Ask-an-Advisor: How Do I Know When It’s Time to Fire a Client?
This is 2025’s fourth edition of TMR’s Ask an Advisor series, a regular column where a team of travel advisors tackles questions from others in the industry. All questions from this series have been submitted by readers and vetted by the TMR editorial team. This question comes from an advisor struggling with a difficult client, and wondering if it’s time to cut ties.
Dear Ask-an-Advisor,
I’ve been working with a client who constantly changes plans, second-guesses every decision, and doesn’t respect my expertise. It’s been exhausting to manage their endless requests, and I’m starting to wonder if the revenue I earn is worth the stress. How do I know when it’s time to “fire” a difficult client? What are the red flags that a client is more trouble than they’re worth, and how can I handle this situation professionally?
Sarah Bonsall, Founder of Latitude 21 Travel
You’ve touched on one of the most complex parts of this business, finding the balance between offering exceptional service and protecting your peace of mind. Most of us are in this industry because we love helping people, so the idea of “firing” a client can feel heavy. Trust me, I get it. I rarely let clients go, and honestly, I’ve probably put up with more than I should over the years.
But here’s what experience has taught me: when a client consistently undermines your expertise, constantly changes direction, and leaves you mentally and emotionally drained, it’s time to step back and ask if this relationship is serving either of you well.
There are a few red flags that usually signal trouble:
- Disregard for professional guidance
- Constant last-minute changes that disrupt workflow
- Excessive time demands without fair compensation
- Interactions that leave you more stressed than energized
When that becomes the norm, and it starts affecting your ability to serve other clients or your well-being, it may be time to reassess.
If you do decide to part ways, it can be done with kindness and professionalism. A direct but respectful conversation can go a long way. Setting boundaries or implementing service fees for repeated changes may resolve the issue, but if not, it’s perfectly okay to bless and release. Sometimes, a different advisor or even self-planning is a better fit for their style.
Ultimately, your time and energy are valuable. You can care deeply about your clients and still protect your boundaries. The clients who truly value what you bring to the table will respect both.
Sarah Bonsall, Founder of Latitude 21 Travel, is a seasoned travel advisor with nearly three decades of industry experience. Her background spans airline ticketing, government travel management, and call center operations, giving her unique insights into travel services. Sarah now uses that expertise to craft personalized travel experiences through her award-winning agency.
Anna Harrison, Owner & Travel Advisor of Travel Observations
We’ve all had this client at least once, and the first time is always the hardest. It can easily become a mindgame, taking your focus away from other deserving clients and causing you to question your self-esteem and expertise.
Let me assure you that there is nothing wrong with you and that once you have learned to recognize the symptoms of a Critical Scatterbrained Traveler, you will become an expert at establishing boundaries from the start as well as recognizing signs ahead of time and being extremely clear and upfront with the client as to how you work and who is the best fit for you.
Repeat after me: Not every client is a good fit for a professional travel advisor. Alternatively, some clients may be a good fit after being educated about your processes and scope of work, so be sure to include all these details in your inquiry call or Client Services handouts.
If the client hasn’t put down any deposits or is in a position to be released entirely, a simple “come to Jesus” phone or email can help establish boundaries in a calm and professional manner. Here’s my formula: 1) Start with something positive; 2) State why there is an issue; 3) State what needs to happen with a clear deadline in order to move forward; 4) Close with a warm and kind wrapup. Here’s an example:
“I have enjoyed helping you plan the Rome components of this trip. I’ve been checking over your trip notes and the parameters of this trip have changed greatly since I agreed to take it on. My job is to use my expertise and in-country partners to create a great trip for you. Having multiple people plan it (both you and me) creates a bit of a “too many cooks in the kitchen” syndrome and isn’t the best use of time for either of us! We can keep the hotels as booked if you like, and then you can design the activities yourself moving forward as you enjoy researching on your own and don’t seem comfortable with my recommendations. Otherwise, if you would like me to book your activities, I’d ask for your trust in accepting my personalized proposals and limiting any changes moving forward. In particular, I won’t be able to make any further revisions to our agreed-upon itinerary without a $100 fee for each change. Please let me know by Friday if you’d like to just change this booking to a hotels-only booking and you will handle the rest of the components yourself. You have the basis of a great trip here and I know you will love this destination either way. Looking forward to hearing from you!”
Don’t be afraid to trust your instinct if you think a client may not be a good fit for you before you even agree to take them on. Some general red flags may be: price-checking you constantly, not respecting your specialty/expertise, any comment to do with litigation, being upset if you do not answer non-urgent messages on the weekend, approaching your relationship as a top-down ‘boss’ dynamic rather than a collaboration, resisting your service fees, overall unpleasantness, or wanting you to book a lot of non-commissionable items that they found for themselves.
Good luck!
A travel advisor for 10 years and a Conde Nast travel specialist, Anna Harrison is part of the Top Producers Club at Gifted Travel Network and also gives back to the agent community through their mentorship program. She lives in Pittsburgh, enjoying parks, farmers’ markets, and sharing her passion for travel.
Jessica Parker, Founder of Trip Whisperer
It’s hard to say no or turn down clients in the customer service business. If you worked in retail ever, we’ve always been told ‘the customers are always right.’ Well, that is definitely not true. That mentality has emboldened a lot of people, and it’s good to set reasonable expectations and set a daily reminder that you’re the expert. This is what you do day in and day out.
However, it seems like your intuition is already picking up on all the red flags. A client that constantly second guesses every move or every response is followed by 10 new questions, it could be worth implementing fees if you aren’t already with more boundaries to see if that helps. Fees can go either way, since some people feel like they own you, since they paid you. You should put in writing what the time is for in the fee, and that it’s for the one trip inquiry based on a documented intake call or set up a process that requires specific deliverables from an inquiry. Otherwise, it might be time to politely break up.
Another trick I learned from a DMC partner, implementing in your final proposal, the final documents say that any change after the agreed itinerary will cost $100. When I saw that in one supplier’s documents, I thought it was brilliant and started adding to my own. Also another form I have in TravelJoy is for clients to sign off on my process and that cancellations can also incur more fees for example. It starts to tell your clients consistently that your time is money and to operate more on the lines of a lawyer. Any time you call them, the clock starts ticking.
If you have a personal relationship with this person or it’s a referral from a good client or friend, I know how hard it can be to untangle. It can be a delicate dance. And sometimes, I’ve learned that some people think out loud or love to complain. That’s their thing. Try to determine if this is salvageable or you might lose your mind trying to please someone who can never be happy. And, that’s a them problem that might require therapy 😉 I always like to rewatch David Sandler SNL skit Romano Tours, ‘if they are sad now, you might still feel sad there’ for some comic relief or follow @LuxuryTravelAnonymous.
We all have that internal voice that is telling us something is wrong. Trust it and save your mental peace. When one door closes, you open up capacity for new clients. Sometimes I think that’s a bunch of hooey but it just happened to me recently. One big client who spends a lot of money on travel was running me around and sent him the planning fee for the time spent. He was taken aback. At this point, there were several requests, literally all over the map, as he was ‘thinking out loud’ but that sent me into a tailspin to make it happen on short notice. I realized he’s never going to stop doing that, and he loves to cancel then expects his money back. We should not work for potential and approach it with the actual (very similar in dating).
And, I keep having to check myself! I also have a very close colleague and friend, who I have as a sounding board. We talk regularly and gut check with each other. She’s the only one who gets it and won’t be bored to tears talking out the scenarios as I’ll do the same for her. I would find someone who really gets it and have check-ins with them if you work alone or as a home agent. You can learn and lean on each other.
Jessica Parker, Founder of Trip Whisperer, is a luxury travel advisor known for creating magazine-worthy journeys shaped by her two decades of experience. Her background includes working with top travel editors, organizing press trips worldwide, and gaining valuable insights from her time in-house at hotels. Fun fact: Jessica earned her RYA certification in barge school and dreams of retiring on her own hotel barge in France.
