Dodgy Dealings: Travel Agents and ‘Preferred Products’.

Perhaps the most dodgy aspect of travel agency practice in Australia is the pushing of ‘preferred’ products onto customers.

This is not technically a rip off, but if you’re after unbiased product advice steer clear of most travel agents.

The major agencies will have certain tour companies and even airlines from which they will get higher commissions (which can be double that of other tour companies they might sell).

So you’re booking a tour in South America and want some advice on a tour company? Chances are you will be pushed into using the agencies preferred supplier as they make more money out of you that way.

As yet there is no legal requirement for agencies to declare this conflict of interest.

Just look around the shelves of the major agencies and it will be clear from the uniform brochures who their preferred suppliers are.  A prime example is Flight Centre: who push Intrepid tours.

This is not to say Intrepid is not a great choice, just be aware any advice is not without considerable bias.  You need to make sure the tour company (and tour) suits your needs.  Don’t rely solely on an agent’s advice on this (contact the company direct if you have any queries).

This conflict of interest can be applied to many products they sell. The major agencies will have preferred hotels and car hire companies. For almost every product there will be a preference they give you that makes them more money.

Agents will themselves often have little goals in mind when selling you a holiday.  There are always incentives from different travel companies for agents to sell their product.  The incentive might be ’sell five tours get one free’  or something similar.  This is another reason agents can give you highly biased advice.

Smaller more independent agencies are more likely to give you unbiased advice as they may not have the same deals with tour operators as the major players, but this is never guaranteed.

For more on the darker side of  the Australian Travel Industry see travel agents: am I being ripped off?

Category: Travel Blog, Travel Money