It really depends on the trip and how you value your time. Travel agents may have access to consolid

I got very scared this week. I heard something come out of my mom s mouth that inspired one of those palm to the face type of moments. Travel Agent is what she said. I was scared for a couple of reasons: 1) my mom about to experience the wrath of Mrs. Deals and 2) I going to have to experience the wrath of Mrs. Deals because my mom was thinking of using a travel agent?
So apparently florida car rental the situation involves some of my moms friends who happen to have used a travel agent to plan a trip that she will be tagging along for part of. After hearing some of the plans it became clear to Mrs. Deals and me that the travel agent wasn t doing anything florida car rental different florida car rental than any average internet savvy person could do. In fact, I think the travel agent was making plans that were actually pretty inconvenient. Mrs. Deals of course was called in to evaluate and of course had much more to offer. Luckily she went easy on my mom and well pretty easy on me too. I guess Mrs. Deals has some respect for the travel agents of the world.
I was curious about the actual use of travel agents out there, so I had Mrs. Deals conduct a little poll with her twitter account to see if people out there use a travel agent. The results were pretty expected, nearly 100% of you said no way. Of course, there were some folks who have the mandatory use of a travel agent for work travel, but I am focused on the leisure stuff. I can t remember if I ve ever used a travel agent, I mean why would I when I practically married one. What I am really trying to figure out is, is it worth it?
I say never say never. For us, it depends on the trip. Award travel = no travel agent. Adventure travel = no travel agent. Typical family of 4 leisure vacation (Disney, Caribbean all inclusive) = Travel Agent. The tips I have gotten, as well as the endless amount florida car rental of questions I can get answered, are well worth the $40 fee. When flights have been cancelled I have a human who cares and has direct access to the system willing to help me immediately. And sometimes I just don t have hours and hours to search the internet wish I did!
I don t for regular trips. However, for complicated trips or certain vacation florida car rental resorts/tours/foreign countries, a travel agent can be invaluable. Good travel agents (not some idiot with access to kayak) know the various resorts and areas and can make a much better recommendation than tripadvisor. Many times, they can also arrange special accommodations, upgrades, or discounts. However, it is important to properly florida car rental vet your travel agent and still compare their prices and options with what you find on your own. Additionally, some concierge travel agents (like Cranky florida car rental Flier / Crankly Conceirge) can be helpful when unexpected things come up.
I do think it is common for older people to use Travel agents, and sometimes even the simple stuff can be done for no additional charge, especially when comparing to an airline florida car rental phone booking florida car rental fee. Some of them can be shown how to use the computer, others will just forgo fees in exchange for comfort and convenience, florida car rental and who are we to stop them?
I used to sell online florida car rental advertising to major cruise lines and online travel agencies on behalf of a major cruise travel Web sikte and found almost all of them, in addition to being ignorant when it came to international travel, to be self serving in dealing with clients, florida car rental e.g. trying to steer them to suppliers who paid the highest commissions rather than getting to know their clients priorities and interests and responding accordingly. Of course there are (rare) exceptions, but most travel agents, often working from whom and affiliated with a major franchise, are worthless. Therefore it s important for travelers to do their own research and in the cruise sector turn to respected independent sources not depending on advertising, the best being the Berlitz Guide to Cruising Cruise Ships by Douglas Ward and, if the cruise line will match any advertised travel agent promotion, booking directly.
I would say use of travel agents for flights only. It can be very useful in times of delays, assuming they have a 24 hour hotline and you have access to it. You might not be able to call the hotline from some random country you are in or connecting through. Since everyone on the same plane will call the usual source in times of delay in order to get rebooked, your travel agent will most likely be free to help you, unless the entire plane used the same travel agency.
To go one step further, I would also recommend looking into booking florida car rental international tours through an agency rather than planning out everything on your own. Key word is looking at since tours are not cheap and now i understand why. Last year i went on a tour in Beijing. I had to since that was the only way to do this particular marathon. The tour was good and very busy with lots of attractions. I would have never seen as much if i did it myself. In addition, someone from our group was pickpocketed and lost her passport, visa, and cash. The agency took care of everything, from personally florida car rental escorting her to the police station, embassy, etc to get her a new passport and exit visa and on her flight 48 hours later. I was very impressed she made it on the plane. They also have funds to tie her over until she got back to the states, even though almost everyone else in the group lent her cash (both CNY and USD).
It really depends on the trip and how you value your time. Travel agents may have access to consolidator fares not available elsewhere. Their expertise/experience on complicated plans may be more efficient than you spending hours and hours on research. Your wife s twitter survey, assuming her followers are like-minded travelers, isn t surprising having resulted in a biased result.
I used one once, in 1996, for our honeymoon, but I was young and inexperience in travel matters then But have never done so since. I won t say never will , because who knows some unusual situation might come up but I doubt it. Now for my in-laws, oh my, they need an agent! (And I d offer to help them but it s just too much of a headache!)
I now use a Virtuoso agent fairly regularly. I find the ease of dealing with him via email to be tremendous (versus scouring websites) and I appreciate his first hand experience at many properties and direct ties to hotel management.
Required to use an agent for work, but usually book all personal travel myself. Our travel agent is able to get better fares than are usually posted on United.com, plus she only charges $15/ticket (ends up still being a nice savings). The benefits of using a GOOD travel agent are apparent during irregular operations. I ve had several times where, after a surprise cancellation, where I am running between florida car rental terminals on the phone with my agent as she is rebooking me on another airline.
I use in country travel agents (I get recommendations from guide books or Flyer Talk) when I m doing something where I need a driver/guide and I want to do special things like biking through the Mekong. I find that in country travel agents are about half the cost of using a US agent. I did a great tour of India, mostly tiger reserves where we were booked in fantastic hotels (including a maharaja s Palace in Varanassi which had only ten suites) for less than a similar group tour featured by a mid-level US trou company.
Travel agent for work- yes. Discounts and all aside a major reason is so you know where all your people are in an emergency. florida car rental I was with a large company during 9/11 and we had two co-workers on the first plane that hit the WTC. Probably had about 120 folks traveling across the US- the travel agents were invaluable in figuring florida car rental out who was where and getting them hotels/cars/flights over the next few days. And we have had the same scenario with various weather and other natural disaster issues.
As a travel agent you are doing a disservice to people and agent s value to clients. Not everyone is suited to use an agent. TA s don t want the nickel and dime business you describe here; we are worth our weight in gold for those wanting more out of their trips, from private florida car rental access to things not available florida car rental to the public and knowledge of things where you re going that you won t find on the internet that will make your trip unforgettable. We also have relationships with hotels that garner our clients free amenities like spa or food and beverage credits, free breakfasts, early check in and late check out just to name a few.
We ensure you are not ripped off by internet suppliers; Last months CN Traveller Ombudsman was about an online hotel service in Europe where someone thought they prepaid their stay and when they arrived there was no payment. Ombudsman found they didn t prepay for TWO days, it was a booking fee they paid .
You all go book on the net, don t waste agents time trying to save you $5 off your hotel, we rather you save your pennies and leave us to serious travellers who want a memorable, wonderful experience.
This boils down to core competencies. Since Mrs. Deals is competent in travel matters, it causes her pause (or more?) to hear someone she knows used travel agent. However, I bet there are multiple areas outside of her abilities, where she would easily use the knowledge of others to guide her.
As an example, I do not work on our family cars. As a former machinist Mate in the Navy, I do know how to fix machinery and follow procedures. However, I also learned I hate to do it, and I have zero interest in attaining the knowledge and experience needed. As such, I don t even change florida car rental the oil, and happily pay a mechanic florida car rental (that is someone from Jiffy Lube) to do the job for me. This may be bad or ignorant to car guys, but for me, it isn t worth the effort.
The same goes for travel. Many of my peers say I should be a Disney travel agent, as I have a lot of knowledge and experience, but I have yet to do anything more than offer guidance suggestions for their trips. I don t want to spend the time needed to fully book a trip, and I don t