I am often surprised with how many people don't think about booking with a travel agent, or even know what it is like to book with a travel agent or the advantages to using one. But why NOT book with us?
1. First of all - it doesn't cost you anything. We do not charge you fees to book with us when you book a package that includes air and a hotel or resort, or a cruise, or air and a cruise.
2. We have expertise most travelers do not have. Ask me about a hotel or resort you are considering, I can usually tell you off the top of my head if the hotel is a good one or not. We don't mince words - if the hotel you are looking at is a party zone where you aren't going to sleep all night from the noise, we will tell you. If the hotel isn't in a safe area - we will tell you. If the hotel isn't clean or the food is lousy - we'll tell you. In contrast, we will also recommend good hotels too.
3. Our prices are often the same or lower than you can find online. Did you know that we book resorts through the same supplier as some of the largest brick and mortar agencies, so we have the same prices they have?
4. We often can provide more value to you than booking on your own. We know many of the hotel or resort sales managers and can get perks for you at your hotel. You can't get that booking online.
We have stolen more clients that want to go to Greece from other suppliers because we have a fantastic supplier that throws in a lot of freebies at no extra charge. We ask those clients to send us the quote they have gotten from the other suppliers to try and match it and always our prices come out a little less but with a lot of perks, such as a bottle of wine or a hotel massage, that the other suppliers aren't giving. So who gets more for their money? Our clients.
We often contact the hotel managers when our clients are traveling to introduce the clients and they add little gifts to the room. All because we develop a rapport with the hotels that treat our clients well.
5. When a hotel is overbooked (and it happens a lot!) do you know which guests are the ones that get the rooms that are available? The guests that pay the most. So if you have booked at one of the cheap online agencies, you will be the one who may be moved to another hotel to make room for the guests who have booked at higher prices either through the hotel directly or through a supplier.
6. We know the cabins to avoid when booking cruises.
7. If something happens while you are traveling, you can call us to help. Were your flights canceled at the last minute? While everyone else at the airport is standing online scrambling to get on another flight, all you have to do is call us and we do all the work. Sit back and relax while we do the work for you.
Did the hotel give you the room category when you arrived? Call us, we can fix it WHILE you are there. Don't suffer and wait until you get home and try to get a refund - you call us and we get it fixed while you are there.
8. Just because you have priced your vacation already on the internet but haven't booked doesn't mean you can't contact us. We love it when people have done their homework and have priced a vacation. We can tell you honestly if we can meet or beat it and if we can't beat it, we will tell you. If we can match the price, why wouldn't you book with us and have an advocate on your side?
We've had several people who have priced with a large agency that has three letters call us to see if we could do better on vacations. One was a cruise we had the exact same pricing on but were able to get an onboard credit for the clients. Another was a land vacation that we had a supplier that had better pricing. So never assume that because you are a member of a travel club that you are always getting the best price.
9. When you book a cruise or vacation, we keep an eye on pricing. If pricing goes down before your final payment is due and it is not for a new booking, we get that lower price for you.
10. Unless you are booking a vacation less than 60 days before traveling, in most cases you only have to make a deposit for your trip and you pay the balance as the trip date gets closer. When you book through an online agency, you have to pay in full when you book. (Please note - if we are price matching a vacation for you, we also have to match the terms so if your supplier requires full payment at time of booking).
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