Travel Agents Valued Again!

I always felt valued but now I find out that some people thought I wasn't.  CNN just published the results of their research into how well people were able to book anything more than a airline ticket using online systems.  Here's an excerpt from the article...

"A few weeks ago, Darin Kaplan, a tech-savvy 27-year-old California restaurant manager, clicked his mouse hundreds of times, surfing the vast choices offered by online travel booking Web sites like Expedia.com and Orbitz.com to plan his 28th birthday cruise to Mexico before he gave up in frustration.

"It's a cut-and-paste experience when you're booking online. None of these sites are going to tell me what I can do with different options," said Kaplan, who uses the Internet for many purchases, including his basketball shorts and music tickets. "Travel agents know what they are talking about. It's more comforting to hand my money to someone who has the knowledge and experience."

Yet another user indicated....

"People are saying 'I don't understand my options, and I would like to talk to someone who can do all the searching and tell me what's available,' " said Henry Hartevelt, the analyst who wrote the Forrester study. "Major travel agencies have absolutely failed in their responsibility to innovate and think of creative new ways to help their customers shop."

We all tried the various sites, some are better than others, but when you are trying to book a cruise and have several cabins and want your kids across the hall and your friends next door and aren't sure which crusie lines have the best programs for your kids you better talk to someone more knowledgeable than a web link, and perhaps even someone who has been on that ship and knows first hand what is there. Some people wonder why their travel agent is always travelling.  Well the cruise lines and other tour operators and the travel agents want to be able tell you from real experience what you can and should expect and what differences there are. 

In the last 6 months I have been on 9 different ships from 5 cruise lines, and one river cruise line.

That is why our tag line is Where our Experience makes Your Experience Better.

You can see the whole article here

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/08/12/travel.agent.comeback/index.html?eref=i