The Golden Era of the Travel Advisor
Recently an acquaintance mentioned that they bought an all-inclusive trip to Costa Rica at a big bulk chain store where you can get groceries, gas, your tires, and even a coffin at a one stop shop. He asked what might be the difference in using a travel advisor as he had never have a comparable experience. Overall the main difference is supporting a big box store or a local entrepreneur who cares about you and utilizes their resources and experience to earn your business.
We live in a world where everything is online, and the need for and connection with people is being eliminated and replaced by technology. There is a tendency to figure out everything by yourself and do everything by yourself while relying on expertise from You tube tutorials and other online helps without having to have face to face interactions with humans.
Believe it or not, travel agents are very high in demand for discerning clientele and have become trusted advisors. Just as you would hire a financial advisor to watch over your money, get you the best ROI, and provide a certain experience, so a travel advisor does the same. Here are the three reasons why you should consider hiring a travel advisor:
- Perks: Travel advisors can typically find great offers and leverage their relationships with hotels and resorts to arrange for amenities that you can't get by booking on your own. For example one of our recent luxury clients received a complimentary room upgrade, 10% off their booking because I’ve done a lot of business with the hotel, daily breakfast, a welcome a bottle of champagne, milk and cookies for the kids, $100 room credit and club access. It's hard to VIP yourself.
2. On Call Assistance: DIY travel is great until something goes wrong, you can’t instruct your phone or your computer to take care of it, but your travel advisor can manage it. For example, I had a very busy doctor friend who planned his own trip. One of his young children was bumped to a different flight. He spent four hours on a Saturday calling the airlines being put on hold and using the automated system to get the matter fixed. He could have saved so much time by calling or texting his travel agent to fix it and then gone about his day. Also keep in mind that a 3rd party booking platform does not know what inventory the front desk has available and you could get walked. On another occasion a DIY traveler contacted us to correct a mistake she made which would have cost her several thousand dollars, but we corrected for a small fee. A good travel advisor uses their industry knowledge for preventative measures.
3. Time is Money: A good travel advisor takes care of things for you so you can focus on what is important. Our clients are busy and we want to make the experience fun for you without you having to get bogged down with the details like endless phone calls and emails and choices. We do all the behind the scenes work to make your experience seamless and unforgettable. At Premier we have two types of service for our clients, luxury VIP concierge service and DIY offers on our website under the offers tab. Either way we welcome your business. www.premiertravelgroupinc.com