Top 5 Reasons To Use A Travel Agent
When you hear “travel agent,” what comes to your mind first? For me, it was once the scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding when Toula (Nia Vardalos) is working in her aunt and uncle’s travel agency talking on a headset. Since that movie came out in 2002, you might have the same vision. Are travel agents a thing anymore? Isn’t that a bit outdated? Why would you even need one nowadays when you can do everything online yourself? Great questions, and as an authorized travel agent myself, I’m here to answer them (sans headset).
Top 5 Reasons To Use A Travel Agent
While yes, we live in a technology-driven world where we can do so much with a swipe up and double tap, the year 2020 changed the travel industry. Much like after 2001 with airport security, we will see the lingering effects of what the pandemic did for travel when the world shut down for years to come. While travel is back up and running, it’s also left many confused as there is more to juggle now, and that alone should be reason enough to utilize a travel agent. Aside from that big one, there are several other reasons I want to show you that this is not an outdated service, it’s actually a needed one that you’re probably paying for, even when you do everything yourself.
#1: It is a completely complementary service.
Yes, you read that right. Complimentary, as in free. How, you ask? Most destinations (like Disney, Universal, all-inclusive resorts, etc.) factor in the cost of a travel agent to their pricing. So if you book a trip yourself, you’re actually paying for this service whether you use it or not. If you have a travel agent like myself do all the research, booking, and planning for you, you are not paying anything extra for those services. They are included with the cost of your trip, so you are not paying the travel agent a dime. After you’ve checked out and the trip is completed, the destination pays a commission to the travel agent, since the cost of that was factored into their pricing anyways. So, you could do all the hard, up-front work yourself and be paying for a service you’re not using, OR use a travel agent like me who will do all that work for you, and you get to just enjoy your vacation.
A warning: While it is supposed to be a completely complimentary service, there are some sketchy travel agencies/travel agents out there who will additionally charge for things like setting up dining reservations, giving itineraries, even additional quotes. That is not something I or the agency I work for does, so be aware of language like “get your first quote free.” You might get charged for additional quotes, or get sent a list of tiered services for an additional cost. When I say complimentary, I mean it-you’re not paying me anything extra because it is covered in the cost of the trip itself.
#2: It takes out the most stressful and overwhelming parts (research, booking, planning) leaving you to just enjoy your vacation.
Do you want to get up at 5:00 am to secure dining reservations? Do you want to be up at midnight when special event tickets go live to secure them? Do you have time to do hours of research so you know what to actually do when you get there? Do you feel easily overwhelmed with so many choices, options, etc. and don’t know the right direction to go? These are all things a good travel agent will do for you, so you don’t have to stress about it. I can’t tell you how many panicked messages I’ve received since becoming a travel agent from people who didn’t realize that in addition to things like park tickets at Walt Disney World & Disneyland, they also had to set up park reservations. Now it’s the week they travel and there’s no park availability. Or, they didn’t realize the timing of dining and extras, so they aren’t finding or getting what they want, and are frustrated. They didn’t know the updated protocols for traveling to a country, and can’t find a site to get tested in time. These are all the types of things that make the process stressful and overwhelming for a lot of people, and a travel agent can greatly reduce that. After the initial inquiry and quote process, once my clients make a decision and I take care of their booking, they receive a welcome packet from me going over the details, important dates, I send them reminders, take care of reservations, etc. This way, your job is to enjoy, not stress and lose the joy of the excitement in the process of getting there.
#3: It saves you time and money.
Have an issue or question that comes up and can’t be found or taken care of online? Instead of you waiting on hold for hours and be passed from department to department, a good travel agent will take care of things like that for you. If a new promotion comes out that can be applied to your trip or you can get upgraded within your budget, guess who is calling in to make sure you get those savings? Your travel agent! Oftentimes, people will go to third party sites like Expedia to try and save a few bucks. But, there’s many problems that come with that, one of which is you typically aren’t saving a whole lot, and the other is you have no one you can talk to if you need to change something (or that won’t even be an option). Travel agents often hear about the deals first, or will help guide you to the right time to travel based on your budget. When you use my complimentary services, you’ll know you’ve got someone in your corner looking out for you.
#4: You get access to a wealth of information and knowledge.
A good travel agent doesn’t just book your trip, they help you plan it! I see it daily on facebook: Someone books a trip and then gets on their page to say, “Help! We’re going to Universal this fall. Where should we stay? What should we do? Where should we eat?” Then they get about 100 different answers with 100 different opinions to filter through, often leaving more confused than when they started said post. This is a big reason why I became a travel agent in the first place! I became my friend’s go-to girl for Disney planning tips and advice, or I would get sad when I heard someone went, paid all this money, I’d ask them what they did and it was clear they didn’t know what they were doing and missed out on so much. There’s something to be said about both personal and professional experience. As an authorized travel agent, there’s trainings I have to keep up with yearly for many of the destinations I book. Oftentimes when you turn to social media or just do a google search, you can find good information…but also really bad or outdated information. It’s so nice to have someone who knows their stuff. For my clients going to places like Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Universal, they get access to an entire vault of information full of guides, itineraries, tutorials, everything you could think of once they’ve paid for their trip in full. The last thing I’d want to see is someone spend their hard-earned money and it not be well-spent.
#5: You’re supporting a small business.
Really, you are! While it costs you nothing extra to use a travel agent, since agents work off of commission from the destinations themselves, when you choose to use a travel agent instead of doing everything yourself, you are in fact, supporting a small business without paying said business a dime. This is why family not only appreciates when people trust me to help plan their vacations, but also for every referral, like, share, tag, and comment on my social media page. That saying that when you support a small business, you are supporting a dream? That is true.
So, I hope this shows you that travel agents are not a thing of the past (are we really that far out from the early 2000s?). With all the changes to travel even in just the past 2 years, travel agents are more valuable than ever. If you’re ready to travel, be sure to check out my travel page, and I’d love to help you plan your next adventure.