Like a bolt out of the blue, Walt Disney World informed travel agents yesterday that they would no longer earn commissions for their bookings at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground.
This is really not surprising. It was kind of a matter of when – not if.
a few bad apples
It seems most travel agents who book Disney trips operate within ethical boundaries and provide valuable services to their clients. But as we’ve discussed time and time again, there are allegedly a handful who egregiously used various loopholes to book large blocks of sites, sometimes in false names, to later resell them.
This was a particularly visible strategy during prime holiday times, such as Halloween. When two or three travel agents booked large blocks of sites, then they weren’t available to the rest of us. So, if you really, really wanted that special date, you had to go through one of these certain agents who claimed inside knowledge, special connections or the ability to perform “miracles.”
Walt Disney World put a damper on these shenanigans last year when they stopped allowing any changes to be made to reservations. Thus, if an agent pre-booked a site under the name “Joleen Bearface,” the agent was not able to change that reservation to your name after all. This left many guests who thought they had sites booked without them just weeks before their trips.
Although I’ve always enjoyed booking my own vacations, some folks found the services provided by travel agents to enable them to save time. If something went wrong upon arrival, you could always call your travel agent to try to help you out.
would you pay money to a travel agent for booking your camping trip?
The key is that these services provided by travel agents were free to you – the consumer. Travel agents earned their money by commissions paid by Disney. As Disney packages can get pretty pricey even for a small family, you can imagine that the 10 percent commission could net a respectable income. For example, if you booked a $6000 package through a travel agent, then the agent would receive $600 from Disney.
Now that Disney has ended this ride, travel agents are understandably considering their options. Should they turn their attention away from Fort Wilderness to other Disney properties where they still earn commission? Or should they continue to spend their time promoting Fort Wilderness and charge a booking fee directly to the consumer?
It seems that some are considering the latter option, and this may get some bites for a little while from their most loyal customers and first cousins. But it will likely be unsustainable as the fees would need to be much smaller than 10 percent of the booking. Even a $50 or $100 charge may be rejected by many people who would rather spend that money on a dining experience.
And with the changes in reservation policies and group bookings from last year, travel agents won’t be able to acquire any campsites or dates that an individual couldn’t do on their own.
Another problem that travel agents face is that it is easier than ever to book your own travel – even Fort Wilderness. With these changes, it will be far easier to find an open spot during prime times – because they will not have been blocked off by those certain travel agents.
No magic formula or miracles required for reservations
And even before, I don’t think I ever spent more than 30 minutes (sometimes combined on various days) securing a spot for Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas. The secret was to try online when availability first opened (previously 499 days out), try randomly early in the mornings, or wait until a couple of weeks out when the “ghost” reservations that hadn’t been filled were canceled.
For 2024, reservations at Disney’s Fort Wilderness will open on May 31 – likely in the wee hours of the morning.
Disney used to serve their loyal customers , now it is harder to receive help ,so travel agents help us , when Disney doesn’t.
Is this for cabins too or just campsites? I feel bad for my TA if for the cabins. My trip is next month but booked awhile ago so she should get something.
Like it was said, the few ruined it for everyone. I myself like booking it myself and avoid going during major holidays which helps. Plus recently Disney has released several discounts for the actual campsites other than the cabins which make it worthwhile to avoid holidays. In the end i think it will be ok for the consumer. It’s the TA that’s going to take a hit. So far their booking system is easy to use. Definitely easier than the State Parks system.
We don’t make 10% off of the full price. Some of that is non- commissionable. For example, For example, from a vacation package of $6,341.98. 10% would be $634.00 but we don’t get commission from the whole package so the actual commission is $519.55. Most agents have a host that takes a cut. 30% is standard for the industry if you are newer to the industry. That brings it to $364.69. That’s a 6% commission off the full price. Just wanted to point that out.
Also, I love that Disney cracked down. There is plenty commissionable properties left to sell and this levels the playing field for guests who want to experience Fort Wilderness.
I’m a TA and I’m all for the change.