Planning Your Honeymoon – Avoiding Costly Mistakes

June 03, 2014  •  Leave a Comment

Thanks to Sharon Millar for the following valuable information:

Planning a honeymoon in today’s travel world can be confusing, intimidating and time consuming at best. Using a good qualified Travel Agent can take the confusion out of planning that vacation or honeymoon and can save you money in the process.

In booking vacation packages, Travel Agents use well known travel suppliers such as Apple Vacations, GOGO Worldwide Vacations and others. Because of the volume of vacation packages, provided by these travel suppliers, prices will, in most cases, be less than you can purchase directly from the hotel or resort. Combine that with airfare and transfers and you will end up with a package price significantly less than trying to piece everything together yourself. Contrary to popular belief, a travel Agent does not add an additional fee to the supplier’s package price. In many cases the Agent will be able to take advantage of unpublished specials and discounted prices.

How many times have you tried to research resorts or hotels only to find that each resort or hotels website makes them all look like they are 5 star and that all of them claim to satisfy your every vacation desire?

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 The Caribbean Sea from the bridal suite at our recent destination wedding – Playa Del Carmen

I read resort and hotel reviews all the time and am constantly amazed at the number of bad reviews that show that the resort or hotel in question may not be a bad resort or hotel but that the traveler chose the wrong one based on their vacation requirements. This is another area where a good qualified Travel Agent can help. By asking a few questions, a Travel Agent can get a good idea what your vacation requirements are and using their firsthand knowledge of the resorts, hotels and destinations they specialize in, match those requirements to provide the perfect vacation. 

This leads us to the next issue, each resort and hotel will specialize in a different type of clientele. Resorts and hotels are not something that fit into the “one size fits all” category. You also have to deal with the fact that all resort and hotel websites will make them look as if they were rated 5 stars and satisfy every vacation requirement. Think about it. If you owned a 2 star resort and developed a website for that resort, would you make it look like a 2 star resort or a 5 star resort?

The last, and one of the most important things a good qualified Travel Agent can provide is customer service. How many times have we made our own travel plans , had a problem, and then had to deal directly with the airline or a hotel. Here is where the good qualified Travel Agent can step in for you, deal with the airline or the hotel, and using the industry contacts they have, make alternative arrangements, solve problems, day and night, when you are on vacation, and deal with issues when you return, all for no additional charge! To use the often used phrase “without a Travel Agent, you are truly on your own”.

Lastly, how do you find a good qualified Travel Agent? When contacting a Travel Agent you should ask a few qualifying questions. How long have you been in the Travel Business? Do you specialize in a particular type of vacation, all inclusive resorts, Europe, Hawaii, etc.? Have you visited and spent time at the resorts or destinations you specialize in? One question you should ask, but is not often asked, is, how much time are you willing to spend with me to make sure I receive the vacation I am looking for? I say this because most of the large volume travel houses allow their reps to only spend a certain number of minutes with each client because to them quantity of business is more important than quality. Another good indicator is the vibe you get when speaking with the travel agent. Do I feel comfortable speaking and working with this person? Do they sound excited to be working with me? Do they appear to know what they are talking about? A good Travel Agent is not looking to make one sale but rather develop a relationship with a client that is ongoing.  For more information the website is www.ultimateall-inclusivetravel.com .


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