A reporter recently reached out to advisors across the MAST network with a simple ask: What’s your best money-saving travel tip?
The answers came back fast. And almost none of them were about price. This was bad news for the reporter, but good news for MAST advisors who know that slavishly worrying about “saving” money can often result in getting a lot less value for the money you do spend.
That is, in many ways, the reason clients will always need a travel advisor … and probably for reasons they don’t expect.
When a client says they want to save money, they are almost never asking for the cheapest possible trip. They are asking for one of two things: more value for the dollars they are already planning to spend, or the most trip they can get within a budget they have already set. Neither of those is a request for a discount. Both of those are a request for judgment and expertise.
This is instructive for advisors looking to continue to grow their business and find the right clients.
If the only thing your marketing talks about is supplier deals, you are training your clients to shop you the same way they shop a search engine. Every email built around “act now, prices drop Tuesday” teaches a client that your value lives in the number, not in you. Once a client believes that, they have no reason to come back when the number isn’t your best one.
Need help planning your trip? Click here to find a MAST Travel Advisor near you. MAST Travel advisors are here to help with all your travel plans and needs.
Inventory Is Not Expertise
Jamie Weitl of Pineapple Escapes Travel put it this way:
“Travelers often assume that booking through an online engine guarantees the lowest price,” Jamie said. “In reality, those websites provide inventory, not expertise. They cannot tell you whether a less expensive hotel will ultimately cost more because of transportation, resort fees, inconvenient dining options, or amenities that are not included.”
That is the gap. Any booking engine can show a price. It cannot tell a client what that price actually buys, what it leaves out, or what it will cost them later in a rideshare, a room-service bill or a ruined afternoon. Only judgment can do that. As Jamie says:
“The smartest savings are not always found by chasing the lowest advertised price,” Jamie continued. “They come from maximizing every dollar, avoiding preventable costs, and designing the right trip from the beginning.”
That is not a money-saving tip. That’s the job description.
What Value Actually Looks Like
Jeni Chaffer of Journeys Travel offered advice that drives the difference between price and value home:
“I recommend all clients utilize the airport lounges, via their ticket, credit card or if they purchase a day pass,” Jeni said. “This little bit of peace, comfortable seats, food and drinks, plus internet prior to a flight or during a layover can help ease travel anxiety and give you a little sanity over the constant airport announcements. The cost of a meal in the airport is often more than the cost.”
Read that again. Jeni isn’t telling clients to spend less. She is telling them to spend with purpose. A lounge pass costs money. It also replaces an overpriced airport meal, a frayed nervous system and ninety minutes of standing near a gate listening to boarding announcements meant for someone else’s flight. That is value. A client who understands that trade-off will never again believe that the advisor who found them the cheapest flight served them better than the advisor who protected their trip.
Practical Ways to Market Value Instead of Discounts
Selling value instead of price is not a mindset. It is a set of habits.
Lead with the outcome, not the offer. Instead of “here is the cheapest flight,” try “here’s how we made sure this cruise didn’t end with $400 in extra baggage fees and waking up in the middle of the night.” Clients remember what you protected them from more than what you knocked off the sticker price.
Make the trade-offs visible. Tell clients why you steered them away from the cheaper hotel, the tighter connection or the “too good to be true” cruise package. Every time you explain a trade-off, you are teaching a client that price and value are not the same thing.
Talk about total cost, not sticker price. Resort fees, transportation, meals not included, insurance they’ll wish they had — that is where the real savings conversation lives. Say it out loud, every time.
Let your judgment be visible, not just your rates. A lounge recommendation, a room-category upgrade that’s actually worth it, a warning about a supplier’s fine print — these are small moments, and they are also the entire case for why a client should keep calling you instead of a search bar.
Closing
Every advisor in this industry has, at some point, marketed a deal. That is not the problem. Please, continue doing that The problem is when the deal becomes the only thing you ever say — when “save money” quietly becomes shorthand for “find the lowest number” instead of what your own clients actually mean by it: spend this well.
Jamie and Jeni did not answer a money-saving question with a discount. They answered it with judgment. That is what a client is actually asking for when they say they want to save money. That is what you are actually selling, whether your marketing says so or not.
So, the next time a client tells you they’re trying to save money, ask yourself: are you about to hand them a coupon, or are you about to give them counsel?
