Frequently Asked Questions

 That’s understandable. Most people today looking to save money on travel use online wholesale sites such as Kayak, Expedia, or the like. The number one reason we hear for why people choose to go it alone is to save money. Online wholesalers have made travel, especially luxury travel, more affordable than ever. However, today, even wholesalers have to compete with each other. To attract more travelers, wholesalers create discounts not offered to the general public. Only travel agents have access to these rates, which are often far below the published room rates shown online.

 Better yet, to get these rates through Sapphire Sails, there is no cost to the traveler. Unlike other agencies, we never charge fees to create custom itineraries for our clients. We just find the best possible rates, and our clients spend less to go farther, longer, or stay better than they ever could through Expedia alone.

 When can we get together? We just need 20 to 30 minutes to give you an estimate of how much that dream vacation will cost.

 Great question. Hotels and other travel suppliers need to fill their rooms and keep guests coming back, so they offer discounts through various marketing avenues. Most of us are familiar with online wholesalers like Expedia or Kayak. That’s one way. Another is through direct marketing for themselves, such as Hilton’s own website. These are all public rates, offered to travelers looking to sort through the options themselves. These are not the lowest rates, however. The very bottom dollar rates are sent only to travel agents. But even these rates represent a profit to the hotel. An empty room costs the hotel a lot more than the cost of cleaning an occupied room the night after, so it makes sense to fill every room they can even at break even. Hotels know what percentage of rooms will typically go unfilled, so they proactively offer these rooms to agents at rates below wholesale, and then pay the agents a commission to sell those rooms to travelers. Thus, by using an agent, the traveler gets a room at a rate they cannot secure themselves, all at no cost.

 But, beware, to do the heavy lifting of sorting the best room for the best price is a time-intensive process for most agencies. To offset this cost, nearly all agencies charge a non-refundable administrative fee to clients looking to use their services to access agent-only rates. That’s where we’re different. We never charge fees. 100% of our business relies upon commissions earned from hotels and suppliers. We don’t take a single red cent from our clients. Why should we? You paid the hotel, they made a profit, they pay us. We don’t understand how any agency can charge an additional fee to their clients above and beyond the commission they earn from the hotels. It’s like getting paid twice to do the same work.

 When’s a good time to spend a few minutes to show you how good an affordable getaway can be?

 Agency fees are non-refundable upfront charges most agencies ask for in exchange for building itineraries. Agencies rely on these to offset labor involved in building, booking, and invoicing travel arrangements, as these are indeed time intensive. Commissions are earned by booking accommodations for clients and are paid directly by the hotels and suppliers after travel is completed. In other words, the agent who builds and books a successful trip gets paid twice, once by the client in upfront fees and once again by the hotel after the traveler gets back home.

 We think this is both irresponsible and unfair. Agencies do this because they know many trips never get booked and others get canceled. They want to ensure they get paid for the work, no matter the outcome for the client. They are not really in the travel business; they are in the itinerary business. They build more than they book, so most of their time is consumed with activities that are not profitable.

 We work differently. We know who is going to travel. We know whether or not the budget available fits the desired destination and accommodation level. We have already done countless hours of homework to ensure we know what is possible, probable, or unlikely. In short, we don’t spend most of our time building out impossible itineraries just to collect a fee from clients we know cannot actually complete the trip. This is the dirty little travel industry secret. Too many agencies rely upon fees to either pay for on-the-job training, or for building itineraries the agent knows (or should know) will never work.

 We would rather carefully qualify our clients to ensure that expectations meet reality. We won’t waste our client’s time (or ours) doing work that does not benefit the client or compensate our company. In short, we book travel, we don’t build itineraries blindly to collect fees. We only want to get paid for our successes, not our failures. We are the only travel agency in the area willing to put our expertise on the line, with no obligation on our clients’ part.

 Let us prove it. In less time than most agencies take to explain their fee structure, we can build out a custom itinerary to nearly any destination. When can we spend half an hour to show you what is possible?

 It’s a question of ethics and of principles. Consider your favorite restaurant. No matter how good the food or service in the past, you would never pay the bill and tip the server before finishing your meal. Paying after the fact ensures the best of both quality and service. So long as the cooks, servers, and managers are working to earn their income, they have their guests experience top of mind.

 The same should be true in travel. If as an agent, I have already collected several hundred dollars in fees upfront, even before my client has departed on their trip, the comparatively small commission I might get from the hotel is no longer a great incentive to provide superior service to my client. But, with all my income riding on my client having a world-class experience abroad, and only getting paid by the hotel once my client is safely and happily back home again, my eyes are focused squarely on the client. Just as the savvy maître d' knows how his dining room is operating, I know exactly how my clients’ trips are progressing, because my commission is on the line.

 Don’t take my word for it, let me show you how we’re different. When’s a good time for us to work up your next trip?

 Most people misunderstand the relationship they create when they book online through a wholesaler, like Kayak, Hotels.com, or Expedia. Booking with a wholesaler makes you the client of the wholesaler, not of the hotel where you’re staying. When something goes wrong (and experienced travelers know that things do go wrong occasionally during a trip), calling Expedia will only put you in contact with a customer relations agent who knows nothing about your trip, you, your circumstance, or the property. Booking with an agent gives a personal contact to call if you run into trouble.

 Still, not all agencies are created equal. With us, you reach us not a call center or answering service. We know where you are, what you need, and who to contact to resolve the issue in the least possible time with the least possible disruption to your plans. We know the people at the properties where you stay. We fully vet the properties we sell. We have personal relationships with them. We know the managers, the concierge, and sometimes, even the owners. We do more business with most properties than any other agency, so our clients are prioritized over others, especially those booked through wholesalers.

 A few years ago, a politician asked, “when the phone rings at two in the morning, who do you want answering the phone?” We ask our clients the same question.

 Apple has shown that price is not everything to every consumer. The MacBook is a lot more expensive than a ChromeBook, and the iPhone is one of the most purchased, yet most costly smartphones on the market. But walk into an Apple Store and there’s a Genius waiting to solve any issue your device encounters.

 We believe that for many, price is only one piece of the puzzle. The lion’s share is service. We cater to those clients who know what they want and have the means to get it. That said, we also understand that for these clients to want our service, we have to deliver. The typical agent works a 9-to-5 schedule. Call their number or email them outside this window, and you’ll be waiting at least until the morning. Here at home, that’s not a big issue, but when you’re abroad, that’s another story. We work 24/7 anytime we have a client away from home. I mean it. WE work. If a client has an issue at 8am in Italy, that’s 1am here. They call us, we answer. I don’t mean some employee or contractor. I mean I or my partner, Chris. When the phone rings, we are up, at the computer and solving the issue. Other agents are still asleep or forwarding calls to centers in the Philippines. We are with you until the return flight meets the tarmac. Plain and simple. Our clients expect nothing less, and our reputation is on the line.

 When can we get together to see where you’ll be exploring next?

 It’s been decades since airlines offered any commissions for flights to agents. While this used to be commonplace, commissions were a casualty of higher operating costs. Airlines chose to eliminate agent compensation to prevent raising fares to customers. While prices for hotels have also risen, the fuel-dependent airlines have been more sharply impacted by the price of energy over time. This is where many upfront-fee agencies justify their costs. To find the right flight is a difficult task requiring skill and expertise usually beyond the average traveler’s abilities. Thus, agents use this as leverage to charge fees to ensure the best flight given the time involved.

 However, we see it differently. We see the flight to and from the destination as a necessary inconvenience. No one’s stories about a great trip focus on their flights. We just pick up the story at “When we got to Lisbon…” The flight is the boring part of the story, so we skip it. It’s not only not fun, it's often costly. Cost money, no fun. Not good story material. The same is true for most agents. No commission, a ton of work.

 We know our industry. We know what airlines service what cities, have the fewest connections, have the best arrival and departure records, the least mechanical issues, the best baggage accountability. In short, we have already done our homework. We don’t need our clients to pay us for on-the-job training. We will happily find you the best flight offering and send it to you to book directly with the airline. You make one phone call, say here’s the flight I need, and the airline does the rest. It’s a win-win. You get the best flight at the best price; we spend less time on the things that we don’t get paid for. You spend less on getting there, so you have more to spend on your stay; we don’t have to pass our labor costs on to our clients.

 In short, too many cooks spoil the stew. By booking flights through online wholesalers like Expedia or Cheap-O-Flights, clients unknowingly invite another middleman into the equation. This raises costs, even if it appears to offer some discounts for the traveler. For instance, anyone who has ever been bumped off an oversold flight knows that it’s routine for airlines to assume some travelers will not make their flights. Empty seats cost money, so they offer more seats to wholesalers than actually are available on the flight itself. When a flight gets oversold, they bump the least profitable flyers first, namely, those booked through third parties like Expedia.

 By booking directly with the airline, you are their client, not Expedia’s client. The airline has a more vested interest in ensuring your satisfaction. They take ownership over getting you to your destination. And, since we have already done the heavy lifting of sourcing the best combination of carrier, route, schedule, and ticket class, you can rest assured that you have the best value available. We provide you with the airline’s phone number, the flight details, including dates, flight numbers, and airport codes, so you can communicate exactly what you want. We do all this as a thank you for booking your hotel with us. We do not get compensated by the airlines, and we do not charge you for the privilege.

 Would today or tomorrow be better to begin the process?

 Rarely. Hotels budget a portion of every stay for marketing. Whether that money goes to billboards, tv or radio spots, online ads with Google or Facebook or their own website. So, no matter how you book, about 10 to 20% of that night’s charge gets put aside. Every traveler booking a room pays directly into that marketing budget with or without an agent commission to pay. The difference is this, an agent-booked room can actually cost less. Hotels reserve their lowest rates for agents to ensure that agencies steer clients their way and fill their rooms. That commission comes from not just that one booking, but from all the bookings paying into the marketing budget. If 25% of a hotel is agent-booked, then that 25% of rooms can be discounted below best available rate because the hotel has charged the other 75% of their occupants a commission fee that never gets paid out. It’s similar to group insurance. An insurance company can pay out more in claims to a small portion of its policyholders, because they collect premiums on all policies, most of which will never have a claim.

 Since booking with us is a no-cost option, when would you prefer to pencil out your trip?