Are Travel Advisors or Travel Agents Worth It?

We passed this colorful Methodist Church every day as we wandered around Harbour Island, Eleuthera, The Bahamas.

In the latest development under “knowledge is power,” we are seeing a resurgence in people looking for good travel advisors or travel consultants (the newest names for travel agents.)

A recent Bloomberg Businessweek article about travel agents/advisors caught my eye. It said that,

“Thanks to fast-changing Covid-19 testing protocols, border restrictions, shifting airline schedules, rental car scarcity, and limited hotel inventory, even the most confident jet-setters are turning to the pros for help.”

The article includes a 10-question quiz at the end to help you determine whether it’s time to avoid going it alone, including asking whether anyone in your party has allergies or special needs, or is the trip to a country where you don’t speak the language, or is your vacation last-minute.

It dovetails with the advice given by Perceptive Travel editor Tim Leffel in a blog post from a couple of years ago, but still quite relevant: Wait… Travel Agents Are Still a Thing?

Tim makes the argument that you should probably call in the pros for regional expertise (things like, do you really know how to sort out all of the options for visiting the Galápagos Islands?) and complex trips like African safaris.

Nowadays there’s an additional layer of requirements with vaccinations and health certifications, which as much as we would like for them to magically go away, are probably going to be with us for awhile.

I’m vaccinated against COVID – and against pretty much everything else including my yearly flu shot, because I like staying alive and not being sick – but the traveler vaccine requirements in Europe and Asia and elsewhere change frequently.

I don’t have time to keep up; do you?

Finding Travel Advisors or Travel Agents

Even a die-hard, do-it-yourselfer like me decided to use a travel advisor – Epperly Travel (now Jetset World Travel) – when my husband and I planned a 30th anniversary trip to Harbour Island in The Bahamas. It was right after Hurricane Dorian, so we wanted to make sure that we went to a part of the country that was ready for visitors, and that wasn’t a big cookie-cutter resort.

We’d never been to The Bahamas, and between work and kids and looking after elderly parents, we didn’t have much time or inclination to DIY a milestone trip that was personally meaningful to us.

Since I’d never worked with travel advisors, I turned to my friend and former travel journalist Wendy Perrin, who runs the WOW List – travel advisors she vets and trusts who specialize in a variety of destinations and travel styles. That’s how I found Epperly/Jetset, which has Caribbean expertise, among other specialties.

After a questionnaire and emails back and forth, their recommendations meant that we had an absolutely perfect location for our Pink Sands Resort cottage, plus some welcoming bubbly in the room. Pink Sands has been there on Harbour Island since the early 1950’s, and felt homey and comfy, not too slick. Exactly what we like.

The path down to the beach from our cottage at Pink Sands Resort on Harbour Island, The Bahamas. Thanks, travel advisors! 

When else have I used a travel advisor?

A few years ago in Hawaii, I had some free time on Oahu after speaking at a conference. My daughter was there with me, and I wanted us to have a nice hideaway for a few days on a beach. Even though I’d lived on Oahu and visited a few times since, it had been a few years and my knowledge was stale. I wanted an expert on the ground in Hawaii who would steer me in the right direction.

I contacted someone I’d met years ago: Bruce Fisher at Hawaii Aloha Travel.

Here is where trust over time matters. Bruce and I have been connected on Facebook for quite awhile, and I’ve observed how open he is about some of the very real challenges of planning Hawaii travel (people with unrealistic expectations, over-tourism issues, people with more money than sense, how to best support the culture of the Islands, etc.) I knew he would understand what I was looking for, and that’s how we ended up having a lovely time in Kailua in Lanikai Studios, across the street from the beach.

Could I have found that place without Bruce? Maybe. Did I have time to comb through all the Oahu hotel and house rental listings to look for myself? Absolutely not.

If you have always been a fiercely independent traveler and planner, I’m in your corner and that’s usually my modus operandi as well. However, being a smart traveler means knowing what you DON’T know, and spending a little money for peace of mind when it makes sense to do so.

Find a local travel advisor or travel consultant and get to know them before you need them. Make sure they have a strong network so that if you need specific expertise that they don’t have, they can point you in the right direction.

How about you? Have a favorite travel agent or travel advisor for those times when it’s time to call in the pros? Share their info with us down in the comments.

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