I've got to say that it seems like with very little research
I know more about my vacation destinations and how to get
there than most travel agents. And it doesn't take days to
get back to me with a firm price.
It seems to me that Sydney travel agents at least need to
life their game.
Is it just me or do others have the same problems? Are there
agents out there that you can recommend if I'm alone on this?
[There are 7 posts - the latest was added on Mon 17 May, 23:45]
Use the form at the end of this page to add your own post.
Topics
| Thorn Tree
| Home
that should have been "lift their game" not "life their
game". Ah what the hell, the sentence was gramatically
incorrect anyway...
No, you are right the first time. Most of those disgusting
little "toad in the holes" who sell tickets are in it for
the easy money and the kickback commissions of booking the
easy travellers. Most Thorntree type travellers are a little
too adventurous and independent.
Unless you are very lucky and find a rare travel agent who
wants to help you do something other than a package tour,
you are better off doing it yourself and saving the
commission. I had a great travel agent once but she quit
becuse the big company she worked for told her she was
'wasting time' finding out unusual things for me and
others. But the internet, plus old fashioned letter writing
to local government tourist offices plus every guide book
you can buy and borrow from the library is enough to do it
yourself. And you know a lot more when you arrive in the
country than you would if someone else did your planning
and booking. The only thing I have used a travel agent for
in the last three years is to book plane flights, and I'm
not going to do even that next time, because there are many
good sites on the net now.
We try hard really we do.Like most businesses we are
suffering from budget squeezes which means too little staff
so service drops. A lot of people out there think we add
our commission to hotels/tours etc but in fact we don't. It
costs the same to book a hotel with us (actually we normally
can get your hotels much cheaper than going direct - as
our wholesalers have negotiated bulk buying rates.)
Agents are sent on "famils" which means sent to various
locations around the world to see first hand, hotels,
sightseeing etc so they usually have a wealth of first hand
knowledge.Also our airfare knowledge of routes/ airline
rules etc makes it so much quicker to obtain the best fare
for you than to spend many hours on the internet in
frustration. Give us another go.
Dear Traveller
What a can of worms!!!! I am a travel agent, and an old one
at that nearing fifty and sadly I must agree some of us are
becoming lazy ignorant no hopers. All these cheapo flights
that are sold by companies that guarantee lowest prices lead
to that. Their staff work on a commission basis, know
bugger all about travel and could probably sell used cars
just as well. They want your money up fast and you out
faster so they can seat another patsy in the chair.
Too many agency chains have what we called 'preferred'
arrangements with certain airlines, hotels, car companies
etc. and forget the needs of the client to the almighty
dollar.
See I'm a bit of a stingy bastard and I treat all my clients
trips as if they are my own trip and so I try to reduce the
cost. Do I succeed everytime? NOPE, but I try real hard.
I got so teed off with poor travel insurance advice to
clients and agents not even recommending insurance that I
got an internet partner to set up www.travelinsurance.com.au
to help internet browsers. (I also wanted to make money
of course). We keep trying to get all insurance companies
to allow us to place their product on the site but quite a
few are baulking because they think we will take business
away from their product (perhaps because it is inferior??)
Unfortunately also our industry is unfortunately too full of
people who think it is all glamour and easy money with great
freebies. Well there ain't no such thing as a free lunch
and when they see they gotta work they go. Too many young
people last 6-12 months and that is sad.
Agents do have one real problem, we work for peanuts
(average about 10% commission on most sales) we are getting
warier (hum is that the right spelling???) because too many
times one of us does all the work and the client takes that
work and wanders across the road, gives the work to our
competitor who of course does it marginally cheaper - they
did no work for it.
SO I agree some times a client knows more about a
destination or has the time to do huge research which we
would happily do if we were paid for the work we do (no not
an exhorbitant fee, just for the time we put in).
Look if you have a query, and I can answer it cold I am
happy to give you advice free - why? Well I figure free
today, maybe tomorrow I will sell you a Greyhound bus
ticket.
I specialise in New Zealand, I have some 20 large lever arch
files of info on the place which is NOT necessarily
commisionable to me. I stock over 1,000 DIFFERENT travel
brochures covering everything I can sell. I do not claim to
know everything - only my computer does.
Walter
Valley Travel Centre
Canberra
valleyt@effect.com.au
I didn't intend to trash individual agents, which is why I
asked for people to recommend good ones. But it does seem
that the industry has problems as a whole, as you and a
couple people have pointed out here.
I have had a good agent in the past, but since I moved I've
found i very difficult to get a good one. With internet
access I seem to be able to plan routes better, get tours and
hotels cheaper -- and learn more about the place than the
agent.
I know that a degree of that has to do with having more of a
self-interest in the trip than a sales agent -- but I've
just gotten so discouraged that I simply do as much as I can
myself and use the cheapest agent possible for booking things
I can't (or won't) on the computer.
And if everyone did that, let's face it, the travel industry
would be a lot worse off in terms of having real
professionals and not just cut-prices sales agents.
I was doing a tourism course at TAFE last year and as an
exercise the students went out and posed as prospective
clients-this was a compulsory part of the course. The
results were not encouraging.Misinformation was one of the
biggest problems in dealing with Travel Agents and also
just plain lack of courtesy. Traveland in particular
featured badly in the report.
Choice Magazine many years ago did a survey. It seems
nothing much has changed.
Best to be informed and self educated about travel and
ticketing. You might like to do a travel course part time
like I did if you want a greater insight.
Last year I went to Nepal. I checked out quite a few RTAs.
I settled on Student Travel in Newtown(Sydney). Good
product,good price and excellent service. When I was stuck
in Katmandu over the Xmas period and no local airlines or
agents could help,I faxed Student Travel and in 8 minutes
flat they had booked me a return flight.
Good Luck!!!!