Comments on: Booking a Late Holiday Deal http://www.travel-rants.com/2006/06/03/booking-a-late-holiday-deal/ Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:52:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Lee Harrison http://www.travel-rants.com/2006/06/03/booking-a-late-holiday-deal/#comment-896 Lee Harrison Mon, 05 Jun 2006 07:58:39 +0000 http://www.travel-rants.com/2006/06/03/booking-a-late-holiday-deal/#comment-896 First of all it's important to distinguish between What is a Travel Agent and What is a TOUR OPERATOR. Thomson in this example IS THE TOUR OPERATOR. The Basic Price quoted is mostly based on Two Full Paying passengers and with the larger Tour Operators they changed the system so that Transfers, Meals on Flights etc were no longer included in the basic price, but could still be booked on paying a supplement. In this case a Single room supplement has been added. The Credit Card Charge is added as Mastercard, Visa, American Express etc actually make a Charge to the Travel Agent, Tour Operator if the Client wants to pay using a Crediit / Debit card. And so these Charges are passed back to the Client if that's the method they want to use to pay. If you go to a Supermarket you will find that a charge of 2.5% is actually incorporated into the Pricing System of goods you purchase, whether you pay by Cash or Credit Card. Most Supermarkets now include this as a statement on your bill that 2.5% is taken, but you have no option to dispute thisas you have already paid the bill A Travel Agent or Tour operator cannot do this, and cannot mark up the cost of a holiday, and so if a client wants to use a Card instead of Cash, usually a 1.5 or 2% charge is made to recover the Cost imposed by the Card issuers. What Annoys me is that The Credit card companies also charge us a Monthly Rent for the Machines they provide to be able to accept their Credit Cards At the end of the day it's up to the Client, If they want to avoid a Charge then pay by Cash. Mind you even then Banks charge us 69p for every £100 we pay in, whereas for us to pay a cheque in is only 35p. First of all it’s important to distinguish between What is a Travel Agent and What is a TOUR OPERATOR. Thomson in this example IS THE TOUR OPERATOR.
The Basic Price quoted is mostly based on Two Full Paying passengers and with the larger Tour Operators they changed the system so that Transfers, Meals on Flights etc were no longer included in the basic price, but could still be booked on paying a supplement. In this case a Single room supplement has been added.

The Credit Card Charge is added as Mastercard, Visa, American Express etc actually make a Charge to the Travel Agent, Tour Operator if the Client wants to pay using a Crediit / Debit card. And so these Charges are passed back to the Client if that’s the method they want to use to pay. If you go to a Supermarket you will find that a charge of 2.5% is actually incorporated into the Pricing System of goods you purchase, whether you pay by Cash or Credit Card. Most Supermarkets now include this as a statement on your bill that 2.5% is taken, but you have no option to dispute thisas you have already paid the bill
A Travel Agent or Tour operator cannot do this, and cannot mark up the cost of a holiday, and so if a client wants to use a Card instead of Cash, usually a 1.5 or 2% charge is made to recover the Cost imposed by the Card issuers.
What Annoys me is that The Credit card companies also charge us a Monthly Rent for the Machines they provide to be able to accept their Credit Cards

At the end of the day it’s up to the Client, If they want to avoid a Charge then pay by Cash.
Mind you even then Banks charge us 69p for every £100 we pay in, whereas for us to pay a cheque in is only 35p.

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