Next effective price increase - can't combine onboard booking and travel agent OBC?

[mareed]

Yesterday, I received email from my travel agent that Disney is changing the way that travel agents are compensated for onboard bookings, so the travel agent will no longer be able to offer onboard credit for cruises booked onboard starting Oct 22, 2015. This seems like yet another pretty big benefit reduction to me, and I scanned the boards but didn't see any other mention of it. Has anyone else here heard similar?

I really like my travel agent and greatly appreciate the time they've spent on the phone handling my reservations, but this seems to be another disappointing item in a growing list for me from DCL. I'll keep my upcoming cruises #9 & 10 with DCL, but just not sure that I'll be sailing with them further and will probably be cruising with RCL more frequently.

 

[sweetlovin]

I just reread, so the TA can have the OBB, but cannot offer you a bonus onboard credit above the $200?

 

[terramei]

Disney announced yesterday that they are cutting the commission paid to travel agents for bookings made onboard by almost half. For many agents that means they won't be able to afford to offer the credit still.

 

[sweetlovin]

Disney announced yesterday that they are cutting the commission paid to travel agents for bookings made onboard by almost half. For many agents that means they won't be able to afford to offer the credit still.

I wonder if United.com will no longer offer the 35k miles per booking for Disney cruises. That would push me to try other cruise lines.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Yesterday, I received email from my travel agent that Disney is changing the way that travel agents are compensated for onboard bookings, so the travel agent will no longer be able to offer onboard credit for cruises booked onboard starting Oct 22, 2015. This seems like yet another pretty big benefit reduction to me, and I scanned the boards but didn't see any other mention of it. Has anyone else here heard similar?

I really like my travel agent and greatly appreciate the time they've spent on the phone handling my reservations, but this seems to be another disappointing item in a growing list for me from DCL. I'll keep my upcoming cruises #9 & 10 with DCL, but just not sure that I'll be sailing with them further and will probably be cruising with RCL more frequently.

Is your TA a large company that handles a lot of DCL bookings or a smaller TA? Different TAs may handle the change differently. Smaller companies may indeed have to stop offering OBC for onboard bookings because they can no longer afford to. Larger companies may still be able to give some OBC, but it wouldn't surprise me if the amounts of OBC offered are lower for OBB versus non-OBB cruises.

 

[wilkeliza]

I wonder if United.com will no longer offer the 35k miles per booking for Disney cruises. That would push me to try other cruise lines.

Do they offer that only if you book directly through United? What the OP is describing is when you book your vacation with the On Board Booking discount (10% off, 200 deposit, and percentage of cost as On Board Credit) and then transfer it to your travel agent once you get on shore.

To be honest changing what the TAs get for OBB makes sense to me. Most people book the cruise they want for the OBB and so the TAs are doing less work and get the same money. They didnt' even have to try and sell you a Disney Cruise like they would someone who is not booking on board so I can see why commissions would be smaller.

 

[mareed]

Is your TA a large company that handles a lot of DCL bookings or a smaller TA? Different TAs may handle the change differently. Smaller companies may indeed have to stop offering OBC for onboard bookings because they can no longer afford to. Larger companies may still be able to give some OBC, but it wouldn't surprise me if the amounts of OBC offered are lower for OBB versus non-OBB cruises.

I think a large one with lots of DCL bookings, and pretty sure that I originally got the recommendation from here - many, many cruises ago! It's Small World Vacations.

 

[sweetlovin]

Do they offer that only if you book directly through United? What the OP is describing is when you book your vacation with the On Board Booking discount (10% off, 200 deposit, and percentage of cost as On Board Credit) and then transfer it to your travel agent once you get on shore.

To be honest changing what the TAs get for OBB makes sense to me. Most people book the cruise they want for the OBB and so the TAs are doing less work and get the same money. They didnt' even have to try and sell you a Disney Cruise like they would someone who is not booking on board so I can see why commissions would be smaller.

Yes they do give the full 35k miles for OBB. I just used a OBB and moved it to the Panama Canal cruise because for two days, United was offering 14 miles per dollar spent with no cap. So for Panama Canal, it was 140,000+ miles. Normally, they do not offer that promo. Usually it caps at 35,000 miles no matter the cruise. I did book another cruise straight up when they had the 14 miles promo. So I have booked both ways, but I guess the PC cruise was just in time because I cannot see them offering the 14 miles per dollar on OBB if they are making 1/2 the amount. I'll have to keep my eye on their site and see how this is going to affect their offers for Disney Cruises.

 

[tup1830]

It doesn't make sense to me.

Regardless of if the agency is a high volume or low volume, by cutting the commission in almost half, will definitely affect the amount that the agency may offer as OBC. I would highly doubt a company is going to lose money on a cruise booking and pull money from another cruise line's booking...and be able to sustain that business model.

If DCL is cutting the commission, then the benefits are being reduced for the guest. Regardless of how you look at it, its more money in DCL's pocket for the same reservation. You can't say that the TA isn't making calls to ensure all details are 100% for each of their clients.

I honestly feel its an indirect loss of benefit to the guest.

 

[sweetlovin]

It doesn't make sense to me.

Regardless of if the agency is a high volume or low volume, by cutting the commission in almost half, will definitely affect the amount that the agency may offer as OBC. I would highly doubt a company is going to lose money on a cruise booking and pull money from another cruise line's booking...and be able to sustain that business model.

If DCL is cutting the commission, then the benefits are being reduced for the guest. Regardless of how you look at it, its more money in DCL's pocket for the same reservation. You can't say that the TA isn't making calls to ensure all details are 100% for each of their clients.

I honestly feel its an indirect loss of benefit to the guest.

Completely agree

 

[sweetlovin]

To be honest changing what the TAs get for OBB makes sense to me. Most people book the cruise they want for the OBB and so the TAs are doing less work and get the same money. They didnt' even have to try and sell you a Disney Cruise like they would someone who is not booking on board so I can see why commissions would be smaller.

That use to be the case, but now with the $200 place holder, I am guessing more people are just putting down the $200 and deciding later.

 

[wilkeliza]

That use to be the case, but now with the $200 place holder, I am guessing more people are just putting down the $200 and deciding later.

That's probably true. I still don't use TAs on cruises any more after our last 2 were unreachable and Disney wouldn't do anything for us when they wouldn't. I just don't like having to turn control of my vacation over to someone else. I haven't used a large agency thought just the person my fiance's family has been using for years (all vacation and only 1 Disney one) who is incompetent at her job. Got to love his family for being loyal but she books the worst stuff for way too much when she has the deal.

 

[sweetlovin]

That's probably true. I still don't use TAs on cruises any more after our last 2 were unreachable and Disney wouldn't do anything for us when they wouldn't. I just don't like having to turn control of my vacation over to someone else. I haven't used a large agency thought just the person my fiance's family has been using for years (all vacation and only 1 Disney one) who is incompetent at her job. Got to love his family for being loyal but she books the worst stuff for way too much when she has the deal.

I would love to have control over my cruises on the United website, but I don't. Sometimes, it is the biggest pain in the butt to use them, but when I get my family to Asia for free, I remember a few annoying hours are worth the rewards. United gives you one free stopover, anywhere in the world they fly (that is on your flight path.) So I fly to Asia (usually Tokyo, Shanghai, or Seoul) then from Tokyo, there is a flight that crosses Frankfurt coming back to Atl. I can stop there for as long as I want (not over 4 or 6 months). In 2013, I stopped in Europe for 2 weeks. When I went to book the flight, they said I could use my miles or I could pay $65,850 USD. SMH.. However, there are times I go crazy waiting on the phone for United to pick up or for my agent (I use the same guy usually) to call me back. Otherwise, I can just book everything online using their site, just the same as Disney. So in the end, it is worth it for me, but I hear you on just wanting complete control. I would too if the benefits weren't $65,000+

 

[mareed]

It doesn't make sense to me.

Regardless of if the agency is a high volume or low volume, by cutting the commission in almost half, will definitely affect the amount that the agency may offer as OBC. I would highly doubt a company is going to lose money on a cruise booking and pull money from another cruise line's booking...and be able to sustain that business model.

If DCL is cutting the commission, then the benefits are being reduced for the guest. Regardless of how you look at it, its more money in DCL's pocket for the same reservation. You can't say that the TA isn't making calls to ensure all details are 100% for each of their clients.

I honestly feel its an indirect loss of benefit to the guest.

Totally agree! I don't blame the TA for this at all - totally feel it's due to DCL.

 

[squirk]

It sounds like what DCL is saying, essentially, is that they don't need TAs anymore, or at least, not like they used to.

Perhaps with occupancy being so high on the ships, and with more and more of the cruise booking and planning able to be done online by the customer, the days of calling your TA to do time-intensive "legwork" for you are coming to a close.

 

[jetskigrl]

Yesterday, I received email from my travel agent that Disney is changing the way that travel agents are compensated for onboard bookings, so the travel agent will no longer be able to offer onboard credit for cruises booked onboard starting Oct 22, 2015. This seems like yet another pretty big benefit reduction to me, and I scanned the boards but didn't see any other mention of it. Has anyone else here heard similar?

I really like my travel agent and greatly appreciate the time they've spent on the phone handling my reservations, but this seems to be another disappointing item in a growing list for me from DCL. I'll keep my upcoming cruises #9 & 10 with DCL, but just not sure that I'll be sailing with them further and will probably be cruising with RCL more frequently.

I have not heard about that personally (no email from my TA) but I just found this under their Onboard Credit Offer page for Small World Vacations.:

SMALL WORLD VACATIONS ONBOARD CREDIT OFFER TERMS AND CONDITIONS: *2015 - 2017 Onboard credit amount is listed in US Dollars and is based on the cruise fare only and does not include taxes, government fees, nsurance, transfers, airfare, hotel stays, shore excursions, Adventure by Disney Add-ons or gratuities. Valid on qualifying new 2015 - 2017 Disney Cruises booked now through 12/10/17 with Small World Vacations, Inc. Disney Cruises booked onboard any Disney Ship are not eligible for this offer. Cruise sail date must occur between 1/1/15 and 12/31/17. One Small World Vacations, Inc. Onboard Cruising Credit per reservation. Onboard Credit cannot be combined for multiple reservations. Offer subject to change without notice.

I am curious how that affects the placeholder that I booked last weekend. Luckily one placeholder was already moved to a cruise before yesterday. But I still have one more placeholder that is waiting for 2017 dates to use it.

 

[scrappinginontario]

That use to be the case, but now with the $200 place holder, I am guessing more people are just putting down the $200 and deciding later.

This is what we did. I was in the seat at the OBB desk for less than 10 minutes.

In turn my TA has done the lions share of the work helping answer my questions, price out a few options for us, make our booking, etc. I'm disappointed they're reducing her commission and also the OBB her agency offers.

I wonder if this will affect bookings for 2017 that have already been made and TA OBC offered? I'm guessing we'll still get it as its in our booking confirmation but will feel better once I know. Planning on using this for tips.

 

[lbgraves]

Well, I know of at least one major DCL agency that hasn't paid their agents ANY commission for transferred bookings for quite some time already. This new change finally affects the agency so who knows if they will continue to accept transfers at all.

 

[cgolf]

Deleted

 

[lbgraves]

Yesterday, I received email from my travel agent that Disney is changing the way that travel agents are compensated for onboard bookings, so the travel agent will no longer be able to offer onboard credit for cruises booked onboard starting Oct 22, 2015. This seems like yet another pretty big benefit reduction to me, and I scanned the boards but didn't see any other mention of it. Has anyone else here heard similar? ......

Disney announced yesterday that they are cutting the commission paid to travel agents for bookings made onboard by almost half. For many agents that means they won't be able to afford to offer the credit still.

Is your TA a large company that handles a lot of DCL bookings or a smaller TA? Different TAs may handle the change differently. Smaller companies may indeed have to stop offering OBC for onboard bookings because they can no longer afford to. Larger companies may still be able to give some OBC, but it wouldn't surprise me if the amounts of OBC offered are lower for OBB versus non-OBB cruises.

Well, apparently some TAs are conveying incorrect information in order to explain to their clients why they are going to be reducing or eliminating additional OBC offers from themselves with onboard bookings. I just spoke with my TA to clarify. Her agency is not considered to be one of the larger agencies.

The change is only affecting the commission paid for onboard bookings where you name a TA at the time you make the reservation. It does not affect any OBBs that you transfer to a TA within the 30 day allowance. Those transfers have always had a 10% commission paid out. The change is that now the most that any TA will be paid for OBBs that name a TA will now be 10% also.

This also ONLY affects the large agencies that had the opportunity to earn up to 16% commission on new bookings [including OBBs where the TA was named onboard]. Smaller agencies have always only received 10% on any of their bookings, whether transferred, OBB naming the TA or new bookings, so their compensation will not be affected with this change. So the larger agencies are having their commission on those bookings reduced by 37.5%. This will probably result in the individual agents will no longer be receiving any commission for those OBBs now either. I think that is terrible because it seems that TAs do more work with OBBs than new reservations. Those are the ones that are moved around, especially on opening day when people want quotes for multiple dates. I know they work incredibly long hours when new dates are released.

She also said that this change will not be implemented retroactively. It will be based on the original reservation date.