Online Travel Agents vs. High Street Travel Agents

Once upon a time, when people wanted to book a holiday they went to see the travel agent. Usually found on a high street with heavy pedestrian traffic, the travel agent was the start of vacation dreams for several decades – until a new, flashier kid arrived on the block.

With the advent of the internet age, life for travel agents and holidaymakers changed forever. Now, we can go online and find the best deals to suit us, all without paying a hefty arrangement fee to a travel agent. It’s simple, easy and can be done from the comfort of your living room – but the travel agents aren’t going out of business just yet… so what’s stopping everyone converting to internet holiday booking?

Clearly, the biggest difference between online travel agents and personal, high street conventional travel agents is the face-to-face factor. With a conventional travel agent, you can sit down and discuss your needs with an actual person, and you can get recommendations as you browse. The internet loses this personal sense a little, and may explain why some have yet to discover the joys of internet holidays.

The main concern, however, appears to be concerns about internet safety and passenger protection. Holidays are expensive – that’s a given – and many people just don’t feel comfortable tapping their credit card details in to a faceless computer.

If that’s why you’ve yet to book a holiday online, rest assured. Use the usual security checks before entering card details, such as a ‘https’ is the web server or a small padlock icon on the address bar – these usually mean a site is security protected, and you’re good to go.

Survive The Travel Agent Hard-Sell

Estate agents have a worldwide reputation for exaggerating the good points of something they are trying to sell and downplaying the bad – but they’re not alone. This ‘selective editing’ tactic is used by any professional company trying to sell something; the trick is to learn to see through their statements and find the truth.

When it comes to travel agents, it’s all the more difficult to trust them. For a start, unlike when you’re with a realtor, you aren’t there to view the hotel you will be staying at – so you have to rely totally on what the travel agent says and what the photographs of the hotel suggest. Therefore it’s all the easier to be lead down the garden path, and end up staying in a hotel that makes your entire holiday a misery.

The important thing when it comes to booking a holiday is to give yourself time. Do not be pressurized in to buying a holiday in your first visit to a travel agent; even if they are offer one-day-only exclusives. These deals rotate, so providing you give yourself enough time, there’s no need to snap one up there and then.

Always get the information from the travel agent then go and check the hotel out for yourself online. Look at sites such as TripAdvisor.com, where genuine consumers who have stayed at the hotel give their feedback. This gives a much more objective opinion of a potential destination than a travel agent – with one eye on their commission – ever could.

Effective Budget Holiday Planning

Saving money is always a bonus, especially if we’re trying to plan a holiday. If the purse strings are a little tight at present, here’s a few tips on how to get the best deal when it comes to planning a budget holiday:

- Book very early or very late.

Tickets for everything – from airplane seats to hotels – are at their most expensive two to three months before the date you want to stay. To maximize the chances of getting a bargain, look to book early – up to six months in advance wherever possible – or late. The later you leave booking, the higher the chances of prices being slashed to try and entice customers; this is especially true of airlines, who don’t want to fly airplanes half-full.

- Use whatever discount cards you may be applicable for.

Depending on the country you are visiting, you may be eligible for travel discount tickets such as a Young Person’s Discount or a Family Pass. Check with the relevant transport line or airline to see if there are any savings to be made.

- Don’t expect everything to be easy.

For complete luxury, everything provided and simple for you, you’re going to have to pay for it. Lowering your expectations will allow you to plan a budget holiday effectively. Consider flying to a different airport and using public transport to reach your hotel, or book lower star-graded accommodation.

- Be flexible.

The best way to ensure bargain prices is to be flexible with the dates, times and airports you can travel from. This may mean flying at 4am in the morning, but the savings will make up for the inconvenience.

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