WHEN SHE WAS PLANNING her birthday trip to New York City, Caroline Koons Forrest started where most of us do: online. She checked everything from Hotels.com to the Four Seasons' site. No luck. Everything was booked solid, outrageously priced or completely unfamiliar to her (the Days Hotel, anyone?). So the West Palm Beach architectural designer did something she hadn't done in ages: switched off her computer and called a local travel agent. Minutes later Stacy Small of Elite Travel International phoned back with a room at her first-choice hotel, the Four Seasons, at half the $1,600 price tag for a suite Forrest had spotted on the web. The icing on the cake? An actual birthday cake, which awaited Forrest and her husband when they entered their room.
After more than a decade of decline, the humble travel agent is staging a comeback. Frustrated with the recent rash of sold-out hotels and airline seats, travelers are discovering that for all the hype, web sites like Hotels.com, Orbitz and Travelocity are losing some of their edge, especially when it comes to high-end locations. And customer displeasure is starting to show; growth in the once red-hot online travel business is cooling, up 20% last year after a 28% increase in 2004. Enter the travel agent, the most savvy of whom can use longtime connections to secure that "sold out" room or coveted aisle seat. Written off as dinosaurs not so long ago, agents are seeing a welcome bump in business, with the 2006 average weekly sales per agent location up 15% over the year before. High-end travel is turning up as well, with members of Virtuoso, a consortium of more than 300 luxury agencies, racking up $4.2 billion in sales last year, an 11% jump over 2005.
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The article goes on to compare several agencies and the author also refers to "fees" some agents charge, mainly for booking airline tickets. Agents earn their money by receiving commissions from the travel suppliers. However, airlines no longer pay commission. So charging a $10 or $15 fee per ticket isn't unreasonable. For the most part, I only book airline only reservations for my current clients. And most times I don't charge a fee, unless the reservation is a time-consuming one that is complicated. I don't charge a consulting fee for vacation planning. I only ask that if you do ask for information involving research on my part, that you also book the travel through me as well.
Some people will say, "why bother with a travel agent when I can book my vacation on my own?" Well, for one, read the above article in its completion. I have a list of reasons why you should book with a travel agent:
- We arrange it all ~ We arrange air and land transportation, cruises, accommodations, tours, land packages, insurance, excursions and can provide tickets to events and tourist attractions.
- Your time is valuable ~ We have the resources to research and sort through various travel options, allowing you the freedom to pack and go!
- Personal relationship ~ We make your vacation special by getting to know you and your preferences.
- Current industry knowledge ~ We have access to current industry promotions and specials.
- Memories ~ We will help make your vacation become not just a trip, but an everlasting memory!
Top 10 Reasons to Use a Travel Agent – March 5, 2007
1.You’ve Googled “Mexican Vacation” and came up with 17.8 million responses. Need a little help editing those choices?
2. Remember when you used that obscure web site to book your hotel, and when you got there, you spent your beach vacation overlooking a parking lot?
3. Did you really mean to spend your honeymoon at that resort whose one tiny pool was filled all day with screaming kids?
4. Who knew that when you booked that “villa” in Tuscany, it would be a small room with a kitchenette and no air conditioning? Funny, it looked much better on your computer screen.
5. No one explained to you that in July, it’s winter in Rio, and so you showed up there with nothing but Hawaiian shirts and swimsuits.
6. How about the time you needed a restful vacation and ended up in New Orleans during Mardi Gras and someone threw up on your shoes?
7. Yes, I guess that hotel must have used a telephoto lens when they took a picture of those guest rooms that you saw on the web site.
8. I suppose contacting the Attorney General to resolve the fact that the Internet site has billed your credit card three times instead of once is the only route to take at this point.
9. It was definitely odd that there were no cab drivers at the airport at 3am when your plane finally landed in Costa Rica, but booking a transfer to your very remote hotel would have been a good thing to remember when you booked your airline ticket and hotel on line.
10. Oh, no one told you that the flight had a 12 hour layover- and it was going to be overnight? Oh, they didn’t tell you that the connecting flight was in a different airport, either?
In summary, it pays to use a travel agent.
In planning your vacation, I will:
- save you a tremendous amount of research time
- get the best vacation for your money
- provide you with information on the area you will be visiting
- give you travel and packing trips
- contact the resort prior to your arrival to request any upgrades or special amenities available
- follow-up after you return
- and I don't add a consulting fee
