Comments on: Love/Hate Relationship with Travel Agents

By: Freya

Freya — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 06:33:20 +0000

Travel agents can be reliable if they have travelled to the places themselves. However, if you have the time to research a destination, you’re better off looking for deals and places to visit yourself because you are not taking someone else’s word for good.

You got to really trust the travel agent before you hand over your hard earned cash!

By: Vacation Bound | After the Alter

Vacation Bound | After the Alter — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:50:00 +0000

[...] favorite, but we had to find something else. We came up with Hilton Head, but according to our Travel Agent it was going to be out of our budget for the accommodations we wanted. Then a friend of mine [...]

By: Jen

Jen — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 05:43:47 +0000

I guess it depends on the travel agent. I had one who refused to put me in a place that I saw was nice because he KNEW that it had gone down hill. I give him tons of credit for that. I guess you need to find someone you trust!

By: L.W.

L.W. — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:53:47 +0000

Problem with travel agents is they only sell you what they can make money on.

We had 2 disastrous experiences about 10 years ago and gave up. One sold us a package to an “all inclusive” in Jamaica, where we learned that we were subsidizing the guests who dumped their kids and sat and drank by the pool all day – our worst trip EVER.

The other was a gal who insisted on booking us in to a Best Western wherever we went, even though I told her there were other interesting places to try. We gave up our deposit with her agency and I booked the entire 3 weeks on my own, by phone, before it was possible to do it all on the Internet.

So we will never, ever use a travel agent again. I so appreciate on-line reviews, and I make it a point to post my own reviews to keep everything current and open.

Happy New Year,

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:55:47 +0000

thank you so much for the link! I will take a look and pass on the info! My brother and sister in law will be traveling there this summer!

By: Christine

Christine — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 02:40:26 +0000

Completely agree Jen. I like doing some web surfing to get an idea of pricing and whats out there and just for fun…but I always book with an agent. I’d be a wreck not having someone to call if there were problems!

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:58:24 +0000

Thanks for the Travel Agent information!

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:25:55 +0000

I get that travel agents are sales people, and I get that they add service charges, but I also know that so far every trip I’ve booked I have checked the same trip on expedia as well as orbitz (other sites as well)and the price I recieved was cheaper.
Also, I am a salesman myself. There are alot of online companies that can sell what I can sell. What do I tell my customers? That I offer “value added” products. Meaning that yes they can order online, and yes a price may be cheaper..but that online company does not have a face or a name and is not always looking out for your best interest. That’s how I feel about travel agents. Especially the 2 I mentioned in the post. If there were extra fees it was worth it to know in Greece when we had airline trouble we had someone to call to fix it, and in the going to the Dominican when our flight was delayed we had someone to call to give us advice. To me that is worth ALOT!

By: Nikki

Nikki — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:20:11 +0000

From Wikipedia:
“Travel agencies have been accused of employing a number of restrictive practices, the chief of which is known as ‘racking’. This is the practice of displaying only the brochures of those travel companies whose holidays they wish to sell, the ones that pay them the most commission. Of course, the average customer tends to think that these are the only holidays on offer and is unaware of the possible alternatives.”

and

“In the United States, most airlines pay no commission at all to travel agencies. In this case, an agency usually adds a service fee to the net price.”

The biggest reason I use the internet is because I get a very large variety of opinions on a place, not just one (the travel agent). Don’t be fooled, travel agents are salespeople. They work on commission. The greatest part about the internet and booking through internet resources is that you get REAL PEOPLE’S opinions. It’s not people trying to sell you anything, just people who want to tell you what they thought.