Travel Agent vs a Travel Advisor – How Can a Traveler Know?

Oh, my friends, especially those of you who own or manage businesses, can we talk for a second before we get to the heart of the Agent/Advisor question? Let's talk about getting a newsletter off the ground

Have any of you started a newsletter? If you have, then you probably relate to this. ?When I launched this newsletter, I set a goal of posting a blog and an accompanying newsletter, once a week. ?Some said that was ambitious (but hey, why change that part of my personality now?). I gotta say, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself after last week, hitting four in a row.?

Then, this week kicked me in the teeth. I could have used 48 hours each day. And I kept telling myself, “Well, I'll get it posted tomorrow”

Suddenly it was Friday, I was all out of the work week, and if you know me at all, you KNOW I value my personal time, so I was ready to move on and start fresh on Monday with next week's blog and newsletter.?

But then something happened. I spoke with a colleague who has been sending a newsletter consecutively for over 200 WEEKS without a single break! She not only inspired me to not give up, but we came up with an idea to co-blog NEXT week, and I am SO excited because we are going to ROCK you all with a shocking perspective as to why?

Travelers should NOT book AIR through a travel advisor? (with one exception) ?

You and all your traveling friends are not going to want to miss this blog post, so please share this newsletter and tell everyone to click HERE to subscribe to my email newsletter, Pathways and Passages themselves so they never miss a blog post drop.

The bottom line: I made it five weeks into my weekly blog and accompanying newsletter!!! (Saturday is still this week, right?)

Frankly, I hope most of you are not checking email on a Saturday, but if are, I hope this is something fun that you'll enjoy reading and maybe can relate to a bit. ?If you do, I'd LOVE for you to comment and let me know your thoughts on making goals and how your relationships help you hit them.

But now let us get back to what most of you opened this newsletter for -?

Travel Agent vs a Travel Advisor – How Can a Traveler Know?

Some of you know that I am in a weekly, independent “One Seat” (one person per profession) networking group in Colorado (shout out to Colorado Business Connections, CBC – hey y'all!)

I also love analogies.

This week our intro question in CBC was to use an analogy to explain what we do. ?Well, I had already picked my blog topic for the week and used this as a launching point for answering the question. Here is the analogy:

Think of building a home…

The Travel AGENT is a development company in a subdivision with a set number of plans, a set number of options for each element of the home, from the flooring to the appliances and finishes, and only so many lots from which to choose to build. ?For many people, this is perfect - limited options and easy to pick from, often less costly to build, and you have an experienced builder building solid homes.

By contrast,?

The Travel Advisor (or Travel Designer) is the Custom Design-Build Construction Firm alternative.?

• You start with the architect (that's me), who first collects ALL your hopes, wishes, desires, visions, and dreams about your home(your travel experience).
• Together you spend a great deal of time coming up with the plans(itinerary).
• Then, the architect works with all their reliable connections and relationships: realtors, contractors, tradespeople, decorators, and things start coming together. (hotels, destination specialists, tour operators, transfer companies, etc.)?
• If they're really good, (like me??) they even have a project manager (In destination, boots on the ground live contacts) on-site to handle any day-to-day things that come up in the course of executing the building of your custom home.

Does that make sense? If you'd like to understand more, check out this past week's blog, where I do a DEEP dive into the answer. Click HERE to go straight to the post.

Finally, my mission is to create extraordinary experiences for busy travel lovers that make lasting memories and connect them to their loved ones and unique places without the stress, hassle, and overwhelm of DIY planning. Let's chat if that's you or someone you know; just click HERE to request a complimentary consultation.

If you like these weekly posts, consider subscribing to my weekly newsletter, "Pathways & Passages" and have it delivered directly to your inbox each week.

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