Lisa- Good point. Just wanted people to know that your msg was just regarding hotels and cars and not airline tickets or tours.<BR>

Lisa, if you haven'tbeen able to find an agent that beats the hotel rates you musn't be looking too hard. Are you adding on the hotel taxes? The agencies will quote you a final price that is about the same BEFORE tax is added by hotels direct. Also, many times there are 5th night free offers and breakfast for 2 offers. Also, Starwood still gives you their perks even if you used a consolidator for travel. I think you're still overpaying and don't realize it.

This is my current itinerary travel agents. Can you beat these prices? If you can you have restored my faith. Next month we leave for Oahu. We are staying at the Royal Hawaiian as Starwood Platinum Members for $227.00 per night for 4 nights. Please keep in mind that as platinum members we get the best available room in the house including a suite. This room is booked as a historic garden room.<BR><BR>We then go onto Maui to the Kea Lani for 14 nights at $200.00 per night because we have an American Airlines voucher that gives us a buy one night at rack rate get the 2nd night free up to 7 nights. We pay for 7 nights, we get 7 free and as members of the Presidents club we get a free upgrade. My husband has a free FF ticket on American and my ticket was 700.00 from the east coast.<BR><BR>Can you beat these prices?

Wow! I'm a starwood platinum member and I never get suites! What do you do that I'm not doing? And I pay more for the rooms too! Did you buy the presidents club membership to get those coupons and are they usable for every Hawaii hotel? That's a great deal!

There's no denying that's a great deal but what happens when you want to stay at the Four Seasons? Also, to keep Platinum status you must stay in Starwood properties for more than 30 nights per year or you loose your status. That severely limits your hotel choices. I gave up on tying to keep my gold status because I don't like to limit myself to the hotel choices. Also, www.luxurylink.com runs terrific deals on Starwood properties in Hawaii for the Royal Hawaiian, Kapalua Bay hotel, and Molokai ranch. Also they run deals on the Kea Lani and Grand Wailea too.

I never leave home without using my travel agent. If there is ever a problem, I can call them collect from anywhere and they fix it.<BR><BR>If their price is a little higher, it is because they include vouchers to get from Airport to Hotel & back, they include any island departure tax and many many other amenities.<BR><BR>their airfares are more direct (you can always get a cheaper sprice if you don't care what time you leave or how long it takes to get there).<BR><BR>get your best price & what your are getting for that price and take it to your travel agent. NO I AM not a travel agent, but we travel 3 or 4 times a year for the last 10 years. Vince

Some people just prefer to do top price instead of doing a little work of their own.

Well, as a new travel agent, this thread has sure been interesting reading! As a veteran of "doing it myself" travel planning, I certainly see the virtues of that and have enjoyed the excitement and education of researching and booking my destinations. And, I still think that it's wise for anyone to do so, given they have the time and inclination. And, I must admit that I have never used travel agents, preferring to educate myself about where I'm going and to know all my options, so I can find what best suits me at the best price. And, I will continue to do that myself and would recommend it to others - it's just smart to compare! I will put in one plug for travel agents, though, that I wasn't previously aware of. I recently had a client wanting to go to Hawaii to Oahu next year. When I contacted the tour company, I found the airfare to be significantly lower (hundreds less) than on the web and I did a search of this for every month! I was shocked because I've always believed it to be done cheaper directly! When I selected lodging for the client, however, that was cheaper done directly than through the tour company by 20%. If I could just purchase the air from the tour company and book lodging directly, I would, but we can't. We can book land only, but not air only. But still, totalled all together, the savings in airfare exceeded the savings in lodging, so it's still cheaper to book through the tour company. And, something else to consider is that for just $26/pp with this tour company, you get travel insurance on the entire trip whereby you cancel for any reason up to 24 hours before travel and get a full refund. If you purchase air on your own, you're SOL these days - the airlines are really cracking down on standbys, refunds and exchanges by either not allowing them at all or attaching stiff penalties plus fare differences. So, all that considered, I think the tour company is the better way to go. As a travel agent, I will do the research for my clients to get them the best possible deal because that's what I want and do for myself and because I want them to have faith in me as their agent and maybe they'll call me again next time. I wouldn't feel comfortable selling them something overpriced and honestly, the commission is pretty low anyway that the overpriced hotel isn't going to get me much more money anyway - I'd rather provide a good product and service than worry about a few extra dollars! So, I think getting quotes from travel agents and pricing it out on your own is the smartest thing to do. I think the key is getting a good travel agent who's honest and willing to take the time to shop those deals that are privvy just to travel agencies. And, even if it costs a little more, it may be worth the time you saved having them book it and having them handle any problems instead of you and if the tour company provides inexpensive insurance including the air which you can't get yourself, inexpensively, anyway. Just food for thought - there's merits to both approaches, in my opinion.

I say, go and do your research online, make sure all taxes, fees, transfers etc. are included. Then give that itineary to a TA, if he/she can meet or beat your price, then go ahead and use the TA. If not, go and book it yourself. Some times, if the TA's price is a little bit more than what I can get by myself I still go with a TA because it's a lot easier. So really, it's all up to you. I some times use a TA and some times I don't.

The people on this board aren't really representative travelers...we love not only to travel but also to do all the research involved in creating a fun and cost-effective itinerary, so we're less likely to use TAs. Not everybody feels that way. I went on a package tour of Italy this summer, and I was downright shocked at the number of people on the tour who'd done no preparation whatsoever--no maps, no tour books, no reading up on the destination, they didn't even know they could get lire from a cash machine (Bancomat in Italy). Obviously people like that wouldn't have the foggiest idea how to plan a trip on their own. As long as people like that are around, there will be plenty of business for travel agents!

This post is from 2002.

Ok Travel Agents prove it to me
AUS - HNL 6-2-04
HNL - KOA 6-5-04
KOA - LIH 6-12-04
LIH - AUS 6-18-04
SHOW ME THE MONEY. If I like your price I'll book and give you my regulare email account here's my Yahoo
[email protected] my junk mail goes here but I do occasionally check it.