By Jerry Vaughn, Travel Talk
OK, one more time: “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!”
How many times have you heard it, and how many times are you amazed at the news reports of people who complain because they paid a very low price for something and didn’t get what was promised. The news has been filled with a spate of reports over the past few days of people who were ripped off or didn’t get what they thought they were going to get when they purchased fabulous vacation packages.
I guess I’m getting a little jaded because when I hear the people complaining, my response is something like “Well, duh.”
Yesterday’s news was a vacationer’s nightmare. The first story involved a Wisconsin resident who arranged a Mediterranean cruise for a group of 73 people. He found the ideal 14-night European itinerary on Celebrity Cruises, a premium category cruise line. He found it through a home-based agent who worked with a booking agency called Joystar, a controversial “travel agent card mill” in the industry.
A “card mill” is an organization that charges people a one-time up-front fee of around $500, then a monthly fee of around $60 for access to a Web site to book travel. In return, the person is given an identification card proclaiming them to be a travel agent or referring agent and entitled to the discounts and benefits sometimes accorded to professional full-time travel agents. These are usually multi-level marketing programs that make the people who start them rich — and most of those who participate with little more than shattered dreams. It is one of the major issues the travel industry is grappling with right now.
Now, back to the story. The group booked 35 staterooms the agent quoted for an amazing rate of only $738.45 per person. Think about it: $738.45 ($52 per day) per person on a premium ship, sailing one of the most popular itineraries in the world for 14 nights and includes 42 full-service meals, and a variety of other high-quality amenities. The group paid its deposits and thought everything was smooth sailing until final payment time came.
That’s when the group learned their travel agent had abruptly quit and their booking had been sent on to Joystar. Ordinarily, such a transfer wouldn’t be an issue, but the group got a nasty surprise: A much bigger bill charging each passenger $1,399 — nearly double the initial price. Even worse, the new bill came less than a month before the final cruise payment was due.
Celebrity wouldn’t honor the agent’s price because it was substantially lower than the published fare. It appears the agent had engaged in “rebating,” the practice of giving up some portion of an agent’s commission in order to get the cost of a cruise down for a client. In this case, even if the agent gave up all his commission, it still wouldn’t cover the discount. Rebating is banned by most cruise lines. Cruise lines have cracked down on rebating agencies.
The group was faced with a choice of paying the proper amount or cancelling their trip. After discovering that even at the published price it was still a good deal, they decided to pay and go, albeit not very happy about the situation. Had they done a little research about the agent and agency, they probably could have avoided the problem. They were driven by a cheap price and ended up learning the truth about what sounded too good to be true was, in fact, too good to be true.
The second story was aired on KOMO 4 news last week and involved a number of people who bought Suncoast Vacations Club memberships for thousands of dollars. The purported benefit of membership was that you could stay at five- and six-star resorts for Motel 6 prices. Unfortunately for those who bought, they learned that nothing was ever available when and where they wanted to go, and so the membership had no real value.
Had they done a little checking before opening their wallets, they would have found Suncoast Vacations and a number of its other companies, including Vacation Network, have been the target of substantial complaints to Consumer Affairs Divisions of several state Attorney Generals’ offices. A cursory search on Google brings up Suncoast as the first item under the title “Rip-off Report.”
Beyond the obvious, ask yourself: Why a five- or six-star resort would let someone stay for Motel 6 prices?
The third story involved a group of 60 high school students who may have been bilked out of $700 each for a graduation cruise by a home-based agent associated with YTB Travel, another highly controversial home-based agent card mill. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), an international trade group, terminated YTB’s accreditation on Nov. 6, 2007. Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines have discontinued any association with YTB.
The moral to the story is that if you want a good vacation, be suspect of offers that seem to be too good to be true. Check out who you are doing business with and make sure they are a legitimate travel agency. Sellers of travel in the state of Washington are required to be licensed and maintain a trust account to protect your money.
The old question remains: “How cheap does a bad vacation have to be to be good?” If price is driving your decision, you may get what you pay for — or less.
Jerry Vaughn is president of World Voyager Vacations in Federal Way. Contact him at jvaughn@worldvoyagervacations.com.
