The Groups Guru

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While you could use AI to plan your trip, it is not recommendable. Publicly available AI tools comb the Internet for information it deems relevant. The primary source for this information is Reddit with other social media platforms making up most of its other sources. That means you are, in effect, crowdsourcing your vacation planning to amateur travelers without perspective or training. It’s not uncommon to receive AI generated itineraries that include closed establishments or recommendations that don’t align with the travelers’ wishes because it searched a keyword and missed the intent (for example, recommending a zoo to a vegan). By contrast, an experienced travel advisor is tuned into information not readily available on the Internet because we are constantly receiving trade publications, attending webinars, having one-on-ones with sales reps, and personally visiting and testing the places and services we sell.

As with financial advisors, we do not control pricing for what we sell, we are just middlemen. Just as the stock market determines the price of the stocks you buy through your financial advisor, the prices for the travel services you purchase through us are dictated by our suppliers (i.e. hotels, resorts, cruise lines, etc.) and much like financial advisors, there are several different ways we make our money. Some will work off straight commission for the products they sell, others will charge a fee to manage your account, others still will charge a fee and collect commissions. 

As a family-owned and operated agency, we understand that travel brings families and friends together to of create lasting memories. Because we too travel as a family, we know the common pain points to expect and can help you anticipate and be prepared for them. In addition to being fully bonded, licensed, and insured; we are accredited by International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN) and are members of the American Society for Travel Advisors (ASTA). When joining ASTA, we promised to abide by their Code of Ethics governing the travel industry.

Sorry, but we cannot book stand alone flights or excursions/activities. Bella Rose is not a ticketing agency with airlines so we must book them through 3rd parties that specialize in booking air for travel agencies. Since air travel is not commissionable, we must add a booking fee to the price of air tickets. While excursions are generally commissionable, we do not piece-meal vacations. Experience has taught us that this can quickly become a logistical nightmare trying to coordinate the services we book with those the client books. As a result, we kindly ask that you book the entire vacation with us.

We as an agency do not offer any promotions or incentives. The brands we sell control their pricing, and their promotions, and they strictly forbid us from discounting or rebating. However, if you see a promotion from a supplier, we can book it. This is true of most travel advisors, which means pricing will be the same regardless of which advisor you choose provided you are comparing apples-to-apples. For this reason, we compete on service, not pricing and will not proivde quotes to "agent-shoppers." Rather, we encourage you to interview prospective advisors prior to contracting with one.

That said, we belong to a consortia of independent travel advisors that leverages our collective buying power to negotiate special promotions with our suppliers. We offer those promotions to our clients through our TravelClub. We encourage to check it out here.

We also often take out group space whose rates may be lower than currently offered public rates because the groups were locked in a year in advance when prices are generally lower. These are usually sailings on school holidays when demand is higher and on brands closer to Jacksonville, FL (either JaxPort or Port Canaveral), which also tend to be more popular with our clientele. They may also come with added amenities (like onboard credit) that are not available to the public. To see our currently available group space, please click here (and be sure to follow us on Facebook to catch new groups as they are added).

As we are a travel agency and not a tour operator, we don’t have any inventory of our own. All vacations that we sell are supplied by 3rd party companies who are vetted by us or our consortia and found to be reliable in both quality of service and of product. If you tell us what you are looking for, we will search these suppliers for the one(s) that best fit your needs.

However, if you are looking for a cruise over a school holiday, we often take out group space on select sailings during these weeks which are most popular with our clients. You may find those group rates on our Facebook page under the "Events" tab. Some may be led groups, most are not and you will free to use your time as you wish once onboard the ship.

Some cruise lines do offer discounts to teachers, military and first responders but this varies with each brand. Some don't offer any discounts but will provide an added amenity like onboard spending credit. Some don't do anything or the discounts they offer are the same as or worse than whatever public promotion they have available at the time. Most brands will not allow you to stack a discount onto a promotional offer. With hotels, in most cases those that offer discounts for military, do so by removing our commission from the public rate. That means we would not get paid if we booked that rate for you. Unfortunately, those rates would have to be booked independently.

Sorry, we cannot. Those themed cruises are put together by promotion companies operating as travel agencies. They will receive the commission for bookings made into their cruise and are not typically receptive to the idea of sharing or splitting the commission with another travel agent.

Unfortunately, both AAA and your credit card company operate their own travel agencies to administer their programs. As such, they are direct competitors to Bella Rose Travel and we cannot book their programs.

All cruise lines, resorts, major hotel chains, and multi-day tour companies have a travel advisor commission built into their pricing already, meaning the price you pay is the same whether you book on your own or through an advisor like us (so what do you have to lose, right?). For straightforward vacations we are able to leverage our years of experience and product knowledge to put together your vacation in a fraction of the time it would take a layperson to do so. That's our value-add. Because of this, we don't feel the need to double dip and charge or clients a fee for planning simple vacations. 

Unfortunately, despite the fact the price to book with us is the same as it is to book on their own, some people still choose to book on their own when presented with our proposal (I know, it doesn't make any sense) so we need to collect a credit card authorization from our clients before we start planning in order to guarantee the trip will be booked through us. If you book with us, we won't charge your card for anything other than the vacation. If, however, you do not book through us, you are agreeing to pay us for services rendered up to that point. We hope you will agree that every person deserves to be fairly compensated for their work.

We are not currently seeking new travel advisors, but always willing to entertain hosting experienced advisors who believe in our business model. However, we are always looking for new "Pied Pipers." If you have a group that likes to travel - such as churches, athletic clubs, social/hobby clubs, Meetups, small businesses, fraternities/sororities, dive shops, dance studios, paddle clubs, and more - we'd love to hear from you. By allowing us to take the stress and time out of putting together your organizations travel, you can be free to run your business/club while still providing your team with the added value of bonding opportunities over a professionally managed vacation together. Quite simply... we do all the heavy lifting to make you look good! Oh, did we mention that many criuse lines and resorts offer special incentives to group leaders if minimum booking qualifications are met? Bonus!!!

We consider ourselves very fortunate and are thankful to our community for our success. Although we are boutique agency with limited funds, we do believe in paying it forward to local charities whose missions align with our values. As such, we routinely support:

• The Jacksonville Beaches Lions Club's mission to assist the visual and hearing impaired in the beach communities.
• The Veteran's Village of NE Florida's mission to build a tiny home community for unhoused veterans.
• The River City Science Academy's mission to build an inviting, supportive educational community for its students.

If you represent a charitable organization that you would like us to consider supporting, please contact us with details for consideration. Most of our charitable donations are planned at the start of the year, though we may ocassionally have some funds available later in the year. Regretfully, we cannot support large sponsorships designed for corporate donors. Most often, we can provide smaller sponsorship amounts (around $100), gift baskets for silent auctions, and gift cards for raffles.