Travel Agent?

Do I really need a travel agent? Is there any reason I can't just book everything myself?
What do they do that I can't?

I really don't want to be paying higher prices/commissions just for the convenience of having someone else book things. So why have one?

If I need one/really should have one, how do I find one? What am I looking for?

Any advice about this appreciated! A bit lost... lol

We used a travel agent because she could recommend accommodation choices for us, and she also held out to get the cheapest flights possible. We don't ever use one for domestic though.

But if you're comfortable doing it yourself, there's no reason why you shouldn't!

There is no reason why you cant book eveything your self.

When we went to USA for 3 weeks we used a travel Agent - was just easier for us and they have all the inside knowledge and I know that they can get some better deals. I also liked that they thought of things we didnt and when things went a bit pear shaped with one of the hotels then we called her and she fixed it straight away.
We also used one for our honeymoon and that was awesome.

All other holidays / trips or flights I have done myself.

Good luck!

A travel agent gets special rates on airfares which arent sold to the public

however, it really depends what you want to do. If its a simple holiday like to one destination, id do it myself . If its a complicated one with stop overs etc, id go to a travel agent and get a quote, then compare it to what you would get if you were to book everything else yourself.

I am a travel agent so of course im going to say yes you do need one!!!!

My biggest qustion for people is who do you call when things go wrong and you've booked it on the internet? The internet doesnt have a phone number.....and usually if you call the online supplier you will get directed to a call centre in asia somewhere!!!! I can not believe the amount of people that were calling me when the Volcanic Ash cloud debacle happened. When I asked if they book with our store, they said oh no I booked it on the internet. Of course I would never be rude to them but why the f would I help them when I have client that need help that have actually booked their holiday with me?

As M2OSB said we get access to wholesaler rates that are only available when booking through an agent. I work for Australia's largest Travel Agency and we have a 'price beat promise' so as long as the price you have is available and from an Australian based website or supplier then we will beat it.

I think the biggest thing that people dont understand with travel agent is that our commission does not come from the money that you pay us! We get paid by the airlines or wholesaler not from your money.

If you have any specific questions or you need help with something then feel free to PM me, I am in Perth as well.

Aim x

An ex travel agent here ;) Amy has given you some great reasons for using an agent. I still use agents for certain things although I have plenty of traveling experience and booking both online, direct and through agents. As Amy said, the big bonus to using an agent is you have someone to help you if things don't go to plan and believe me, it's not uncommon. I too had clients (and non-clients) book travel online only for it to fall through or disappoint them and then expected me to fix it. Not a lot an agent can do if YOU booked it independently.

TBH I thought until recently that its cheaper and easier to just do it yourself because the holidays we've had since having kids have either been domestic or staying at Club Med, when you book direct with them. We've just come back from a holiday in Hong Kong and got an agent to book it for us. She got a much better rate on both hotels we stayed at than I could find on the internet. We got an upgrade at one hotel and the offer of one at the other (turned it down cos we could see the fireworks at Disneyland from our original room). I don't know if that was because we were just lucky, or something to do with the agent. It also made it easier with transfers etc. Having previously used trains and buses to get from the airport to our hotel with the kids, I'll never do it again so having a coach or private car (with car seats) waiting for us was a bonus too.

Finally, I got lucky with the agent we used. The first one I spoke to was TBH pretty hopeless - didn't put in any effort, no suggestions etc. The second one I spoke to gave really good advice and had actually been to HK 6 or 7 times herself so gave us some brilliant information and advice.

Thanks ladies! :)

Was hoping you would pop in Amy, think I will have to come in and see you at work. I was just going to book the flights direct with the airline, and the hotels direct with them also. There isn't much fussing around or comings and goings, so thought it should be fairly straight forward. But if I can get better rates going through an agent, then that would make my life easier.

I'm a bit of a control freak, so just need to make sure I am in the loop and getting what I want - and what I want is actually possible! lol

You are at Rocky aren't you Amy?

i've done both. i would normally price everything myself & then take it to an agent to see what they can do. fwiw, i've never had a problem with anything i've booked for myself online but i may just have been lucky. the last holiday DP & i went on we did a combination of both. also, if you're going somewhere that needs visas, that can definitely be easier if you go through an agency.

either way, it's also good to check hotels out on a site like 'trip advisor' to see what people say about them.

Yeh I'm at rocky honey, I work tues, wed and Friday's now. Let me know if u wanna make a time to come in and have a chat and get a quote :-)

There's no reason why you can't book it all yourself. But for international, travel agents do get much, much better rates than you do online. The thing is they decide what margin they put on that rate. So where they get a really, really cheap fair they will usually add a big margin on it. If you are going through an agent, it really can pay to ask for a discount, and be prepared to be a little bit cheeky too :)