TA Commission Protection so what about OBC

[cruzsnooze]

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

 

 

Everyone else posting would be very happy to get their refund back, but you seriously want your money plus $900 back. I hope you realize it's not happening.

It is my money, given to me as a gift. I will ask for it to be applied to my next cruise whenever that is because it is my money. It was a gift from a big box TA NOT Princess so let's not confuse the two. The TA got that money from Princess even though Princess cancelled and now might see fit to keep ALL of it. From the TA 's seat they got paid all their commission and kept the gift they promised me for booking with them. 

Edited May 7, 2020 by cruzsnooze

[CineGraphic]

12 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

It is my money, given to me as a gift. I will ask for it to be applied to my next cruise whenever that is because it is my money. It was a gift from a big box TA NOT Princess so let's not confuse the two. The TA got that money from Princess even though Princess cancelled and now might see fit to keep ALL of it. From the TA 's seat they got paid all their commission and kept the gift they promised me for booking with them. 

 

Dream on......

[dog]

15 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

It is my money, given to me as a gift. I will ask for it to be applied to my next cruise whenever that is because it is my money. It was a gift from a big box TA NOT Princess so let's not confuse the two. The TA got that money from Princess even though Princess cancelled and now might see fit to keep ALL of it. From the TA 's seat they got paid all their commission and kept the gift they promised me for booking with them. 

 

I am unclear:  Isn't OBC a credit to use onboard the ship?   Do you have it in writing on your receipt that you have a REFUNDABLE OBC?

This is between you and your travel agent to solve. Maybe TA will offer a new OBC on the next cruise you book with them and actually sail.  Best of luck.

[4cats4me]

I fail to see the logic of retaining the OBC when THAT sailing was canceled. Never thought OBC would be transferable.  

It won’t be an issue if Carnival should go bankrupt.   

 

 

[voljeep]

may have already been answered … I searched … 

 

will a TA get an additional commission from Princess when a new cruise is booked using entirely FCC from a previously cancelled cruise ?

Edited May 7, 2020 by voljeep

[dog]

3 minutes ago, voljeep said:

may have already been answered … I searched … 

 

will a TA get an additional commission from Princess when a new cruise is booked using entirely FCC from a previously cancelled cruise ?

 

From my March 6/20 cancellation my TA got a notice from Princess saying she would get an additional $50 commision when I rebooked using my FCC.. I saw note.

[voljeep]

4 minutes ago, dog said:

get an additional $50 commision when I rebooked using my FCC..

seems reasonable - now about what has been previously posted about

 

$ 2000 commission the TA keeps

 

$ 900 OBC the TA doesn't pay out " at that time "

 

does the TA now pay out that $ 900 OBC when the new cruise is booked, since it was "earned" by the passenger on the cancelled cruise that the TA got 'paid on' 

[SharkieRools]

This has got to be one of the most laughable hall of fame threads in the history of Cruise Critic.  You'll be receiving (in theory) a full refund of what was paid for the cruise and for some reason still feel entitled to the $900 On Board Credit you were to receive.  So in essence, you want a free $900 although you are paying zilch! 🤣

 

Who cares if your TA's commission is protected, what does this have to do with you?  They still had to do the work to get you booked, and now have to do extra work now that the cruise is cancelled.  Only makes sense Princess would still pay them.

 

I look forward to seeing this thread mentioned on the various Fail type blogs out there.

Edited May 7, 2020 by SharkieRools

[Boatdrill]

15 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

Usually that's the case but not now. For all cancelled cruises Princess put this out in print and in their video....

 

"Princess will protect travel advisor commissions on bookings for cancelled cruises that were paid in full, in recognition of the critical role they play in the cruise line's business and success."

Hello, My reply about Princess paying commissions within a few weeks after final payment was made in response to this post by ontheweb:  " I thought TAs were not paid their commission until after the passengers boarded the ship, not after payment in full was made."   

Our simple posts have nothing to do with what Princess is doing now.  

 

 

[pms4104]

This is a lot like picking at a scab, isn't it?

[cruzsnooze]

44 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

This is a lot like picking at a scab, isn't it?

WHY?

It isn't Princess that owes the OBC but the big box TA that paid as if I took the cruise.

[LDVinNC]

25 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

WHY?

It isn't Princess that owes the OBC but the big box TA that paid as if I took the cruise.

 

The TA owes you NOTHING.

[waltd]

But you didn't take the cruise.    Princess is giving you a full refund with additional credit  so you are taken care of.    They are helping out the travel agent regardless who they are or how big they are.    Talk about greedy.   

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

It is my money, given to me as a gift. I will ask for it to be applied to my next cruise whenever that is because it is my money. It was a gift from a big box TA NOT Princess so let's not confuse the two. The TA got that money from Princess even though Princess cancelled and now might see fit to keep ALL of it. From the TA 's seat they got paid all their commission and kept the gift they promised me for booking with them. 

Since you have replied to me, I will reply. Have you noticed that basically everyone is disagreeing with you. What exactly did you do to "earn" the money? Since it was given to be spent onboard, what purchases are you going to make onboard since you will never get onboard?

 

Would you even have thought to start this thread if there had not been the post that Princess was still paying the commission to TAs?

[voljeep]

8 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Since it was given to be spent onboard, what purchases are you going to make onboard since you will never get onboard?

FCC for next cruise - OBC should be honored on that cruise

[ceilidh1]

20 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

I guess I'm not stating this clearly. I booked a cruise through a big box TA. They make a commission which is none of my business. Out of their commission they give me an OBC which was to have been $900.  Princess cancelled my cruise but is still paying the full commission to the TA. So now the TA gets what they originally planned to receive before they gave me an OBC. The TA big box gets to keep my portion which they never expected to receive. 

  As an example:

  Cruise $20,000

TA commission $2000

 TA gives me $900 OBC

TA keeps $1100

Now TA gets to keep all $2000 because I didn't cruise due to Princess' cancelling 

I think I should get at least a gift card to shop at the big box store which won't even cost them $900 due to their profit margin.

 

I have a side gig as a TA for a big box company (thankfully not my sole source of income right now). It is NOT the same big box company as you booked with, but I assume it has similar structures in place. Taking your example above, if the commission earned was $2,000, I would need to deduct from that my agency fees, marketing overhead fees, insurance fee, and license fee (big box companies use independent contractors so you need to "pay" to sell). My commission is roughly 11% of the actual commission paid out by the cruiseline (granted, this increases each year depending on sales and top sellers can make up to 20%). So, after all the time and work I put in for booking, researching, refaring, etc, etc, I actually come out with just over $200. That is ok with me - I never got into this for the money, but for my love of cruising. I'm sure independent TAs work a little differently, but the big box reps have a LOT of commission skimmed off the top....

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

FCC for next cruise - OBC should be honored on that cruise

If I'm not mistaken, FCC is the one thing you cannot use OBC for.

[caribill]

11 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

It is my money, given to me as a gift. I will ask for it to be applied to my next cruise whenever that is because it is my money. It was a gift from a big box TA NOT Princess so let's not confuse the two. The TA got that money from Princess even though Princess cancelled and now might see fit to keep ALL of it. From the TA 's seat they got paid all their commission and kept the gift they promised me for booking with them. 

 

You are assuming that the TA's OBC all comes from the commission, but that is not likely.

 

Two other possible sources of the OBC that the TA offers:

a) A lower price that the TA pays compared to what you paid for the cruise. For example, you might pay (to make up numbers) $2000, but the TA only has to pay $1700. The OBC can come in part from that $300 difference. Since you ended up paying nothing and the TA did not pay that $1700, that $300 is not available to give to you in any form.

b) When a TA books a cruise for you, it gets amenity points. These points can be used to purchase OBC for you or they can be used for other amenities such as specialty dining or a bottle of wide. They also can be used to just increase the commission the TA gets without passing any of the amenity point benefits on to you. However, when the cruise is canceled, there are no amenity points to provide OBC (or anything else) and thus no $$$ from amenity points to pass on to you.

[voljeep]

i'm in favor of giving the client the aforementioned OBC on the next cruised booked with the FCC the client got from the cancellation, regardless of if the TA gets any/more commission on the new cruise

[dog]

14 minutes ago, voljeep said:

i'm in favor of giving the client the aforementioned OBC on the next cruised booked with the FCC the client got from the cancellation, regardless of if the TA gets any/more commission on the new cruise

What if she uses FCC on a $950 4 day cruise, rather then the $20k cruise she had previously booked?  Same OBC?

[voljeep]

Just now, dog said:

What if she uses FCC on a $950 4 day cruise, rather then the $20k cruise she had previously booked?  Same OBC?

yes - if the TA got to keep the commission "earned" , but not paid out as promised , on the $ 20k cruise

[JayRich65]

21 minutes ago, voljeep said:

i'm in favor of giving the client the aforementioned OBC on the next cruised booked with the FCC the client got from the cancellation, regardless of if the TA gets any/more commission on the new cruise

That is exactly what the big box did for my on my 2nd cruise that i paid for with the FCCs.  Transfer the OBC from canceled first cruise to 2nd, since the TA was only getting minimal commission on 2nd cruise.  Now the 2nd cruise has canceled so now all of the FCCs and hopefully the original OBc will transfer to the next cruise,   Confusing yes, but it does make sense to me now.

[dog]

3 minutes ago, voljeep said:

yes - if the TA got to keep the commission "earned" , but not paid out as promised , on the $ 20k cruise

You see, we do not know what her TA got to keep, do we?

 

OP- have you found out from your TA if she got the full amount in commission?

[MCC retired]

8 hours ago, caribill said:

 

You are assuming that the TA's OBC all comes from the commission, but that is not likely.

 

Two other possible sources of the OBC that the TA offers:

a) A lower price that the TA pays compared to what you paid for the cruise. For example, you might pay (to make up numbers) $2000, but the TA only has to pay $1700. The OBC can come in part from that $300 difference. Since you ended up paying nothing and the TA did not pay that $1700, that $300 is not available to give to you in any form.

b) When a TA books a cruise for you, it gets amenity points. These points can be used to purchase OBC for you or they can be used for other amenities such as specialty dining or a bottle of wide. They also can be used to just increase the commission the TA gets without passing any of the amenity point benefits on to you. However, when the cruise is canceled, there are no amenity points to provide OBC (or anything else) and thus no $$$ from amenity points to pass on to you.

 

As a former TA, booking only cruises for 17+ years  , this answer is 100% correct .

TA's OBC does not just come from comm. rebate.

 

Also any Agency booking a decent amount with a cruise line ,earns  closer to 16% comm .

 

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by MCC retired

[Pierlesscruisers]

On 5/6/2020 at 3:02 PM, cruzsnooze said:

"Princess will protect travel advisor commissions on bookings for cancelled cruises that were paid in full, in recognition of the critical role they play in the cruise line's business and success."

 

Since Princess is protecting the commission to TA's for bookings that were paid in full shouldn't we get the perks promised (not their commission). I use a big box company and had a $900 OBC coming so shouldn't that still be paid to me when they get their commission?

I would have sworn that a couple of days ago I saw another another thread by the same poster that started out this thread and with the same data as shown in message #12 here. Do we now just keep repeating a thread until we get somebody to agree with us?

Tom