I am often asked many questions about travel, travel services, and other elements of the industry. Probably one of the bigger questions is should we or should we not use a travel agent for fill-in-the-blank trip that a family may be planning. The straight up, outright answer is that I believe it depends on several things and is 100% up to you. Let me outline some of the factors and just a few of my thoughts.
Where
Location and options I would submit to you play a big role in whether or not you may want to use an agent/travel service. The depth of options, length, distance from your home may all want to play into whether you use a service. If you are headed to a beach that’s close to your home, you may not want to use a service. If you are going to more of a resort based location, it may be an option for you to consider.
How much work do you want to do?
This one is probably our most significant factor in deciding whether or not we want to use a travel agent or not. If we want to invest the time in the “prep” of getting ready for a trip or if we want someone else to take care of that? It may also be prudent too because from time to time, during your trip, the agent may check in with you and see how things are going and if you have encountered any challenges along the way.
Length of trip
I eluded to this earlier but I think length of time plays into this as well. If you are looking at a two to three day trip, it is probably not quite a big deal for you to enlist a travel service/agent to help you. Looking at multiple days? Quite possibly. It may also help you to efficiently organize your thoughts as to what you want to do, how you want to do it.
Organize efficiently
If you are going for a significant length of time, a travel agent may have “insider information” if you will about different areas that you are visiting. They may be able to help you chart your trips to be able to go to point a, b, c, d in that efficient order where you may go a, c, d, b, m to get to your end result.
Economics
Short answer, you might save some dough with using a travel service. Many travel agents have access to deals and rates which you may not. Harkening back to the insider information, they may also have tips they have gathered through experience to help you manage your budget as effectively as you can.
So this is a quick hit outline answer that if you are just going on a weekend trip down the road from your house, a travel agent may not be what you want to do. Going camping, eh…depends on where..Going to Universal for a week or Disney? Might be a good idea for you to consider. Again, it depends on you, how much time you want to invest, what you want to do, and if you would like help maximizing what you can do for the budget that you have.
