As a travel agent, or I think a more accurate term is travel consultant, I get asked a lot of travel questions. I have been asked many times to beat a price on a “deal” they found on the internet, at Costco Travel, or on one of the big Online Travel Booking Sites. One of the biggest misconceptions is that a travel agent’s biggest advantage is saving you money. I get it, never before have we had so many choices or options to research trips, book travel, compare rates and get peer reviews of locations all while sitting on our couch. There was a time when you could not book a plane ticket without using a travel agent. Travel agencies had rows of glossy brochures lined up and ready to entice their customers with dreamy vacations on far away islands. Things changed and we are now in the current DIY stage where you can pretty much do it all from your smartphone. While there are times a travel consultant can get a better price or more often a better value for your dollars that is not the biggest advantage.
If price is not the biggest advantage to booking with a travel agent then what is?
Time, travel agents save you time.
…money is not the prime asset in life. Time is.” Gordon Gecko, Wall Street 2
On average it is estimated that the typical family vacation requires 10-20 hours or so of planning, and triple that if it is a Walt Disney World Vacation and you want Character Dining, Fast Passes etc. As a travel consultant, this is what we do, every day, and love it! A travel agent can easily use their experience to save you the time to research locations, wait on hold to book a Princess Dinner, make sure you are seated at the 2nd dining session on your cruise and so much more. They handle the details and you get the detailed itinerary and pack. They don’t pack for you but they will send you a packing list. The benefits a traveler receives from a travel agent is amazing. Since time is our most precious commodity as we can never get it back, I list that as the biggest advantage.
There are many other advantages of booking your vacation with a travel consultant, from extra upgrades to insider knowledge and you become an instant VIP. Many travel consultants are specialists in a certain area, they have forged relationships with hotels, cruise lines and their own travel agency hosts and special savings groups and consortias. Clients of Confetti Travel Company know they can trust us with all of their information. We take the time to find out as much as we can about your family so we can help match you with the perfect vacation. We work with you and your level of comfortability in booking. Some clients like to get more involved in the planning and others say “I just want to pack and you tell me where to show up”. The personalized VIP treatment is ideal in the event something goes wrong. You do not have to call 800 numbers and wait on hold to ask a question or make a change, your travel agent will take care of all of the details. Confetti Travel Company is a member of the Gifted Travel Network host agency. What that means to our customers is we have a network of helpers ready to assist us make your vacation fantastic, an amazing group of travel professionals that collaborate and help us with vetting locations, (we love to travel but there are still a few places we haven’t been), assist with any issues that arise, share ideas and so much more.
Curious to see if working with a travel agent is a good match for your family? Set up a consultation to talk about your vacation plans and we can discuss the process.
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