11 Reasons Why Travel Agents Still Beat Online Booking

Travelling has always been a part of lives of people since a long time now. It helps in breaking out from the daily routine of life and explore the beauty around us. In the earlier times, people used to go to travel agents for the purpose of booking of their vacation. A travel agent is a person who helps out people in everything right from planning their trip to making all the bookings. 

But with the recent advent of technology and new trends, a number of online websites have started doing the same job of travel agents. By today, there are hundreds of websites which lets you plan your trip and do all the bookings related to the same via the internet. And while the web has taken over the bookings for travel and tourism, there are sufficiently still explanations behind why travel agents beat online booking.

1) Saves Time – Just think about the last time you spent hours researching about the places and hotels at a destination before doing the booking and planning the whole trip. What if someone else does the same for you and saves you time? Yes, travel agents are exactly helpful for you to plan your whole trip along with the booking while saving your time. 

2) They love what they do – Travel agents are not just people who help the customer to get their bookings done by saving their time. They are the ones who are passionate about travel. They love to travel and explore different places and they want the clients to feel the same when they travel. 

3) First- Hand Experience - Most of the travel agents visits different places and destinations well before, not only because they love to but also get a firsthand experience for the clients. While you can always read the reviews on the online booking portals, it is always better to go by the first-hand experience of the travel agents while booking. 

4) They got your back for cancellations – When you do your booking through online portals and a flight gets cancelled, chances are you might land into trouble for you have no idea what to do exactly. Whereas a travel agent is a savior in such situations, as with a single call to him, they can solve your problem easily. 

5) They know all the details – When you are visiting a new destination altogether, it is very important that you know well about the nearby restaurants, bus stops and airports well. A travel agent is someone who has well-maintained relationships with the people over at the other destinations which can help you to get all the information easily. 

6) Getting better prices, first – Travel agents always have a better relationship with the airlines and wholesalers. This helps you to get better prices for everything through travel agents first.

7) Safety Assurance – While the internet booking can help you with bookings and everything, it cannot certainly assure you about the safety assurance while you are on the trip. On the other hand, travel agents are always a call away from you if you need any safety assistance or anything while you are on your trip.

8) Cost Savings – Many travel agents have special access to the discounts and benefits that you won’t be receiving otherwise on the online booking portals. Thus, going with travel agents can save you a lot of costs which you can utilize for some other purposes while on the trip.

9) Real Relationship – No matter how good deals you receive on the online booking portals, there is no real relationship between you and the other side. On the other hand, with the travel agents, it is always a real human to the human relationship which can be more comfortable for you when you are traveling and having any problems to face with. 

10) Trend Updates – Travel agents are the people who get the idea about the upcoming trends in the market first. They know well about the price hikes and lows well before, it is updated on the portals. This helps clients better in going for travel agents rather than portals. 

11) More than a travel agent – A travel agent is a person who is with you throughout the trip, if not physically present. A travel agent can help you do your bookings for hotels, flights, sightseeing and everything. Also, apart from that if you need any personal assistance; it can be arranged by them while you are on your trip. 

Thus, a travel agent is much than just an agent who does the booking work. With the emergence of new trends and technologies day by day, travel agents will still rule the market of travel and tourism in coming years.