Travel Agents

Three times this week posters have mentioned quetionable hotels that have come to them through travel agents. I have only ever used a travel agent once and I was not impressed.

I was wondering if any of you out there have had positive experiences with travel agents and why people still use them these days.

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We used a travel agent to book our cruise this past summer but only because we were going as part of a group (our daughter graduated from high school so lots of parents and kids) but not for anything else. I prefer to plan my European trips. I have planned 15 days in Ireland in 2003 and now two 1 week trips to Paris in 2006 on my own. I like having the freedom to choose what to do and when to do it.

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I was very lucky with my travel agent. She was very familiar with Paris. Her daughter had lived there for three years, and she had visited many times.

I tried orbitz and hotels.com but I couldn%26#39;t figure out what district I would like to stay in. My travel agent helped me narrow down the districts that would fit my interest and helped me find a hotel in my price range.

I had a good experience with mine. Maybe I just got lucky?

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I use one when we go to South America and I want to book complicated Air Passes. What I am trying to achieve I do not think I could get via the internet. The hotels, apartments, transfers etc once there I do myself.

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I use one all the time for work. Part of my job is to arrange group travel to developing countries, so this agent has been invaluable for negotiating with airlines (holding seats without purchasing for longer than I would be able to, etc.). Best of all though, if anything goes wrong with any of the arrangements, he fixes the problem.

In addition to business I give him through my work, I often arrange personal travel through him. He charges about $35 extra per plane ticket, so it depends on the trip whether I go through him or just book my air tickets through an online service.

For our upcoming France trip, my husband and I are using mileage from two different - but partnering - airlines, and he helped me enormously in figuring that out (and didn%26#39;t charge me). He also helped coordinate my mother and sister%26#39;s travel so that we are all flying into Toulouse at approximately the same time - from three different places.

Re: hotels, I usually do my own research, but if he has contacts at a particular hotel, he can negotiate more effectively than I can. That has not been the case for our France trip, where I just did my own research.

Sorry I was so long-winded!

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Yes the group travel is a good point. For expeditions I have had seats held on a £40 deposit until 8 weeks before departure and then when I cancelled one seat still got a full refund.

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IMO, Travel Agents should be used for things like complicated air travel, cruises, well known resorts and the like. If you can find one that specializes in something (Hawaii, the Caribbean, France, etc.) that%26#39;s good too. But the average Travel agent is not well versed in European cities, in general, and just sends you to the places on their list. Those places are rarely the ones those of us on TA would probably go to...

Les

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I agree I have learned so much by doing research myself. I researched the apartment we rented in November and we had quite a good experience. When I told people we were renting an apartment for a week they didn%26#39;t even know it could be done. I have been to PAris twice last year and I feel I could go again tomorrow and make a right choice about where to stay and what I want to do and see. Part of the fun of travelling (for me anyway) is doing the research.

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For me part of the fun is planning and putting the trip together myself. I have not used a travel agent in many years. They can however, sometimes get deals on hotels that are not generally available even on the web sites that specialize in booking hotels. So far I%26#39;ve not had any bad experiences with arrangements I%26#39;ve made myself. Probably a great deal of luck is involved.

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I use every available avenue available to me to find the best discounts.

I have one Travel Agency that gets me the cheapest airfare available to several locations I love to travel .

I have been able to get airfare and hotel packages from a travel agent that were over a $1000. less just for the hotel!

Of course, I do my own research so I do know the going rates and I also look up the hotel ( and call them for their direct rates) before I book through the agency.

I also have been able to find Brokers that I have gotten my airfare for less then what is offered on line.

I never leave a stone unturned when spending my travel dollars.

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I promise to stay as objective as positive in my response to this question. Most of you who know me from this board, know I never advertise and seldom even mention that I am in the travel industry. I have been in the industry about 14 years now with a background in leisure travel, corporate travel, meeting planning and now I own and run a small agency in which I will never disclose the name of here on this board, PROMISE !

A travel agent is basically a middle person who represents you in the booking process. Honestly, there are times they are an advantage and times you really don%26#39;t the services of a travel agent.. For example, agencies do not get commission on airline tickets booked alone (not in a package) unless they are through a consolidator. Therefore, you must pay a %26quot;fee%26quot; most of the time to book an airline ticket through a travel agent. So, unless you have a complicated itinerary OR you want to compare published fares with consolidator rates, it%26#39;s best to book airline tickets on your own. Consolidators are basically %26quot;group%26quot; rates on major airlines to international destination (not domestic). Your travel agent can quote you a rate with a consolidator, but keep in mind she adds her commission onto the net fare, and so it pays to shop around on a consolidator ticket.

When booking a package, tour or cruise...it makes great sense to book through a travel agent for a few reasons. Cruise lines now have what is called %26quot;no-rebate%26quot;%26quot; rules which do not allow agencies to rebate their commission in order to beat out another agencies price, and therefore, all agencies have the same price- the exact same price if you were to book directly with the cruise line or tour operator. The agency gets their commission paid to them from the vendor AFTER their client travels so you are not paying a cent extra to book through them. Why book with an agent you may ask ?? Because unless the agency charges a booking fee, and many do not, you are getting the agency services for FREE. These services are most valuable when something goes wrong or there is a mistake. She will do the work for you to fix the problem, or in the case of weather delay for example, sit on the phone for you to work out the kinks. Also, the knowledge of an experienced agent is an added bonus. In booking a package, tour or cruise, shopping around for price is not as important (because they are the same apples-apples) as finding an experienced and trusted agent.

Last we come to the subject of FIT, first class independant travel, and individual components such as piecing together car reservations, hotels, train, etc. Paris usually falls into this category. This is where many people really enjoy researching and booking on their own !! Most packages and tour operators do NOT often offer the charming, small hotels that are often preferable, but instead offer generic large hotel chains and hotels in the out-skirt of the city. If you feel pretty knowledgeable and enjoy booking on your own, I recommend doing so. A travel agent often is LEAST knowledgeable in this area. However, there are exceptions to that rule. If you know an agent that travels to a specific area a lot, then they can be a priceless source of information. However, this is where you can actually be a little tricky. If you travel a lot and use your travel agent loyally for cruises and packages, she will be happy to give you free advice on hotels, etc. in places like Paris. Then you can go and book it on your own !!! Most travel agencies do not make much money to book individual hotels anyway and will not be upset that you do not book with them. If they do put together a FIT for you, they will often charge you a service fee for their time, so that is another reason to book it on your own !!

OK, I know that is a lot of information. But, there are so many misconceptions these days and some people wonder if there are any old fashioned travel agents left !! I can tell you that for booking groups, specialty travel and niche travel, it is still a big business. But, the days of calling a travel agent to book a hotel room for a couple nights or an airline ticket to chicago is pretty much over.