Why You Need a Travel Agent

We once had a friend who was wrongly accused of committing a crime. He talked with numerous attorneys and found the rates they would charge to defend him would be higher than he wanted to pay. He realized that he could go to the Internet, learn what he needed to know about defending himself in court, and save a tremendous amount of money. He’ll be out of jail in eleven months and twenty-nine days.

Sound silly? It’s no sillier than thinking you can save money in doing your own dental work, or removing your own appendix, or even in booking a vacation or cruise that will make memories for the rest of your life. In today’s cyber-space world, it’s easy to sit down at your computer and book a round-trip airline ticket to go visit your family in Pittsburgh. But, when it comes to booking a tour of Australia and New Zealand, finding the documents you must have to enter these countries, arranging complex air itineraries and finding guides in each city to show you what you don’t want to miss, you can easily become overwhelmed.

You need a travel agent.

Here are some things you may not know about travel agents:
* Travel agents earn commissions from the tour operators, hotels, and cruise lines.
* Travel agents do NOT earn commissions from the airlines. In other words, we make zero on air tickets and have been forced to charge service fees to issue tickets.
* Travel agents cannot visit every hotel, sail on every cruise ship, visit every destination and fly on every air carrier. We do, however, have access to information on everything we sell.

Here’s what a good, reputable travel agent can do for you:
* A good travel agent is in the “custom-tailoring” business. We’ll fit the right cruise ship, resort, tour or hotel to your desires.
* A good travel agent can handle every aspect of your trip from airline tickets to lodging, ground transportation, activities, event tickets, tours and more.
* A good travel agent will use their time to find the right vacation instead of using yours. Our reservation systems will allow us to look at multiple airlines, cruise lines, hotels and rental car companies, comparing rates and itineraries, instead of going from one website to another.
* A good travel agent will take the time to learn about you and your lifestyle so that your vacation exceeds your expectations.
* A good travel agent will be your advocate if the need arises. Should you have a problem during your trip, good travel agents can act on your behalf to see that proper restitutions are made.
* A good travel agent will use our expertise, knowledge and access to the latest promotions to be sure you get the best value for your budget.
* A good travel agent is an expert in helping travelers get where they need to go and in helping to create possibilities most people never would have dreamed were possible.
* A good travel agent will help you understand supplier policies and rules associated with your reservation.
* A good travel agent will help you prepare and organize any necessary documents that you may need in order to travel outside the country. They can direct you to your local passport office, and they know where you need a visa, as well as any other documentation that you might need to along the way.
* A good travel agent will offer that “personal” touch” to your travel planning experience, offering help and advice that a website cannot provide.

In the past few years, we’ve heard that travel agents are a thing of the past. People will only book online. However, travel agents must be doing something right. Did you know that travel agents still sell 51% of all airline tickets, 87 % of all cruises, 81 % of all tours and land packages, 45% of all car rentals and about 47% of all hotels.

It just makes sense to use a travel, because without a travel agent, you’re on your own.