Pet Peeves: Agents’ Top 10 Beefs With Suppliers

For travel agents, suppliers are indispensable partners. Tour operators, cruise lines and resorts provide the essential elements of the vacations they arrange for their clients.

But even the most useful partnerships hit roadblocks or even founder in the shoals. And even the most valued partners can fall short in key ways, as suppliers sometimes do.

Here are agents’ top 10 pet peeves when it comes to cruise lines, tour operators and resorts.

Pet Peeve #1: Poaching Clients
“One of our biggest pet peeves is suppliers who offer special options for clients to re-book directly with them – like discounts, upgrades and added amenities,” said Angela Pierson, CTC, of Wallace Pierson Travel, a Virtuoso member in Amelia Island, Fla.

“It really affects the level of trust between the agent and client as well as between the agent and supplier,” said Pierson.

Suppliers’ inducements to travel agency clients also affect client perceptions about travel, she suggested. “It turns travel more into ‘purchase for price’ rather than ‘value for experience.’”

Pet Peeve #2: Timesharing Clients
A close second to suppliers who solicit business from agency clients are suppliers who nab clients and make a sales pitch while they’re vacationing.

“One of my biggest problems are suppliers who approach clients staying at their hotels for site inspections of their vacation clubs,” said Mark Janus, owner of Janus Travel, a MAST-affiliated agency in Chicago.

“Not only are the clients being hassled, but they might end up buying a timeshare or re-booking with the supplier, which means I lose a client.”

Pet Peeve #3: Poorly Trained Staff
Getting incorrect information from suppliers – or none at all – can be a major hassle for travel agents.

“Whether cruise lines, hotels and tour operators, there’s a lack of sufficient training and knowledge in suppliers’ frontline personnel,” said Roxanne Boryczki, MCC, president of AZ Trails Travel, an Ensemble agency in Fountain Hills, Ariz.

“Sometimes I have to call back three times because I can’t get the right answer. It happened just the other day when I was trying to find out about transfers for a cruise. The lack of training is especially apparent at hotels. I call and ask if the hotel has wi-fi, and they don’t know,” Boryczki said.

“Not getting the right information – or feeling that you can’t trust the information you do get – is frustrating. Suppliers say, ‘We’re here for you,’ but I say, ‘You need to get your people trained.’”

Pet Peeve #4: Ignored Phone Calls
For Steve Arthur of Travel Lovers, a TRAVELSAVERS member in Lynchburg, Va., the biggest disappointment is suppliers who don’t return phone calls.  

“Suppliers will say, ‘Let me check on that, and I’ll get right back to you.’ But a few hours will pass, a day will pass, and you’ll hear nothing,” said Arthur.

 “That seems rampant whether you’re calling about pricing, a group quote or the square footage of a cabin. We’re trying to sell stuff for these people, and they can’t even email or phone back in a timely manner.”

Pet Peeve #5: Cruise Noncommissionables
Cruise lines’ noncommissionable add-ons are a longstanding source of irritation to agents.

“Cruises don’t pay us commissions for selling tour excursions, spa treatments, and wine-and-liquor packages,” complained Ellen Paderson, CEO and founder of Smiles & Miles Travel and Bar/Bat Mitzvah Vacations in So. Easton, Mass.

“I’d sell a whole lot of tour excursions if they were commissionable. But since they’re not commissionable, I tell clients to book them online,” added Paderson whose agency is affiliated with the Affluent Traveler Collection and NEST.

Pet Peeve #6: Incomplete Invoices
“Invoices from cruise and tour operators often aren’t detailed enough,” said Pierson of Wallace Pierson Travel.  

“Recently, I was dealing with a couple who had purchased a cruise with a pre-cruise land package, but the invoice didn’t show that the land package had been confirmed, and the couple was worried.

“Especially in the luxury lines, when clients are laying out $20,000 to $30,000, they like to see what they’re paying for,” added Pierson.

Pet Peeve #7: Chasing Down Commissions
“One big problem is chasing down hotels to get commissions,” said Janus of Janus Travel.

“And it’s not necessarily the mom and pop hotels,” added Janus. “There have been a couple of situations where major hoteliers have attempted to [avoid paying].”

Pet Peeve #8: Lower Online Prices
Paderson, who specializes in weddings and bar mitzvahs, said a major pet peeve for her is when “hotels we’re partners with give us a special group rate, then offer a lower nonrefundable rate on their website.  

“Clients end up booking outside the group,” added Paderson. “When hotels do that, that’s not working with us, that’s working against us.”

Pet Peeve #9: Unguaranteed Departures
Tour operators who won’t guarantee departures is one of Pierson’s pet peeves. “Sometimes, if there are not enough people in one group, the tour operator will push the groups together, and sometimes it’s quite last minute.”

“Most recently, a supplier did that and stepped on some private options we had planned,” recalled Pierson.

“It happens more in the mass market than in the luxury market,” she added. “Some tour operators that guarantee departures are Abercrombie & Kent, Micato Safaris and Tauck.”

Pet Peeve #10:  Promising the Moon
“There’s a disconnect between what suppliers’ sales reps say they can do and what they actually will do,” said Arthur of Travel Lovers in Virginia.

“The attitude of ‘anything is possible’ disappears when you actually need something or ask for something that’s slightly out of the norm – like an early check-in or keeping a client’s luggage in a safe place for a couple of hours.

“Suppliers should just be upfront and not make promises they can’t keep,” said Arthur.

Editor’s note: This article has been revised since its original publication.