My First Booking Made Me $0. Here's Why I'd Do It Again
What a Borneo trip for three friends taught me about the real value of a travel advisor
Here's something that might surprise you: my first official booking with Appleton Travel earned me exactly zero dollars in commission. No airfare markup, no planning fee, nothing. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat. It started when a good friend reached out with an unusual request. She and two of her friends, scattered across the country from each other, had already put together their own dream itinerary for a trip to Borneo. They had the vision. What they needed was someone to make sure the logistics actually worked, that the flights, transfers, and arrival and departure times would line up so three people from three different cities could land in the same place, at the same time, ready to start the adventure they'd planned.
The Airfare Puzzle Nobody Warns You About
Three travelers, three home airports, one destination halfway around the world. That's the kind of routing that breaks most airline websites and leaves online travel agencies scratching their heads. A handful of Online Travel Agent sites (OTAs) and portals did surface fares that technically worked, but the reviews on those sites were rough enough that my friend and her friends weren't willing to hand over their credit card numbers for a purchase that size. Booking international airfare for three people isn't the kind of transaction you want to gamble on, and I don't blame them for pausing.
What a Travel Advisor's Network Made Possible
This is where being part of Fora's network changed the equation. With access to booking tools and fare options that don't show up on the public-facing sites, I was able to sit down and actually solve the puzzle: take three people spread across the USA, route them to one common meeting point, fly them into Asia together, and then bring them back through that same central point so each person could continue home from there. It's the kind of routing that requires someone to actually dig in, not just plug an origin and destination into a search box and hope for the best.
The Hours Behind the Scenes
Finding the best routes and optimized pricing for this group took several hours of research, comparison, and double-checking. It wasn't a five-minute job, and it wasn't supposed to be. By the end, we landed on a special discounted price on the USA-departing airfare, an optimized return route home for each traveler, and, just as important, routing that stayed aligned with each person's preferred airline alliance so their status and points kept accumulating throughout the trip. That last detail matters more than people realize. A cheaper fare that strips away someone's frequent flyer status isn't actually a win, and it's the kind of tradeoff an advisor is trained to watch for.
Why I Took It On for $0
So why spend hours solving a routing puzzle knowing I wouldn't earn a dime from the airfare itself? A few reasons, and all of them are exactly why I started Appleton Travel in the first place.
Word of mouth is everything for a new business. Two of the three travelers on this trip were brand new to me, introduced through my friend. Getting in front of two potential future clients, right out of the gate, was worth far more to me than a one-time commission.
This group travels, and they travel often. I know for a fact my friend takes international trips with her circle multiple times a year. One great experience with Appleton Travel doesn't just win her repeat business, it can win the business of her friends, and their friends after that.
It's a demonstration, not just a transaction. This trip showed all three of them, firsthand, what a travel advisor can actually do that a search engine can't. That's a better pitch than anything I could put in an email.
Let's Plan Your Next Trip
An advisor works for you to make experiences come alive. Relationships matter, and when I understand how you travel, I can build experiences that are fully custom to what you actually want, not what a generic booking site thinks you want. If you're planning a trip, whether it's a solo adventure, a group of friends spread across the map, or your next big cycling event abroad, reach out and let's talk about how I can help. Email me directly or submit a request through my website, and let's start building your next trip together.