(Yes, we
know travel is mentioned 15 times already...but,
that is just the way it lays! Gosh!)/font>
How to Choose a Good Travel
Agent
(Reverse the
article to see what makes a yucky one!)
The
good news is that the travel agents
we connect you with have already self-selected
themselves as being better than average. Because
they pay a referral fee to us, and because they
know they're in a competitive situation with
other travel agents, only those who are
confident they can earn your business are likely
to respond to your travel request.
The following is a list of key factors to
consider in choosing a travel agent. You
probably won't need to consider every factor for
every trip. Obviously when you're simply seeking
a two-night package vacation to Vegas, you need
less input from a travel agent than when you're
planning a two month tour of Africa.
Quality of the Travel
Agency
Some of the factors to
consider relate to the travel agency the agent
works for. A good agent can be made better when
they are working for a good agency. A good
agency has probably been in business for at
least a few years. This has given them time to
build a 'track record' and to amass some
negotiating clout with suppliers and has given
them the corporate experience at dealing with
issues and problems, so as to create their own
internal systems and management procedures to
help your booking go smoothly.
A good agency probably belongs to a travel
agency association. The two main associations in
the US are the American Society of Travel Agents
(ASTA) and the Association of Retail Travel
Agents (ARTA).
Most good agencies also are accredited by the
airlines to issue tickets. The two accrediting
bodies are the Airlines Recording Corporation
(ARC) for domestic airlines and the
International Air Transport Association (IATA)
for international airlines.
A good agency probably belongs to some sort
of agency buying group or consortium or
franchise. This gives it access to preferred
rates at hotels, and gives it extra commission
with other suppliers - extra commission which
they might choose to share with you, or at least
use to ensure you don't have to make any
out-of-pocket payments to the agency as well.
Full-service or
limited-service agency
Can
the travel agency help you with all your travel
plans or is it unable (or unwilling) to help
with some parts of your vacation? Usually you'll
prefer to make all your arrangements with a
single travel agent/agency so as to minimize
possible errors that can occur when booking
different portions of your trip through multiple
sources or methods.
Full-time or part-time
agent
Generally you want to
deal with a travel agent who does this for a
living, full-time. You usually don't want to
have someone who works as a travel agent
part-time only, because plainly they have less
opportunity to get experience dealing with
clients like you, and less personal commitment
to succeed in the travel industry.
Specialization in the
travel you're looking for
We
believe it is impossible for one person to be a
specialist in everything and to know all about
the entire world.
You want to use an agent who specializes in
the type of travel you're considering.
Experience and knowledge
A
travel agent who has had some years of
experience is more likely to have encountered
most of the tricks and traps that can sometimes
lurk unexpectedly out there. There's also more
reason to believe that veteran agents are
committed to the travel industry and are likely
to remain so, at least until your travels have
been completed.
As well as general industry experience, you
want an agent who has personal and recent
knowledge of the travel products they'll be
recommending to you. This probably means they
should have visited the destinations you'll be
visiting, and done much of the same touring
you'll be doing. Hopefully they have stayed at
the same hotels, and have done so in the last
two or three years.
Agents can also supplement their personal
experience by sending other clients to the
places you'll be going and then getting feedback
from those people upon their return, and by
attending seminars and 'road shows' by suppliers
and destination tourism companies.
There are some semi-formal industry training
programs some agents choose to take. They might
have passed a Destination Specialist course for
the region you're traveling to - either one
offered by the region itself or by a recognized
travel agency school. They might have received
training in cruise lines/cruise ships, and they
might also have general travel management
training.
References
While we're on the topic of "other clients,"
feel free to ask the agent if they have some
satisfied past clients you can speak to as a
point of reference.
Ease of contact
You want to be able to conveniently contact your
travel agent both before your travels start and
potentially while you're traveling too.
How easy is it to contact your agent? Do they
consistently either answer their phone or
quickly return messages?
Do they have a toll free number for when
you're elsewhere in the US? Do they use email
and answer emails quickly?
What hours do they work? Do they have an
after-hours emergency service to help you if
you're traveling and something goes wrong
outside office hours?
Ability to understand
you and your needs
Does the
agent seem to be the type of person who
understands you and your travel interests? As an
extreme example, a 21-year old man is unlikely
to understand a 51-year old woman's interest in
visiting luxury spas. Does the agent ask you
sensible relevant questions and are they
answering your questions in a way that shows
they understand you and your needs?
Added value services
Is there anything else the agent or agency can
do to help you with your travels? You may even
wish to ask an open-ended question such as "How
else can you help me with my travels?"
Maybe the agent has a library of travel
videos they loan out to clients. Perhaps they
have access to cabin upgrades on cruises. By
some chance they may have a contract with an
airline that allows them to waive advance
booking requirements. Maybe there is something
else they can do - ask them.
Fees and rebates
These days, travel agents are less likely to
earn commissions on airfares. For that reason,
if you're only buying an airfare, the agent may
need to charge you a fee for their help. But if
you're buying a complete travel package, the
agent is more likely to be earning commissions
on most or all of the items they are booking for
you - sometimes as much as 20%.
If you're simply asking a travel agent to
book you a cruise, and if that takes the agent
no more than an hour or two to do, and if that
is perhaps a $5000 cruise on which they are
making a $1000 commission, some agencies may
choose to not only waive all fees for doing this
work for you, but also possibly to rebate back
to you part of their commission.
Of course if you are having the agent book a
detailed itinerary for you, including various
items of low value or which don't pay
commission, and if the agent ends up spending 20
hours on your booking and earns only $500 in
commissions, they're not going to want to rebate
any commission and might instead quite fairly
expect an extra fee from you.
There's no standard approach to this issue,
so you'll have to ask the question and negotiate
the outcome based on the complexity of your
booking and the amount of commission the agent
earns.
Summary
Our referral process increases the chance of you
dealing with a good agent. By considering the
appropriate factors we detail above, you can
ensure that the agent you ultimately choose is
not just a good agent but a great agent.
Epilogue: Every
single piece of information here is FREE. You
pay ONLY for services you contract for like
hotels, tours, tickets. Etc. No credit card, not
even a phone number, if you prefer. No gotchas,
gimmicks, or gags. Just good pure free travel
information about the places you want to go,
given to you by the folks who know. Click our
pages with confidence! Get ready for your
Vacation of a Lifetime!
