Reservations through TA...when are they mine...

[Marimar]

I have had a great TA helping us out, but do want to take charge of some of the issues. When I call CRO I am informed any changes have to come from TA. TA tried to make the changes, but was told no such room existed; inquired about room request for me. I know they do. When will the reservations be mine to make adjustments? Will they ever? Although TA has been extremely helpful I don't need to be lead by the hand...KWIM and would like some control over some issues...nothing major; room requests for example.

TIA!

 

[whacked]

Unfortunately, the reservations will not turn over to you. This to me is one of the disadvantages of a TA.

This is done so you don't say "But the TA said it would be like this" when you have made changes the TA was not aware of. Otherwise the TA is not in on changes made to the reservation that could affect the quality of the trip.

 

[bicker]

Generally, arrangements made by a travel agent are either made in the traveler's name or made on the traveler's behalf, and that status never changes for the life of the reservation. So either you get full ownership of the reservation from the start, or you never get it (until you check-in, of course). There are several reasons for the latter arrangement. First, it helps protect TAs from losing control of their source of revenue (for good or ill). Second, since the service provider is technically paying the TA to handle interactions with the traveler, they benefit from forcing such interactions to go through the TA. In most cases (though clearly not in your specific case) interactions between a service provider and a TA go much faster than between a service provider and a traveler. Time is money, and it's more efficient managing the situations without having to review requests for exceptions to that policy all the time, which is why when they won't work with the traveler when there is a TA they won't even do so if it would be easier/quicker/simpler... making exceptions adds inefficiency to the system overall.

 

[Marimar]

Thank you both!

I guess I will just have to direct the TA to the info so she can figure it out w/CRO.

 

[Marimar]