5 Reasons to Use An Agent

1. Travel agents get amenities

In most cases, your travel agent can get you prices that are competitive with what you would find online. However, what you book online is almost always going to include less than what you will get when you book through an agent. Another way that vendors encourage travel agents to book their customers with them is by offering amenities. These amenities can be anything from a bottle of wine in your room or free breakfast to free room upgrades and special events or activities. Travel vendors tend to look for ways to give special treatment to people who have booked through an agency because they know that the best way to get an agent to recommend their product is to have one of our customers comeback from their trip happy.

2. Travel agents answer the questions you don’t know to ask

Half the fun of travel is experiencing something brand new. However, when you book through a faceless website or big conglomerate you learn a lot of things the hard way. Travel agents are perpetual students constantly taking online classes and many times even visiting firsthand to learn about the places they are sending clients. They’ll be able to help you not only with how to get there, where to stay, and what to do but also what to pack, when is the best time of year to go, what time of day to do what, and things to make sure to eat while you are there.

3. Travel suppliers are more flexible with agents than they are with you

Anyone who has booked online knows that most of the time you have to take the non-refundable option in order to get the best pricing. In most cases this is not true for travel agents. Travel agents offer the opportunity for future bookings to a vendor. In exchange for that they are afforded much more flexibility in booking and payment terms. Not only can a travel agent hold space for an amount of time without and deposit, they can also make changes that an Internet traveler can’t make and in many cases they can get price adjustments if the pricing comes down between when you book and when you travel.

4. Travel agents don’t call customer support

When something changes or goes wrong with a trip you’ve booked yourself you’re forced to enter that dreaded abyss that is phone support. In most cases, travel agents don’t call this number. They have an account representative or a business development manager that answers to them when things change or go wrong. This person is compensated based on how much business the agency does with them so they are highly motivated to keep your travel agent happy. Not to mention the fact that you can go back to enjoying your trip instead of waiting on hold once you’ve called, emailed, or even text messaged your agent as you can rest assured you’ll be hearing back from them shortly with a solution to your issue.

5. Travel agents have firsthand experience

When you book on the Internet there is no real way to know exactly what you are getting. Descriptions are purposely vague. Photos can be distorted or chosen carefully to avoid undesirable items. User reviews are unreliable seeing as many positive reviews are obvious fakes and even the negative ones need to be taken with a grain of salt as they may only reflect an isolated occurrence. When you work with a good Travel Agent not only have they probably been to the places they are recommending themselves but they have established a trusting relationship the vendors they book for you and can usually apply a large amount of pressure to make things right if you are ever dissatisfied. Travel Agents know that they are staking their reputation and any future business on what they book for you and they take that very seriously.