Travel Agents Have Contacts - Travel agents do not get "free" trips. We invest our own money and especially our time to travel and visit the destinations we recommend. Sure we experience new travel options and learn about destinations. The most important reason why we make this professional investment is for the opportunity to meet face to face with the right important industry contacts.
These important connections truly benefits the vacation experience our clients ultimately enjoy. We know exactly who to speak to in order to make special requests for our clients. This could mean things like connecting rooms, welcome gifts or advanced restaurant reservations. These relationships have proved priceless in emergency situations. In a former lifetime, I was a pediatric nurse so I often use those skills to help my clients.
I will often share and collaborate with other travel industry professionals to help clients enjoy vacations that exceed their expectations. Even within our agency, we have agents who are Disney experts while others have experience creating customized tours in Europe, Africa and Asia.
If we don't have an in house person who can best serve our clients, we collaborate with other professionals who can. Travel Agents Have Priceless Advice - First hand experience and knowledge are what will change a typical vacation into a real memorable experience. Even though good travel agents professionally invest in their own travel to gain this experience, not every Travel Agent can humanly know every destination in the world.
That said, good travel agents have a "golden network" and know exactly who to call to get the answers their clients need. For example, you may pay a really low price for your family's flight but that doesn't mean you'll make your connecting flight.
This could result in an unexpected camp out at the airport terminal and the out of pocket loss for the vacation days you're missing. A good travel agent know certain airport require longer connection times than others to prevent problems.
This is just one of many examples that "trips" up online travel shoppers and may explain so many of the unnecessary rants on travel review websites. Travel Agents Babysit Your Reservations - Many folks have commitment issues when it comes to pulling the trigger and confirming their reservations. They always think they will get a cheaper last minute rate.
Often they wait too long, forfeit availability and end up paying much more for their vacation. Most people don't realize that if their trip goes on sale, they can get a lower rate. A good travel agent will babysit your reservation and have any lower prices or sales applied to your reservation, even after you've made your initial deposit has been made. This is true for many cruises or Disney vacations.
For Caribbean or Mexico resort vacations, our agents can direct you to price guarantee coverage that offers you the same option. Travel Agents Offer Affordable Payment Plans - Online booking require payment in full at the time you confirm your reservations. This means you could be paying huge credit card interest fees that will add to the total cost of your vacation in the long run. Bureau of Labor and Statistics , but according to Pindar, it can actually be much higher.
A post shared by Erina Pindar erinapindar. This can vary from agency to agency and also depends on your level of experience. That means if you get paid 10 percent commission on booking a hotel, 80 percent of that commission goes to your agency, while you keep 20 percent. As an independent agent, you lose the base salary but get to keep your commission.
While in the past, travel agents mainly assisted in booking accommodations, a travel adviser helps provide a client with a broader picture of their trip. A post shared by Lizzo lizzobeeating. Unlike being a real estate agent, where you have to pass a series of tests to prove you know your stuff.
The travel advisors they have known for years who book a lot of guests and send them a lot of business. Anytime there is scarcity, there is no substitute for personal connections, and the best agents have built these over years or decades. You cannot create those WOW moments if you do not get to know who your clients are, and what would make their holiday most special. Try booking that on TripAdvisor. Seemingly simple things often annoy even the most seasoned travelers, but these irritants can be smoothed out by good advisors.
One biggie is having your room ready to check in when arriving in Europe early in the morning after an exhausting overnight flight. Do you think they tell that to Anne Scully and her peers? Another one of the most frustrating recurring problems I hear in the industry - even at the top luxury hotels - is a notorious refusal to guarantee connecting rooms in advance for families booking multiple rooms and paying a lot for them.
For the same price. Often with a room upgrade. And late check out. And a free food and beverage credit. Free cabin upgrades on cruise ships are business as usual for good travel agents.
The cruise industry is a perfect example of very large inventories that fluctuate in supply and demand each week, with a large audience of repeat customers who cruise again and again for years.
The cruise lines do not want to lose the loyalty of those customers - or the agents who steer hundreds of them each year to particular brands. But who gets these upgrades? Professionals who specialize in cruises have enormous volume clout and are legendary for routinely getting clients one or two class stateroom upgrades, free shore excursions, onboard credits and all sorts of things - for the same exact price you pay going direct.
Our team has actually been to the properties first-hand - not to mention has personal relationships with the General Managers. For example, we just had a couple fly to Canouan, a remote island in the Caribbean that they had no idea even existed before we recommended it.
One of the biggest shortcuts to freebies and extras is Virtuoso , a network of top tier travel agencies, most in the luxury realm.
Why are travel suppliers so eager to work with agencies and advisors that belong to Virtuoso advisors can join by invitation-only based on their track records? So in addition to the extras for personal connections you can get via people like Michael Holtz knowing the GM, anyone who books through a Virtuoso agency gets automatic perks like complimentary daily breakfast, room upgrades, early check-in, late check-out, complimentary airport transfers, spa credits and so on specifics vary by hotel.
Complimentary cruise benefits can be even bigger. The New York agent who told me about Norwegian Airlines belongs to a competitive consortium of more than 8, agents called Travel Leaders Group , which similarly negotiates collective benefits. Signature Travel Network is another high-end collective of agencies, and Travel Savers is the other major one.
What Does a Travel Agent Do? Are you thinking about starting a new career in the hospitality industry? Consisting of a wide range of service-oriented businesses, there's no denying the fact that hospitality is a thriving and healthy industry.
With that said, there are many different career paths available in the hospitality industry, one of which is a travel agent. Travel agents play an important role in the hospitality industry by helping tourists and travelers plan their trips.
Of course, travel agents have other responsibilities which with you should familiarize yourself. Only after understanding what travel agents do can you decide whether it's the right career path for you. Overview of Travel Agents A travel agent is a person who works for a travel agency business.
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