Confused With All the Travel Information on the Internet?

There is so much information Give Sun Light available on the internet right now regarding travel. There are online travel sites for cruises, hotels, air, trains, and any other type of travel. But what is the correct product for you? Is the location of the hotel where you want to be? Is the type of room or cabin the right fit for you? Is that cruise line the one you should be booking? Not all products are created equal, nor are the products suitable for everyone. How do you tell? Contact a travel professional.

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Do travel agents exist?

There have been multiple articles, and even the President of the United States has said travel agents don’t exist or are going away. In a way, they are right. Travel agents in the past were just someone who booked a trip for someone who called or came into the storefront office of a travel agency. Storefront travel agencies are few and far between nowadays as most “travel agents” have gone home to work. Even the term “travel agent” is going away because what they do now is different from before.

Travel Professionals/Travel Counselors

Travel Agents are now more counselors and advisers, so they are now called Travel Professionals or Travel counselors. Even the travel industry is trying to get away from using the term “travel agent”. They no longer book a trip for someone; they know more than what is available to the traveling client. The travel professionals now are constantly learning, constantly traveling, receiving input from other travel professionals about where they have traveled, and are a resource for what is required to travel nowadays.

When you use an online travel agency like Expedia, Travelocity, etc., you can’t have someone protect your back. They book the travel for you, and then you are pretty much on your own. Say your flight gets canceled; who is going to book a replacement flight? You are, not them. If you use a travel professional, that travel professional will do it. If something goes wrong on your trip, who will make it right if the room you booked is not what you thought it would be? Who will make it right? A travel professional will also check constantly for price drops before final payment and whether a new promotion offered would be more beneficial than what was booked with a deposit. All these things can be addressed before the final price. A professional journey works with you from when you first talk to them until you are home safe and sound and any problems have been solved or addressed.

It Costs More to Use a Travel Professional

This is not always true. True, some travel professionals charge fees, but not all of them do. This is because some vendors, like airlines and hotels, don’t pay commission, or some vendors have decreased the number of commissions paid to the travel professional. To make ends meet, some travel professionals charge fees. I charge $50 per person for airline reservations domestically and $100 for airline reservations internationally. I will also charge a fee sometimes for hotels for the same reason or if I am putting the various sections of the trip together myself. If I book a cruise or a tour, I don’t charge a fee as the vendor pays me a commission. Remember, whether you use a travel professional or not, the commission is still being paid as it is automatically included in the price from the vendor. So, why not use a travel professional and avoid the hassle and save your time?