As recently as a decade ago, making money as a Travel Agent was a given. Consumers were limited in their travel booking capabilities, and most travellers used a Travel Agent to plan and book their holidays.
Obviously, things have changed – a lot – and now the vast majority of travellers go the DIY route, taking care of the research, planning, and booking of their travels themselves. And since then, Travel Agents have been on the receiving end of some pretty harsh criticism, most of which centres on their perceived obsoleteness and dishonest sales techniques (which is total baloney).
Booking with a Travel Agent is also usually considered to be a more expensive option, with many consumers claiming that Travel Agents charge more than what’s available online – again, not the case at all.
But it is the case that some Travel Agents are beginning to charge fees for their services – and probably rightly so. There’s nothing worse than spending hours on putting an itinerary together, only to follow up with the client after days of radio silence and finding out that they ended up booking your suggested itinerary – to the tee – themselves online, or with another agent.
So with that being the case at least amongst some Travel Agents, what do regular consumers think about a service fee? Do they think paying a bit extra is worth it’s weight in gold?
That was the question posted on Reddit earlier this year, and the results were pretty much in favour of the Travel Agent.
First, here’s the question to contextualise the debate:
So some of the first things consumers are appreciating about Travel Agents are the potential discounts they can offer on tours, hotels, and car hire (all true) and the convenience of having someone else do the leg work for you (again, totally true).
But then, some users were quick to argue that, according to them, Travel Agents were only really necessary when booking large groups.
Exhibit A:
And exhibit B:
Hmm.
These comments sparked a range of comments, some agreeing and some disagreeing. For those that disagreed, they pointed out the two things Travel Agents have that online travel agencies don’t; namely, knowledge and experience – two things that can make a HUGE impact in a traveller’s itinerary, potentially saving them both time and money.
Some of this knowledge and experience can also pay for itself when it comes to booking complex multi-stop itineraries (including but not limited to RTWs), most of which simply can’t be booked online.
And then there’s the extra legwork that Travel Agents can perform on your behalf, such as choosing your seats and changing flights when a service is delayed instead of customers having to wait on hold with airlines for hours:
Finally, there is that special something that Travel Agents can do that regular consumers (mostly) can’t do online (although some airlines are now offering this service, but now with a fee). And that’s the ability to hold in flights for a certain amount of time, before that TTL comes rolling around.
Yep, that last advantage is just one of the 7 things that a Travel Agent can do that a website (like Webjet) can’t – if you haven’t read this classic KarryOn article yet, do it, NOW!.
Of course, travellers with simple travel plans will probably never see the use of booking with a Travel Agent.
But for everyone else, it’s obvious that Travel Agents are still able to offer plenty that you can’t get online, and even if they were to charge a service fee, most people are starting to recognise their worth.
