Repost of Elliot’s Blog www.elliott.org
1. Cruising
Travel agents remain your best bet
for a floating vacation. Why? Two main reasons: First, cruise lines give travel
agencies access to special deals that you probably won’t find anywhere else.
And second, because a cruise can get complicated. There are airline tickets
that have to be bought, hotel rooms to be booked, shore excursions and lots of
options on the ship. “Often, cruise agents will book group space on popular
sailings, which often entitle them to offer their clients bonus items — onboard
money to spend, champagne toasts, discounted deposits and more,” says cruise
expert Carmen Shirkey. “Plus, because they’ve booked space on the best cruises,
other sites may tell you that there’s no availability, when a cruise agent can
get you onboard, no problem.”
2. Traveling around the world
An around-the-the-world itinerary is
usually far more complex than a straight-up roundtrip airline ticket. Never
mind the hotel arrangements and activities you’ll want to plan. Travel agents
are best suited to these kinds of vacations. Blogger and frequent traveler
Steven Frischling has taken several around-the-world trips for business. “Last year,
in a 3 1/2- day span, I photographed jobs in Philadelphia, Frankfurt, Hong Kong
and Incheon — departing from and returning to Providence,” he says. “There was
no online booking engine that would allow this itinerary.”
3. When you don’t have the time
If you work with a travel agent who knows your preferences, you might consider
outsourcing the research for your next vacation. “If you’re a busy professional
with no interest in doing the research and would rather be dreaming about
sipping a Caipirinha on Copacabana beach than doing all the legwork to get
there, why not work with an agent?” says Patricia Pinkney, who works for an
artisan jewelry retailer. “In this case, they save time rather than money, but
ultimately that may be more valuable to them.”
4. If you’re uncomfortable with the
Inter-Web
If you’re reading this article online, this probably doesn’t apply to you.
Karina Goldrajch, the co-founder of GenMobi Technologies, a security company,
says people should stay away from booking online if they’ve never done it
before, and particularly if their next trip is a special event, like an
anniversary or honeymoon (see Fletcher’s story for more on that). But even if
you’ve booked on the Web before, you should think twice before doing it again.
“If you think that the Web site looks fishy, or something looks too good, it
probably is,” she says.
5. Traveling internationally
A weekend in London is one thing. However, if you’re headed off to a country
whose name you can’t pronounce, you probably need to stay off the computer — at
least when you book. Find a travel professional that specializes in the place
you’re going. Tonya Fitzpatrick, who hosts a travel radio show, learned that
when she tried to help a family member and her companion after they booked a trip to Costa
Rica online. “An international trip is a different animal,” she
said. “At the end of the day they incurred more expenses because they booked
online.”
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6. Doing something exotic
This is for the trips that aren’t for everyone, such as sailing up the coast of
British Columbia and Alaska, as the people who book Maureen Gordon’s Maple Leaf
Adventures packages do. (Imagine climbing over the rail of a schooner into a zodiac
to go bear-watching.) “When we speak to someone on the phone, we can make sure
a trip is right for them,” she says. “And when you’re sharing 92-feet in the
wilderness with eight others, plus guides, you want to know everyone around you
is happy.”
7. Special events
A honeymoon, anniversary or class reunion falls into this category. But mostly,
a honeymoon. “Engaged couples have enough to worry about,” said John Peters,
the president of Tripology, a New York referral service for travel agents. “A
honeymoon is a time where you need to be looked after, not when you should be
worrying about yet another item on a to-do list that's much too long to begin
with.” An agent can make sure your vacation is as close to perfect as it can
be, from start to finish. A Travel Professional can also make sure you’ve
booked the right vacation.
Wondering if you should consult with
a travel agent before your next vacation? There are some who think it’s always
a good idea to phone a travel pro first. Sheryl Kayne, author of the book
“Volunteer Vacations Across America,” said you should “never book online”
before checking first with an agent — and that’s especially true of anyone
considering a volunteer vacation, which, like a cruise, can get more complex
than other trips. “You also don’t want to book a trip before knowing all of the
requirements and conditions of the trip.”
Me? I’m not so convinced. I’d turn
to a travel agent if I were going somewhere special for a family reunion and
didn’t have the time to plan the whole thing. But travel agents aren’t
charities, and they make almost nothing on a simple point-to-point airline
ticket.
Yes, there are a few trips I can’t
imagine planning through anyone except a travel pro. For the rest, I fire up my
laptop computer.
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