HOW IT WORKS
What a travel advisor does:
Consultation: each trip is uniquely designed based on your needs and desires
Design: each itinerary is custom-crafted just for you
Booking: accommodation, transportation, and tour bookings made for you
Concierge Services: restaurant recommendations and reservations; research into your favorite things
Advisory: destination facts, custom Google maps, and travel dos & don’ts
Convenience: we do all the tedious research, double-checking, and confirming so that you don’t have to
Extra perks: we use our industry connections to provide you with VIP treatment and amenities
What makes Anthology Travel different?
We like to think it's our point of view: smart, curious, independent. Our ideal itineraries marry your passions with a destination - we find that exploring something you love in a new place provides a more meaningful connection with that location and creates indelible memories. When we can, we like to add in a half or full day learning the city with a local - meeting people in your destination is critical to understanding where you are, and driving revenue into the local economy is a more responsible version of tourism than adding to the profit margin of a large multi-national tour operator.
Given free reign, our itineraries don't contain a lot of traditional sightseeing - our ideal version of Paris involves a lot of wandering through parks, taking our time over delicious meals, and scouting indie boutiques rather than a madcap dash through the Louvre before taking the elevator up the Eiffel Tower.
Our personal preferences for accommodations are 4.5* star - fancy enough to feel like a luxury, but not so over-the-top as to break the bank. If your preferences run in a different direction, just let us know - we certainly have a lot of 5* favorites and there are plenty of 4* gems out there. To ensure quality control, we won't usually drop below the 4* level.
How we’re compensated
We want our relationship with you to be deep and long-lasting. It's a professional relationship like that you might have with a financial advisor - only, in our case, the asset we're managing is your precious leisure time. Accordingly, we try to be as transparent as possible about our compensation model.
We work on a fee + commission basis. We think our time is valuable, which is where the fee (paid by you) comes into play. On the other hand, we're driving revenue towards suppliers, which provides them incentive to pay us commission. If we weren't getting commission, we'd have to charge higher fees. Commission rates vary based on the product (hotel, transportation, touring) involved, but generally range between 10%-15%; when we work with a supplier who quotes us a net price and asks us to add a mark-up for the commission, we add a 12% mark-up.
Our fees are simple: $150/travel day (we don't include your day there and back in that calculation, since you'll usually be in flight the entire day) or $2500 annually for as many trips as you want. That's it. No separate fees for air ticketing, for restaurant reservations, for booking hotels...it's all included. You won't get another bill from us for your trip unless you ask us to source a non-commissionable product like an airbnb...in that case, we'll ask for a 12% finders fee which will be billed separately. If you choose the annual option, some extra goodies are included...be sure to ask us about that during the consultation if that option sounds enticing to you.
The fee also means we can be as commission-neutral when selecting and booking your components. We know a lot of advisors who won't book hotels directly because the commission rate is lower. With some exceptions, we like to book directly with the hotels - it cements our relationship with them (they know the reservation is coming from Anthology Travel rather than XYZ Wholesaler) and makes the likelihood of personal attention higher.
While we encourage clients to book their own airfare (we're happy to step in if necessary, but we've found it's advantageous for clients to be able to choose their own flights), we do not permit clients to book their own hotels, even with points. If that's important to you, we're likely not the best solution.
Here’s a blog post talking about this a bit more.
Here’s the process in a nutshell:
You provide a few details on what you’re looking for.
We set up a time to connect about the trip; talking on the phone or over Zoom is generally the most best way to ensure we get to know one another.
When we connect, I’ll share some initial thoughts and ask you a few questions, but this time is mostly for you to tell me what you want and need.
If we decide we’re a good fit for one another, you’ll agree to my terms & conditions and pay the planning fee.
I get to work! I’ll pull together a draft itinerary and send over for you to review. Sometimes the process takes a few tweaks until we get it exactly perfect, but that’s okay! We can chat or message about it as much as you need until it’s exactly what you want.
Once you sign off on the itinerary, we start booking the trip components for you. You can relax and blissfully anticipate how much fun you’re going to have on your trip.
You head off for an amazing experience; my partners and I support you every step of the way.
You return, brimming with special memories and fantastic photos; I’ll hit you up for some feedback on the trip about a week after your return.
That’s it!