How Free Travel Advisors Actually Make Money

Every week, someone asks me a version of the same question: "If I don't pay you anything, how do you make money? There's always a catch." It's a fair question, and it usually arrives with a healthy dose of skepticism — which I welcome. So let me answer it completely, because once you understand the economics, the whole model makes sense.

The short answer: hotels pay me, not you

When I book a luxury hotel for a client, the hotel pays me a commission — typically around ten percent of the room rate. This commission is built into every hotel's distribution cost structure and has been for decades, long before the internet existed. It's not added to your rate. You pay the same publicly available rate you'd see on the hotel's own website, and the hotel pays me out of its marketing and distribution budget.

This is the part that surprises people: hotels have always budgeted for distribution costs. In the pre-internet era, that meant travel agents. Today, it mostly means online travel agencies — Expedia, Booking.com, and their subsidiaries — which charge hotels commissions that are often significantly higher than what a human advisor earns. When you book through an OTA, the hotel is paying a hefty cut to a tech platform that sends them an anonymous reservation. When you book through an advisor, they're paying a smaller cut to someone who sends them a known, well-qualified guest with clear preferences and a relationship attached.

From the hotel's perspective, the advisor channel is the good channel. That's precisely why they reward it.

Why preferred-partner programs exist

If commissions explain how advisors get paid, preferred-partner programs explain why clients get perks. Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Rosewood Elite, Hyatt Privé, Dorchester Collection's Diamond Club, Belmond Bellini Club — these are invitation-only programs that luxury hotel groups run for a small set of vetted agencies and advisor networks.

Notice what the hotel is doing: it's redirecting money it would otherwise pay to an OTA into perks for you and a modest commission for me. Everyone in the transaction is better off except the OTA — which is why OTAs don't advertise this model's existence.

Addressing the skepticism head-on

The recurring objections I hear deserve honest answers.

"The advisor will push whatever pays them most." This concern is legitimate in theory, and there are bad actors in every industry. But in practice, commission rates across luxury hotels are remarkably similar — there's no meaningful financial incentive for me to steer you from a Four Seasons to a Rosewood. My business runs on repeat clients and referrals. If I book you into the wrong hotel to chase a marginal commission difference, I lose you and everyone you'd have told about me. The incentive structure of a referral-based business is heavily weighted toward getting the recommendation right.

What I actually do for the commission

The perks get the attention, but the commission also pays for work you'd otherwise do yourself: shortlisting properties that actually fit your trip rather than the ones with the best ad spend, knowing which room categories at a specific resort are worth the premium and which aren't, timing requests to the property, coordinating multi-stop itineraries, and being the person who fixes things when travel does what travel does. Ten years in financial services taught me that good advice is mostly about knowing where the real risks and real value sit — the same is true here.

Ask CP about your stay

Through my affiliation with Fora Travel, I can help you explore preferred-partner booking access and exclusive amenities for an eligible stay. Please contact CP for current details for your hotel and dates. Participation, amenities and booking terms vary and are confirmed privately before booking.