Agent commision

[Daren]

Hi, for those who are opting for a refund via an agent, are any $$ being withheld for commission. Our agent will only refund 75 percent?

[Bakerette]

59 minutes ago, Daren said:

Hi, for those who are opting for a refund via an agent, are any $$ being withheld for commission. Our agent will only refund 75 percent?

You could be within 90 of your cruise. You are only getting and 75% refund because you must have cancelled 3 weeks after you paid off your cruise.

[Mljstr]

What are you talking about? I never heard of such a thing. Explain please. Is that in the fine print from the agency?

[twangster]

When is the cruise you are cancelling?

The 100% refund option offered by Royal Caribbean is for cruises from March 14 to April 10. 

If your cruise is after April 10 you have two choices. 

The first is for cruises up to July 31 and you can request the cruise be cancelled for 100% FCC (Future Cruise Credit). 

The second choice if you are after final payment due date is to request a refund using the normal cancellations terms that have applied since before the virus was a thing.  This is a sliding scale that refunds less and less as you get closer to the sail date.  One step is a 75% refund depending on the dates involved.  As I write this 90 days or final payment due date for most cruises would June 14 so this applies to cruises between April 10 and June 14.  

If your cruise is after 90 days from today (June 14 as I write this) then you are before final payment due date so normal cancellation applies which for non-refundable fares means you lose your $100 of your deposit per person with the rest of your deposit offered as an FCC.  Any additional payments beyond the deposit should be refunded.  

[Mljstr]

4 hours ago, Daren said:

Hi, for those who are opting for a refund via an agent, are any $$ being withheld for commission. Our agent will only refund 75 percent?

@twangster This sounds like @Daren is saying his travel agent is withholding some of the payment. I guess that could be true, depending on the agency-a transaction fee so to speak. Our cruise is April 12 and our 75% refund expired March 13. Now we are at 100% penalty. We are still waiting to see if it will be canceled at a later date so we can get a full refund or 125%.

[twangster]

3 minutes ago, Mljstr said:

@twangster This sounds like @Daren is saying his travel agent is withholding some of the payment. I guess that could be true, depending on the agency-a transaction fee so to speak. Our cruise is April 12 and our 75% refund expired March 13. Now we are at 100% penalty. We are still waiting to see if it will be canceled at a later date so we can get a full refund or 125%.

It's important to understand the details because these conversations are typically long with different options and it's not clear if there is confusion on either parties part - the agent or the guest.  Once all details are known only then can we advise how he should deal with his travel agent.  

Royal has stated they are protecting agent commissions with respect to FCC so details matter.  There is no one answer fits all.

[twangster]

One way to know if you were paying the agent commision from the start - who charged your credit card?  

The travel agents I use now don't charge my credit card.  The line item on my credit card invoice comes from Royal Caribbean.  When I pay the deposit, it is charged by Royal Caribbean.  When final payment is made it is charged by Royal Caribbean.  The travel agency simply passes my card number to Royal who charges my card.

When you are working with a travel agency that is using some tricks to offer lower rates some of the charges may come from that travel agency.  If any portion of the total cost of all charges appears to come from someone other than Royal Caribbean you are probably dealing with one of those agencies.   They use group rates or other wholesale commission reduced rates from Royal and then they themselves charge you some portion which is effectively their commision and profit.  I avoid these types of travel agencies.

Here is the other reason to avoid these types of travel agents.  You see the cruise as costing $X - the total of all charges.  Royal offers the cruise to the agency not at $X but at $Y.  The travel agency turns around and sells you the cruise at $Y + $Z where $Z equals their commision and profit. 

$Y (they're cost) plus $Z (their commision and profit) = $X what you pay.  

When a cruise is cancelled and FCC is offered, Royal calculates the FCC based on what they sold the cruise for.  In this case they sold the cruise (to the agency) at $Y.  That is the number Royal will use to calculate the FCC.  You are thinking the FCC will be based on $X - what you paid.  Wrong.  You get FCC based on the agency rate, not what you paid.  

When you work with a travel agency like MEI they don't play this game.  Royal charges your credit card for all amounts so Royal will see all of your payments and that is what Royal will base any FCC on.  Royal pays these types of travel agents their commision on the back end that you never see.  Royal typically takes care of travel agencies in times of mass cancellations.   They can't afford to upset thousands of travel agents who sell other cruise lines as well. 

However when certain travel agencies that use commision reduced rates are involved with mass cancellations Royal doesn't treat the the same because there was no commision.  These travel agencies resort to not refunding the charges they made directly to your credit card as a means to retain some commision or profit. 

This is why these types of travel agents should be avoided.   Cheap rates look appealing and when everything goes as planned you save some money.  However when things go awry you don't get all the money that other people get who used more reputable travel agents.

[Neesa]

@twangster, thank you! I had never even known this existed. Not that I am ever leaving MEI but still very good to know. I appreciate your time in explaining this, just WOW!