Why Should You Use a Travel Agent When Planning Your Next Vacation?

One of the questions I get asked most often is "Why do I need to use a travel agent when I book a vacation?" In today's world of easy online booking, that is a very valid question. So with that in mind, let's dive in to the reasons why you may not NEED a travel agent, but you definitely SHOULD use a travel agent when planning your next vacation!

1-SAVE TIME!

Chances are, you rarely have time to sit down and truly plan out a vacation. You especially probably don't have the time to go through multiple vacation options and figure up the prices, pros and cons, and everything else involved with all the possible options in front of you. This is where a travel agent can help the most. A travel agent can sift through the many, many options and narrow down choices based on a few simple questions of what you are looking for. Not only can they do this for you, but they can do it, more than likely, a lot more efficiently than you could. Their experience gives them the ability to know where to look if you are looking for specific things, such as budget-friendly, adult-only, foodie-related, etc. After they narrow down the options, they can present the options to you in a very concise manner, making your selection that much easier. As the saying goes, time is money, and the amount of time a travel agent can save you is worth it's weight in gold!

2-PERSONAL SERVICE!

One of the biggest pros to using a travel agent is the level of individualized service you will get that you will NEVER get from any online booking site. If you have questions about a certain location, a particular fee, or the best excursion for families in Cozumel, how easy is it to find an answer like that on a site like Orbitz, Travelocity, or Hotwire? Near impossible! With a travel agent, you can have that question answered by simply picking up the phone or shooting them a message, and if they don't know the answer they will find the answer for you! Again, saving you TIME!

3-AVOID STRESS!

Oftentimes, planning a vacation to get away from the everyday stresses in your life just adds new stress to your life! A travel agent can help track down the best deals, help with issues that arise during travel, and answer questions that come up throughout the process of planning. The relieving of stress can be an absolute life-saver when planning a vacation to a location you may have never been to before or aren't that familiar with. Additionally, in a location like Walt Disney World that requires so much advanced planning, a travel agent is essential if you are a first-time visitor so that you are not completely lost in the process!

4-GET SPECIAL DEALS!

Travel agents, through their travel agency and relationships with suppliers, can oftentimes have access to special deals and offers not available to the general public. For example, a cruise line may reach out to an agency that sells a large volume of cruises for them at times when they are trying to boost sales. This may happen at the beginning of their fiscal year, to boost sales of a underperforming ship/itinerary, or just as a thank you to that particular agency. Additionally, many travel agents will offer their own special offers, especially related to cruises, where they may offer additional on board credit on top of any specials the cruise line is currently offering.

5-SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESS!

A majority of travel agents you see advertising their business on social media are home-office based agents, and only use their affiliation to larger agencies for their connections to the different suppliers offering travel packages. For example, we at Ryan Travels consists of Ryan and his wife, that's it. Every time you book through us, you are supporting our family! We are affiliates of Magical Enchanted Vacations, which gives us access to numerous travel suppliers and networks to find you the best deals possible. So know that each time you book a trip with us, or almost any travel agent for that matter, you are helping a small business!

6-IT IS FREE!

One of the biggest misconceptions about using a travel agent is that it costs you extra on top of your vacation. THIS IS NOT TRUE! A travel agent gets paid a commission from the travel supplier (Disney, Universal, Carnival Cruise Line, etc) after you complete your trip. There are some well-established travel agents that may charge a planning fee to help weed out "tire kickers" that are just looking for quotes with no intention of booking. These are usually agents that have been around for years and years and exist solely on previous clients, referrals, etc and no longer make a majority of their income on "new" clients, so that is how they weed out the not-so-serious inquiries. Here at Ryan Travels, we do NOT charge a planning fee, so when we say our services are completely free, we mean FREE!

Hopefully after reading these reasons, we have convinced you the next time you want to plan a vacation you reach out to a travel agent to assist you! And we would LOVE to be that travel agent you use! If you are interested in getting a FREE, no-obligation quote, click HERE!