Do Travel Agents Save You Money?
For certain trips, travel agents can save you money — and several hours of planning.
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Updated · 4 min read
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Travel agents aren't for everyone. But for complex trips, cruises and Disney vacations, they can save you hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars through exclusive rates and expert navigation of overwhelming booking systems.
Many travel agents — or travel advisors, as most prefer to be called now — have access to wholesale pricing unavailable to individual customers. Often, they pass along at least some of those savings. Their expertise can also be worth hundreds of dollars in avoided mistakes or time saved.
The key is understanding when a travel advisor’s buying power and expertise actually matter. For straightforward bookings, like a hotel room, a basic flight or a simple weekend trip, working with a travel advisor often comes with little advantage over booking your own trip.
Some travel advisors charge a flat fee for their services, which can add another line item to an already expensive vacation. Others don’t charge you anything upfront, instead earning commissions from travel providers after you book. This creates opportunities for savings, but it can also introduce potential conflicts of interest.
So should you use a travel advisor? We tackled that question on NerdWallet’s weekly travel podcast, Smart Travel, which I co-host with Meghan Coyle. Here’s what you should know.
🤓 Nerdy Tip
When we talk about travel advisors in this article, we're not referring to online travel agencies (OTAs) like Undercover Tourist and Costco Travel, which are booking platforms that negotiate wholesale rates with travel suppliers and resell them to consumers. We're focusing on human travel advisors, who provide personalized service. These travel advisors typically ask about your travel style, curate options based on your preferences, coordinate complex itineraries and remain available if things go wrong during your trip. They may have access to wholesale pricing and industry memberships for exclusive rates, but they’re also selling expertise and service. How much do travel advisors cost?
Understanding how travel advisors are paid can help you evaluate both their value and their limitations. Most operate under one of two income models.
The commission model: Free to you (with caveats)
Most travel advisors operate under the commission model and don’t charge upfront fees. Instead, they earn commissions from the travel providers whose products you book. This can be great for travelers as you won’t owe any additional money for the trip-planning help.
The risk? Some travel advisors might push you to book with travel providers who pay them commission (or lead you to those who pay them the most commission), even if that’s not actually the best option for you. If an advisor earns higher commissions when you book with one cruise line compared to others, there's a risk they might push that option, despite better-fitting alternatives.
On the Smart Travel podcast, we spoke to Jenn Lee, president and chief marketing officer of Travel Planners International, who said that wasn’t the case. Travel advisors are incentivized to put you on the best trip possible so you’ll book future trips with them, she explains.
“Recommending something that is not necessarily going to fit your needs could put [advisors] out of business,” Lee says. “One bad experience using a travel advisor where the advisor didn't advise properly could actually cost them hundreds of clients down the road because referrals are everybody's business.”
The fee-based model: Paying for expertise
Some travel advisors charge clients directly, particularly for highly customized or complex itineraries.
Just like you might pay an interior designer to come consult on your home (and then you pay additional money for the furniture, paint and labor), you pay the travel advisor for their expertise — and then they can actually book the travel that they’ve helped you plan.
Fees vary widely. Flat fees can range from about $200 to more than $2,000 per trip. Other planners break down prices by day of your trip (you might pay $100 per day they plan for you) or by hour they spend planning (and a $200 hourly rate is not uncommon).
🤓 Nerdy Tip
If you’re hiring a fee-based travel agent, run your own cost analysis. What’s your hourly rate? If you're spending 20+ hours researching and managing a complex trip, even a $400 planning fee could be worth it. The hybrid model: Fees for changes or cancellations
You might also see a hybrid of those two models: the initial booking and planning are complimentary, but you may get hit with modification or cancellation fees because they require additional work.
For example, an advisor might be willing to help you book a trip at no cost to you — but they’ll charge you $100 if you cancel.
Travel insurance may cover those fees, but check both your insurance policy and the advisor’s fee structure before committing.
When working with a travel advisor can save you money
Travel advisors tend to offer pricing advantages over what you’ll find online for the following common types of trips.
Cruises: “Anytime you're booking a cruise, travel advisors usually have access to what we call blocked cruise inventory," Lee says. "We pay for cabins two and three years in advance — at two- and three-years-ago prices."
Lee says she’s had clients who have paid $1,700 less than the online-advertised price because they could take advantage of that blocked inventory.
When you want a vacation package: "When you package your air, car or hotel together, it's about the buying power that the travel advisor has, that the consumer doesn't have," Lee says.
In addition to lower prices, advisors may be able to secure perks like $100 hotel credits, free breakfast, early check-in or late checkout.
Longer trips in unfamiliar areas: If you’re unfamiliar with the destination — or just plain overwhelmed by the number of potential places you could visit or hotels to book — a human travel advisor can help reel it all in and help you plan an actually great itinerary.
"A travel advisor says, ‘Tell me, why Italy? What's important to you about Italy?’" Lee says.
That consultation approach — understanding whether you want Tuscan countryside or Roman history, or whether you’d be better off at a boutique hotel versus a family-friendly resort — can turn a generic trip into one that actually fits your travel style.
Complicated trips with many moving parts: When you work with a travel advisor, you have someone actively managing your trip while you travel. That matters for itineraries with multiple points of failure. One missed flight that leads to a missed connection — and ultimately a missed cruise — could severely disrupt your plans.
A travel advisor can help reroute flights, secure new hotel accommodations or resolve issues while you’re abroad, potentially with limited Wi-Fi or cell service.
They often work behind the scenes to prevent problems in the first place, too, such as confirming reservations a couple of days before your arrival or checking your passport expiration dates.
When travel advisors probably won’t save you money
Award travel: Some services help you book trips with points and miles — but since advisors can't make commission on these trips, you typically have to pay a fee. Those charges could essentially erase a big chunk of the savings you'd get from using points and miles in the first place.
Simple hotel bookings: If you're just booking a room for a few nights without additional components, book directly. You'll get elite status benefits if you have them, and there's no value-add from an advisor.
Straightforward flights: It’s a similar story with flights. If you know where you want to go and you can see the route you want to book, it’s better to book yourself and avoid a middleman.
Low-cost trips: Advisors who work on commission might not give you much attention (or be willing to help you at all) since the economics might not work for them. They can likely make much more money for the same amount of effort planning an expensive trip involving flights, many nights of hotels and arrangements for multiple people on the same itinerary. Instead of going with a human travel advisor, consider browsing OTAs for deals.
Do your own cost comparisons
Travel advisors have evolved from basic booking agents into specialized consultants. Their access to cruise inventory, resort packages and complex booking expertise can make them valuable for certain trips — especially those involving unfamiliar destinations or complicated logistics.
But for straightforward travel, DIY booking is usually faster and simpler. Sometimes it can be cheaper, especially if you have elite status or value flexibility. Browse OTAs, but also browse the travel provider’s own website. While some OTAs offer deals, sometimes it’s still cheaper to book directly. The only way to know for sure is to compare prices for your specific booking.
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