Detailed Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What does Adventurix do exactly? How is Adventurix so radically different from other websites promoting hunting and fishing trips?
A: Adventurix is not a traditional bricks and mortar booking agency, or “adventure” travel agency. We are an online travel site with an e-commerce platform that specializes in facilitating direct contact that will result in a direct sale between the users of this site, and our Partnered Destinations—a sale unaffected by middlemen.
Q: How do I use Adventurix.com in order to establish direct contact with my potential outfitter or lodge? What are your business hours?
A: Adventurix is the first 24-hour online travel site dedicated to sporting travel. You may contact our operators 24-hours per day, and they will connect your phone call directly to your outfitter or lodge during their business hours, and after hours they will take messages, and fulfill your brochure requests.
Q: How do I benefit from contacting my next potential outfitter or lodge directly by using Adventurix instead of a traditional booking agency?
A: Because you will save time and money, and gain valuable information and insight about the company that is actually going to provide your hunting or fishing experience. Additionally, you should be aware that there are always great Last Minute deals available in every sector of the sporting travel market. Wouldn’t you want to make sure you knew about them? A free membership with Adventurix gives you immediate notification every time on of our Partnered Destination initiates a Last Minute sale. On the other hand, booking agencies handle calls by recommending the destinations that they think are best for you (read the ones that pay them the most lucrative commissions), instead of suggesting that you contact several outfitters and make your own decision.
Q: So you are suggesting that I should be skeptical that an agent will be sincere in helping me find a Last Minute sale that could result in my being able to find a Last Minute trip to a world class destination for less than retail?
A: As William Shatner would possibly pop off on a Priceline® commercial, “Of course you cupcake!” The fact is, a healthy dose of skepticism is always a good thing when evaluating a product or service in any industry. That is why you should ask your potential outfitter or lodge hard-hitting questions, and see if they give you straight answers and specifics, or just a bunch of hot air. Furthermore, why take a chance at missing out on a great deal or Last Minute sale that a very reputable outfitter or lodge might be offering just because the agent you are talking to does not represent this outfitter or lodge, or more likely, is not going to promote this special because it is in his or her best interest to book you into a lodge for full fare, where your agent will garner a 20-plus percent commission on a $3,000, trip rather than a $2,100 Last Minute trip, for example. Remember, every dollar that an agent saves you, reduces his or her commission on your booking—without exception.
Q: The agent I spoke with said that outfitters and lodges only look out for their own interests…and that I should be really careful with whom I take advice from…but she said she was looking out for my interests. Was she suggesting that if I contacted the outfitters and lodges that she represents in her catalog—instead of having her doing it for me—that they would treat me differently, or could somehow not be trusted if I make the call myself?
A: Whoa! If they say that, that is a BIG red warning flag. If agent suggests that you cannot trust the words of outfitters and lodges that they themselves represent, or are represented by other large booking agencies, then you should suspect that there is a conflict of interest right away. In fact, this is exactly why Adventurix urges you to establish direct contact with you potential outfitter or lodge first. Why? Because nothing will be a better indicator of what you will probably experience once you become a guest under this outfitter or lodge’s roof. Wouldn’t you want to experience a free first-hand dose of this company’s professionalism and esprit-de-corps before you ever speak to any agent who is going to hype this place? What if your potential outfitter’s receptionist was rude to you? What if their sales representatives are uninspired, or worse—maybe they employ high pressure “this deal is only available if you act now” sales tactics? Maybe your potential outfitter or lodge said they would get back to you with some information of some kind, and did not follow up…don’t you think that this will be a big indicator of the level service they will provide to you once you are under their roof?
Q: So getting to know my outfitter or lodge a little bit is a pretty smart idea…and its free right?
A: YES it is free and YES you should do it. The fact is, all of the above behavior—good or bad—comes straight down from the top in any company, and you will want to know about the company’s corporate culture. And after being armed with this knowledge, if you still think that booking through a high-fee broker or agent that is going to pocket 20-plus percent of your outfitter or lodge’s trip price is a good idea, that is your business—just be aware that by doing so you are supporting an artificial price…and that the real price of the trip is twenty or more percent lower than that. At Adventurix, we want you to know that you have other options: you can save time and money by having Adventurix’s operators (who are standing by 24 hours a day) connect your call directly to your potential outfitter or lodge.
Q: OK, this all makes a lot of sense, but what if the outfitter or sporting property that I am interested in is not yet listed on Adventurix?
A: If an outfitter or lodge that you are interested in is not on Adventurix, we recommend that you simply Google their names straight out of your agent’s catalogs and establish this all important direct contact with them before you calling the agent back, so that if you indeed feel it necessary to do business with the agent, you will have at least spoken with the destination directly and formed some type of opinion about what you can expect. If you cannot locate the contact information for any outfitter and/or sporting property that interests you, simply contact Adventurix Customer Support and we will give you their direct telephone numbers and email addresses completely free of charge (just ask them to list their destination on Adventurix in the future so they can save us all valuable time please!).
Q: But the agents I have spoken with tell me that their advice and consultation is offered for “free” if I book through them—that they do not charge more for their services.
A: Have you ever known a broker who worked for free? The reason they tell you that they work for free is because they don’t think that you know their system. For example, did you know that they pocket 20% - 25% of the money that you pay? So the outfitter you booked with earns only 75-80 cents on the dollar.
Q: Yes, but don’t agents need to make a living like everyone else? Shouldn’t I support them?
A: There are some people who see it this way, but history proves otherwise. Remember when there were travel agencies in every strip mall, in every city in the USA? They all went out of business (almost simultaneously) when e-commerce technology became available to airlines, hotels, and rental car agencies. You pay less now for these services because they no longer pay high fee commissions to travel agencies. If consumers placed more value on personalized service and smiling faces, then the traditional travel agency would have survived...but that is not the reality we live in. Consumers place a higher value on having more options and access to a competitive marketplace-that always results in better overall service and more affordable prices for consumers, and they prefer that to a friendly neighborhood travel agent.
Now sporting properties have access to the same successful revenue maximization techniques and pricing principles that airlines, hotels, and rental car companies
So if you still choose to book your next trip through an agency, instead of directly with the destination, just know that you are supporting a price ceiling that is artificially high, and anti-competitive. Using agents and brokers to book your travel will only ensure that the cost of sporting travel remains high, and will continue to be high, for a longer period of time. How much do you think it costs an outfitter to take you duck hunting or fishing in Mexico or Argentina? $300 per day? $400? $500? $600? If you guessed between $300 and $500 you got it right. So why do the agents sell these trips for $600-$700- even up to $850 per day!!? Because 20%-25% (sometimes even 30%) of the price of your trip goes straight into the agents’ pockets, and this is why they continue to offer you their “free” service. Now that is good work, if one can get it!
Q: O.K. I can now clearly see the impact that these middlemen have on the price of international sporting travel, but agent I spoke with said that the outfitters and sporting properties I want to book with will not give me a lower price if I make a direct booking with them anyway. They tell me I am just wasting my time trying, and that if I book direct, I am foregoing some of the valuable services that this agency will offer me to support my trip-"free of charge" of course. He also said that the destinations really don't want to "mess" with supporting my booking and assisting me with the details and logistics that will be necessary for my travel.
A: That is a bald face lie with respect to most outfitters and lodges, and at best a half-truth concerning some other outfitters and lodges. Here's why:
1. The number one reason that outfitters and lodges sign up with Adventurix is TO AVOID having to pay the 20%-plus commission. They would jump at the chance to have their English speaking sales department sell you the trip, and their office to handle all your travel logistics! Why? To break the cycle. It's not just your first booking that causes damage...did you know the agent gets another 20% every year you return, regardless of whether or not you book through the agent or not-forever! The outfitter or lodge is required to disclose your booking to the agent, years later, and pay the commission.
2. Some outfitters do have exclusivity agreements with their agents, and with respect to these companies, the half-truth applies. More likely than not, if you call one of these outfitters or lodges directly and ask them to knock off 20-plus percent of the price because you are willing to booking direct, they will probably not agree to it because their agents have strong-armed them with threats of shifting clients to other operators who will play ball-telling them that if they attempt to deal directly with public, or make any deal that results in a lower price (even a sale) than the one advertised by the agent, they will be blackballed. You are the solution: we recommend that you do not book with outfitters and lodges who have entered these types of contracts with their agents, and they will stop doing it...and market forces will lower the prices of these trips, making them more affordable than ever.
Q: I can't believe it! There are Outfitters and Lodges that have entered into contracts with agents that prohibit them from selling a trip for a price that they could otherwise make a profit on just to support the agencies 20%-plus added fat?
A: YES! If you have not figured it out booking agents (and all other middlemen) make their money the old fashioned way: monopolies, and anti-competitive pricing schemes. The system is set so that if the agent can't make money, the outfitter or lodge can't either. Even though fishing Lodge A could make a profit by selling you a day of fishing for $450, the agents will threaten to drop them if they attempt to do so-making it not a service business, but a "serve me" business for the agents and brokers.
Q: There must be a solution to this anti-competitive way of doing business, what is it?
A: Adventurix offers a two solutions to these anti-competitive tactics that are adversely affecting the international sporting travel market pricing.
- We have specifically recruited Partnered Destinations who have not entered into these draconian arrangements with their agents, so they are able to negotiate on price and terms if they wish —in addition to having the freedom to regularly advertise Last Minute trips and other promotions.
- Adventurix has its own group sales division that can almost guarantee to eliminate the unfortunate effect that these agents and brokers have induced on sporting travel pricing. If you have an intact group of six anglers and/or hunters or more, and are ready to make a firm booking, Adventurix can more than likely find you an international wingshooting and/or fishing trip for 20% less than the standard retail prices offered on an equivalent trip by booking agents and “adventure” travel agencies. Simply call Adventurix Customer Support and ask to “Bypass the MiddlemanTM" or click here to email us.
