Introduction - a travel agency is a retail
business, that sells travel related products and services, particularly
package trips and tours, to end-user customers, on behalf of third party
travel suppliers, such as airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels,
railways, sightseeing tours and tour companies. A licensed travel product
retailer that provides travel information, reservations and other forms of
assistance to consumers, companies and groups in making travel
arrangements. Travel agents provide the traditional high street way
of booking up most families average annual holiday vacation.
Book Online or at a Local
Travel Agent - since the birth of the Internet, travel websites have
exploded, providing a range of means of booking virtually any type of
holiday break. Online booking tools provide easy comparative price checks
and web pages provide informational pictures and reviews of popular
holiday destinations. However, not everyone likes staring at a
computer screen to choose something they do once a year.
Excluding the fact that not everyone
has access to the Internet yet, people love to have that face-to-face chat with
a friendly salesperson in the travel agents office. They like asking lots
of questions about their potential well earned rest. Advocates for online
travel websites say they are cutting out the travel agent 'middleman' and
providing discounted prices. This may be true, depending upon how much
money the website owners make. Despite this, the main benefits of using a
travel agent, (as opposed to going on to the Internet to book a holiday), are as
follows:-
First Hand Knowledge - many
larger travel agent chains send their representatives to the resorts advertised
within their brochure. This provides first-hand knowledge of the features
and characteristics of a hotel and its surroundings. There is nothing like
speaking to someone has actually been there, to get their first-hand view of
what it's really like to visit the place.
Customisation - people can
discuss different aspects of the package holiday as well as construct a bespoke
holiday with a travel agent. This can be quite difficult to achieve using
online booking tools, which are regimented and rely on fixed rules. Even
package holidays have choices such as the quality of accommodation, specific
local excursions while at the resort and optional car hire arrangements.
One-stop shop - travel agents
grouped together in networks to provide IT systems for branches, providing the
latest availability and price information for this agent sales person.
This means that the customer has a wide range of choice and a one-stop shop in
which a holiday can be constructed according to the customers requirements, from
a range of different providers and sources. These may include flights, tour
companies, car hire companies, airport hotels, airport lounges, travel insurance
providers and so on.
Financial protection - with
the collapse of many travel companies and airlines in light of the credit
crunch, many holidaymakers have found themselves stranded in faraway places
without any recourse. This has occurred where the holidaymaker has
not had the financial protection that the ABTA scheme provides.
Conversely, anyone can set up travel
related website and with limited qualifications or accreditations, start
accepting credit cards to book holidays, while failing to offer any financial
guarantees if things go wrong. It can be difficult to track
down the owners websites who may be based in a different country, in which
non-UK laws may apply. In fact it could be very difficult to receive a refund if
the website collapses, or the airline or hotel goes bankrupt and refuses to
provide the service to customer has paid for.
Flexible Pricing - most travel
agents have some scope to discount prices in competitive situations, whereas on
the Internet there is no want to negotiate with - web visitors can take it or
leave it. . This is particularly true where larger travel agents have
purchased block bookings in popular resorts like Disney or on a Mediterranean
cruise.
