What to Look for in a Travel Agent
Posted on | November 26, 2009 | 18 Comments
In this day of online trip booking and lowest price airfare searches, do you still need a travel agent? According to the ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) and most travelers, the answer is a resounding yes. Travel agents still book nearly 90% of all cruises and over 80% of all tours and packages. A consumer-conscious travel agent will work hard to find you the best possible combination of price and features to make your tour a dream vacation. Here are some questions to ask that will help you evaluate travel agents and be sure that you find the best one for your booking and travel needs.
1. Do you know a good travel agent?
Yes, start by asking around. A good travel agent will build a good reputation. If you have friends and associates who travel often, ask them for their recommendations. Those will be a good starting point for your own search.
2. How long have you been doing this?
Look for an agent that has been in business for five years or longer. While length of time in business is no guarantee of commitment or knowledge, experience is a great teacher.
3. What are your qualifications as a travel agent?
There are a number of professional training courses that your agent may have taken. The highest certification for a travel agent is a Certified Travel Consultant, which requires five years of full time travel industry experience and the completion of twelve courses. Other certificates include Certified Travel Associate, and Destination Specialist. While it is not necessary for a travel agent to hold any of these qualifications, they do provide proof of commitment and knowledge in the industry.
4. Are you affiliated with an agency?
On the other hand, even a younger, newer agent who is affiliated with an established agency has access to the resources and information of the entire agency. That’s not to say that outside agents – those who work outside an agency – are not as good. An outside agent has the advantage of flexibility in booking trips that are not part of their agency’s offered products.
5. Are you affiliated with any professional organizations?
U.S. travel agents are not generally regulated or held to uniform standards, but there are two major professional bodies to which they may belong, the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) and the Association of Retail Travel Agents (ARTA).
6. What questions is the agent asking me?
One of the most important qualifications for a travel agent is an awareness of and sensitivity to your needs. The agent you’re working with should be full of questions aimed at learning as much as possible about your needs. A good travel agent will be focused on you and your needs, not just on the products they are selling you.
7. Do you have any specialist knowledge?
Some agencies and agents specialize in a particular type of trip. If you have special needs or are seeking a unique type of vacation – like the new and very popular eco-tours – you may do far better with an agent who is experienced in that special field. Other specialties may include booking tours and trips for people with limitations and/or disabilities, booking adventure tours, or booking trips to a specific destination.
8. How do you find me the best deals?
You can ask more specific questions, but you’re really trying to find out how well-connected your travel agent is within the industry, and how current they are with the latest technologies and developments. You’re looking for answers like, “we have preferred supplier arrangements with these travel companies” and “I subscribe to these databases of travel offers” – answers that make it clear your travel agent uses all the resources available to find you the best possible trip.
9. What will happen if I have an overseas emergency while your agency is closed?
Your travel agent can and should be your strongest advocate before, during and after your trip. Being able to contact your agency during their off hours can mean the difference between sitting in a hotel lobby waiting until the office reopens. The answer you want is: “There is always an agent on call to resolve problems that might arise even when we’re closed.”
10. Do I like this person and feel comfortable with them?
While it’s not necessary to like someone in order to do business with them, it’s a very good gauge of how well they’re relating to you. You’ll get the best service and vacation experience from a travel agent who is focused on you, your companions and helping you arrange the vacation of a lifetime. After all, a good agent isn’t looking for a sale – they’re looking for a long-term relationship.
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- Travel Agent Tips for Planning a Family Vacation
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Tags: astronomy > CIA > holiday > NASA > Tour > travel > Travel Agency > Travel Agent > vacations
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18 Responses to “What to Look for in a Travel Agent”
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November 26th, 2009 @ 9:17 am
Omega World Travel comes to mind. The airlines also hire travel agents to book their seats. You can also look on hotjobs or monster.com for a job in travel.
November 26th, 2009 @ 9:17 am
lemme just say… you are my new hero.
November 26th, 2009 @ 9:29 am
The travel industry is ever changing. Some agencies hire people who have travel experience. They will train you so long as you have been to many different destinations and can speak about the places because you know best, you have been there. http://www.mytravel.ca is one such company.
Others prefer you have some experience in the industry so they do not have to train you. Essentially, you should have strong keyboarding skills, ability to problem solve, multi task, be very organized, work unsupervised, know world geography, have a basic sense of history, have a great memory, read a fair amount, be able to retain large amounts of information, know basic airport and airline codes, know how to upsale a vacation, meet sales quota's, have a pleasant telephone manner and be responsible.
As for online courses, it is up to the individual agency to check out these courses and decide your knowledge base from your resume and interview.
November 26th, 2009 @ 10:16 am
hermosisimooooooooo !!!
November 26th, 2009 @ 11:18 pm
All you have to do is go to your college. You can get either a diploma or a degree, but a degree will better help you to achieve this. I am a travel agent and I graduated in December with my degree. It takes about 2 years, depending on how much time you put into it and how many classes you take. If you want to, you can try to do it between 6 months and a year if you can, but it will be very hard. It will cost you about $10,000 for everything, tuition, books, classes everything. Apply for scholarships, especially if you had great grades in high school. I kept a 4.0 GPA throughout my academic history, and scholarships and grants got me through college and whatever was left over was like a gift, to do as you wish with. I must have gotten refunds of up to $3000 in that first year. It's easy, just apply for Financial Aid. Good luck and I wish you well. You can do it. If I was able to, you most certainly can.
November 27th, 2009 @ 6:36 am
You are amazing!
November 27th, 2009 @ 9:49 am
wow!
November 27th, 2009 @ 4:23 pm
In the US you need to first either attend travel school or work for a period of time for an authorized travel agency. In the travel business there is an agency (ARC = Airline Resettlement Commission) which controls all of the distribution of travel funds and you must be a member in order to participate. You gain that participation by schooling and work in the business. Then you need to join a travel association, like ASTA or CLIA, which show you are a professional travel person.
You should look into attending a travel school like maybe Carlson Travel. There are several others that are nationwide(see web site below). I attended Carlson and they offer full time and part-time classes. Once you finish the school, they will help you with placement, finding a job. You really need to work in the business under an agency for a while to learn how things are done. Once you finish schooling and or your apprenticeship, you are assigned a CLIA or ASTA number. That number is your ticket to getting paid.
November 27th, 2009 @ 5:49 pm
Omfg, it just looks like a picture
November 27th, 2009 @ 7:25 pm
the $64,000,000 Question
Sorry I can not think of one
But am sure there must be one!
November 27th, 2009 @ 10:17 pm
TRY THIS
November 28th, 2009 @ 3:14 am
Beautiful video!
November 28th, 2009 @ 8:40 am
Bookmark this website… BookMe dot com. Search it once a week for the next few month's worth of deals, and pick up the cheapest deals when you see them. This is going to save you a ton of time and money. Trust me.
November 28th, 2009 @ 4:38 pm
I always love your art. Now I love your music
November 29th, 2009 @ 2:48 am
Much of the information about you especially online activities are stored on servers overseas where US laws do not apply. Privacy is gone and is going to get much worse in the next few years
i.e. Data Mining
November 29th, 2009 @ 4:29 am
superb!!
November 29th, 2009 @ 8:53 am
Are you looking for a tour guide? in that case, no idea…
But if you're looking for a flights available, i can provide you a website where you can check… http://www.expedia.com
goodluck and God bless!
November 29th, 2009 @ 3:11 pm
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