Other columnists for this site, who are also travel agents, have written excellent articles about what makes a good travel agent — very handy advice and very well-sourced as it is, coming from the proverbial horse’s mouth.
But it struck me, in this me! me! me! generation — what about me?
What do I want in a travel agent?
Maybe I’m too demanding, and I’ll ask my fellow contributors to say so, if its true, but I think I’m a pretty good expert in what I need from a travel agent. I want a travel agent who is professional, but who can personalize my agenda and be Johnny-on-the-spot.
Do I want too much? I do believe that a traveler has a responsibility to be smart and involved when working with an agent.
1) Information. First of all, I want them to be knowledgeable. That’s not as silly a requirement as you might think. When planning my Disney cruise, I was vastly disappointed by my agent’s personal data pool on the subject. I expect my representative to know how to navigate the sites of the travel providers I will be using.
Instead, I found myself giving the haplessly outdated woman a tutorial on entering travel documentation on the cruise site. I want them to know whether my cellphone will work onboard or not. I want them to understand and communicate to me in terms I can understand what all the fees and regulations are. I want them to know all the deposit and confirmation deadlines that they (and I) will have to comply with. (A really good agent will be able to size up your ‘travel quotient’ and determine how experienced and knowledgeable you are about a destination/cruise/travel procedure and adjust their technique accordingly).
2) Access. It’s all about access. I want a travel agent that can be available in some form 24/7/365. I want someone I can tweet from the airport and say, “Hey, I just missed my connection, how can I get to Lisbon this afternoon?” I want a rep that can navigate time zones and foreign currencies and grapple with all the unpleasantness of a ticket error at the check-in counter in Bangkok – without requiring me to stay in the airport overnight until they open. I don’t want voicemail, I want a real live person, at least within the hour.
3) Connected. Anyone can hang up a shingle and start to sell package tours. Not everyone has been in the business long enough to learn the ropes and establish the relationships that can really pay off if there is a problem. Need to get tickets re-issued? Need to find a hotel when every other one is sold out for Fashion Week? Need to get out of a foreign country without a passport? Ever need to do anything without getting stuck on hold? I want someone with the moxie to get me another primo room in Paris at the oversold hotel of my choice when mine has no air conditioning. I’d like someone on my side who can wrestle that last rental car away at the counter. In short, I want a friend when I’m far away from home.
4) Familiarity. I want a travel agent that knows me. OK, so maybe this might take a few years, but I think my loyalty should be rewarded with someone that not only remembers my name when I call, but who recalls that I like to stay in luxury four-star accommodations in the city, but prefer bed-and-breakfasts when I’m off the beaten path. I want to work with someone that won’t need a refresher in my preferences (non-smoking/bulkhead/king with a view/direct flight only) every time I call.
5) Contemporary. I want someone that’s ‘with it.’ Someone who keeps abreast of all the best travel trends, who can suggest the hottest new hotel openings and resorts, who knows that Disney currently has a promotion my kid would love. I’d like to find an agent that is as up-to-date with travel technology as I am. I want an experienced traveler, not just a desk jockey, who can tell me where to get the best authentic Thai food – in Tokyo.
6) Flexible. I want someone that comes equipped with options. Don’t tell me I can’t get there from here, tell me how to make it happen. Offer me three or five hotels in Hanoi, not just one. Let me know its better to hire a porter after the cruise than to try to schlep all my luggage through customs. Give me both the platinum and the shoe-string budget scenarios. A real gem could figure out if its more favorable to me, on that particular date, to pay with local currency instead of dollars for my international fare.
7) Sophisticated. I want someone at least as worldly as I am. Someone who can keep me from making that embarrassing American etiquette faux pas in Japan. Someone who knows the best way to get to my hotel in Kuala Lumpur, and about how much it should cost. Someone who understands what I can and can’t bring back from my travels, as in, “Don’t even think about bringing back that raw poultry from Saskatchewan!” And it’s really helpful when that person can tell me, “You have a 45 minute stop and your connection is all the way over in the other terminal.” One particularly helpful tip an agent gave me regarding a stop in Mexico City: “Go outside and get a cab from one terminal to the other.”
8) Pampering. I want to be coddled. Let’s face it, if I wanted the simple, stark and impersonal, I’ll go online and make a few clicks and be done with it. I want someone who offers suggestions of things I might like to do in Belgium. I want my own personal concierge to walk me through a twelve segment itinerary. I want someone that soothes over the rough edges between me and the hotel reservations desk when they’ve lost my reservation. I have enough on my mind trying to enjoy an eight country European tour with three other family members in seven days – I need a travel mommy, someone that will nag me to put down that deposit or renew my passport. I need someone that won’t leave me stranded, ever, because you know, Mom just wouldn’t allow that.
9) Respectful. And like a child, I want a travel agent that knows when to leave me alone. Don’t litter me with every travel marketing gimmick all year long. Don’t send me brochures for every new resort on the planet. Don’t call me, I’ll call you – unless (see above) you know me well enough that you’re positive that mark-down on the trans-Panama canal cruise will make me wet my pants.
And now for my confession – so far the only travel agent I can find anywhere near that description is my father. True, he’s a former travel agent, but I think it’s the family connection that really helps fulfill my wish list. After all, he has experienced the glories of my entire persona: stubborn, adventurous, demanding, appreciative, anal and capricious.
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It sounds like you want a personal travel assistant, one who puts personal attention, knowledge, and experience back into travel. That’s what I try to do, which is why I call myself that. I’m definitely not a traditional travel agent. My goal is to know my clients’ wants and needs and exceed their expectations. I am new to my second career, but I am a seasoned domestic and international traveler, and I hope my experiences will help me become what you describe above.
And if you’re in any way outside the standard “couples and families” travel demographic, add 10) Specialized. I’m a solo traveler most of the time, and I have yet to find a local travel agent who has any significant experience with single/solo clients. If you can find someone with that unusual experience, they’ll be able to find tours and cruises that are friendlier to singles than the usual ones that charge a 200% penalty “supplement,” as well as destinations where you won’t feel lost in a crowd of honeymooners and/or kids. Similar advice would surely apply to other “special needs” people such as seniors, gay/lesbian, or disabled.
An almost well-articulated, comprehensive and reasonable wish-list. Finding someone who understands the Art of Service is difficult in the “me” generation. What most fail to realize in the service business is that the word service derives from the word servant. To be of service to someone is an honor and a privilege, however, what will determine the dedication of the servant is how they are being treated.
When I say “almost”, what I missed in your list was your willingness to care and compensate this service excellence individual who will put all of your needs ahead of their own family and personal life requirements so that you may travel care-free. Experience, knowledge, flexibility, availability and the countless hours of research spent knowing you intrinsically will come with an investment and are you willing to invest as much in your Personal Travel Assistant and their livelihood as they are in you? If you are willing to invest, then wisely protect your investment. This includes not only thinking on a monetary basis, but a deep mutual respect as well as a practice of patience, consideration, appreciation and kindness.
Perhaps adding your “willingness to invest” as number 10 in your list will help find that which you so desire.
Hmmm….a travel genie is what is required here! Seasoned, but not wizened. Been everywhere, but still always available at her phone 24/7/365, and tech savvy, but not robotic. Having a brick and mortar agency, demographic tools, and a high volume consortium behind said agent for support and training is really key for this level of service. Paying an appropriate service fee should be expected by my clients and my value added service appreciated as well. My lamp has been rubbed many times by people who do not appreciate what comes out of it.
I am the old school agent..the one who loves the hotels and knows who to call for special favors. I am the one who said that those of us who provide service would still be needed, forget the internet. There are few people out there like you and because I refuse to work in a mill it is almost impossible for me to connect to them. I am the one who knows the ins and outs and still teaches her clients how to travel well and comfortably. The one who devours the travel mags and industry info when it comes out so I can be on top of things. Also the one who has traveled the world and still wants more, one of the ones who will never be tired of what is out there. Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to connect with clients who want that kind of agent. I am beat up by the creatures who are making money from home being an agent when they have never been outside their home in Podunk. I am the one living on social security because everyone wants to do things fast and cheap..forget the quality and joy of real travel. I don’t care if the cruise ship has a rock climbing wall or a skating rink; I care about the ports it calls on, the level of its shore excursions and the quality of the care it gives both my clients and myself. I love your song but my breed of agents are dinosaurs who are a dying breed with few people left who want us to survive
I have to ask, are you willing to pay for the service that you want? If you want service you pay for it, it doesn’t matter if you are talking about travel agents, lawyers or anything else. I would suggest that you don’t need/want a run of the mill agent, you want someone who specializes in high touch service. I know two agents that do nothing but high touch and not only do they charge a transaction fee, they charge an annual subscription fee.
@ Mae
The willingness to pay for service was implicit – I’ve travelled enough to know that one has to pay for the privilege of using a travel agent. And, as my other colleagues have pointed out., in many ways using an agent SAVES you money in the long run.
As I’ve commented before, many folks operate on the assumption that they are special and gifted and they will have no worries, yet if any of the scenarios evolve that require the special services of an agent – a ticket re-issue, replacing a lost connection – an agent will often get it done at no extra cost, or with minimal fees incurred. If the traveler had to buy another ticket to replace a missed connection, they’ve already shelled out more than an agent’s commission in many cases.
Thanks for reading and I’m glad my list didn’t seem too onerous to many. I’m not as super picky as I thought!
Maybe someone should start a specilized travel service. They’d probably have to charge a several hundred dollar service fee, or could charge membership fees – I expect there are a lot of knowledgeable people available but they’d have to go in shifts and need to earn a living.
Laura – just found your blog through Google Alerts and I’m so glad I did!
You forgot to include your dad’s contact info! =)
I love this list. It’s not too much to ask of any service provider, actually.
Might I add a point? Perhaps a part b to your familiarity note.
I want a travel agent who knows when to take the kid gloves off If I’ve told you my passport number and frequent flier number by heart, might that be a sign to shut up with the travel 101: “You need to be at the airport at least 2 hours before your flight.” Ahhh!!
Exactly how much do you expect to pay for all of this service?
Do you expect this from everyone with whom you do business?
Unless you can state precisely in real dollars how much you are willing to pay for this service, I find your list of expectations preposterous in an industry where the compensation is so low.
@ Greg-
Yes, I would pay for the service (I believe I have answered that above). And as far as how much I would pay, that’s a preposterous question to ask – it’s one that I would have to negotiate with the individual that was considering offering the service.
The article was meant to highlight the myriad of aspects of things that folks look for in an agent and admittedly is not a list that one individual could fulfill. I have found agencies that, between the entire team, could provide that service, and I have paid them for it in the past.
Like any profession, there are niches where folks can name their price. And, as a hint to folks looking for good well-rounded service, even if its not as comprehensive as described above, look for an agency that also counts an international corporation (such as mine) as a client – they usually have seen, heard and done it all (or most of it).
Or find a retired travel agent with a soft spot for family, like my dad!