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With eTripCafe Travel Education and Planning, you will work with a Travel Expert who will educate you on researching, planning and creating your trip. You will use the Trip Builder to organize and build your trip, watching it take shape as you add locations, activities and other details. Build anything from simple single destination itineraries to complex multi-country/city destinations including day and side trips. You can continue to make adjustments at any time to create your perfect dream vacation without making a single booking. We will also show you how to access and use the Mobile Trip Profile that is seamlessly integrated with the Trip Builder to guide you along your journey, every step of the way.
In addition to this, you will also learn Travel Skills Tips & Tricks from our international travel experience since 2001. |
What this is saying is that true help is about giving people skills and tools to take care of themselves, rather than just providing short-term aid. This is how we approach Travel Planning. We teach you how to plan, organize and create your trips, so that you don't have to pay and rely on others to do it for you.Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.
We are not your traditional Travel Planners/Advisors, creating an itinerary for you and handling your bookings. There are times when it may make sense to use a full service Travel Planner or Advisor and we discuss that in more detail further down the page.
Note: On this page, when we say Travel Planner, Travel Advisor or Planner/Advisor we are using them interchangeably and not necessarily referring to one or the other and the differences between them. We are simply referring to the role that either may play in providing travel services.
What's the difference between a Travel Educatorn & Planner, Travel Planner and Travel Advisor?
A Travel Educator & Planner teaches you how to research, plan and create your trip so you are not dependent on others. A Travel Planner designs customized day-to-day itineraries and schedule and does not usually handle bookings. A Travel Advisor (formerly called a Travel Agent) provides expert destination consulting and handles the actual bookings, reservations, and supplier logistics.Typical Travel Planner/Advisor Fees and Commissions
Travel Educator & Planner
Focus: Teaches you how to research and build custom schedules including daily activities, hotels, restaurants, etc.
Booking: Works with you to create your trip so you can book the parts yourself.
Payment: Typically charges an upfront planning or flat consultation fee.
Support: Does not act as an intermediary for reservations or on-the-ground crisis management.
Result: You will have the confidence to plan and create future trips on your own, exactly how you want them, without having to pay others for their planning services.
Travel Planners
Focus: Building custom schedules, daily maps, restaurant ideas, and sightseeing activities.
Booking: Usually hands the final plan to you so you can book the parts yourself.
Payment: Typically charges an upfront planning or flat consultation fee.
Support: Does not act as an intermediary for reservations or on-the-ground crisis management.
Travel Advisors
Focus: Providing professional advice, industry connections, and tailored luxury or complex itineraries.
Booking: Handles all reservations, flights, hotels, and tours directly on your behalf.
Payment: Generally earns money through supplier commissions or planning fees combined with perks.
Support: Serves as your advocate and point of contact if travel delays or problems happen during the trip.
Travel planners/advisors may charge a flat planning fee and receive commissions from vendors. They may charge an hourly rate, typically ranging from $100 to over $1,500 per trip depending on complexity. Many agents may also earn backend commissions from hotels, cruises, and tour operators when booking with their preferred providers.
Common Pricing Models
- Flat planning fees of $100 to $500 for standard or international getaways.
- Flat planning fees of $500 to $1,500+ for complex, multi-destination, or luxury itineraries.
- Some agency fees may require a refundable, partially refundable or non-refundable deposit upon booking.
- A La Carte service fees of $25 to $175 per ticket for standalone airfare booking, or $100+ for excursion-only and special requests.
- Hourly or Daily Rates may be $150 to $250 per hour, or around $100 per day of travel mapped out for extensive custom routings.
- Travel Planners may earn Vendor Commissions when booking with their preferred suppliers. Commissions can range anywhere from 10% to 20% and are paid directly by cruise lines, resorts, and tour companies.
| Travel Education & Planning Sessions Details | |||||
| Type | Duration | Cost | Attendees | Description | Sessions |
| Initial Consultation | 30 Min. | $20 | 1-2 | Talk to us about your travel plans. We explain what we will do for you, including the Trip Builder and Mobile Trip Profile. |
One 30 Min. session. |
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| Travel Ed-Planning | 60 Min. | $300 | 1-2 | Research, plan and build your trip including the Trip Builder and Mobile Trip Profile. | Two 30 Min. sessions with a short break between sessions. |
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| Travel Ed-Planning | 120 Min. | $500 | 1-2 | Research, plan and build your trip including the Trip Builder and Mobile Trip Profile. | Three 40 Min. sessions with a short break between sessions. |
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| *-A person (attendee) is defined as a dial-in connection. For example, limiting a session to 1-2 attendees is actually limiting it to 1-2 dial-in connections. | |||||
Requesting Travel Planning Sessions
Sessions must be requested using the Contact Page. Once requested, a session will be created and associated to the requestor's account. The session will only display for the requester on their 'My Account / Shop' page for purchase. Once purchased, the requester is responsible for sharing the meeting link with others, up to a total of 2 participants (dial-in connections).
We do our best to accommodate the requested date/time and reply to your account email once the session has been created for purchase. If it is not possible to schedule the session on the requested date and time due to other conflicts, we will contact the requestor for alternatives.
Purchasing Travel Education & Planning Sessions
From your 'My Account / Shop' page, select the session or sessions you are interested in. Select 'Update Total' and then 'Purchase'. Once purchased, the sessions will display on your 'My Account/Travel Talk Sessions/My Sessions' page. At the scheduled meeting time, select the Zoom Meeting link where you will be placed in the Waiting Room until the meeting host admits you to the meeting.
Sessions may be purchased until two days prior to the start date.
Occasionally there can be issues with online meetings such as the video not working, audio not working, people cannot connect, slow response, audio static, etc. If for any reason technical difficulties interfere with a meeting to a point where it is not possible to continue the meeting, we will work with you to reschedule the meeting to another acceptable date and time.
Requirements for attending a session
-Laptop or personal computer
-High-speed internet connection
-Speakers or headset
-Microphone is required to participate in interactive meetings
-A love of travel!
1. Let planners plan your trip for you because you have better things to do with your time.
We say planning your trip on your own is half the fun! There is nothing like discovering new and exciting places to visit and activities to add to your adventure. It's the discussions or even those little arguments over what to see and do that contributes to the excitement of the trip. When you finally come to an agreement, the excitement sets in as you anxiously await your departure date.
In fact, Ariane Gorin the CEO of Expedia said:
...people are happiest when they're planning the trip - they're even happier than when they're on it.2. Another Travel Planner said that they know more than you, so let them plan your trip. In relation to this, another planner posted that after visiting a location for the first time, they were going to change how and what they recommend to people going to that location.
What does all this mean? There are some planners/advisors that will definately know more about a location than you may know. But I'm willing to bet that most Travel Planners don't know any more than you do about a location because they have never actually been there. Even if they have been there, it doesn't mean they are an expert.
They may ask others in the office for advice on what to see and do and then use that for your trip. Other than that, they are probably performing the same types of searches you would perform to develop an itinerary for you.
3. I have heard other travelers say they just follow one of Rick Steves' trips. That may be fine, but I would not recommend it 100%, just like I would not use AI to plan your trip 100%. My suggestion is to use Rick, AI and all the other travel shows as valuable travel reference tools. Watch shows like Rudy Maxa, Samantha Brown, Joseph Rosendo, Travel Man and others to get different perspectives. Do your own research and select the sites that interest you the most, along with the activities you are interested in and work them in to your itinerary.
Let me say that I am not getting down on Rick. I own his entire DVD collection and the shows are entertaining and extremely valuable, but they don't cover everything and there is no way they possibly could. If you simply follow what he has done, you would be missing out on many amazing things and everything may not be of interest to you.
As an example, I have never seen one of the most fascinating places in Budapest Hungary mentioned on any travel show. On Castle Hill there is a place called The Labyrinth which you can explore on your own or on a guided tour. We chose to do it on our own, had a great time and highly recommend it. We stumbled onto it by finding a brief mention of it in a DK Travel Guidebook.
When does it make sense to use a full service Travel Planner/Advisor or join a group on a guided tour?
Independent travel and planning is not for everyone. If you simply do not want to travel on your own and feel more comfortable having everything planned for you, then using a Travel Planner/Advisor may be for you. You may also want to travel with a group on a guided tour and there are definite advantages and disadvantages to both. Depending on the location you are visiting, you may feel more comfortable in a group, having everything planned and organized for you.
Planners/advisors may have access to special rates and packages that are unavailable to you when booking on your own. Some agencies have negotiated special package deals, so booking with them may be less expensive than booking on your own. Cruise packa deals may also fall into this category.
For example, going to places like Egypt or South Africa may make sense to go as a group and use the services of planners/advisors. Although it's entirely possible to plan your own trip to Egypt, it may be a location where you feel more comfortable in a group with a guide. If you are planning a South African Safari, then you would definitely be going with a group on the actual safari part. However, getting there and back and seeing local sites could be done on your own. I want to mention that we have not actually been to Egypt or South Africa and would use the services of planners/advisors in some capacity should we decide to go.
There are other places we have visited and originally thought about using a planner/advisor but ended up going on our own and were completely fine. For example, we traveled in India around Delhi, to Jaipur and Agra to see the Taj Mahal on our own. We also spent several days in Beijing China and a few days in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates without any problems. It's entirely possible to visit these locations as independent travelers without the assistance of planners/advisors.
The Transylvania region of Romania is considered remote and mysterious, especially with it's castles and vampire folklore. On our own, we planned and traveled through the region during Halloween and even spent Halloween Eve in the remote town of Sighișoara, the town where Vlad Dracula was born. We visited several other towns, traveling by train without any issues. We actually ran into an American group tour in Sighișoara and they were surprised when we told them we were on our own and not with an organized group.
So you see, it's entirely possible to visit many distant and exotic locations on your own, while others may make sense to use the services of planners and advisors. Do what you are comfortable with and enjoy your travels.