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10 Questions for Your Travel Agent
With one-click bookings for flights and hotels, a travel agent might seem a needless expense. But a skilled professional can turn a routine vacation into a memorable journey.
By Mark Ellwood
1. Why do I need you?
There’s more to a trip than booking a flight and hotel. Arranging the right guides, the most convenient transfers and the most exclusive restaurant tables requires insider knowledge and relationships. Travel advisors will also suggest places to visit that you would never have the time to research on your own.
2. What are your most memorable trips?
Asking this of a new agent is a great way to see if sensibilities match. Arkansas-based Ellison Poe, president of Poe Travel, adds that shared interests also make economic sense. “If I’ve stayed there and I know the people, I’m the one who can make a call and get the presidential suite reduced from $14,000 per night to $10,000.”
3. How do you charge for your time?
Agents receive commissions on most transactions from the travel business to which they direct clients, but this money is no longer their primary revenue stream. So expect either hourly billing or a flat fee per project; agents want to get paid even if you decide not to book a trip. A rate of $150 an hour is typical.
4. Can you get me to any destination—and if there’s a crisis, can you get me out?
The best agents should not only be able to fast-track visas and other paperwork, but also be cool and connected enough to arrange their clients’ return in the wake of crises like the Icelandic volcano eruption or Japanese nuclear meltdown.
5. Are you a Virtuoso agent?
Virtuoso is an invitation-only program that vets and accredits high-end agents, hotels, tour companies and the like. Aside from an assurance of quality, Virtuoso agents can offer their clients exclusive benefits—free breakfasts, spa credits, a comped transfer or a gratis room upgrade.
6. When is insurance a good idea?
For expensive trips, trips booked with multiple vendors (more things to go wrong) and trips to environmentally or politically unstable areas—almost always. Your agent should be able to recommend a policy or broker.
7. Is where I want to go safe?
Travel can pose risks: disease, kidnapping, robbery, wildlife. Your agent should know and discuss these risks with you, including recommending precautions (personal security? vaccinations?) to take.
8. Can you reserve a specific room or suite for me?
A trick question—it’s all but impossible for a hotel to make such a promise, so any agent who tells you otherwise should raise a red flag. “What if there’s a plumbing problem and the shower goes out, or the guest who was in there the night before doesn’t leave?” says Jean Pickard of Georgia-based agency Explorations. “There are circumstances a hotel simply cannot control.”
9. What are some need-to-know etiquette points?
Whatever you’ve paid for private access to the Sistine Chapel, it’ll be a waste of money if you turn up with bare shoulders, which are banned in the Vatican. An experienced agent will anticipate such issues. “If you’re a woman, always have a pashmina in your bag,” says Jennifer Wilson-Buttigieg, co-owner of New York’s Valerie Wilson Travel. “I know it’s 100 degrees, but it’s what’s appropriate.” A good advisor will give that invaluable tip.
10. Who in your office is an expert in my next destination?
Think of travel like medicine. On each trip, rely on a primary agent for the basics, then ask her for in-house referrals for advice on different trips. Your original agent wants to see you satisfied.
For more information, contact: Jean Pickard, Explorations, A Travel Agency, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 770.432.3247; Ellison Poe, Poe Travel, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 501.376.4171; Jennifer Wilson-Buttigieg, Valerie Wilson Travel, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 212.593.1210.