Travel Advisor — Commission & Markup Pricing

SKILL.md

---
name: travel-commission-markup-pricing
description: "Activate when: setting planning fees vs commission; deciding markup on net rates; 'should I charge a fee or rely on commission?'; pricing a service tier; low-commission or non-commissionable components. Do NOT activate when: fixed franchise pricing you can't change."
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# Travel Advisor — Commission & Markup Pricing

> **Industry front door for pricing-strategy.** Adds domain triggers, example, packs only. Parent Process unchanged.
> **Not legal advice.** Disclose fees per applicable state law and card-network rules.

**Activate when:** setting planning fees vs commission; deciding markup on net rates; "should I charge a fee or rely on commission?"; pricing a service tier; low-commission or non-commissionable components.
**Do NOT activate when:** fixed franchise pricing you can't change.

## Why this variant
The parent pricing-strategy captures value by aligning price to willingness-to-pay and cost-to-serve. Travel advisors have a hybrid model — supplier commission + planning fees + markups — and mispricing (relying only on commission) leaves the planning labor unpaid on complex, low-commission trips.

## Domain inputs → parent's Process
- Separate **commission** (paid by supplier) from **fee** (paid by client for expertise/time).
- Charge planning fees where cost-to-serve is high or components are non-commissionable (many airline tickets, some direct rates).
- Tier by complexity/value, not by trip cost alone.
- Decide markup vs net-plus-fee transparency per client segment.

## Worked example
20 hours designing a complex multi-country trip, mostly non-commissionable air + direct hotels.
→ Commission alone underpays the labor. Structure: upfront planning fee (credited or retained) + any commission on top. Fee disclosed at engagement, protecting margin and signaling expertise.

## Compliance anchors
- Disclose service fees before charging; follow state seller-of-travel and card-network surcharge rules.

## Packs
- **Solo:** fee schedule by trip complexity tier; when fee is credited vs retained.
- **Agency:** segmented pricing (leisure vs luxury vs corporate).

## Red flags
- Commission-only model on labor-heavy, low-commission trips.
- Fees undisclosed until the invoice.
- Pricing off trip cost instead of cost-to-serve + value.

## Verification
- [ ] Commission vs fee separated in the model
- [ ] Planning fee applied where cost-to-serve is high
- [ ] Fees disclosed at engagement
- [ ] Tiering reflects complexity/value

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Part of **deciqAI Knowledge Skills**. Core method: pricing-strategy.

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*Part of **deciqAI Knowledge Skills** — 189 open-source thinking skills that make rigor executable for AI agents. The same skills power every deciqAI agent, which runs them autonomously to operate your company. **See it run → https://www.deciqai.com/c/travel-commission-markup-pricing** · ⭐ Star the repo → https://github.com/deciqAI/knowledge-skills · Contributions welcome.*