Will a travel agent save me enough money to be worth using?

[nyrebecca]

This is our first year using a TA. We went with them because we saved $2111.14 off our room and tickets. I did all my own ADRs and FPs myself, but I am more than fine with that due to the savings.

 

[OnceUponATime15]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'gum up the works'. I'd be interested in hearing your experience with this. We are only using a TA for the first time this year after many years of booking trips ourselves direct with Disney. I never thought I would use a TA but our discount at the Poly & BC (we are doing 2 nights at BC/7 nights at the Poly) has made the rooms the same rate as mods. We have been in control of all other aspects of the trip. In your experience, what do I need to prepare for...in terms of what will go wrong?

We were the same, always booked ourselves thru Disney directly - until we heard about an offer & took a chance. So happy we did!


We did a YC/Poly split with that same agency, not a single thing was "gummed up". Smooth sailing from start to end. I let the agent handle the actual booking of room and tickets & arrange the DME, everything else I did myself, as you are doing. It was one of the top 2 Disney vacation experiences we've ever had. (and I've been going to WDW since 1979 )

 

[mom2my3kids]

I plan myself, very easy and I don't have to depend on anyone and I don't feel like you save money..

 

[Turk February]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'gum up the works'. I'd be interested in hearing your experience with this. We are only using a TA for the first time this year after many years of booking trips ourselves direct with Disney. I never thought I would use a TA but our discount at the Poly & BC (we are doing 2 nights at BC/7 nights at the Poly) has made the rooms the same rate as mods. We have been in control of all other aspects of the trip. In your experience, what do I need to prepare for...in terms of what will go wrong?

Agreed. A good TA will be as involved or uninvolved as you want. When we had our magical deal, our TA did nothing but book the deal for us and make our final payment. I told her I was good with ADRs and FPs and she left us alone, which is how we wanted it.

I think for the most part, people assume that TAs use the same deals that are publicly available to lure people in. And for 90% of TAs, that's true. They'll advertise that they can get you free dining and 25% off rooms and they're targeting the less informed, not people who spend time here at DISBoards. The only time you will actually save money by using a TA is when they have "agency exclusive" deals or convention rates, and those are usually really great and I suggest you take advantage.

 

[MillauFr]

I plan myself, very easy and I don't have to depend on anyone and I don't feel like you save money..

I planned everything myself. The TA did nothing other than book the room and give me a 55% discount.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

Can't fathom how someone couldn't understand how a huge discount on a room can't be saving money.

 

[Marionnette]

Can't fathom how someone couldn't understand how a huge discount on a room can't be saving money.

Maybe because it's still more affordable to stay offsite? A huge discount on a deluxe room still runs in the range of $225-$325 per night. If your budget is $200/night or less, then it's not a savings.

 

[shh]

Anyone find exclusive TA savings on value rooms? Or are most of the savings around deluxe?

 

[JohnDaleswife]

Maybe because it's still more affordable to stay offsite? A huge discount on a deluxe room still runs in the range of $225-$325 per night. If your budget is $200/night or less, then it's not a savings.

Oh, no doubt its more affordable to stay offsite. But I was referring to Disney resorts savings.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

Anyone find exclusive TA savings on value rooms? Or are most of the savings around deluxe?

They have moderate rooms as well. But I think Pop is available at times too.

 

[Marionnette]

Oh, no doubt its more affordable to stay offsite. But I was referring to Disney resorts savings.

Even considering the discount compared to onsite resort rack rates, the "savings" isn't there if means spending more money than you had intended.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

Even considering the discount compared to onsite resort rack rates, the "savings" isn't there if means spending more

Even considering the discount compared to onsite resort rack rates, the "savings" isn't there if means spending more money than you had intended.

But if your not spending more money than you intended, the savings are there. Without question. I had a room at the AKL booked for the February/2017. Rack rate was 1626.00. I was anticipating a 20, maybe 25% at the most discount from Disney, for the general public. If that were to have come to fruition, that room would have run me around $1300, maybe $1220, with the higher discount. But for the same dates with this TA, I got a room at the Beach Club for $1198.00, price locked in.

 

[Marionnette]

But if your not spending more money than you intended, the savings are there. Without question. I had a room at the AKL booked for the February/2017. Rack rate was 1626.00. I was anticipating a 20, maybe 25% at the most discount from Disney, for the general public. If that were to have come to fruition, that room would have run me around $1300, maybe $1220, with the higher discount. But for the same dates with this TA, I got a room at the Beach Club for $1198.00, price locked in.

Again quoting your PP:

Can't fathom how someone couldn't understand how a huge discount on a room can't be saving money.

My answer remains: When it means spending more than you originally intended, it is NOT a savings. Your analysis is like saying that a mink coat being sold at 50%-off is a savings, even though you were in the market for a windbreaker. THAT is how someone might consider that a huge discount is not the same as saving money. It's great that you got BC for about the same price as you would have paid for AKL with a small discount, but you really only saved about $120-$200 compared to what you anticipated paying for AKL. That's a small savings, not a HUGE savings.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

But I am saving more going through this TA. Not booking directly myself. But the 55% off people are paying at the Poly, with this TA at the end of summer is a huge savings.

 

[Marionnette]

But I am saving more going through this TA. Not booking directly myself. But the 55% off people are paying with this TA and the end of summer is a huge savings.

Fuzzy Disney math. You're only saving what you're not spending. The rest is smoke and mirrors. If you had expected to pay the rack rate, then you saved 55%. Otherwise, your savings was a lot less. If you upgraded your resort because you could get a bigger room, better location or cooler pool at about the same price then you didn't save anything.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

Again quoting your PP:

My answer remains: When it means spending more than you originally intended, it is NOT a savings. Your analysis is like saying that a mink coat being sold at 50%-off is a savings, even though you were in the market for a windbreaker. THAT is how someone might consider that a huge discount is not the same as saving money. It's great that you got BC for about the same price as you would have paid for AKL with a small discount, but you really only saved about $120-$200 compared to what you anticipated paying for AKL. That's a small savings, not a HUGE savings.

I will add though, this is the only TA that I know off that you can get deeper discounts than with Disney at certain times of the year.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

Fuzzy Disney math. You're only saving what you're not spending. The rest is smoke and mirrors. If you had expected to pay the rack rate, then you saved 55%. Otherwise, your savings was a lot less. If you upgraded your resort because you could get a bigger room, better location or cooler pool at about the same price then you didn't save anything.

Well the better pool, location ect, is just a bonus. If I save $200, well that is a lot of money to me.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

I know I saved close to 50% off of the rack rate with the Yacht Club a few years back, through this TA.

 

[Aliceacc]

OK, so can a travel agent wave her magic wand and make an onsite resort cheaper than your local Motel 6? Or wait, cheaper than camping? Or cheaper than simply staying home?

Nope.

But that wasn't the question. The question was "Will a travel agent save me enough money to be worth using?"

In my experience, the answer is Oh, yes. Both in terms of dollars and cents and in terms of helping put my plans into action, yes. Has working with a good, experienced travel agent added to our WDW trips? Yes. Would I book further trips with the same travel agent? Yes.

Could I have gotten the same deals myself? Probably. Could I have phoned in my own ADRS? Nope; I leave for work at 7. Could I have made this year's switch to the BWI, and last trip's change to YC, that saved us $800 and $1000 respectively? Probably not in time to actually get the deals; both were released on school days and, again, I leave the house at 7 am. You guys know what it's like trying to get through to Disney when a new deal is out; there's no way I could count on getting the changes made in a 38 minute free period. So even though I could have found out about the discounts, I most likely would have missed the opportunity to take advantage of them had I not had help.

My point is that using my travel agent costs me nothing. I don't see that "loss of control" that others hate; I make the decisions about what to book, except when I give my agent license to make changes that will save me money.

It costs me nothing, I save money, I save time, I save aggravation. So is it worth it? For us, working with our travel agent has immeasurably increased the pleasure we get from our WDW vacations. We save money, we get what we want, and I get to work on time.

Your mileage, of course, may vary.

 

[mom2my3kids]

okay so are you saying a TA can get a better discount on the same day if I was to call Disney myself with a discount code?