We were once called travel agents, but nowadays, we are referred to as travel advisors. What are we? Agents, Advisors, or both? In my experience, we are both. When not working on an itinerary or consulting with a client, we are on the constant hunt to find new hidden gems, stay ahead of travel trends, look for the best experiences for our clients, and work on continuing education, recertifications, and stay updated on the latest industry regulations.
When we are with clients, we educate and advise them to provide our clients with the best travel experience, based on their personality, travel style, and reason for travel. Basically, we do reconnaissance like an agent and advise like a consultant.
In a nutshell, a travel agent's duties encompass helping clients plan, book, and manage travel arrangements. We cover a very diverse spectrum of travel experiences from solo, thrill adventure to your destination wedding, and everything in between. Let's dive into the details a little more.
- Consulting with clients to understand their individual travel needs, budgets, type of travel desired, preferences, and dislikes of everyone in the party.
- Researching and recommending travel options, including destinations, transportation, accommodations, tours, and activities.
- Preparing personalized custom itineraries, tailored to clients' schedules and interests, presenting, and explaining the details to our clients. (I always prepare three itineraries to give my clients a few choices before booking.
- Booking travel services such as flights, transportation, accommodations, rental cars, vacation packages, cruises, tours, activities, down to your cabana rental.....and trip insurance.
- Providing travel advice, including passport, visa, or vaccine requirements and recommendations, how to obtain the necessary travel documents, flexible payment options, travel insurance, local customs, travel advisories, what to pack, and down to weather conditions. (I provide my clients with preparation and final pre-departure checklists)
- Handling changes and emergencies, such as cancellations, delays, re-bookings, troubleshooting, problem solving, and providing guidance, if our clients run into problems from the moment they book their trip, throughout the return from their travel destination.
- Offering specialized travel services, such as group travel, destination weddings, honeymoons, business trips, luxury vacations, expeditions (how does Galapagos or Antarctica sound? Yes, I can hook you up)
- Negotiating with vendors to get the best rates and benefits for our clients.
- Building lasting relationships with clients to encourage repeat business and referrals.
Today, there are many travel agents/advisors to choose from, especially with access to the World Wide Web, and you are no longer dependent on working with ABC Travel down the road in your hometown. My advice when picking a travel agent is: Don't go for the used car salesman mentality, who overtalks or rushes you, or only pitches you the cheapest deals. Most of the time, these cheapest deals don't include anything, and end up costing you an arm and a leg (like a used car salesman who sells you a waxed and polished car, but fails to mention the car has been in a few accidents and the transmission is on its last leg).
Get a feel for the agent. If an agent/agency only wants to communicate with you via text, email, messaging, stay away. You want a real person, who takes the time to get to know you and vice versa, who listens, doesn't rush you, gives you realistic options, true advice, treats you like family, and genuinely cares.
In my next blog I will discuss, travel platforms vs travel advisors pros and cons. Stay tuned and don't forget to subscribe.
HAPPY TRAVELS
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