Why Use A Travel Professional?
Let’s face it, when it comings to vacations, it cost more than the money you pay for the trip. You are also using leave from work, arranging for someone to take care of the kids, board your pets, and/or finding someone to come water your house plants. When you show up at your dream destination, you expect to have an epic hassle-free experience.
When it comes to booking a trip, the intuitive thing for most people is to book through an Online Travel Agency (OTAs). OTAs are 3rd party agents reselling trips and related travel services such as hotels, car rentals, flights, etc. OTAs includes sites like: The Priceline Group (Booking.com, Priceline.com, agoda.com, KAYAK, rentalcars.com, OpenTable). Expedia, Inc. (Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Egencia, Hotwire, Trivago, Venere.com, CarRentals.com, Classic Vacations, Expedia CruiseShipCenters, Expedia Local Expert (LX), Wotif Group, Travelocity). With the convenience OTAs provide, why use a Travel Professional?
Knowledge!
A Travel Professional is synonymous with hassle free travel. They are your ones to travel advisors before, during, and after your trip. They provide an all-inclusive customized package based on your needs and want. They are well educated and more often than not, they have been to the region or destination you are interested in traveling to. Even if you had emergencies arise during your travel, a good Travel Professional will help you mitigate the issues. How is this possible you may ask? The training never ends for travel agents, because it’s their job to keep up with industry current events. They are constantly taking webinars, going to travel industry events, taking courses, and studying for exams. Sure, OTAs have pretty looking websites and apps where everything looks sexy and appealing. According to the American Express Spending & Savings Tracker, 1 in 3 travelers feel overwhelm by the amount of travel info online. In the virtual reality of the web every beach is beautiful and filled with supermodels, every cruise is perfect with a balcony, and every resort is a dream come true.
Source: https://images.app.goo.gl/CUgXrDsVfEEZ9V758
I knew a couple that was getting married in January and their dream honeymoon spot was Seychelles. They planned to travel there immediately after the wedding. And indeed when you look up travel to Seychelles in January, it will most likely be very cheap, it’s the low season. But do you know why? Did you know January is the rainy season in Seychelles? And It’s not a few showers here and there, it’s the hot muggy tropical rainy season, monsoon season. The average person may see the beautify romantic pictures when they through OTAs and expect an amazing perfect weather experience. Now, if you ended up in Seychelles on your honeymoon during monsoon season, sure you will make the best of it. But clearly not what you expected or paid for.
What did you pay for?
Let’s get this one out of the way, price point. On the surface it looks like OTAs always show the best deals right? No! They drive your interest based on biased display of last-minute deals and cheap trips. Even if you see what looks like a cheaper price than what a Travel Professional quoted, there’s always a reason. Sometimes, a good reason and sometimes a nasty surprise you won’t know about until it’s too late. It’s like that super cheap airline you buy only to realize that you literally have to pay for everything beyond you getting a seat on the plane. Every hotel, resort, cruise regardless of class have rooms or cabins that nobody wants. The tiny smelly carpet rooms are always cheaper than the newly renovated ones, the rooms overlooking the dumpsters are always cheaper than the ones over the beach, and the cruise cabins directly under the all-night dance club are going to be cheaper than the ones where you’ll actually get some sleep. Travel Professional know this stuff, they also know when websites try to trick you with hidden daily resort fees and taxes and stuff that get added on after you get there. Yes, it is very easy to make a price look great online until you know the reasons. Statistically, travel agents are almost ten times more likely to find a great deal than a do-it-yourselfer. But price isn’t the only or even the best reason to use a travel agent as you can see in the infographic below.
Who has your back?
When you hit that “Buy” button on an OTA’s website and spend your hard-earned vacation money, that ends your short lived relationship to any support you may need. If something goes wrong, who’s going to help? The “Buy” button? Travel Professionals are constantly working their connections, they personally know and have close relationships with all the important suppliers and distributors of the cruise lines, the airlines, the hotels, and tours. Travel Professionals are not a tiny fish in a big giant sea in the travel industry. They have influence because to this day, they provide travel suppliers with up to 85% of their business. Sounds to me like somebody you would want on your side if something goes wrong.
Source: http://yvonnecollier.blogspot.com/2007/09/travel-agent-jokes.html
Throughout this article, I have used Travel Agent and Travel Professional interchangeably. Most travel agents now prefer to be called Travel Consultants/Professional/Concierge because it’s their advice, connections, and guidance that make the biggest difference of all. A Travel Consultant’s job is not to just find you a great deal but to make sure it’s the right deal in the right place on the right ship or in the right resort. Lastly let’s talk about money, yes it’s true travel suppliers pay a commission to travel agents, it’s a little compensation for taking care of the heavy lifting for them and for staying trained. And yes! some travel agents charge a fee for what they do. But don’t worry, what you pay in consulting fees, you get in a hassle free, time saver, well organized trip everyone will enjoy. But hey! what do I know? I have only been to 30 countries and over hundreds of cities worldwide.
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