I've never used a travel agent before - have always enjoyed researching and planning trips on my own. However, I'm wondering if Hawaii might be a good place to use a travel agent? I want to visit more than one island and am not sure how best to go about reserving the airfare on my own.

The one thing I'm 'suspicious' of with TA's is that they don't seem to want to help me with B&Bs or smaller condos. Even though I've asked to keep prices way down - several of them have come back with rather high quotes (6k for 10 days instead of the <4k I asked for) that included resorts.

Could anyone share the pros/cons of using TA's for Hawaii? And recommend any you think are particularly great?

THANKS!!!

Pros: Accept credit card, they do all the work.

Cons: Costs more than booking yourself.
Requires your own time and internet access or charges.

We started with this Hawaii internet travel company discussed in link below, which has an informative website with pictures:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34443846

We now find we can beat their prices by searching online at expedia, travelocity, etc, airline websites for flights/FF programs, and www.vrbo.com for renting condo or house (may require a check deposit instead of credit card).

Reserving airfare isn't any different there than anywhere else. For interisland flights you can buy them one-way or roundtrip. There are 2 main carriers: Aloha and Hawaiian. There prices are almost the same. These short flights are disproportionately expensive though, so if you have FF miles, see if your program includes Aloha or Hawaiian as a partner and use the miles.

Unless the condo/B&B is owned by a large company (i.e., Aston), the TA won't get a commission -- and won't help you book a stay. Arrggghh!

As "pb&j" has stated, you have two major airlines (Hawaiian and Aloha) for scheduled inter-island flights. Both have websites, and both offer nearly the same pricing (order early=$69; order later=$79; order last-minute=$89 each way, per person).

Use a google.com or any search engine, query for "vacation rental (insert island)" and you'll find a plethora of companies who will help you find the appropriate cottage/condo/castle for your vacation. Here's a good general start point for lodging recommendations for the independent island traveler:
http://www.alternative-hawaii.com/accomg.htm

I've written this advice before regarding some of my own travels, hopefully this will help you. I will price my vacation via www.pleasantholidays.com and then take the rate to my travel agent. She will then take the price to classiccustomvacations.com (bookable by travel agent only) and classic will beat that price by another $50-75 dollars.

However, in order to save the most money and stay at the nicest places you should use Priceline. Biddingfortravel.com has all the info on how to bid (you MUST read the hotel FAQ first) and you can get a resort on the beach in your desired area for around $140. By using Priceline you should keep to your budget easily.

You may also want to check out web rates at Aston.com also, then compare it with Pleasant's prices. Don't forget Pleasant's prices include tax.

Finally, there are many travel agents out there and few of them are very good. Hawaii is a very expensive place to visit and again, TA's don't get comission on must condos and B&B's. Don't expect good rates on the B&B's. But if you still get bad rates for hotels find a new travel agent. But, as mentioned above, priceline will get you the best deal for a resort hotel in Hawaii. Hope this helps.

As JohnD says, pays your money & takes your chances. Unless you get an agent with good knowledge and experience in the area you're better off doing it yourself IF you have the time to do so.
For your budget an important item is the airfares to the islands from home unless you've got FF miles to burn. Check travelocity/orbitz etc regularly. For interisland see:
http://www.hawaiianair.com/
http://www.alohaairlines.com/firefly...ent/index.html

Note Aloha has great rates if you join their FF program.

Thw wizardpub.com series of guidebooks has aerial photos of condos etc on their website, can give you an idea when chasing down a lead. Example for Maui http://www.wizardpub.com/maui/mauaerials.html
We've had good luck using aavacations.com sometimes their package deals are hard to beat. Can't say much more as don't know which island(s) you're considering.

Finally, assuming you can get a decent fare to Hawaii, the total $4k goal is quite doable. Good hunting.

Well, knowledge and experience are not really the issue here. TA's have been living hand to mouth ever since the advent of the internet, and few of them will go out of their way booking places where they make no commission (who can blame them?). That includes most B&Bs and condos.

But there are areas where TA's are still very useful, such as for air travel, car rentals and cancellation insurance. E.g. on our last trip last January our TA got us round trip, non-stop from SFO to Kona on United for $360PP, which was lower than any United fare we were able to find ourselves. And for $25 we were able to get cancellation insurance through him that would have reimbursed us the entire cost of the trip if we needed to cancel for any reason.

Travelinwifey has the best solution: get the best online price you can, and take it to several TA's in your area and see if any of them can beat it. You'll likely have more luck booking a B&B yourself, and shopping TA's for "fly/drive" packages for your air travel and car rental.