Why you should use a travel planner

With the invention of the internet and a huge array of travel booking sites, the question comes to mind; why would anyone still use a travel agent? Sure you can book flights and resorts through a multitude of websites and you can even have chat GPT plan an itinerary (I will elaborate on this but that’s for a later blog post). But are we really to that point that we want to spend thousands of dollars on something a robot is planning for us? I am still the person who goes the one lone checker instead of self check out, or goes in person to make purchases or schedules in person meetings instead of zoom. Why would I do this? It’s the personal touch that only contact with a real human can provide.

This is the same with travel. Imagine having someone, a real live someone, that you are able to contact anytime you need. Imagine having an advocate for this really expensive purchase you made. What if your flight gets delayed and you miss a connection? What if the hotel is trying to give you a different room type than you paid for, what if you forget to make your dining and activity reservations on time so you are not able to get any that you want? These things can happen and without your travel advocate you are left to navigate the systems by yourself. Do you have the time for this? Do you want to deal with this? This is exactly where using a travel agency can come in handy. They will be the person you can call for help. They can reach out to their contacts and see what kind of magic they are able to make happen.

A travel advisor can also help you know where to start. Sometimes you have a destination in mind or a trip you have always wanted to take but sitting down and actually navigating how to plan it keeps you from actually going on the trip. Even going to the internet and scouring travel sites for ideas and bookings can be overwhelming. Have you ever looked up a destination on several different sites and realize they are telling you several different ways to take that trip? Which one is the best advice, which one will you like best? Then you begin to think about the amount of money you will spend and worry whether it will be worth. A travel agent will take the time to get to know you and what kinds of things will make you have the best trip possible. They can help match you to the perfect accommodations, the perfect site seeing itinerary and the perfect dining options. They will be there to make sure you pick the best vacation for you personally.

Of course the question of cost always comes to mind. The good news is that a lot of times using a travel advisor will not cost you extra and might even be able to save you money. A travel advisor will have access to all of the travel deals and offers and will be able to keep an alert on if a lower price comes available for your destination. A lot of suppliers that travel agents are able to use also do not charge any extra for going through the travel agency. A great example of this is Disney. Disney does not charge any additional fees when using a travel planner for the vacations. So now you are getting an advocate and someone to help book all of the extras that come with a Disney vacation and pay the same as if you were trying to go through their system yourself. They will also notify you even after you have booked a trip of any offers that lower your package cost.

All in all, there is no harm in at least consulting with a travel planner to see if they are able to help turn your trip into a dream vacation.