Does it make sense to try and negotiate prices with UK-based travel agents?

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No experience specifically with the UK, but in general, commissions paid to travel agents are both low and fixed, which makes negotiating a bit pointless.

For example, if they sell you a $1000 flight ticket, they might get 2% ($20) as commission. Even if you manage to cut that in half through negotiation, they lose half their incentive, and you only save ten bucks. Hotels tend to pay higher commissions (eg. 10% at Hyatt), so there's a bit more room to budge, but that's still only $100 off $1000.

So instead of trying to shave pennies off a given price, you're probably better off looking at cheaper destinations or resorts, or just booking online and arranging everything yourself, Most booking engines these days have "hotel plus flight" packages that give you access to exactly the same deals as brick and mortar travel agents, only with lower overhead and thus lower commissions.

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