Comparing Apples to Apples

Yesterday, one of my colleagues had to tell a client that she would no longer help her plan her honeymoon due to the bride’s perceptions and unrealistic expectations.

What happened- bride (B) contacted my colleague (TA) to help her plan a honeymoon to Greece. Based on a lengthy consultation, TA created a honeymoon package that fit all of the bride’s needs, desires and requests. TA had the package on hold with a travel supplier that visits Greece every year to check out the hotels they offer, to maintain relationships with the hoteliers and to ensure the best properties for their clients. I have personally used this travel supplier and was amazed at their knowledge and professionalism.

The package included 4-5 star hotels in Athens, Santorini and Mykonos with private transfers from the airports and ferry piers, transportation between each island via plane or ferry, breakfast daily at the hotels, a few excursions (based on the couple’s interests), taxes and the international airfare. This package was a seamless package—the couple didn’t have to worry about a thing since there is also a local company that helps out on site, in case of any questions or issues.

The bride wanted a breakdown of each individual component (which TA could not supply, since we, as travel agents, are not given that either). Why did she want the breakdown- so she could take the TA’s itinerary and price it on the big online agencies.

She came back to my colleague complaining that TA’s pricing was $619 more than a big online travel agency. What B didn’t understand was that she wasn’t comparing apples to apples.

The itinerary she found online didn’t include private transfers, didn’t include any of the tours/excursions and didn’t even include the same room categories. B insisted that TA was trying to rip her off and wanted TA to match the online agency’s pricing.

Can you get a cheaper price by shopping online? Sometimes you can but check to make sure that you are getting exactly the same packages with the same type of 24/7 support in case of an issue. In this case the bride was not getting the same package from her online search.

Did she understand what the value is of private transfers and a local ground support team?
Did she understand that the excursion and tours were included in the package from the travel agent?
Did she understand that the rooms listed on the online agency were the entry level rooms and not the same category of room TA was offering?

The answers to these questions were probably no in each instance. She just saw a difference of $619 and thought that she could do better by booking it herself.

I know that my colleague is a professional and will do a great job to create a honeymoon package for her clients because that is all she does. Was she ripping off her client? Absolutely not- she was offering more value for the client than the online agency was by including more options that the client expressed an interest in. Could my colleague have reduced the prices to match the online agency? I’m sure that by taking off the private transfers and changing them to a shared shuttle van (stopping at multiple hotels along the way), removing the excursions and reducing the room categories to the entry level rooms, TA could have gotten a lower price. Is that what the bride would have been happy with for her honeymoon? Probably not.

I understand that we are all looking for the best bang for our buck but please make sure that you are comparing apples to apples. Just because it appears to be the same- doesn’t mean it is.