Your Advocate...The Travel Agent

We get a lot of clients who come to us for help in planning their vacations because they don't have time to do it themselves or they need help with a complicated itinerary or they just need help with a destination that they are just not that familiar with etc.  Some even come to us because they have read somewhere that travel agents can save you money.

Those are all great reasons for using the services of a travel professional, but one of the reasons that gets overlooked is that we are the client's advocate when things don't go according to plan.  While we all hope everything goes as scheduled and things are better than expected during the vacation, things can happen that are out of the control of the client as well as the travel professional.  And when things do come up that are unexpected and not as you hoped, you want someone in your corner who will fight for YOU, not the resort, or the cruise line or the airline etc.


Case in point.  Sandals Grande Antigua announced a few days ago (from the time of this writing) that they were closing the resort from Sept to December for "major repairs."  Well as you can imagine, vacationers who were looking forward to their tropical getaway during that timeframe just had their entire vacation uprooted.  Yes, Sandals is offering options to the guests who cannot change their travel dates etc, but so many are left with the question of, "what do we do next?"  I should say that the ones who did not use a travel professional are left with that question.

Our clients know exactly what their options are.  One such client didn't have to hear the news and panic because our consultant, Julia, had already heard and was putting together the options before the client had heard the news.  Within a day, the client was given an alternative that fit their schedule and fit what they were expecting for their vacation.   The client did not have to try to get in the phone queue with Sandals or with one of the online booking companies and spend their valuable time trying to figure things out on their own.  They did not have to spend hours of researching what was available to them for alternate resorts etc.  It was taken care of by their travel professional who interacted on their behalf with the tour operator and resort.

So hopefully you see that we do more than quote and book vacations.  We stand ready to assist our clients when assistance is needed and make sure their best interests are being represented when things come up before or during someone's well-deserved vacation.

Not a Good Fit

NOT A GOOD FIT

A big mistake that almost every small business person makes starting out is thinking that every possible client is a great client and good fit for their business.  I made those same mistakes and have made them even recently.  But with the exciting changes coming to my agency, I have had to really put into practice the truth that not every possible client is a good fit for me or my agents.  It will help you, our valued-clients as well as anyone reading this post, to know what is NOT a good fit for us when it comes to those you might want to refer.  Here are some characteristics that some have that make them NOT a good fit for what we do:

1) They are checking multiple online sites and want someone only to match or beat the prices they are finding.  There is always someone out there wanting to beat someone's price and we are not in the pricing-war game.

2) They don't value our expertise or our personal service.  This really goes with the first one.  Someone just wanting the "lowest possible price" usually does not attach value to a professional's knowledge and personal experience.

3) They expect us to give them freebies in order for them to work with us.  We are not here to win someone's loyalty by throwing gifts at them.  We have bills to pay just like our clients do and this is our livelihood as well as our profession.

4) They expect us to reply to texts, phone calls and emails well after what some consider to be normal business hours.  While we are always accessible for our clients who are traveling, we do have lives just like everyone else does and we need our time with family as much as anyone does.  We may choose to work after hours, but that is our choice and clients cannot expect us to be watching our phones for questions at 9pm on a Friday night, for example.

5) They just don't want to listen.  There are clients out there who refuse to take any advice we give when it comes to flights, resort or hotel reputations, etc and then come back and complain about the very things we tried to warn them about.

If you are reading these and thinking...but I thought travel agents always guaranteed the best price... you have been misled.  What we do is provide the best vacation value.  Lowest price does not equate to best value.  Our expertise and skill allow us to provide each client with the best overall vacation which could include the best possible flight times/connections, the most favorable room location at their resort, the most memorable tours/excursions etc.  We guide our clients on how to navigate customs, we offer insider information when it comes to restaurants and sites to see and our custom itineraries may never be the lowest priced option.

So, if you find yourself in one of the areas listed above, then you are probably not a good fit for us and we would be glad to refer you to a website that would be willing to work with you. But if you do value professional service and expertise and want the best overall value from your dream vacation/adventure, then we would be thrilled to consider you our client and we would be honored to become your travel consultants for life.