Questions · What it costs
How much does a travel advisor cost for a group trip?
Booking the hotel rooms through a travel advisor usually costs you nothing extra, because the hotel pays the advisor out of the room price. Planning the whole trip is where a fee comes in. At Notched Travel Co. that starts at $250, and the exact fee is in your quote.
Last checked 24 September 2026.
- The rooms: nothing extra. The hotel pays the advisor.
- The whole trip planned: a planning fee, from $250 with us.
- More people, more stops and flights for everyone add to it.
- The fee is in writing, with what it covers and what it doesn't.
Why the rooms cost you nothing.
Hotels pay travel advisors a commission out of the room price. You pay the hotel the same rate you would if you called them yourself.
That's how advisors have been paid for a long time, and it's why a trip that only needs rooms can cost you nothing at all to book through us. You're not paying extra to have someone else make the call.
What you get for it is someone who knows what to ask a hotel for. A group can ask for things one guest can't: rooms on the same floor, a night for the couple on a wedding weekend, a room for the welcome drinks. Asked for, not promised. We tell you what came back.
Where a planning fee comes in.
Some of the work on a group trip doesn't pay anyone a commission. Some of it just takes a long time.
A lot of what makes a group trip good is off the hotel's books. The dinner reservations. The private room for twenty. The driver from the airport. The afternoon everyone does together. Most of that pays the advisor nothing, so the fee covers it.
Then there's the time. Twenty people from six cities, on different flights, three of them changing their plans twice. Someone has to keep that straight before the trip and answer the phone during it. With a planning fee, that someone is us and not you.
The fee also covers the early work. If you haven't picked a place yet, we look at two or three that fit the group and tell you which one we'd book and why. That research is worth something even before anything gets booked.
What makes it go up.
More people. Twenty-eight is a different job than eight.
More stops. One town is simple. Three towns means three sets of rooms, the trains or drivers between them, and three sets of dinners.
Flights for everyone. When we book the air, we're tracking every person's route, and every change lands on us.
A fixed, busy date. A wedding weekend, a race week or a trade show, when the whole town is full. The timing gets tighter and there's less room to move.
What keeps it down: one place, set dates, and a group that already knows roughly what it wants.
How advisors charge, in general.
There's no single price across the industry. Some advisors charge a flat fee. Some use tiers that go up with the number of places and days. For very large weddings and company trips, some charge a small share of the whole trip's cost. And plenty charge nothing when all you need is rooms.
Ours starts at $250 and goes up with the work. Before we book anything, you get the fee in writing, along with what we're handling and what we're not. If the rooms are all you need, say so. That part's on the hotel.
Questions.
Is it more expensive to book a hotel through a travel advisor?
Usually not. The room rate is normally the one you would find on your own. The hotel pays the advisor from its side.
Do you charge a fee if all we need is hotel rooms?
No. Hotels are free to book through us.
Why pay a planning fee at all?
Because much of a group trip, like the dinners, the drivers and the activities, doesn't pay an advisor anything, and keeping a big group on track takes real time. The fee covers that work so you don't have to do it.
How much is the planning fee?
It starts at $250. More people, more stops and flights for everyone add to it. The exact fee is in your quote.
What if we already have a wedding planner or someone at work who plans this?
Good. Wedding planners usually handle the venue and the day, not where the guests sleep. An assistant planning a team trip usually has a full-time job besides. We handle the travel side alongside them.
Ask what yours would cost.
Send the dates, the place if you have one, and roughly how many are coming. We reply within a couple of business days with the fee in writing.
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