Tour and Travel Agency
1) What is the role of a tour and travel agency in tourism?
Answer: The main function of a large-scale travel agency are:
Travel Information
Whatever the size of a travel agency near me, it has to provide necessary travel information to tourists. A travel agency must give up-to-date, accurate, and timely information regarding destinations mode of travel, accommodation, sight-seeing, shopping, immigration, passport, visa, customs clearance and procedure, health and security rules, and various permits required to travel in particular areas, etc.
Linkages
Essentially, travel agencies maintain close ties with airlines, hotels, car rentals, banks,insurance companies, railways, government, trade associations, foreign tour operators, other travel agents, ground operators, cruise companies, and tourism educational institutes.
Itinerary Preparation
The term tourists itinerary is used to identify the origin, destination, and all the stopping points in a traveler's tours. It is a composition of various elements and designed after a detailed study of the market. Travel agencies prepare an itinerary for tour packages.
Airline Ticketing and Reservation
A travel agency sells a variety of tourism products. Airline ticketing and reservation is still a major source of revenue. Travel agencies perform the function of airline ticketing and reservation on behalf of various airlines.
Tour Packaging and Costing
Travel agencies prepare tour package and sell them to tourists. The coasting and pricing of tour packages depend to a large extent on the ability of travel agents as to how effectively he is able to negotiate with the principal suppliers.
Reservation
It is a very important function of all types of travel agencies. A travel agency consistently makes linkage with the accommodation sector, transport sector, and other entertainment organizations to reserve rooms and seats in the cultural programs and transportation.
Travel Insurance
Some large-scale travel agencies perform additional functions to serve their clients. Travel insurance protects travelers against the person as well as baggage losses resulting from a wide range of travel-related happenings and problems.
Currency Services
Approved travel agency authorized by Govt. body provides currency exchange services to tourists.
Organization of Conference/Conventions
Large-scale travel agencies offer a complete convention/conference package which includes registration of the participants at the venue to be picked up for dropped to the airport/hotel, overhead projectors, slide projectors, TV, VCR, information counter, sightseeing, etc.
2) Should I book a trip through a travel agent?
Answer: If you are trying to buy the cheapest round-trip economy ticket from New York to Chicago, even the nearest travel agency probably canít get it for less than you can buy it online, though you still have to deal with all the pitfalls of the online travel sites and you will lose the safety the nearest travel agency can provide when things go wrong. Be sure to buy travel insurance for things like overseas flights and such as you can often save yourself a lot of money if something gets lost or you have to cancel for a medical reason etc.
There are some areas where the best travel agency near me can save you money, or miles, or both:
Case 1 is when you are buying premium-class tickets, Business, First, or some of the even higher new classes. The best travel agency near me uses Airline Consolidators and negotiated air contracts. The Airline Consolidators can purchase premium class tickets for hundreds or thousands of dollars less than the best price you can find online. It doesn't matter how rich you are, if you can get the same tickets and pocket thousands of dollars thatís a good deal - plus you get all the peace of mind that comes with the nearest travel agency's safety net.
Case 2 comes to using miles, or miles and money, or just paying to fly in pricier premium classes, you might have trouble believing the miracles the best travel agency near me can work. In the case of frequent flyer miles, the best travel agency near me can change flights from Business
class on one airline to First Class on another airline - for half the mileage allotment the airlines will quote. The best travel agency near can also add a stopover that has all sorts of luxury amenities.
Case 3 is creative ticketing. The nearest travel agency often hears endless complaints from frequent fliers about the difficulty of using miles, but this is not the case - if you use a mileage and ticketing expert. These mileage and ticketing experts can get you to your destination in Business Class and back in First Class for much less money and fewer airline miles than the airline will quote you. Combining Premium Economy and Business Class on 2 outbound flights can often cost you less using the best travel agency near me than the airline will quote for using Premium Economy the whole way.
Case 4 is where The best travel agency near me can be especially helpful is when dealing with groups and/or passengers leaving from multiple cities. Group airfares are available in some cases for groups with 8-10 members or more. The best travel agency near me can advise you when some cheap flights are not worth booking when they require very short/long layovers, very early/very late departure times, or utilize unreliable carriers.
Case 5 is when going to a resort thinking you have found a perfect couples getaway when in fact the hotel is a haven for children or party animals. Many travel review websites have no way of validating what is being written on their websites is actually true or not. Why risk a wrecked vacation that costs you thousands of dollars?
Case 6 is when the hotel is sold out of your room or you miss your flight. Travel agents use extremely large travel partners and these travel partners can save you hundreds if not thousands if there are issues with your flights/hotel/rental car etc. You simply call a toll-free telephone number at your destination and the large travel partner becomes your friendly 800-pound gorilla at the front desk!
3) Is it cheaper to book through a group travel agency?
Answer: If you are trying to buy the cheapest economy ticket from New York to Chicago, even the nearest travel agency near me probably can't get it for less than you can buy it online, though you still have to deal with all the pitfalls of the online travel sites and you will lose the safety the nearest travel agency can provide when things go wrong. Be sure to buy travel insurance for things like overseas flights and such as you can often save yourself a lot of money if something gets lost or you have to cancel for a medical reason etc.
There are some areas where the best travel agency near me can save you money, or miles, or both:
Case 1 is when you are buying premium-class tickets, Business, First, or some of the even higher new classes. The best travel agency near me uses Airline Consolidators and negotiated air contracts. The Airline Consolidators can purchase premium class tickets for hundreds or thousands of dollars less than the best price you can find online. It doesn't matter how rich you are, if you can get the same tickets and pocket thousands of dollars thatís a good deal - plus you get all the peace of mind that comes with the nearest travel agency's safety net.
Case 2 comes to using miles, or miles and money, or just paying to fly in pricier premium classes, you might have trouble believing the miracles the best travel agency near me can work. In the case of frequent flyer miles, the best travel agency near me can change flights from Business class on one airline to First Class on another airline - for half the mileage allotment the airlines will quote. The best travel agency near can also add a stopover that has all sorts of luxury amenities.
Case 3 is creative ticketing. The nearest travel agency often hears endless complaints from frequent fliers about the difficulty of using miles, but this is not the case - if you use a mileage and ticketing expert. These mileage and ticketing experts can get you to your destination in Business Class and back in First Class for much less money and fewer airline miles than the airline will quote you. Combining Premium Economy and Business Class on 2 outbound flights can often cost you less using the best travel agency near me than the airline will quote for using Premium Economy the whole way.
Case 4 is where The best travel agency near me can be especially helpful is when dealing with groups and/or passengers leaving from multiple cities. Group airfares are available in some cases for groups with 8-10 members or more. The best travel agency near me can advise you when some cheap flights are not worth booking when they require very short/long layovers, very early/very late departure times, or utilize unreliable carriers.
Case 5 is when going to a resort thinking you have found a perfect couples getaway when in fact the hotel is a haven for children or party animals. Many travel review websites have no way of validating what is being written on their websites is actually true or not. Why risk a wrecked vacation that costs you thousands of dollars?
Case 6 is when the hotel is sold out of your room or you miss your flight. Travel agents use extremely large travel partners and these travel partners can save you hundreds if not thousands if there are issues with your flights/hotel/rental car etc. You simply call a toll-free telephone number at your destination and the large travel partner becomes your friendly 800-pound gorilla at the front desk!
4) What is a contracted group?
Answer: With a contracted group, the group travel agency will work with you to find the best destination and hotel for your group based on your needs. Once a hotel is selected, the group travel agency will lock in the pricing for the life of the group with blocked inventory (air & hotel). Travelers will have peace of mind knowing hotel inventory is held while each traveler contacts the group travel agency directly to book into the group block and makes individual payments to their own reservation within the group.
Some extras that contracted groups may provide:
Complimentary hotel stays room upgrades, and other group amenities & inclusions. The customized guest booking website for guests to book into the contracted block, while being able to still service their individual reservation. Low deposits starting as low as $50 per person or just a few hundred dollars when booking a social, leisure, or wedding group. Flexible payment and cancellation term. Final payments are typically not required until 30-90 days prior to travel. Travel Protection Plus protects your investment from the unexpected. Exclusive VIP inclusions. Customized travel itineraries besides the hotel, include air, private nonstop transfers, in-destination activities & excursions.
5) Who should book a contracted group?
Answer: With a contracted group, the group travel agency will work with you to find the best destination and hotel for your group based on your needs. Once a hotel is selected, the group travel agency will lock in the pricing for the life of the group with blocked inventory (air & hotel). Travelers will have peace of mind knowing hotel inventory is held while each traveler contacts the group travel agency directly to book into the group block and makes individual payments to their own reservation within the group.
6) What are the services of a group travel agency?
Answer: With a contracted group, the group travel agency will work with you to find the best destination and hotel for your group based on your needs. Once a hotel is selected, the group travel agency will lock in the pricing for the life of the group with blocked inventory (air & hotel). Travelers will have peace of mind knowing hotel inventory is held while each traveler contacts the group travel agency directly book into the group block and makes individual payments to their own reservation within the group.
Some extras that contracted groups may provide:
Complimentary hotel stays room upgrades, and other group amenities & inclusions.
The customized guest booking website for guests to book into the contracted block, while being able to still service their individual reservation.
Low deposits starting as low as $50 per person or just a few hundred dollars when booking a social, leisure, or wedding group.
Flexible payment and cancellation term. Final payments are typically not required until 30-90 days prior to travel.
Travel Protection Plus protects your investment from the unexpected.
Exclusive VIP inclusions.
Customized travel itineraries besides the hotel, include air, private nonstop transfers, in-destination activities & excursions.
7) What is the most important role of a group travel agency?
Answer: With a contracted group, the group travel agency will work with you to find the best destination and hotel for your group based on your needs. Once a hotel is selected, the group travel agency will lock in the pricing for the life of the group with blocked inventory (air & hotel). Travelers will have peace of mind knowing hotel inventory is held while each traveler contacts the group travel agency directly to book into the group block and makes individual payments to their own reservation within the group.
8) What is a group travel agency agent?
Answer: With a contracted group, the group travel agency will work with you to find the best destination and hotel for your group based on your needs. Once a hotel is selected, the group travel agency will lock in the pricing for the life of the group with blocked inventory (air & hotel). Travelers will have peace of mind knowing hotel inventory is held while each traveler contacts the group travel agency directly to book into the group block and makes individual payments to their own reservation within the group.
9) What is a good travel agency?
Answer: Generally speaking, a travel agency can take care of the necessary arrangements pertaining to transportation, special attraction fares, hotels, and other travel matters. However, you need to understand that since not all travel agencies are ready to offer you the best service, you have to look for certain qualities in a travel agency to make sure they are a good fit. The best travel agency should do the following:
They Should Offer You Great Deals:
One of the best qualities of top-rated travel agencies is uniqueness. They should not only be interested in giving you a great deal, but they have creative offers for you on your arrival, like offering you a bottle of wine or some onboard credit. If the agent is not ready to go an extra mile for you, you may want to rethink your choice.
They Should Put Your Needs First:
A great travel agent is friendly and approachable. The last thing you will want to experience is working with someone who treats you like they do not value you. If you prefer going out for two or more vacations in a year, you need someone who can spice up your experience with a smile. If they have your best interests at heart, you will obviously return to them for more services.
They Should Have Travel Expertise:
Do not find someone who does inadequate research and quotes you a shocking price. Top-rated travel agencies take time to weigh all options before quoting a decent price. Top-rated travel agencies readily help you plan the trip, and keep an eye on the price offers to help you save some bucks at the slightest opportunity.
They Should Not Charge Travel Advisory Fee:
If a travel agent asks you to pay extra for the services they offer, opt for another choice immediately! Top-rated travel agencies are content with compensations they receive from travel partners without charging their clientís extra money. While working directly with the cruise lines, they will offer you better deals without putting you through any financial difficulty.
They Should Be Able To Offer A Full Range Of Travel Solutions:
With the ever-growing travel industry that gets more competitive by the day, travel agencies need to better the quality of the services they offer. Top-rated travel agencies can make arrangements for all types of domestic and international travel, like hotel and resort accommodation, as well as ground and air transportation. They should also include tour packages and car rental needs. It is ideal that they can make things much easier by providing the necessary assistance with visa and passport applications, travel insurance protection, inoculation procedures, and other foreign travel requirements.
10) Can travel agents get better deals?
Answer: Generally speaking, top-rated travel agencies can take care of the necessary arrangements pertaining to transportation, special attraction fares, hotels, and other travel matters. However, you need to understand that since not all travel agencies are ready to offer you the best service, you have to look for certain qualities in a travel agency to make sure they are a good fit. The best travel agency should do the following:
They Should Offer You The Best Deals:
One of the best qualities of top-rated travel agencies is uniqueness. They should not only be interested in giving you a great deal, but they have creative offers for you on your arrival, like offering you a bottle of wine or some onboard credit. On cruise vacations, for example, top-rated travel agencies routinely receive 'points' from the cruise companies for a certain number of cabins booked per sailing. Those 'points' can be turned into cash, onboard credits, or luxuries such as cocktail parties for your group. To-rated travel agencies who give the best deals will turn over a certain % of those 'points' for your party/group to utilize on their cruise vacation.
11) Why use a tour and travel agency instead of booking online?
Answer: Travelers should experience the extraordinary, not once in a lifetime, but every time.
Expertise:
The best travel agent knows what the best hotel is, they know what the best hotel is for you and your budget and can help you find the right fit. Some travel agencies specialize in one or two types of travel. Some are specialists in destination weddings or honeymoons. A luxury travel agency may be an expert in high-end ocean cruises or river cruises or European luxury tours or private tours or adventure travel. Some travel agencies excel at corporate or very large group travel. Some travel agencies excel at family or generational vacations.
Specialization:
No one knows everything about travel, no matter how deeply they are involved in the industry. The best travel agency can be an expert on ski travel and know the ins and outs of every major luxury ski hotel in this country. But the good travel agencies for ski vacations may know nothing about the hotel scene in Tokyo or river cruising in France. Some travelers cheat their way around this by sticking to brands like Westin or Hilton or The Ritz-Carlton wherever they go, but in many tourism hotbeds like Florence Italy, all the best hotels are ones you have likely never heard of. This is where the best travel agency's knowledge cannot be beaten. And while even the best travel agent canít know everything either, the good agencies parcel things up, so they have a safari expert, a cruise expert, a honeymoon expert, and so on, and they all work together.
VIP Access:
On the other hand, the best travel agency near me will treat you like a VIP. Whether you are trying to book space at a coveted ocean view room on the North Shore of Maui or get a room in a top Paris hotel during Fashion Week, most hoteliers keep emergency inventory, and guess who gets it? The best travel agency they have known for years who book a lot of guests and send them a lot of business. It works this way with lots of things in the travel industry, from hard-to-get dinner reservations to the resortís best ski instructor to a cityís top art expert as a private museum guide. Anytime there is scarcity, there is no substitute for personal connections, and the best travel agency has built these over years or decades. Top-rated travel agencies provide their clients with access: access to people, and experiences that could never be replicated, much less imagined.
Payment Plans:
Keep in mind that the vast majority of online retail travel booking websites want all their money upfront. This is not the case with travel agents. If your trip is at least 60 days out, you may only be required to put down a deposit of 10% to 25% of the trip and then pay the final balance 30-90 days before the flight or cruise. This is especially helpful when booking in the fourth quarter for next summer's vacation. You can save hundreds if not thousands of dollars by depositing 6 months ahead of your trip and then paying the balance a month before trip departure.
Extras:
When you get more than you expected for the same price, thatís a great deal, and with the top-rated travel agencies, this happens all the time. The cruise industry is a perfect example of very large inventories that fluctuate in supply and demand each week, with a large audience of repeat customers who cruise again and again for years. The cruise lines do not want to lose the loyalty of those customers - or the top-rated travel agencies who steer hundreds of them each year to particular brands. Yet it basically costs the line no more to have you stay in a deluxe suite than a basic room if that suite is available, and with the size of todayís ships, it often is. But who gets these upgrades? Top-rated travel agencies! The best travel agency near me who specialize in cruises have enormous volume clout and are legendary for routinely getting clients one or two class stateroom upgrades, free shore excursions, onboard credits, and all sorts of things - for the same exact price you pay for the basic cruise fare when you purchase directly from the cruise line.
12) How much do tour and travel agency agents make per booking?
Answer: Some travel agents charge service fees on some services like quotes. Seven Seas Travel has never charged service fees for quotes. Some travel agencies put large service fees ($50 to $100) on airline tickets. Seven Seas Travel does not do this. In some cases, Seven Seas Travel will recommend you purchase your own airfare to suit your individual needs. All travel agencies earn commission on trips booked. Overall, tour and travel agency agents make 3% to 17% on each booking.
13) How do tour and travel agency agencies get paid?
Answer: Tour and travel agencies get paid by travel suppliers and service fees they apply to their clients. Some travel agents charge service fees on some services like quotes. Seven Seas Travel has never charged service fees for quotes. Some travel agencies put large service fees ($50 to $100) on airline tickets. Seven Seas Travel does not do this. In some cases, Seven Seas Travel will recommend you purchase your own airfare to suit your individual needs. All travel agencies earn commission on trips booked. Overall, tour and travel agency agents make 3% to 17% on each booking.
14) Do you have to pay a tour and travel agency?
Answer: Tour and travel agencies get paid by travel suppliers and service fees they apply to their clients. Some travel agents charge service fees on some services like quotes. Seven Seas Travel has never charged service fees for quotes. Some travel agencies put large service fees ($50 to $100) on airline tickets. Seven Seas Travel does not do this. In some cases, Seven Seas Travel will recommend you purchase your own airfare to suit your individual needs. All travel agencies earn commission on trips booked. Overall, tour and travel agency agents make 3% to 17% on each booking.
