No one wants to be the victim of a travel agent. You could end up paying them too much or not getting what you were promised, to name just two problems that feel the result of hiring someone who isn’t very good at their job.
Travel agents are meant to make your life easier while traveling, but they should also make you money! If your bus ticket is 40% cheaper by booking it yourself, bring the savings with you when you call your travel agent and ask for compensation for future trips. Your example will go further than any words of complaint ever could so get creative! Let them know how they need to improve – or just follow these simple tips to avoid being scammed by a bad travel agent:
- Be clear about what you want, and negotiate accordingly
This means knowing your budget and getting a firm price from the agent before they start looking for flights or hotels. If they give you a tentative quote and say something like, “We’ll try to find something as cheap as possible,” this should be a huge red flag that tells you that the person on the other end of the line isn’t all that engaged in searching for deals. You don’t need someone who just says yes to everything you ask – you need someone who will work with you to get the best results possible within your budget.
- Trace their steps to feel confident in their abilities
When an agent books any kind of trip out for you, ask them how they got the price they did, and also (if you can) what is included in their quoted price. Remember that you are paying for not only the plane tickets but hotel rooms, tours, transportation to and from airports – basically anything involving getting to your destination. Request that the travel agent puts all of these pieces together before you give them any money or pay any fees (which should be disclosed right away by an honest agent).
- Watch out for warning signs.
This tip is pretty self-explanatory – if something seems off with either the prices or services offered, walk away and try again. (plussreiser.no) There will always be multiple options for booking a trip because there are so many different companies and individuals offering their services.
- Incentives aren’t always a bad thing – but keep an eye out for red flags.
Incentives from the travel agency may seem like good news at first until you realize that these incentives mean they’re losing money on your ticket or hotel stay. This typically means that the accommodations they’re paying more for cannot be negotiated, and there’s no room for negotiation or bargaining on anything else either. (https://plussreiser.no/reisetyper/temareiser-for-bestillingsgrupper) So just walk away if this happens. If they want your business, then work with them to get the best deal possible.
- Research like a pro before hiring
Once you know what you’re looking for and where there’s nothing left to do but tell your travel agent exactly what you need and let them work their magic. (https://plussreiser.no/reisetyper/reise-til-israel) But make sure that you’ve done enough research yourself to remain confident in the travel arrangements they’ve planned – if something seems off or like it doesn’t meet your expectations, be strict and firm.
When searching for an honest, reliable travel agent who won’t trick you out of money, it’s important to know what questions to ask so that you can see how experienced they are – if they can’t answer your questions, keep looking.