What Travel Agents Wish Consumers Knew

Despite the advent of online travel booking, some travel agents are convinced that potential customers would use their services if they actually knew what they did.

So we asked agents what they want consumers to know about what they do:

I Specialize but Can Help with Anything:

“As a travel professional, I do my very best to help my clients with any and all requests for travel,” said Ronda Zeneri, Land & Cruise Specialist.

“I specialize in cruises, both ocean and river, all-inclusive resort vacations, destination weddings and honeymoons, guided tours, European vacations, resort stays, theme park vacations, etc. But I’ll be happy to help my clients with anything else that they have in mind.  I am passionate about planning multi-generational, family vacations because I am a grandmother who enjoys her family.”

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I Want You to Value My Services: 

“I want consumers to know that I am here to help them connect with their loved ones,” said Denise Lorentzen of Dreams Family Travel. “I want to take the stress off their shoulders of researching, planning and creating the itinerary/vacation. 

"I do want them to value my services. Lately, I have been getting people that want a lot of information for free. They then go and book on their own.”

We Aren’t Order Takers: 

“I consult with my clients to give them the right components for their vacations,” said Margie Lenau of Wonderland Family Vacations.

“This gives them the best value for their vacation dollars. Travel agents get to know their clients and what they enjoy. We make the most of their budget because we know which options can meet their expectations. Travel agents know what you need, not just which hotel to stay in but how to get there, including flights with good schedules as well as prices and airport transfers.”

I’m Always Learning Too: 

“I am constantly learning about travel, whether it is reading or traveling to destinations and resorts,” said Lenau.

“When I travel, it is work. There is very little downtime, and when there is a breakfast or lunch, it is usually a working meal. I network with other travel agents, and we talk about tips and ideas that we have had success with. My whole life is about travel, I cannot get away from talking about it because everyone wants to talk about travel.”

READ MORE: Best Money-Saving Tips from Travel Agents

I Find the Best Prices:

“One of the things I do for my clients is to use all the tools supplied by our headquarters team to find the best price at the time of booking,” said Bill Schneider, Dream Vacations Franchise Owner and Vacation Specialist.

“After booking, I use our new price watch program to monitor cruise fares for any drop in price. As an independent franchise owner—selling only travel and travel related products—my clients, existing and new, will never be sold a club membership, timeshare or any other products not related to their vacation plans.”

Some Never Charge a Fee. “Our services are always 100 percent free,” said Greg Antonelle, managing director of MickeyTravels LLC.

“We’d also like them to know that we only plan Disney vacations. It’s all we do, so we’re trained exclusively on every destination that they could go on, thus enabling us to be experts on each Disney destination.”

Some Charge a Fee. “As for costing more to use an agent, many of us do charge a professional fee for our years of training,” said Trish Mercer, Georgia Travel Experts, an affiliate of Travel Experts. 

“That is made up for in complimentary benefits they cannot access themselves, VIP experiences we know how to arrange, knowledge of the area that is more accurate than the internet provides, and often, better rates because of the volume we sell.”

We Have Contacts and Can VIP You: 

“Most clients do not realize that we as agents have a huge black book of contacts and can make things happen within a hotel stay almost all the time,” said Mercer.

“We can be sure they get a better view, add a celebration or receive early check in. It is very hard to VIP yourself, but easy for an agent to VIP someone and have it matter. And, since we get codes to change air tickets, having an agent on your airline ticket, even with the fee most of us charge, is well worth it when flights are canceled.

"Because we deal with this all the time, we have ideas they would not usually think of themselves and can get them out and on their way a huge part of the time while they wait online, by phone or at an airport.”

READ MORE: Yes, You Should Still Use a Travel Agent to Book a Cruise

We Work Hard: 

“Consumers have no idea how much work we put into an itinerary,” said Pam Walker, Walker Adventures, an affiliate of Travel Experts. “Not only do we travel to get to know the right hotels and destinations for our clients, we also work hours and hours producing documentation, changing air arrangements, changing details, booking dinner reservations, massages and much more …just so our passengers love their trip."

Walker believes that the biggest misnomer is that travel professionals get everything for free. 

“Wow, so not true,” she said. “I just paid $4,583 for airfare to travel and see new hotels opening in South America.  If passengers understood that we pay too (albeit, maybe not full bore) and then spend our vacation days (what my clients think I am doing) going in and out of five or six hotels per day, staying in a different one every night, they would really understand that ours is a profession and not just a hobby.”