Services and Fees
As your Travel Agent we are your partner in travel and here to ensure you have an exceptional experience. We work day in and day out to elevate the the travel experience for our clients.
How do we make money?
We earn the bulk of our income when you complete your travel and have an incredible time, then come back to us for exceptional experiences again and again.
Our primary income stream comes from commissions that we earn from the bookings we secure for your exceptional travel experiences.
However, we in the travel industry learned hard lessons from the Covid pandemic and realized that the days of being able to put in significant hours weeks, months, even years ahead of our clients travel and being able to rely on that deferred income was gone as trips were canceled over and over again.
In response to this travel professionals realized that we need to be compensated for our hard work and efforts bringing you experiences today…not just in the distant future. Thus service fees became the norm with agencies providing high levels of service and industry connections.
When you work with us you are getting the benefit of our service. Our attention to the details, knowledge of issues you may not consider, our support along the way, and our relationships with travel suppliers around the globe.
Agents are not created equal. There are thousands of agents ready to book you a simple cruise or All-inclusive, or worse…try and sell you into an MLM.
We bring our expertise in our destinations and our relationships with travel suppliers around the world. We can reach out directly to hotel group execs, owners of Safari clubs and tour companies, and much more.
Your Consultation is always Free!
The first step in our process is to have a conversation about what you are looking for.
We cannot provide quality and complete travel options and pricing without knowing the details of what you want in your travels. And as such we cannot ethically charge for our services without getting this information. We have also found that working off a simple intake form is not enough, although it is still helpful.
We want to sit down, digitally, and talk. We can do this over the phone, or preferrably on a video call on google meet. This will give us a change to get to know you and fully understand what it is you are looking for.
We also have found that only series clients will take this first step. So this is our first of two gates before we engage our resources to bring your exceptional vacation to life!
Depending on your destination, we may be able to provide some ideas of pricing during this call. But it is imperitive that we know your budget at the end of this call. If we don’t know your budget, we will be wasting your time and ours doing research that most probably will not be a good fit.
Our Consultation Fee
Nothing to hide here:
Our Consultation Fee is $350.oo
This includes…
Research of your destination based on your requirements and budget. Planning and negotiations of currated tours from our preferred suppliers, analysis of flight options and entry requirements at the destination.
Up to 5 quotes for your destination. This is why we need to fully understand what you are looking for before we start.
3 quotes of the 5 will be given after the initial research to provide options that fit your requirements for an exceptional vacation and enhancements to take it to the next level.
The remaining 2 quotes are used for adjustments to make the trip a perfect fit for you and your family!
Additional quotes needed, including changes in requirements, destination, or travel type will result in an additional $50 fee per quote.
We will not begin the research and quoting process until the Consultation Fee is received.
Why only 5 quotes?
Your time is valuable and so is ours. By the time we deliver 5 quotes we will have spend several hours of time researching, calling suppliers, negotiating terms, and communicating our findings. We then repeat this process for our other traveling clients as well. It is our responsibility to ensure that we are spending our time productively and providing the best service to our clients.
If we have a productive consultation call, then we should know everything we need in order to bring you your exceptional experience in 5 quotes. It is our responsiblity to ask the right questions, but it is also your responsibility to communication ALL your requirements clearly as well. This could be as simple a detail as wanting to travel with 2 checked bags, rather than 1. That will change the plane tickets, maybe even the airline and route. All details matter.
Cancelation Policy
Our services do not stop at your booking. We continue to monitor issues related to your trip and advise you along the way. There are many things that can happen that may require you to cancel your trip. Some are under your control, but many are not. For this reason we STRONGLY RECOMMEND you purchase travel insurance to cover any issue that may arise related to your trip. We will always quote Travel Insurance for you.
A cancelation of your trip may cause us to lose the commissions that we have earned for the exceptional travel that we have delivered for you. Due to that and to ensure that our agents income is protected from loss we will impose a Cancelation Fee on travel canceled after booking.
Our Cancelation Fee for any canceled booking is 15% of the total amount booking through our agency for the trip.
For example: If the total booking value is $10,000, the Cancelation Fee will be 15% of $10,000 calculated as $10,000*.15=fee or $1,500.00.
We STRONGLY recommend every client obtains travel insurance to ensure you are able to make a cliam against any losses resulting from impacts to your travel.
Fee Waiver For Repeat Clients
We appreciate the business of all our clients, but hold special appreciation for those who return to book from us again and again!
To show that appreciation we waive the Consultation Fee for all additional travel within the same calendar year for the same client. So that means if your first trip with us is in February, 2025 and you pay the Consultation Fee at that time, then any additional trip we help you with and you complete travel on through December 31, 2025 will not incur an additional $350.00 consultation fee. You will only pay that fee once for all travel completed within the same calendar year.
However, if we plan and book travel in October, 2025, but the trip is scheduled for March 2026, that will incur a $350.00 fee. But that fee will cover all 2026 travel. Clear as mud? Let me know if you have any questions!
Terms and Conditions
No planning or research activities will be performed before an initial Free consultation with ALL descision making parties is performed and the Consultation Fee (for the first travel of a calendar year) is paid. This includes any price quoting.
No planning or research activities will occur without reasonable assessment of ALL travel requirements as to be gathered in the Free Consultation. This includes the travel budget.
Payment of the Consultation Fee will be accepted through Venmo or other credit card processing when available. Cash or check may be acceptable in certain circumstances at the sole discretion of American Travel Solutions, LLC.
Payment for all deposits and travel must be made with a Credit Card.
The Credit Card holder will agree to and sign a Payment Authorization form for all travel purchases that are included in the ultimate package. The form will be authorized for the final amount due, regardless of the amount of deposit. By signing the Payment Authorization form, the Card Holder acknowledges and understands that multiple payments to American Travel Solutions, LLC and travel suppliers will occur up to the amount authorized to execute payments for the purchased travel and insurance.
Credit Card holder further acknowledges and agrees to pay a Cancelation Fee of 15% of the total travel purchased for cancelation of said travel at anytime before completing the travel. This fee will be assessed to the Credit Card authorized for payment. If the Credit Card is declined, American Travel Solutions, LLC reserved the right to collect the debt by any means including but not limited to use of a collection agency, litigation in the District Court of Washington County, Arkansas, or other means as deemed appropriate.
Travel Insurance will be quoted for all travel purchases. Buyer may waive the purchase of travel insurance. In that case the buyer will be required to sign a travel insurance waiver acknowledging that American Travel Solutions, LLC offered travel insurance and it was declined.
Hold Harmless and Indemnification. Buyer will hold harmless and indemnifies American Travel Solutions, LLC for any damage, injury, or other harm that may occur or affect the Buyer and/or any traveler associated to the Buyer as a result of travel planned and/or booked through American Travel Solutions, LLC at any time pre or post travel except where gross negligence occurred on the part of American Travel Solutions, LLC.
Buyer and all travelers are duly notified that it is their responsibility to read and understand all aspects of their travel itinerary and perform all actions required for travel including but not limited to: obtaining all require travel documents and vaccinations, performing all check-ins for flights or hotels, understanding all customs regulations for entry/exit of the origination/destination of travel, arriving to any transfer points on time, communicating any delays in route to transportation contact persons, and executing any travel insurance claims.
Air and Air Only Fees and Terms
This section applies to any Airfare booking. Fees below apply only to Air Only bookings made outside of a Vacation Package.
Air tickets are paid low, or no, commission to Travel Agents. We do not require that you book your airfare with us when not part of a vacation package. However, we do offer this service to ensure that your air travel is well aligned with your land or sea travel. For these reasons we offer this service for an additional fee.
For all airfare, both domestic and international fees are as follows:
For single destination, round trip, we apply a $50.00 service fee per person.
For a multi-destination, or any fare with greater than 4 one-way components, we apply a $100 per person.
All airline fare terms, rules, and restrictions apply. Refunds will only be available as designated by the airline and fees may apply.
We will make all reasonable efforts to inform you of flight times, baggage rules, cancelation policies, change policies, and other flight related policies for your flights. You agree to hold American Travel Solutions, LLC harmless in the event of any loss due to our failure to fully communicate a policy except in circumstances where gross negligence has occurred.
We are not responsible for any changes in route, flight cancelations, or other interruptions in flights before or during travel. The purchase of travel insurance is highly encouraged to ensure all trip components are protected from risk of loss.
What are you waiting for?
