The Intentional Travelers

USING A TRAVEL AGENT

Get More, Don’t Pay More

Why Use A Travel Agent?

If you weren’t aware, using a travel agent for booking trips involves no additional cost to you. Travel agents are compensated strictly by commission and their booking charges are exactly the same as if you had booked through an online travel site or directly with the travel supplier (resort, cruise line, tour company, theme park…). The costs of resort rooms, cruise cabins and airline seats are always in constant flux as availability and demand changes. If you do find a different price it is simply that the cost has been adjusted by the travel supplier after your recent quote. Also with a travel agent you have a better chance of benefitting from those typically shifting prices (more on that later).

Another thing that most people aren’t aware of is travel agents don’t get paid their commission until you actually take that trip. You may have booked that cruise a year ago and made your final payment months ago but until that ship sails, with you on board, no commission is paid. The same applies to resort rooms, tour bookings and other travel products.

The reason this is important to understand now is, in this age of the epidemics and travel cancellations your local travel agents income has probably gone to almost zero. In many cases over a years worth of work and income has simply vanished in the last few months. We’ve literally had almost seven months of cruise reservations alone disappear as sailings have been cancelled. Once the world opens up again many travel agents will be starting to build commissions from scratch all over again.

More Reasons To Use A Travel Agent

First, and this is one that hadn’t occurred to us before the recent collapse of the travel industries. If you had booked a cruise directly through the cruise companies website and cruise itineraries began to change and cruises started getting cancelled what were your options? From experience we know – not because we booked with the cruise line but because we needed to deal directly with the company as our long itinerary began to change. On average we spent two hours on hold and often got a representative who didn’t have the information and couldn’t offer anything but a call-back.

Once we got past the emergency information regarding flights and ports phase we turned everything over to our travel agent. She told us she was spending hours on hold too but when she reached her contact she had numerous cases to discuss.

Secondly, travel agents know what they’re talking about. Overall they are people that love travel. Often when they offer advice or make suggestions they have first hand information because they’ve already been there. Also most travel agents have a speciality like cruising or resorts and you should have a conversation about your interests before settling on an agent. While all agents can sell the whole world of travel products you should try and match your interests to the agent.

While there are more considerations in using a travel agent another big reason is they can actually save you money. Most travel agents are independent contractors but a majority also affiliate with large “super agencies” for support and the ability to take advantage of their buying power. They go by a number of names like American Express, Cruise Planners, Avoya but they all represent advantages for you and your agent.

One is that issue regarding the constantly changing prices on travel bookings. After you book a cruise what happens if the stateroom price comes down? If you find out about it you can contact the cruise line, but if you used a travel agent most have systems that track your reservation against changing prices and will let you know that you may have an opportunity for additional savings. Another way you can benefit involves group bookings. Most time when you book with an agent affiliated with a super agency there is a fair chance that they will book a number of people on the same trip. This allows them to combine all those booking into a group and get a bigger discount. The common practice today is for the agency to provide you with an additional credit or an add-on feature for your trip.

Selecting A Travel Agent

You need to find the right fit in an agent and that means asking friends, calling around and doing some research. Almost all travel agents can book any type of trip, but the best ones bring travel experience knowledge about their specific segment. Organized land tours, cruising, resort destinations and major attractions. There are agencies that specialize in cruises and some that focus on Disney vacations so start by knowing what your needs will be.

Don’t just find a listing and call one agent. Call a few to find the best match for your budget, bucket list or places to see and things to do. Keep your search local if possible and identify someone who is preferably independent with solid travel affiliations (a large franchise, American Express, a mega agency). They are most likely to be unbiased in what they offer while looking out for your best interest.

It’s important to understand the affiliation arrangements and to select one that has a connection with a larger organization. That arrangement allows them to take advantage of increased buying power, technology and website management and group travel discounts. Some affiliations to look for are American Express, Liberty Travel, and Avoya but ask about the advantages of their relationship. There are also franchise owners that are good choices in an agent. They include Expedia, Cruise Planners and Dream Vacations. There are links below for quick access to some of the better known.

In conclusion we would like to say that, if you are a traveler, travel agents need your help. Maybe you’ve been furloughed and expect to get back to your job and salary in the near future. Travel agents don’t have that to look forward to. As independent contractors they won’t take home a paycheck until they book your trip and after that not until you actually travel. If you are planning a trip in the future, you’ve got nothing to lose contacting a travel agent and probably much to gain.

Get Out There – Even Farther Out There

There once was a time when vacations were two weeks at the beach or mountains and an ultimate trip was a whirlwind tour of Europe. Those were our parents holidays, now experienced travelers are looking for longer and more exotic adventures and travel companies are eager to help. Use the links below to visit some websites to explore your adventure options.

Antarctica – Who ever thought that visiting Antarctica could be a vacation? Today Antarctica has a tourism industry. Over the past decade visitors to the frozen bottom of the world have numbered around 32,000 per year with 10,000 coming by cruise ship. Cruise ships provide all the luxury you’d expect but if you’d rather get up close to some wildlife look into expedition cruises with Hurtigruten or Antarctica Adventures.

Hurtigruten Cruises

Antarctica Adventures

Celebrity Cruises

The Galapagos – A unique group of islands off the coast of Ecuador with amazing wildlife. There isolation and incredible animals inhabitants inspired Darwin to develop his Origin of Species theory. These islands are growing so much in popularity as a travel destination that cruise lines have developed a fleet of smaller ships just to sail the Galapagos. You can also design an independent vacation and stay at one of the Galapagos hotels.

Galapagos Adventure Tours

Celebrity Galapagos Cruises

India – For Westerners India is still one of the most exotic travel destinations and perhaps that’s why lately it’s growing in popularity. Visiting India is much like saying your going to vacation in America – it is huge, being almost one third the size of America but with four times the population. It is also alien to most Westerners from its food, to the religion, culture and its ancient history. If you want to visit it’s recommended that you take it one small piece at a time and start your planning through one of the countries highly rated tour companies. You will also discover that more and more cruise itineraries are now including port calls in India.

Travel To India

Azamara Asia Cruises

The Northern Lights – Journey to the home of beluga whales, polar bears and in winter the amazing phenomenon of the northern lights or the aurora borealis, meaning “north wind of the dawn”. An event destination that stretches from Alaska across Canada to Iceland and Norway. Explore tours on the Alaska Railway to Fairbanks and the Aurora Borealis basecamp or a winter cruise to the top of Norway inside the Arctic Circle.

Northern Lights Tours

Vikings Northern Lights

Explore Lost Civilizations Like Petra, Valley of the Kings, Angkor Wat and the Cities of the Maya. Mysterious and exotic places are out there and most are accessible to explorers of all ages. You know you want to go. All you need to decide is how to travel and when to go.

Petra is over two thousand years old it’s a city carved out of solid rock. It is not known precisely when Petra was built, but the city began to prosper as the capital of the Nabataean Empire from the 1st century BC, at the cross roads of the trade in frankincense, myrrh, and spices.

In a land of myth and legend are the burial grounds of the oldest and greatest kings of Egypt . These places exist in the collective imaginations of the world and seem almost impossible to occupy a place in the real world. The most impressive of Egypt’s ancient monuments lie in the Valley of the Kings.

Angkor Wat, the eighth wonder of the world, with the intricacy and symbolism of the Taj Mahal and the scale and symmetry of the Egyptian pyramids. The temple will inspire and amaze you and leave you in awe. A place that needs to be experienced in order to believe.

Angkor Wat Tours

Visit Egypt Tours

Petra Tours From Amman

On A Bus in Brunei

Brunei is beautiful, friendly, safe and modern. This is a small country (Sultanate) located on the north coast of Borneo and fueled by energy – oil (black gold) and natural gas. Bandar Seri Begawan, is the capital of the Sultanate of Brunei. It is also the location of the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. The mosque is considered one of the most beautiful in the Asia-Pacific region. It is a place of worship, a major historical site and the most famous tourist attraction of the country.

While taking a bus in Brunei we sat up front and a Canadian couple sat across from us directly behind the driver. The Canadians were very eager to talk about the country and peppered the driver with questions. This is a part of that overheard exchange:

Canadian tourist – What form of government do you have here in Brunei?

Bus driver – We have the Sultan and the Legislative Council.

Canadian tourist – So the Sultan is the head of government?

Bus driver – Yes, he takes the role of Prime Minister

Canadian tourist – How often do you have elections and are there a number of political parties?

Bus driver – Oh, we don’t have parties or elections. The Sultan appoints each member of the council.

Canadian tourist– Does that much power concern you? Don’t you fear corruption?

Bus driver – No. The Sultan would remove anyone that was corrupt.

Canadian tourist – But don’t the people want a say in what the country does?

Bus driver – Why? We have the Sultan. He takes very good care of us…

You can learn a lot about people overhearing conversations 😉

What makes this thinking possible is an average per capita income of over US$40,000. The Sultan’s government makes sizable amounts of money from oil, which it solely controls, and number of the countries businesses and industry along with large investments from that oil money worldwide.

The Sultan does take care of his people. At one time a part of housing in Bandar Seri Begawan was in ramshackle water villages. But those picturesque houses on stilts standing out over the water had major problems. Sanitation was a serious issue, so the Sultan has been replacing them with new water villages with modern sewage treatment and solid structural supports. He has also been providing virtually everyone in Brunei with a free education, health care and a guaranteed job. Also modern, attractive, free public housing is popping up all around the country.