Why Book With a Travel Agency?

I have worked in the travel industry for a long time, and I have managed a travel agency. I’ve seen so many people fall into the trap on booking their travel arrangements on-line rather then with an agent. They don’t want the agents to get the commission and rather save the few dollars extra they would have spent with an agent. I say few because it really is!

What the average person doesn’t think about when they book their arrangements on-line is, when things go wrong they don’t have anyone to go to. They will be listening to “You’re number 52 in our queue but please hold, your query is really important to us”. You have to remember the cheapest tickets that you get are the least flexible ones. They may be able to save you a few dollars, but are unlikely to be changed if you need them to be, if they are this can usually be done for a fee that probably isn’t as small as you’d thought it would be.

In some instances I think the Internet, is a good tool to book travel. Let’s say that you urgently have to go on a domestic flight the following morning, you will then be very sure that you are in fact going how many people will be traveling together etc.

This is the only instance I would use the Internet to book tickets. I can safely say that most airlines don’t really give agents that much commission. The margins in this industry is unbelievably tight, you would really be surprised if you know how little commission of your payment the agent gets.

The most important reason why I would discourage anyone from booking on-line if it can be avoided is, the terms and conditions when you book on-line, is the tiny writing that people usually ignore. All the details the agents will tell you, if you ring them or go into their store. They will qualify you, and give you the choice but at least you would’ve been told. Truth is the travel industry has never been as bad as it is today, the economy is bad in a lot of countries which results in an average family may go on a cheaper holiday then usual and agencies commission percentage keeps decreasing. Due to this fact most agents would try to sell you the cheapest options, at the moment they need to aim for the repeat business rather then the commission per single sale. Another thing to keep in mind is, most hotels will charge a client what is called “rack rates” which is usually a higher charge then the agents will sell to you. The agents have access to wholesale rates which is usually even with their fees added cheaper then the “rack rate”.

I don’t think that the use for travel agents will ever disappear, I think what has happened instead is that people don’t use travel agents for domestic fares but for international travel rather.

— By Elin Takitimu