I recently had someone ask me for a recommendation for a Tour Operator for a client who was going on a honeymoon to Spain. This person happily related to me that they had just started a travel agency and needed help in creating a list of TO’s they could use going forward for Spain.
I realized then that I had never answered this question here so now I will tell you why I do my own travel arranging.
In the recent past I was a travel agent (Lince’s Leisure Vacations) and a Tour Operator (Global Explorer Club), both companies which I have since closed. I have been personally traveling for over 30 years and have been to 4 continents and over 32 countries so I feel qualified to talk about travel sellers and travel companies. I have also been trained as an International Tour Manager.
The main reason I do my own travel arranging is that many of the so called Travel Agents selling travel have never left the US. Most don’t even have a passport.
Many people with a travel agent shingle have no idea how to arrange a package for a client; which TO to use; how to look at a TO website and know if they are a direct tour operator or just a reseller or even how to find out if a TO is a good TO or not. Many travel agents do not have first hand knowledge of the TO’s they are selling so they seek out help from other travelers or other agents and hope they get a great answer.
I read the travel agent question and answer boards and I cringe over how many agents get hired by a client and they turn around and get on the travel agent boards and cry for help because they don’t have a clue how to send the client to London, or to Paris, or to anywhere because they have never been to the place themselves.
My first advice to anyone is to interview the Travel Agent. This is a job. Do you want this person selling you travel if they have no passport; have never been to the country you are trying to get too; if they have not traveled how do they get their travel knowledge and who trained them; would they know how to help you if you have a problem while on your trip; do they know which is better for your trip, travel insurance or medical emergency insurance.
This being said I have also ‘fired’ clients. People who wanted my help; have traveled a time or two but never to the country I have direct knowledge of; but people who were so difficult to work with because they really didn’t want me with my travel knowledge, they wanted a travel arranger. So I fired them as clients. I have no idea if they ever made it to their destinations. Sometimes making 10% just wasn’t worth my sanity.
So many people today click on buttons to arrange their own travel and because they have done it successfully a time or two they think that a real travel agent isn’t worth the paltry 10% they make on your vacation. The 10% you are paying anyway to any booking engine I might add. The difference is a real travel agent; someone with experience and travel smarts is fighting to make a living and having to deal with clients who make their lives a living hell. If you want a travel agent to help you, if you interview them and feel they are the right fit for you; then let them help you; do not waste their time; do not waste your time.
I once made the mistake of sending four people to Peru. None of them had ever traveled outside of the US and this was their first trip. None of them had a passport and none of them was listening to me when I told them that traveling directly to Cusco, Peru from the US was not a good idea and they being the clients didn’t want to spend any time in Lima getting acclimated to the climate so they insisted on me making their travel arrangements their way. One of them almost ended up in the hospital; two of them were so sick they had to cancel the first tour they paid for which was not refundable and two of them no longer speak to one another. In hind site at the first sign that they wanted me to book their way or no way I should have fired them and told them to have a nice day. Going forward I did just that.
For us I haven’t met an agent who has traveled as much as I have. Going on cruise ships and getting off at ports of call does not constitute travel knowledge or travel experience to me. So many agents don’t have a clue about the people, the places and the cultures of the countries I have been. I would also never sell travel to places I had never been and I would tell clients such. I just wouldn’t do it.
I therefore see this issue from both aspects; from the agent side, and from the passenger side. If I ever need to buy travel through an agent I will be sure to interview them. I just might find that rare person who does have knowledge and first hand experience about a place I haven’t been.
Florence Lince
http://www.about.me/florencelince
The Expat C.A.F.E. 