USA Today Shines Spotlight on Travel Agents as Problem Solvers

More and more, mainstream media is catching on to the power of a good travel agent.

The latest, from USA Today’s Bill McGee, focuses on the power and helpfulness of travel agents when things go wrong. Although McGee touches on a wide variety of things travel agents do well, this column is a specific follow-up to a previous piece on airline dissatisfaction—directly painting agents as the solution for travelers’ biggest woe.

Later in the piece, McGee also talks about agents’ ability when it comes to dealing with all sorts of travel hiccups from hotel to rental car mix-ups. It’s a handy guide for the consumer, but it’s really just scratching the surface of what a good agent does for their client.

Perhaps where the column shines the brightest light on travel agents is the place where most conversations with prospective clients starts—yes, travel agents still exist, and here are all the things they can do.

McGee even takes the time to dive deep into the numbers and show that most of the problems that clients have with agencies are with bigger online travel agencies and not smaller, much-more-reliable agencies. He also name drops organizations like the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) and United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) as places that vet and can signify and agent is worth doing business with.

These sorts of articles are nothing particularly new, but the reminders are constantly needed as travel becomes more and more frequent for potential clients who may not know how much easier travel agents can made their lives.