% if you're not charging fees already?

In 2023, fees accounted for 20% of a hosted advisors' total income.

I’ll be honest: I’m not a motivational speaker. Far from it. But I do understand how difficult it can be to ask for money. It’s not my M.O. Maybe it’s not yours, either. But do you remember Ron Tidwell from Jerry Macguire? He took no issue asking for money, and I just want to take a moment for you to gain some motivation from him:

(Dang, you gotta miss those VHS visual-quality days!)

Should I Charge a Fee?

Some agents choose not to charge fees, and of course, this is okay. For some agents, charging no fees is a part of their marketing platform––a way to sell themselves to clients. Others just don’t feel like it or don’t feel comfortable charging fees. For others, they express that the commissions they receive provide ample enough income and just don’t need to charge them.

But here’s four instances where I tend to feel really strongly about charging a fee:

• When booking air-only travel:  Leisure agents can take cues from their corporate agent counterparts and go ahead and charge a fee for air-ticketing. Booking air-only isn't often a huge moneymaker for leisure agents. But it takes time (and sometimes causes headaches.) If a client isn’t willing to pay a ticketing fee for an air-only booking, then maybe they’re not the client for you.
• Non or Low-Commissionable Bookings: If you’re booking leisure air travel, independent hotels, or smaller vendors that don’t provide a commission, this is another instance where it’s a really good idea to charge a fee.
• Booking Non-Commissionable Ancillaries or Add-Ons: Travel agent Ria Maratheftis from The Travel Nook said this better than I ever could, “If we provide personalized ‘concierge’ services such as in-depth itinerary planning with non-commissionable components, i.e. (sporting events, concerts, theatre tickets, Disney dining reservations, ride Fastpasses, wedding planning, etc.) then we will typically charge a $100 per person blanket fee to expedite the research, ticketing, shipping & ongoing maintenance.” (Want a trick to book your Disney extras? Check out our Disney Early Reservation Date Calculator ! )
• Booking FITs (or anything customized): Booking FITs are time-intensive and customized for your client. By nature, it takes more time to create and book FIT itineraries, and you should be compensated for that time.

This just scrapes the surface, and of course, we’ll get into other reasons to charge fees. But if you're making any kind of non or low-commissionable bookings (or components), I highly suggest charging a fee.

Travel Agent Fee Myths Demystified

Advisors who are hesitant to charge fees are typically concerned about attracting or retaining clients or feel they don't have enough knowledge to charge fees. So let me play the role of Jerry McGuire’s Ron Tidwell in why you might still want to charge fees, despite these reservations!

1. I'm Worried About Attracting New Clients:

I understand this. Some respondents to our survey mentioned they live in a small town with other travel agents and that charging a fee would essentially be a death sentence.

But charging a fee—especially for trips that take research, support, and planning or are low or non-commissionable will not only scare away tire-kickers but also support you in creating a loyal customer base that values the added value you bring to their trip. What you don’t want to attract is this kind of client:

2. I Don’t Have Enough Experience to Charge Fees:

Just because you don’t have much experience, doesn’t mean you don’t put a ton of legwork into creating and planning a trip. A new travel agent might spend hours planning a trip, but still, make it look effortless. Their process might be a closer mirror to the consumer process, with more extensive research and time taken to make sure everything is done well. But just because you don’t have much experience, doesn’t mean your time still isn’t valuable. If you fall into this category, here are a few things to consider:

• Do not charge an hourly fee: If you’re a brand-newbie, charging an hourly fee won’t make sense. Instead, consider a (combination of) per-person fee, flat fee, and/or service fees for booking air-only and low or non-commissionable bookings. 
• Apply the fee to their booking: If you are lacking confidence, tell your client that you’ll apply the fee to their vacation package/ trip once it’s booked and confirmed that they will book through you. You could do this just for the client’s first trip, or for all trips if you’re still worried about charging a fee.

3. I'm Afraid I Might Lose Clients:

A happy and loyal client will recognize the added value you provide for them. And while attrition might be a part of implementing a fee for the first time, it’s likely that you keep and attract clients who will recognize the value of your services.

4. I don’t know enough about fees to charge them:

Rest assured, once you get to the end of this article, this will not apply to you any longer. If you're not sure how much to charge, take some advice from Steph Lee who chats through a few steps to take to determine how much to charge. Take a look!

5. My state's Seller of Travel Regulations DoesN't Allow It:

In most states with Seller of Travel regulations (in fact, many agents from FL or CA reported charging fees in our survey), you need an SOT license. According to travel lawyer Mark Pestonk, the "issue is whether an IC, who otherwise qualifies for an exemption under a seller of travel law, will lose his or her exempt status merely by charging a fee to clients."

It’s worth noting that hosted agents can still charge fees so long as they are processing those fees through their host agency (that has SOT). You can read more on Seller of Travel Laws here . Check with your host agency specifically about how this can work. Plus, we'll dig into more of Mark's insights on charging fees in a Seller of Travel state soon!

6. My Host Agency Doesn’t Allow Service Fees:

As an independently contracted agent, you have the choice of whether or not to charge fees. Even if a host agency doesn’t have the capacity to process service fees, there are still ways to charge them. If charging a fee is important to you, this might play a big factor for you in choosing (or even switching) host agencies.

Different Types of Fees (Which One Is Right for You?)

We break down fees into two categories:

1. Service Fees:

Service fee charges are pre-booking charges for air-ticketing or a segment of a trip (car, rail, hotel, etc.). The service fees don’t include a charge for research or planning a trip, it’s a charge for the logistics of booking. Different service fee charges can include:

• Air ticketing, domestic
• Air ticketing, international
• Tour package
• Cancellation
• Air-inclusive package
• Accommodation Only
• Frequent Flyer
• Ancillary Services
• FIT Segments
• Shore Excursions
• Special Coupons

Service fees are pretty much a given among corporate agents, but much less common among leisure agents.

2. Consultation Fees

Unlike service fees which is a flat transaction charge for booking a trip segment, consultation fees are a charge for your time spent researching, planning, booking a trip for a client as well as your time spent supporting a client during their travel. Consultation fees are becoming more popular among leisure agents and for good reason—it takes a lot of time to plan and book a trip!

Consultation fees are a good idea if you’re doing any kind of customized or non-commissionable booking, and creating a fee structure for consultation fees is more of an art than a science. Different consultation fee structures include:

• Flat Fee: A flat fee is the most popular consultation fee charge by a large margin. It’s one standard/blanket fee upfront that covers the research and planning of the entire trip, regardless of how many people or days the trip is. A flat fee may function as an “initiation” for a client to render your services in planning a vacation.
• Hourly Fee: A charge per hour spent researching, planning, and/or booking a trip. This is probably not a great model if you’re a newbie since trip planning may take you a lot longer.
• Per Transaction Fee: This is where I contradict myself in saying that consultation fees aren’t necessarily a transaction fee. But these fees are popular among booking FITs and will be a consultation charge that’s broken down by segment (for example, a $50 per air ticket or a $25 for rail, etc.). This helps agents get “reimbursed” according to the complexity of a trip (rather than an overall flat fee).
• Per Person: This is also self-explanatory, and is a great tool if you’re booking groups. Some agents will also charge a per person per day of travel fee.

Still Not Sold? These Two Fee Structures May Help You Warm-Up to the Idea

Look, I'm shameless. If you're still not sold on charging fees, then please allow me one last opportunity to try and tip the scale toward charging.

Here are two fee structures that are particularly good for the faint of heart.

• Plan-to-go Fee: A plan-to-go fee is essentially where you charge an initial consultation fee for someone to render your services, but then apply it to their booking if they end up booking the trip through you. This gives you peace of mind that even if someone is just coming by to kick the tires on a trip, that you'll be compensated. A plan-to-go fee can be designed like any of the consultation fee structures above (flat fee, per person, etc.). In this case,
• This is a new one to me, brought to you by travel advisor extraordinaire DeJuan Shorter. He charges a consultation fee to his clients, but only for the first trip, they book with his agency. He chats on it in the video below:

So stinking smart.

Resources for Processing Service Fees

ARC provides a service fee processing system for travel agents. They charge a 3.5% processing fee for charges of $20 or more or $.70 for transactions less than $20. Their subscription costs $25.99 quarterly but is only charged when the account is active.

If you're charging for FIT travel (not just service fees or consultation fees) ARC's program will likely be the best bet for you, since non-travel specific processing systems like Pay Pal, Square, and Quickbooks (listed below) may not process transactions when travel is being sold ( in the CC processing world, travel is a high-risk product ).

2. Through Your Host Agency

If you don’t have GDS access ( what the heck is the GDS? ), your host can run service fees through their system. Each host agency will have a different process for this, so you’ll want to check with them. Typically, your current commission split with your host will also apply to service fees.

If your host does not have GDS, they may not be willing to process your fees, and you’ll need to find your own process system. Which bring me to . . . .

3. PayPal, Square, and QuickBooks, etc.

Here's a rundown of some of the costs:

• Quickbooks :  2.9% for swiped transactions or 3.4% for manually entered transactions plus a $.25 per transaction fee. If you're rolling in $7,500+ per month in service fees, you'll need to dish out a monthly fee. 
• PayPal:  2.9% plus $.30 per transaction. 
• Square:  2.75% for swiped transaction or 3.5% + $.15 for manually entered transactions.

The tricky thing with conventional processing systems like PayPal, Square, and QuickBooks is that sometimes travel industry professionals can be considered high risk, and certain processing systems won’t take the risk of covering you. (*Cough* — HAR may or may not have some personal experience with that!). However, so long as you’re not using the same processing system to sell travel, you should be able to frame your fees as “consultation fees.”

This process may not work if you operate in or are selling to a client that resides in a state with Seller of Travel requirements AND if you’re using your host’s SOT number. If this is the case, then you want to ask your host about processing your fees (more on this subject to come very soon!!!).

Travel Agent Fees in Action!

Don't take it from us! Tune into these travel agent chatter episodes where advisors dish on charging fees!

Learn from Molly Williams, CEO of The Optimists Travel. Through the pandemic, she realized the value of her time and the importance of charging fees. Listen to her recent podcast here!

Here's another great story of an advisor who used his previous experience in pricing at WestJet to start his own agency where he charges—and no, this is not a typo— CAD 60-$500 per ticket. Listen to the podcast to get yourself revved up!

Ashley Morris charges a fee for her destination wedding planning services and, amongst other things, shares her journey on charging fees and why it is a win-win for both the agency and her clients.

More Fee Info! ('Cause You Can't, You Won't, and You Don't Stop)

Because I simply cannot stop myself, here some more info on service fees we have on the site:

• Three Travel Agents Get Creative with Fee Structures : There are a ton of creative ideas in this article, but these three travel agents have particularly unconventional fee structures. They're too clever not to check out.
• How Seller of Travel Laws Impact Service Fees : This is is amazing because a.) it has some expert info from Mark Pestronk on charging service fees in states with Seller of Travel Laws and b.)Jamie Jones, COO of WhirlAway Travel (from above) shared insights with HAR to create a customizable template for agents to make their own service agreement to share with their clients. 
• HAR's Research Reports: If travel agency fee data could take steroids, this is what it would like . . . an entire archive of reports with giant sections dedicated to common fee practices. It's great to take a peek if you'd like to do a little competitive intelligence on charging fees.

How about you? Do you have recommendations for service processing systems? Will you share insights on how you developed your own service fee structure? Let us know in the comment section below! 

[Editor's note: This article was originally published in Jan. 2018 and was updated on the date listed.]

• Source: Host Agency Reviews Research Reports ↩

About the Author

Mary Stein has been working as a writer and editor for Host Agency Reviews since 2016. She loves supporting travel advisors on their entrepreneurial journey and is inspired by their passion, tenacity, and creativity. Mary is also a mom, dog lover, fiction writer, hiker, and a Great British Bake Off superfan.

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To Charge or Not to Charge: A Breakdown of Fees for Travel Agents

In the past, a travel agent charging a fee for their services was unheard of. But the value of travel agents has become more apparent than ever, especially since the impact of COVID-19 on the industry has been a significant one. It’s now becoming more mainstream for these professionals to charge fees for their services.

The Problem with Not Charging Service Fees

For almost every agent in the travel industry, whether they hold a Florida travel agency license , a New York travel agent license, or credentials anywhere else, the bulk of their income still comes from commissions. It isn’t always easy to earn a sustainable income on commissions alone.

Commissions don’t account for the countless hours agents spend ironing out all kinds of details for their travelers. Hence, many people now believe that travel agents should be charging service fees, especially when they save their clients so many hours of their own planning, research, booking, and revising.

It Can Be Difficult “Asking” for Money

While it’s easy to say that travel agents need to be their own advocates, it isn’t always easy to ask for money. Many people aren’t comfortable with it and don’t have it as a part of their daily MO. 

Some agents use the “no fees” promise as part of their marketing platform, and this is okay. If you do want to begin charging fees, consider starting out by charging for certain services and not others. 

Have a Florida Travel Agency License? Or a License in Any Other State? Charge for These Services

No matter where you operate your business, you’ve worked hard to get your travel agent license and establish yourself as a travel advisor. Consider charging for the following services, if nothing else:

Booking Non- or Low-Commissionable Reservations

These include smaller vendors, independent hotels, and even leisure air travel bookings.

Booking Air-Only Travel

Charging a fee for air ticketing is not uncommon for corporate travel agents, so leisure agents can follow suit as well.

Booking FITs or Anything that Is Customized

By default, it takes agents more time to create and book FIT itineraries, and it makes sense to be compensated for the extra time and effort.

Booking Add-Ons

Travel advisors who offer personalized “concierge” services, including in-depth planning of itineraries, should be compensated for the research, ticketing, and ongoing maintenance that is created with add-ons.

A Final Tip for Travel Agents

As a travel agent , you don’t click a magic button or wave a wand to pull travel itineraries, reservations, and plans together; you work really, really hard at it. If you’re not comfortable charging blanket fees for your services, consider starting out by charging only for some services.