The internet has made it so easy for travelers these days, hasn’t it? You can spend a day in front of your laptop researching deals, looking at vacation videos on YouTube, chatting in online forums… All of that work and you are still are only 85% sure that you’re getting exactly what you want. Here is a scenario for you to consider.
Meet Carol. 
Hi, Carol….
Carol is a savvy bargain shopper. She scours the internet and printed ads every week for coupons and deals, and she shops at a wholesaler such as Sam’s Club or Costco to get the best prices, even if she must buy bulk to get it. She wants to take a vacation with her husband, so she spends a week surfing the internet, looking at cruises, all-inclusive resorts, packaged deals to Las Vegas, cabin rentals in Gatlinburg, and relaxing BnB’s in Vermont. Unsure of what she really needs or wants, she settles on a cruise from Expedia (based on a great ad that popped up in her search). She clicks on the ad banner, gets redirected to the promotion, only to find out that the price listed wasn’t exactly as advertised. So the final price was a bit of sticker shock to her, but it still seemed reasonable. She clicked through all of the booking requirements (thankful that she didn’t have to deal with a pushy salesperson and could do it all online), paid a small deposit, and was happy. The cruise was 6 months away, and she didn’t have to have it paid in full until 60 days before she set sail, so she made a plan to set money aside for each of the next 4 months to pay it all off at the deadline. She didn’t add travel insurance because it said it was optional, and why would she even need it; same with gratuities. This was her first time cruising, and she wanted to make sure the service she would receive would even warrant paying a gratuity, so she didn’t choose that, either.
Being the bargain hunter that she is, she continues to see great cruise deals even after she books, but figure that since she is already booked there isn’t much she can do about it now. She gets an email that their flight that should arrive into the port city by 10:45am has been changed and she will now arrive there at 2pm. She takes a deep breath and tells herself that it’s not a big deal and that the ship doesn’t leave until 4pm anyway. A few months pass and her vacation is fast approaching.
She calls the 800 number from the internet travel site and waits 10 minutes on hold. The person on the other end reads a script and asks her to verify who she is before they proceed. He offers her an insincere congratulations on the purchase of her cruise and then asks which credit card she’ll be using, even though he gets her name wrong a few times. She makes the final payment and begins the countdown to her cruise vacation.
The day before their big cruise she is scrambling to get everything together and finalize packing for herself and her husband. The morning of their flight she is hurrying around trying to get to the airport on time and hoping (ok, praying) that the flight is not delayed or cancelled. They arrive to the cruise port by taxi and are completely lost as to what to do. The porter asks to take their bags, but notices that they do not have any luggage tags from the cruise line. He has to have them fill one out before he can take it. They go inside to get screened through security and aren’t sure where to go or what to do so they follow everyone else through. They instruct them where to go and they wait in line to see an agent who asks for the paperwork, which is of course, buried on the bottom of Carol’s bag. Thank goodness she remembered to bring their passports! Up an escalator and the gangway and they are on the ship at last.
On board Carol see lines already forming for excursions, but figure she will wait until later when the lines let up. Later becomes the next day and when she goes to book that once in a lifetime trip, she sees that it is sold out. She gets on a wait list for their second choice excursion and hope that they will at least be able to do that one. They realize that their dinner seating is far later than she would have liked, but what can she do now? They’re having fun, but reality starts setting in and they realize their dream cruise vacation was nice, but nothing like she expected it to be. This is true when they know that they have little time to catch their flight home from the time they leave the ship. More praying in the taxi on the way to the airport and although they make it in time, the entire trip was more stressful than she ever expected a vacation to be.
So, how could a travel agent have made Carol’s vacation with her husband any different? Well, for starters, that “great” deal on the internet? An experienced agent would have had, at the very least, the same deal (but more than likely either a better price or more amenities such as onboard credit). Furthermore, an agent would have had information and experience with multiple cruise lines and ships, and would have been able to match her and her husband with the perfect experience, not just the best price. An agent would have advised her to book the flight a day earlier and a moderately-priced hotel the night before in order to arrive stress-free and get onboard the ship rested and relaxed. An agent would have communicated with her the entire time she was waiting for her cruise and given her tips on packing, shore excursion bookings, required documents, etc. An agent would have used her initial credit card authorization from the deposit and paid the cruise either through regular monthly payments, or all at the end with either a quick email, text message, or phone call. The experience getting onboard the ship would have been explained in detail, and the agent would have even gotten her on the ship faster. For every facet of the trip, the travel agent would have been there and taken the stress out of the equation.
We as travel agents have one-on-one relationships with the cruise lines, tour companies, resorts & hotels, and airlines. We have access to resources that consumers do not. If, heaven forbid, something does go wrong, the agent is your advocate. We may not be able to have a lower price than is advertised online, but we do have extras and amenities that can be added to the already matched price you see online. But sometimes, we can get an even better price. We have skills. We have relationships. We have resources. We have experience. We do all of the work, so you don’t have to. It’s your vacation. Relax. Let someone else do the heavy lifting for a change. Furthermore, maybe a cruise WASN’T the best vacation choice for her. A simple conversation with her agent about her expectations could have led to a different, even more rewarding vacation experience.
In short, try using a travel agent. You’re not going to lose any money, so if you DON’T like your experience with the agent, nothing has been lost and you can go back to being the internet guru you were born to be.
