Episode Description
Marcie Muensterman
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Stop Saying “Use a Travel Agent”: The Language That’s Killing Your Value
In this episode of the No BS Travel Advisor Podcast, Marcie Muensterman breaks down how phrases like “use a travel agent,” “I’m free,” and “agents should be free” quietly undermine the entire travel advisor industry. Using a powerful softball-life lesson about identity and mistakes, Marcie connects brain chemistry, confidence, and marketing language, then calls out the “free to use” messaging that attracts tire-kickers, ghosters, and bargain behavior. This is not a fee episode, it’s a positioning episode. Marcie shares her own history as a destination wedding specialist who did most weddings without charging, explains how “free” language contributed to burnout, and gives a simple script shift: hire me / partner with me / work with me.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why “use a travel agent” makes you sound interchangeable and disposable
- How “I’m free” attracts people who value free (and treat you accordingly)
- The hidden harm of advisors shaming other advisors for charging fees
- The mindset + marketing shift from “usable” to hireable
- A simple language audit you can do today to elevate your brand instantly
Key Talking Points:
- You are not defined by mistakes (softball lesson → business confidence)
- Language changes how you perceive yourself and how prospects perceive you
- “Free” doesn’t communicate value; it communicates scarcity and desperation
- “Use” is commodity language. Professionals get hired, not used
- “Free to use” = magnet for tire kickers, ghosters, and endless quoting
- You don’t get paid until clients book + travel (so “free” is factually misleading in practice)
- You can position professionally even if you don’t charge a fee
- Industry reality: fee-charging is common and normalized publicly in the industry press and org messaging (but this episode isn’t about forcing fees)
Stats / Sources Mentioned:
- Host Agency Reviews: At least 50% of advisors who are hosted charge fees.
- Host Agency Reviews: 75% of independent advisors reported charging fees (2020 independent fee report): https://hostagencyreviews.com/
- ASTA acknowledges that upwards of 72% of advisors charge professional fees: https://www.asta.org/Common/Uploaded%20files/ASTA/2025-astapresskit.pdf / https://www.travelagewest.com/Industry-Insight/Business-Features/asta-travel-agent-fees
- Travel Weekly summary of a WTAAA report: 55% of agencies charge fees and Travel Weekly’s 2024 survey found 44% overall charge fees: https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Travel-Agent-Issues/Survey-shows-that-travel-advisors-have-lots-of-new-clients
- “If you keep saying ‘use me’ and ‘I’m free,’ don’t be surprised when you become disposable.”
- “Language is training your prospects how to treat you.”
- “When you say ‘use me,’ you attract people who will use you.”
- “You are not a Kleenex. No one is using you.”
Your Homework:
- Do a “language audit” across your IG bio, website, pinned posts, DMs, and reels
- Replace use / free with hire / partner / work with
- Share this episode with a newer advisor who’s still using “free to use” messaging
- DM Marcie and tell her what shift you made and what changed immediately
00:00 – Softball weekend + the mindset lesson (you are not your mistakes)
04:45 – Why language changes brain chemistry and confidence
07:10 – The phrases that are undermining advisors: “use” + “free”
10:25 – Why this is NOT a fee episode (it’s positioning)
13:05 – Marcie’s destination wedding era + burnout from “free” positioning
18:30 – “It’s giving desperate” — what prospects feel through your marketing
22:10 – Patty’s story: “use ChatGPT instead of an agent” + advisors defending “free”
26:40 – The Dollar Tree prostitute quote (and why it stings because it’s true)
31:10 – What “free” attracts: tire kickers, ghosters, endless quoting
35:35 – The “we don’t get paid until they travel” reality
39:10 – The language shift: hire me / partner with me / work with me
43:20 – How to coach others without being rude (and why we need industry accountability)
47:30 – Quick fee reality + why shaming either side hurts all of us
51:30 – The language audit challenge + closing hype
- stop saying use a travel agent
- travel advisor language
- travel agent positioning
- travel advisor marketing
- travel advisor perceived value
- hire a travel advisor
Secondary keywords:
- “travel agents are free” myth
- “free travel agent” marketing
- travel advisor boundaries
- tire kickers and ghosting travel clients
- travel advisor professionalism
- travel agent consultation value
Long-tail keywords (great for YouTube + blog):
- why saying “I’m free” attracts bad travel clients
- how to position yourself as a travel advisor without charging fees
- why “use a travel agent” undermines the travel industry
- how travel advisors get paid commission timeline
- how to stop being price shopped as a travel advisor