Did I do a horrible thing??

[Tina]

Thanks LucysDad. I appreciate your feedback. Although my DU agent did check on the type of rates we asked, I was able to book them when she was not. Not sure what is going on there, but I think I'll just do things myself from now on, as I have in the past.

 

[WebmasterJohn]

Hi All

I must say how upset I was to read this thread.

As I'm sure many of you know, everyone at Dreams Unlimited takes great pride in his or her jobs. We truly believe we are a team, and to hear that any client has had a less than positive experience using Dreams is disheartening to say the least. A dissatisfied client for one agent is a dissatisfied client for everyone, and that is just not acceptable to us.

As always, if anyone has any problems with the service DU provides I ask that you write to me directly at john@dreamsunlimitedtravel.com and please allow me to try to rectify the situation. I can't guarantee I can fix everything, but I can at least contact your agent and put things in motion to help bringing about a satisfactory resolution.

At the risk of turning my reply into something it is not intended to be, I would like to address the main issue raised in this thread - the frustration of finding rates/availability on your own by contacting Disney directly that your DU agent did or could not. As we all know, when dealing with Disney reservations on a fairly regular basis, that availability and rates are not always consistent. Availability changes, discounted rates become 'taken' and then 'freed up' again. This is a function of the volume of reservations Disney books, holds and cancels on any one-day. While everyone at DU works hard to get our clients the best available rate, sometimes these just aren’t available when we contact Disney. We always try our best to secure the best rates and save our clients the most money, but sometimes the timing of the call to availability/rates just doesn’t work out, even after repeated tries. This not meant to be an excuse, just something to consider. How many threads are on these boards about having to call Disney back multiple times to get the information or rate you are looking for? DU runs into the same challenges you all do when it comes to this situation.

One other thing to consider, Dreams’ clientele are not the average vacationer. Many of the people who book their vacations with us come from these boards and are not only much more informed than the average traveler in terms of general Disney knowledge but always more aware of when discounted rates are released and what those rates should be. This makes our clients not only more fun to work with as we are sharing something we love (i.e. Disney) but it creates challenges in that you all are more likely to start dialing the phone at 7AM to secure a discounted rate or make a PS. This can make waiting for a reply from your agent seem like an eternity. We understand this and do our best to reply to, or contact, our clients as soon as possible. Unfortunately, sometimes, this isn’t as fast a response time as we would like and we would hope our clients understand the nature of medium we are working with.

Again, I hope this all doesn’t sound like I am making excuses because that is not my intention.


On a different note, in one response in this thread there was a mention of dealing with a ‘Wholesale Travel Agency’ and I wanted to make it clear that DU is NOT a travel wholesaler. We deal directly with Disney and any hotel/cruise line we sell on an individual basis for each reservation we book. Not that this may make a difference to anyone (and I'm not knocking wholesalers), but I did not want people to think we are a wholesaler when we are not.

Lucysdad, something you said in your reply really has me very worried. You mention your DU agent booked you into ‘another DU special package’. Since Dreams Unlimited does not offer any packages beyond what Disney sells (i.e. we do not put together components to make a package ourselves) I am concerned about what exactly you were offered. I would like to invite you to please write to me so I can investigate this further.

In direct response to Tina; it is your vacation and you need to be 100% satisfied with how it is being handled. Again, if you have any issue you feel is not being taken care of properly by your agent please write to me at the above email address. No matter what happens, or what company you are dealing with, it is always important to remember that you are the consumer and you need to be completely satisfied with the product or service being provided. If you are not, please let someone know, and if they do not rectify the problem to your complete satisfaction take your business to someone who will. It’s really that simple.

Now, it is true that DU and the agents make their money from the commission that is earned from booking a vacation. However, I feel Dreams’ record speaks for itself when in comes to saving our clients money. There are many unsolicited threads on these boards from happy clients about when DU has automatically applied a discount to a reservation or secured an upgrade. We not only take great pride in saving our clients money, we look at it as a challenge – how much can we save?!? And we love the thanks we get from our clients when we can save them money. Obviously, when we reduce the price of any vacation we lose commission. The less the vacation, the less the commission – it’s that simple. Many people think we’re nuts for doing this, but to us a happy client is more important than a larger commission check as the happy client is more likely to use our services again and recommend us to family and friends.

One thing many of you may not know; when you return from your vacation that you booked through Dreams Unlimited you are asked to complete a questionnaire about your experience with DU. One of the questions we ask is ‘Would you use DU again and would you refer us to friends and family members?’. Our current statistic is 99.8% of everyone who took the time to fill out the questionnaire said ‘yes, I would use DU again and recommend your services to family and friends’. This is more important to us than any individual commission.

Thanks for reading and please don't hesitate to email me.

John
john@dreamsunlimitedtravel.com

 

[gonga]

As a TA, i would hate to see Travel Agents get a bad rap. Not all agencies or Travel Agents are created equal. You SHOULD NOT have to wait 24 hours for an answer, that is absurd! A professional TA should have an answer for you that day ( in the time it takes to make a phone call and correct/make arrangements). Its not rocket science. I would never let any of my clients wait that long for a simple answer - and I can tell you from my experience as a TA - No is not an option. With the Travel Indusrty and TA 's starving right now, customer service should be priority #1. IMHO, as a TA it's how you handle the hotel reservationist and the questions you ask. I'll be honest, as a TA you spend a lot of time on the phone,getting all the details right for your clients, for very little money. But the payoff is a happy client who will use you again and refer you to others. You are to provide a service that basically anyone can do, so you have to be efficient and helpful and provide the best service you can, even if it means making endless phone calls and not to keep anyone waiting for information. It makes me crazy when I read stories like this - its just plain laziness.

Also, when I make calls for clients to various hotels, if I do not get the answer I want from an unhelpful or nasty person, I cut the conversation short and call back until I get what I want - and I usually do! No reasonable rate or request is impossible, espically now (that travel is down) when a good TA can get you something that you could not.

 

[Gillian]

Thank you John!

You can add us (and several friends) to the satisfied customer list. Michelle kept up on new rates and didn't mind getting a smaller commission when rebooking for less money. The best thing about working with her was the friendly, personalized & PROMPT service she gave us. I have never been treated as well by any travel agent. There were even times when I had to say, "this can wait, please don't rush to answer me!" Didn't work, I alway heard back sooner than I expected.

I think if there's anything here to feel guilty about, it's that the DU agents get a smaller commission each time they rebook at a lower rate. They do more work to get us better prices, but "earn" less. This is, of course, true of all agents who look for deals for their clients on a regular basis.

 

[Tina]

Thanks for your input, John. While I was lucky enough to get the rate I was looking for via my own impatience, I am still very satisfied with the rest of the vacation planning my agent has provided. I still have 2 nights of my ressie through Dreams and my agent has been very friendly, courteous, and even apologetic regarding the other 6 nights. While Dreams offers a great service, I think I am just the sort of person that just needs to do things myself. I'm much too impatient.

 

[phyllis1966]

All I know is this: last summer, when we decided to book a vacation to WDW for October, our DU agent, Cathy, was able to get us 7 nights at the GF for about $1,000 less than what I was being quoted for only 6 nights (I checked WDWTC, expedia.com and travelocity.com)! I was so happy to get a recommendation to DU from a friend who had used DU before! I'm using them for this year's trip and I would not hesitate to use them again and again.

 

[eeyore0062]

No, I won't say that you did a terrible thing. Cancel with the travel agency, and make your own reservations . It is your money, and if you found a cheaper way, then more power to you.

As for being impatient, I am as well... that is why I always book everything myself. I like having that control.