Let’s make a quick list of the advantages of why should you work with travel advisors?
With the advent of internet in the early 2000’s, one could have feared that the travel agents and agencies were doomed to disappear, or would hardly subsist as dinosaurs in a world where travelers could find all that they need through helpful and user-friendly websites and apps. For sure, the travel industry has undergone a deep change in the last twenty years, and, using only France as an example, thousands of jobs were cut as a result. But far from being a total and definitive disappearance, this period has led travel agencies to reorganize and reinvent themselves, finding ways to bring real added value to customers and not being considered only as an intermediary anymore.
So for a few years now, there have been more and more travelers who recognize that they prefer by far to use the services of a specialist and a real and human “trip advisor” to organize their trip. Even younger travelers embrace the expertise of travel agents. In fact, millennials are starting to act like baby boomers, focusing on the safety and quality of their trip, and wanting to take no risks in the organization of it. Though they’re much more connected than their elders, they also trust the advice and expertise of a travel agent.
Technology and social networks can do much, and Facebook has probably more information on you and your travel habits than you imagine, but it will never replace or surpass the relationship between you and another person, let’s say a good and expert travel agent. Good trip planning can come down to a matter of emotions and affective relationships, of confidences and complicity, of human feelings and trust, versus algorithms and big data…
We take the time to do long phone or Skype calls full of open ended questions, to get a feel for each traveler’s tastes. Because he or she has spent a lot of time with you, discussing your tastes, the kind of hotels you like, the activities you’re addicted to, the reason why you travel (honeymoon, children’s graduation, simple holidays…), the pace you want to travel, the age and first names of your children…your travel agent is like a friend who really knows a lot about you and who really wants to provide you with happiness, memorable moments and unforgettable experiences. I’ve been working in travel industry for nearly twenty years now, and I realize that I know much more about the personality and centers of interest of some of my good clients, who traveled five times or more with my help…than about some of my own cousins or distant family!
You might find a great holiday deal online, book it, but when you arrive you realize its hurricane season/raining/too hot etc. A travel agent can tell you everything you need to know before you go and give you good advice so that you have a great time. Plus most travel agents love to travel as well and are off somewhere new all the time so they can tell you about places they think you would enjoy if you need inspiration. People often say that travel agents are always on holidays because they travel a lot. Of course it’s not true…but whenever my friends tease me with that, I love to confirm and say “yes, you’re right, I’m always on the road, I never work! ” because it contributes to maintain the image of a globe-trotter and travel expert that is attached to my job. And I love that!
Online you can often find great deals but you do have to be careful that the company that you book with has a liability and insurance protection and that it has been around for a while. If the company goes bankrupt, you will lose your holiday and the money you paid for it. Also the local suppliers (drivers, guides, hotels…) that your travel agency have been carefully selected and are also registered and covered with an insurance protection. Sometimes the “good deals” you can find online actually includes services with moonlighting suppliers or people who are not officially registered by the local authorities of tourism. Feel free to check our legal notices on our website.
Looking online for a holiday is incredibly time consuming: deciding where to go, researching what there is to do in the area and if it’s safe finding the right hotel, finding the right price – the list goes on… visas, how to get to the airport, how to get to the hotel when you land, etc…If you like doing research and planning every detail of your holiday, then all this time online can be seen as part of the fun and travel experience, but if you have a busy job and want a holiday to relax, then all this time preparing your holiday is quality time that you lose…and it can become really stressful, as there are tons of information to absorb, digest and analyze, with the risk of doing the wrong choice or taking the wrong decision! Time spent on planning will leave you with less leisure time to sport and/ or spend with your friends and family.
Be honest, the DIY (Do It Yourself) option is probably the best one if getting the lowest prices is your priority. Or if you have plenty of leisure time to dedicate to your research for your next holidays.
But as I said above, preparing your holiday online is very time consuming. So if you would express the loss of time in money, then a traveler from the USA with an average salary of 21.30 US$ an hour potentially loses around 500 US$ extra on planning their holiday, because he/she’ll spend easily an average time of 25 hours on it. Sometime it takes much more time! And for travelers with high salaries and little time available, using a travel agency is definitely an economical option. Not to forget that travel agencies have special contracts and rates with hotels, activities suppliers, rental car companies…so they can offer you sometimes a better deal than what you’ll find on the web, even on big booking sites like Booking.com, Expedia, Hostelworld etc…
When you organize your own holiday and something goes wrong before or during your trip, you will be on your own. Problems that frequently arise include flight delays, schedule changes, visa complications, political problems (strikes), natural disasters, health problems, or issues with the hotel room and/or facilities.
Booking websites spend huge amounts of money on advertisement, but seem to try to save money on salaries, therefore only employing the minimum amount of employees.
When you want personal contact to change a reservation, file a complaint, or in case of an emergency it is very difficult to get in contact with the right person. You first have to find out who to contact, how to contact them and what your rights are, before you can think of the most effective way to solve your problem.
When you book your travels with a travel agency, they will be able to help you with most complications. Their knowledge and experience make it much easier to deal with unpredicted situations.
As a conclusion, I would say that the best way to organize your holiday depends highly on your time, budget and personal preferences. However, unless you have unlimited time and no preferred travel route, it is important to remember that it will always save you money and stress if you plan your holiday correctly, whatever the way you plan it. In contrary to what many people think, a well-planned holiday even makes you more flexible.
When you travel with a good plan and a clear itinerary, it will help you to decide faster how you can adjust your travel itinerary to your new preferences, without missing out on your most important highlights.
In brief, why should you work with travel advisors? Booking your holiday with the help of a good travel agency makes it the best way to relax, see all your preferred highlights and live some special and unforgettable experiences that you would not have imagined by yourself. If you enjoyed this post, read our other post related on What is a tailor-made trip.
