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How to Find the Right Travel Agent..?

In today’s Hi- Tech world, we have easy access to all kinds of information. We’re able to research, compare, and book travel right in the comfort of our own home. But the question arises – Who needs a travel agent anymore?

Fewer of us do, apparently. In last one decade the travel agents statistics had fallen by about 30%.

“They are an outdated remnant of past practices that add virtually no value to any transaction today,” says one of the employee working for Michigan airlines. After my recent recommendations of travel agent in various columns, I’ve been on the receiving end of the feedback – How could i..?.

So, here let me discuss about this common query. I believe that travel agents today still offer services and information that we can’t get on Internet. Granted, some things such as booking a simple flights, most people can successfully manage on their own. A travel agent however, can recommend smaller, alternative airports that the discount carriers use. This alone can save you quite a bit of money. However, the key thing that travel agents today offer is their first hand knowledge and right information. In planning a trip or vacation, one wants to find information about the places and regions suitable to them. Here the role of a travel agent comes into act considering the fact that they have traveled to many different places, they can provide much more insight than a brochure or web page can. Thus, finding the right travel agent is inevitable. The same thing goes for tours and specialty travel such as luxury, adventure, villa rentals, etc. A competent travel adviser can be your greatest asset when you’re planning a trip. The key word here is “competent.” And let me also define what I mean by agent: I’m not necessarily talking about an offshore call center worker reading from a script or a hobbyist who paid a few hundred bucks for bogus agency credentials. I mean a bona fide, certified travel professional. Once you decide to book a trip through an agent you must go through few quality check of an agent. These few measures include:

Understanding An Agent And Using Your Intuition – It’s important to feel out a prospective travel agent to see if you can build a rapport with them. This can be done even when you’re dealing with an Internet agency, through phone calls or e-mails. Face-to-face meetings are not necessary. The choice of right travel agent comes from knowledge, not words. The correct answers to your direct questions are what count. Before you even ask for a price quote, probe the knowledge and personality of the agent you may be putting in charge of your hard-earned vacation. If you get the right feel about this person, you then ask for a price quote. If a travel agent quotes you a price that is not the same as, or lower than the cost of booking directly, or doesn’t offer incentives like free insurance, or even a pre-cruise hotel room, they are choosing not to compete — a choice some agents do make. They hope to attract uneducated consumers. This not the kind of agent we recommend, unless the service is so fantastic you don’t mind missing out on a few perks. But price alone may not always be the best factor to find the right travel agent. We want the best price, but we also want assistance and service when we need it. Hence, when your skull asks this “ How to find the right travel agent”, the above mention criteria should strike you first.

Look For Certification – A right travel agent must be certified from some travel body or institution of his nation. This proves to be more promising or as the elderly travelers say “a certified travel agent is the right travel agent”.

Stay Local And Interview The Agent – There’s no substitute for the personal touch. My best experiences with agents have been one-on-one. The ability to meet — to look the agent in the eye, to shake his or her hand — is something online agencies can’t match. (Note: not all agents work in an office, but home-based agents can and do make personal visits.) The only exception to this rule is if you’re out to find an agent with a sought-after specialty. But even then, a trusted voice on the phone is preferable to the often unintelligible, script-reading customer service associate you’re connected to when dealing with a large agency. Mind this- a professional travel agent makes personal visits. Don’t pick the first agent you find. Talk to the travel pro. Pay close attention not only to the way your prospective agent responds, but also at what’s going on in the office around you.

Pressure Check – The only way to know for certain if your travel agent is a keeper is to see what happens when you run into trouble. A right travel agent would run through your foot steps in trouble. You must conform the services provided by the agent under such circumstances.

Good travel agents have an edge over almost any other seller of travel. They know what you want. They speak your language. And they’re there for you when you run into trouble.

In other words, travel agents aren’t obsolete. Only the bad ones are.

The stress of the wedding planning doesn’t always end with the wedding party, particularly if you don’t see to all the details of the long-waited for honeymoon. Have a look over the following words of advice for a perfect honeymoon travel regardless of whether you choose the car, the train, the plane or the boat as a means of transportation.

Tickets booking and hotel reservations should be taken care of in advance to prevent any inconveniences. If you know how to make good planning you’ll benefit from great rebates; airlines are known to first sell all classes of seats at the best prices, but as you get closer to the departure date, only the business class seats remain available.

Honeymooners also benefit from lots of travel packages, with various options included. Hence, tell the agency that you are looking for honeymoon travel opportunities, and you may strike a better deal. Sometimes people choose the all inclusive variant and trust the agency to tackle with everything from then flight details to the hotel reservations, while other couples take a more active approach to holiday planning.

A trip to a warmer place still requires smart packing, and that’s another honeymoon travel tip that you should not ignore. This is not about taking sweaters and jackets when going to Hawaii, but rather about choosing to have some extra apparel items available for all sorts of events, as you may want to wear something other than slippers and t-shirts. Don’t forget to take some water, a few snacks and the essentials necessary for the trip. By essentials we imply a list of emergency phone numbers, credit cards, cash and passports.

There are some very personal items that make honeymoon travel all the more rewarding . Take some music with you, preferably something to suit a romantic setting. Then, keep in mind that hotels provide all sorts of services on request, therefore, if you want to pamper yourself, the honeymoon could be the right time to start.

Feel the authenticity of the place to really make the best of your honeymoon travel: try new food, new music, get familiar with local cultures, communicate with the local inhabitants, see relevant local sites and points of attractions. Should there be any incidents, try not to be exaggerate, keep everything under control and focus on the memorable parts of your honeymoon.