Travel Agents Do the Dirty Job for You
July 16th, 2008 . by adminI have grueling deadlines waiting and my reputation is at stake each day, I need to attend business meetings left and right, I have kids who go to school, etc. Yeah, everyone has their own alibis. Your hectic schedule alone is enough for you not to go for a much-needed vacation. Ironically, everybody wants to get rid of stress. How should you loosen up then? Why don’t you just step on the brakes, take yourself to someplace where you can relax and call a reliable travel agent? Travel agents are the people who make traveling arrangements totally convenient as they do the dirty job of negotiating prices, researching the best cruises and others. Their expertise will surely hasten the process towards that big weekend getaway from everyday stress.
I have definitely been burned by not using a travel agent in the past. I have booked flights and hotels online, checked out, and then my credit card would be charged more than I was told it would. One time I was using a site and it told me the total and then asked for my credit card. I payed, and on the next page it said the total my card had been charged and it was $20 more! I called the customer service line and they said it was the charge for using the website (which was never disclosed before).
Now, to be fair, not all my experiences have been bad. I travel a lot and a lot of the time things are fine. However, I have had friends get better deals going through travel agents. This led me to do some investigation and I started using them as well and now I am one!
I used to think that using an agent would cost more and I think a lot of other people feel the same way. However, once I started looking into it I was shocked at how much savings can be had by using an agent! Also, a good travel agent will take care of every detail for you, making your trip hassle free. Beyond booking the trip they can make dinner reservations, spa reservations, if it's a special occasion a lot of times they can get you special treatment. The service when using a travel agent is just better. You're dealing with one person instead of a website where if you have a problem or need to change anything about your reservation you're calling customer service, getting put on hold, getting transfered to a supervisor, getting transfered back to the last department you spoke to and so on. With a travel agent you tell them what needs to be done and they get it done. Another thing to note is that a full time travel agent demands more of their suppliers. You are more likely to get better service from the hotel, airline, etc. if you book through an agent (yes it is noted on the reservation how the reservation was made!) If a travel agent gets a complaint from one of their clients they aren't likely to send people back to that resort or airline, and the resorts and airlines know this. Travel agents bring them a lot of business and they want to keep it that way.
So, all things considered, I always think it is better to use an agent, you will always get the cheapest price you can find online, or cheaper, so why not let someone else take care of it for you? It costs you absolutely nothing to use an agent! I recently got a client half off of their airfare. They had looked all over the internet and the cheapest they could find was $600 round trip. Within 5 minutes I had it booked for them for $300!
If it's just a matter of simple airfare then you are probably fine just doing it yourself (but it's worth at least asking an agent for a quote to see if you can get it cheaper) but if you're wanting a vacation, do yourself a favor and make it a real vacation free of stress and let your travel agent take care of everything!