My TA is stealing my thunder!!!

[~St.T Bride~]

I'm stuck at the crossroads. On one hand I realize my travel agent was trying to be thoughtful, but on the other hand she really F***ed up my plans.

 

We sail in less than 2 months, and she knew I was planning welcome OOT bags for all my sailing guests. But she decided to give everyone a thankyou for booking gift which included photo album, camera, lotion and sanitizer!!! Most of which I planned to have in my bags and already started to buy! She also wrote a little note to the guests to look forward to their onboard gift as well, which to me seems as if she is taking credit for the onboard credits we are passing down to our guests!

 

Now, I don't know what I'm going to do as a special token for my guests....I'm super bummed!

[mlabbe]

Oh, that sucks! I'm sure she had all of the best intentions in the world, but obviously it's not turning out how she intended it to. She probably doesn't realize it, so I would suggest speaking with her. Maybe she will have good ideas of something you can offer your guests and at least she will know for the future to consult a bride first before doing this!

 

I know that it will all turn out fine in the end, hang in there!

[loua4]

that sucks. I would talk to your travel agent and just let her know what you were planning on doing and still want to do.

[JulieG]

I really think your TA was trying to do something nice and did do something nice.

 

You can still do OOT bags, just put something different in there, there is a huge wealth of information and great ideas on this forum I am positive you will find other items to give your guests. AND, when you make the bags you also make a tag that thanks your guests for coming and is from you and your FI, so they will know they are not from your TA.

 

I really don't think she tried to "Steal your thunder" at all, she is being thoughtful and kind and nothing else.

[debbmach]

I think you should talk to her as well. Tell the TA what you were planning on doing and including in the OOT bag. If the TA wants to give the guests a thank-you with a small gift then that's fine but tell her you don't everyone thinking that all the gifts came from her and not you and your FI.

[starchild]

Wow, I think you have a fantastic TA! Those items don't come for free and she went above and beyond what a lot of TAs would have done. It's a good thing IMO and small potatoes, some people have real complaints about their TA (i.e. where are my tickets?).

[LCBride2007]

wow, my first reaction was "what an awesome TA!" if that's your biggest complaint about her, that she went above and beyond, i think you're doing quite well.

 

like someone else said, you can still do your OOT bags. just put some fun, useful items in there and a personal note and people will know they're from you. just think of it from your guests perspective ... they now get 2 goodie bags, they'll have even more fun!

[SusieQ]

Yeah... My TA really hasn't done anything other than take our money!!! I am jealous!!!

[*Linds*]

I completely see where you are coming from regarding the OOT bags and how you are feeling, but honestly I wish my TA would do something like this for me! I just cross my fingers that she returns phone calls and emails promptly! I can imagine that you feel dissapointed because you probably put a lot of thought into your OOT bags, but maybe you can think of some different things to include in your bags!

[KRama]

I agree that it sounds like she was trying to be thoughtful but it would have been better if she ran it by you first. I had a similar situation with mine. She made up a "destination dossier" for each guest that were coil bound books containing information including travel info, resort details and things to do/see in Mexico. She called me first though to ask if she should mail them out or if I wanted to hand them out myself. I'm sure glad I intercepted them because it turns out the pages were all printed straight from websites or badly photocopied word docs with typos! I work in marketing so my guests would have thought I was off my rocker seeding something like this! Bottom line, she was trying to go above and beyond which is fantastic and greatly appreicated but your TA needs to communicate with you since she is working on your behalf and any feedback from your guests, positive or negative will reflect on you as well.