Many travellers in the Asia Pacific still associate booking travel through advisors with OTAs that do not charge direct service fees, fostering an expectation that travel planning should be complimentary or covered by suppliers through commissions.
The mindset hurdle to the fee-based agency model was identified in the World Travel Agents Associations Alliance’s (WTAAA) new white paper, which suggested a clearer value proposition strategy is needed.
“Advisors must clearly communicate what their fee covers, emphasising their time investment, expertise, supplier relationships, risk management cancellations, and personalised planning,” the report noted.
In North America, WTAAA observed that a tiered pricing approach had been especially successful in ramping up client acceptance of charges, which has included flexibility like refundable consultation deposits.
In emerging markets, the report found that advisors have been more successful when including service breakdowns in quotes to reinforce transparency, which dialled down the chances of any bill shock outcomes.
One common concern among advisors highlighted is the worry of driving clients to competitors who don’t charge fees, an anxiety that is strong in markets where there has been a sharp rise in budget-conscience travellers.
However, the paper suggested agents should emphasise exclusive deals, VIP perks, and personalised itinerary curation to counteract client loss worries.
