5 things the travel agents don’t want you to know

1) Travel agents earn commission on you

First and most probably the most obvious one is the fact that the agents earn commission on every flight ticket and hotel booked via them – the commission is usually calculated into the fare. Some of the tickets and hotel chains provide better margins hence it is in the agents’ best interest to sell you the ticket/room that earns the highest commission to them. While you are expecting the best value for your buck the reality might be different and the sweet deal the agent promised you might not end up being the best available deal out there.

2) Booking the tickets yourself is faster

I’m sure the following scenario rings a bell – you call up the travel agent to query about the tickets to Thailand, they promise to drop you an e-mail, which then arrives an hour later at best. Most likely the dates offered will not suit your preference and the price will be too steep – this is where the endless e-mail chain begins – back and forth until days later you agree to the offered and the trip gets finally booked. While you were busy negotiating with the agent most probably you missed quite a few deals that were circling the web – as the world of the plane fares is an ever changing one even an hour can make all the difference.

3) Travel agents might not have access to all the offers

Quite often the travel agents are limited to the tickets available in their sale engine. This means that you are not necessarily getting the best deal out there as the system the agent is using might not even have access to those 300€ flight tickets to Bangkok advertised in sites like travelfree.info & reisipalavik.ee

4) Mistakes happen

There is no reason to believe that the travel agents are flawless, mistakes happen and that’s normal but when booking the flights or hotels yourself you are likely to be extra cautious when selecting the dates and destinations as it is you alone responsible for the booking process rather than an agent that is most likely responsible for booking hundreds of flights and rooms every single day.

5) The travel agent might not have been to the hotel they are advertising

It might sound a bit ridiculous but some of the agents are at least trying to create an illusion of having been to every single one of the hotels on offer – which obviously isn’t true. Nothing beats the opinion of a fellow traveler that has stayed on the property you are about to book – thanks to going through the booking process yourself you have access to these reviews.