When it comes to saving money during a trip – when is the value of using a travel agent worth paying a little more than the price you find online?
In contrast to online booking, when booking at a travel agency, you get a lot more service than at an online agency. Our work does not stop when we deliver your tickets to you – it continues with our help during your journey and when you come home. How can you ask?
Here are a few examples of actual problems with traveling with customers that the value of using a travel agent is already heavier than books.
We have booked a family on holiday to Cabo. They had connecting flights and called us because their first departure from the flight was delayed by a few hours, so they would miss their connecting flight. They called us from the airport because they feared that the company that carried through their transfers would not be at the airport. to pick them up. We contacted the supplier who changed the flight times and ensured that the transfer company had the new information.
Clients from Georgia supposedly fly to San Juan on 13 February 2010 for a cruise leaving at 10 am on 22 February. At 8 o'clock on the 13th of February they called us into a panic. It was snowing, their flights were being made and the airline told the customers that they would not be able to fly until Monday.
Luckily they were able to drive to Florida and we found flights with another February airline … 14 which would take them to the cruise ship with a lot of time. We saved them San Juan hotel, found a hotel in Orlando for her that would allow them to park their car for free for the duration of the cruise and to take her back and forth to the airport. Our client said that if she had only booked this, she would not know what to do and she would have been heartbroken if she was unable to travel. Because she also purchased travel insurance, we started a travel delay claim for her to cover the difference in flight prices, plus her costs for gas, toll and meals to travel back and forth to Orlando Airport. The forms waited for her when she returned from her cruise.
A few years ago we had customers who had booked a trip and had canceled their trip one month before the date on which they had to leave for a reason that was not covered by travel insurance. The supplier was adamant that the cancellation was non-refundable. We intervened and could get a partial credit to book a new trip within a year, so that the customer did not lose all his money.
Today, a customer sent us a price quote for a holiday to Punta Cana asking if we could beat the price. She priced the holiday with connecting flights from Philadelphia and on her return she chose a flight that left Punta Cana at 7 o'clock. We asked her if she realized that in order to make that return home, she would have to be at the airport at half past five in the morning to make sure she had enough time to get through Security. She had no idea she should be at the airport so early. Not only did we cut the price, we found her direct flights for less than she was quoted by the online agency and left her return at 13:05.
What other value do we offer when you book with us that you do not get when you book online? We send you destination information, advise you on the documentation you need to travel, provide information on optional excursions, send you useful hints and last minute reminders and we are available 24 hours if you have a problem while you are traveling, as shown above. We will contact you when you come back and if there is a problem that needs to be solved with a supplier, we will work to find a satisfactory solution.
Is this kind of service worth paying a little extra?