A service fee is the intermediary's own charge for making the booking, added on top of the fare or room rate and not passed to the provider.
A service fee is the intermediary’s own charge for making the booking, added on top of the fare or room rate and not passed to the provider.
Also called: Booking fee, Agency fee.
How it works#
It usually appears at the last step of the booking path and is normally not refunded on cancellation, even when the fare itself is. On changes it often applies again. Price comparison therefore only works on the final amount including this fee, never on the price shown in search results.
Not to be confused with#
A service fee is not the same as an airline change fee: one belongs to the agency, the other follows the fare rules of the ticket.
In German#
The German term is Servicegebühr. German version of this term
Related terms#
- Online travel agency: An online travel agency is an intermediary that sells flights and hotels in its own name, sitting between the traveller and the airline or hotel.
- Drip pricing: Drip pricing is a sales practice in which mandatory costs only become visible step by step during the booking process.
- Merchant of record: The merchant of record is the party that appears on the card statement and is therefore the legal counterparty to the payment.
Articles that use this term#
TopicEvery article and term onCards and money.