What's wrong with travel agents?

Old Oct 10th, 1999, 11:58 PM
  #1  
sandy
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What's wrong with travel agents?

Message: Why are people so against using travel agents to plan their travel? I saw a posting recently where someone wrote: "I smell a travel agent!" Are travel agents so awful that they smell? What is the problem?
 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 01:28 AM
  #2  
Michael Murphy
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Our small, local TA, that we've delt with for the past 10 years, doesn't smell. I recently replied to another msg. re: Internet bookings, that despite the great info. you can get on the web, our TA has consistently been able to get the same or slightly modified bookings for less than what we get from online sources or the airlines/hotels. Only exception seems to be the car rentals where we can match or beat what the TA gets.
 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 04:45 AM
  #3  
Mary Ann
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We used a travel agent on our first trip to Europe. Although the flight booked was reasonable for the time much of the other information was not. Since it was the fall, the agent indicated that driving around without reservations was fine since the tourists were gone. Wrong- Fall is big time travel in Europe plus the conventions kick in. Although the agency professed knowledge of Europe, it was evident that their knowledge was minimal. We have since traveled twice to Europe, making all our own arrangements for itinerary, car and hotels. Both have been smoother, more economical and avoided unnecessary loss of time.
 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 04:50 AM
  #4  
dan woodlief
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Nothing against travel agents. It's just that most of the time they can't give me what I want. I have generally used them in the past for airfare, but that may change now that I am more familiar with other methods. I have usually booked hotels myself though. None of the travel agents I have used before would book the $30 to $70 a night places that I prefer; they seem to start around $100 a night.
 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 07:30 AM
  #5  
Lori
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What I've found about travel agents is that they are fine for tours - that takes one phone call to a tour agency and you are booked. They are not so fine if you want the kind of detailed info you can get on the internet or here on hotels. I don't believe most would/could go out of their way to do a detailed search for anyone either. The commission structures are such that they would not get much for it anyway and it is simply easier to book someone on a Globus tour (for instance) or call Princess Cruises and book a Category D or some such thing. That takes l call - no real effort involved. I sort of think the internet and airline web sites, etc. will be the downfall of travel agents as we know/remember them sooner or later. For me, it is just easier to do it myself, I know what I want, get instant answers and if something goes wrong it's my fault, not a third party who has been in the middle.
 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 07:30 AM
  #6  
Lori
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What I've found about travel agents is that they are fine for tours - that takes one phone call to a tour agency and you are booked. They are not so fine if you want the kind of detailed info you can get on the internet or here on hotels. I don't believe most would/could go out of their way to do a detailed search for anyone either. The commission structures are such that they would not get much for it anyway and it is simply easier to book someone on a Globus tour (for instance) or call Princess Cruises and book a Category D or some such thing. That takes l call - no real effort involved. I sort of think the internet and airline web sites, etc. will be the downfall of travel agents as we know/remember them sooner or later. For me, it is just easier to do it myself, I know what I want, get instant answers and if something goes wrong it's my fault, not a third party who has been in the middle.
 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 07:38 AM
  #7  
BOB THE NAVIGATOR
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Sandy, There are some travel agents that have good personal in-depth knowledge of travel in Europe but not many. They are fine for air bookings but many of the best places to stay do
not even offer commisions to agents.
Therefore, they have to book where they
can get paid. A personal friend brought
me an itinerary and hotel bookings for
a 2 week trip to Italy from an agent and
asked for my critique. They had 5 varied
destinations and all of the hotels were
4 and 5 star with an average cost of about $350 per nite. We sat online and
booked my picks in the same locations
and averaged about $150 in some very nice places. They saved over $2500 and
were very happy with the choices. The
travel agent had no knowledge of these
places and was booking from her only
source without personal experience.
Many of the people on this forum could
have done the same thing. The key elements are personal experience and
the luxury of OBJECTIVITY.
 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 08:17 AM
  #8  
suzann
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sandy,
Although I usually make all my own travel reservations by phone, fax, or e-mail, this past summer I used a travel agent and was very happy with the results. I had the opportunity to take a truly last-minute (within 10 days) trip to Switzerland, in the height of tourist season in August; it was further complicated by the once-in-a-generation wine fest going on in Vevey at the same time. I was sure there would be no room at the inns and no room in the air (for ff upgrades). But just to test my luck, I made one call to a travel agent, gave her my tale of woe, my hopes, and my priorities. The next day, she had worked a miracle and kept me within budget. Sure, I could have called each hotel myself, then tried to coordinate dates and bargain with the airline, but in this case with the time crunch, I opted not to. So this time the travel agent was a good option -- at least for me.
suzann
 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 09:03 AM
  #9  
elvira
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I think the "i smell a travel agent" had to do with a suspected "advertisement" in a posting.
Travel agents, like financial advisors and gynecologists, run the gamut of "can't live without her" to "drawing and quartering is too good for him".
We are fortunate to have a good travel agent; he invariably finds cheaper airfares ("if you go through Cleveland, you'll save $100")and car deals (he asks the company about upgrades, corporate discounts, etc. that I forget about). He also thinks ahead (like if a strike is threatened on one airline, he'll either book another seat on an alternate airline 'just in case' or skip the strike-threatened airline altogether). I book the hotels (we stay in the cheapies that don't pay travel agent fees) but also use Harv to order through Rail Europe (he gets the package, and makes sure everything is correct before giving it to me).
Would I deal with just any travel agent? Nope. Would I do without a travel agent? Nope. Would I depend SOLELY on a travel agent for my trips? NOPE (and Harv agrees).


 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 09:09 AM
  #10  
jo ann
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Another good experience: I travel lots on business and use travel agency since I frequently have to rearrange tickets, hotels, etc, at the very last minute. But for personal trips, I draw raves from my husband when I do it myself. For Europe, no one ever seemed to be willing or experienced enought to come up with what I knew I wanted.
Well, I had booked for us most of the details (the hotels etc) of a 2 week trip to France this summer(spouse + me, 10yr old daughter, 70 yr old mother). I had done most of the leg work early on (4 frequent flyer business trip tickets to Paris were done 10 mos ahead) went in July so did lots of leg work on nice places via Internet and past experiences. About 8 weeks before our departure, when I was figuring out the last minute touches, (TGV tickets, etc) I was put in touch with a lovely woman in Richmond, Va (my home) who is French, goes back every summer, and has opened up her own agency specializing in Europe. A delight!!! Great restaurant ideas (and actually willing to call and book them for me!), great info on trains, and (the very best) called me 4 days before we left VERY giggly and excited -- she had found on the internet a small operation several blocks from Giverny that is renting "2CV" autos (old Citroens, roll back canvas roofs, shift is on the dashboard, basically a moped for 4 people) -- the cost was about $16 for the full day (unltd mileage, which at the speed they go is not too far anyway) -- bottom line, one of the MOST fun days (we never stopped grinning and giggling), the fellow (who even picked us up at the train station in Vernon, and returned us there in the evening) was a true delight, and it was "so very French!!!" Now, at $16 for the day, there was obviously NO commission in it for her, she simply did it for the joy of enhancing our visit. I found her to be truly wonderful, informative, and reasonable -- I hope she makes enough money to stay in business, since she didn't seem to be perhaps money oriented enough, and I look forward to working with her just as much as I can manage to get myself back overseas!! Long live the reasonable and valuable agents!!
 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 09:13 AM
  #11  
Gino
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Sandy,
Lori and Bob the navigator's remarks are absolutely true. Travel agents have no incentive to go out of their way on your behalf, nor in most cases, have the experience to do so.
Last year, I booked the Bristol hotel in Warsaw for $110/nite and the Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens for $125/nite.
These are 5 star hotels listed in "Leading Hotels of the World",less than half the publised fares.Also booked my own Renisannce cruise from Athens to Istanbul for $600 less than I could get from a travel agent that called the cruise line direct. Same catagory, same room.
After many years of doing it alone, it really is fun and rewarding.
 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 09:48 AM
  #12  
Paulo
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One of my daughters is spending this week in a very popular Brazilian tourist destination on a final high school year trip with her mates (60 of them). They organized themselves, wrote down the air+hotel minimal conditions, contacted half a dozen TAs/Tour Operators for quotes and chose the one with the best offer. There's no way whatsoever that any of us, parents, could get anything even close to the best offer. There was actually no planning at all involved (time period, transportation mode, destination, hotel cathegory and occupancy ... all were predefined with no interference of the TA).

Like Bob pointed out, in the tourism market there are maybe 98% of travel agents and 2% of what I prefer to refer as travel advisors. Travel agents earn a living on comissions; travel advisors should earn their mostly on paid advise (and eventual comissions here and there).

IMO, there would be a big market out there for travel advisors ... but they are hard to come bye, possibly because building personal experience and keeping it updated is very expensive (travel advisors that I know use about 60 days/year in this process) and maybe there are not so many that are willing to pay what an expert's advice is actually worth. How much would Bob's personal friend be willing to pay for an advise that would save him $2,500?

There's also a big market out there for what I call travel agents. For one, like Lori points out, there's the tour industry. Then there's the huge group of tourists that, though interested in independent travel, has no time (or is not willing to spend some - after all, there's the "time is money" perspective) to organize their trips. I guess that most that do, indeed do so because they've fun in the process ... it's more or less like a hobby with no associated monetary value.

It appears that in a forum like this maybe the majority has fun doing their own planning ... the forum serves as a travel advisor ... and travel agents may be used (or not) in their stuff ... which certainly is not travel planning!

Paulo

 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 03:04 PM
  #13  
Donna
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I've given up on travel agents. After years and years of being disappointed by them in one way or another, the one who booked us a tour to Paris was the worst. We booked a September trip in January. Paid for the airline tickets and brought them home with us. I had read in a tour guide (thank heavens) to double check your seats with the airlines yourself a few days ahead of your trip. My husband did not get around to calling until the day before we were scheduled to leave. Guess what - no seats! The TA had neglected to confirm them. It took all day (and cost the TA in question a small fortune) to get seats on the same flights (the airport transfers and hotel room were tied into these dates). I would have been beyond upset to have arrived at the airport on a Saturday night to find that we didn't have seats on our flight. And, it would have been beyond my comprehension to have paid for tickets in my hand, but no seats. We didn't receive so much as a note from the TA apologizing for the bad service. The next time I was planning to go to Paris, I was walking down the street on a beautiful day and stopped in yet another agency. I carefully explained when I wanted to go, where I wanted to stay, etc. All the while, the TA responded with a vacant look. When I was finished, she said, "Well, we're getting ready to close. Could you come back another time?" Didn't even offer me a business card. Now, I plan all my travel myself. It's great fun. I considered becoming a travel agent - a conscientious one. But, frankly, the income potential stinks. So, maybe that's why it's so hard to find a good one.
 
Old Oct 11th, 1999, 07:03 PM
  #14  
bertie
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1) They have a split objective...get commissions (#1) and make you happy (#1 and a half). Often divergent.
2) They no longer have exclusive access to key travel info, as in the past. The web has become the great equalizer for travel planning.
3) They don't have the same motivation to get you the 'best' deal that you may have, nor the time to spend.
4) There are few TA's with detailed knowledge of lots of different areas of the world. They are a dying breed as internet travel planning discourages new young talent from the TA biz.
5) They can't know your detailed, specific preferences unless they know you personally. Few have the opportunity to get to know clients that well.
6) Commissions are being cut as TA's are perceived 'less imperative' by airlines, hotels, etc.
 
Old Oct 12th, 1999, 12:48 AM
  #15  
JoAnn
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The (only!) time I used a travel agent to book a trip to Europe is also the (only) time the hotel reservation was screwed up, the rental car was a bad deal and some promised tours were NOT included as told. Lesson learned; if you want it well done, do it yourself.
 
Old Oct 12th, 1999, 04:36 AM
  #16  
Erin
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TAs are like any other profession; some are good, others are awful. The key with dealing with a TA (or making your own arrangements) is, do your homework. I don't consult a TA for their "knowledge", but because they will do the legwork and make the arrangements for me. When I use a travel agency, I always have my hotel and airline figured out. Most of the time I will do research on the Internet and go to the agent with my findings. If the agent can get me the prices listed on the Internet, I will book through him/her. Why? I don't mind doing the research; I just hate making multiple phone calls to book a trip! And I don't mind helping someone else (TA) make a buck.
 

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