Book direct through Sandals or use Travel Agent?

[disneynutt1225]

DH and I are looking to travel to an island this coming April. I just checked out the Sandals website, and based on my dates, I can get 40% off if I book through Sandals - which means we'd spend $3400 including airfare to go to the Bahamas. Would I get a cheaper rate if I booked through a travel agent? I'm used to planning Disney trips, so this is a little out of my league. Is this a good deal?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Talk to a TA and compare what is offered and the costs.

Note that if you go though a TA they "own" the reservation and the people at Sandals will not be allowed to talk to you about any special requests or changes prior to your arrival; everything will have to go through the TA.

 

[LoraJ]

My travel agent that I used for our honeymoon specializes in Sandals. She's awesome!

http://www.myislandgetaways.com/


It's just nice to have a TA because they will look out for your best interest if there is a problem. For example, we had issues with our room at our resort. And the resort didn't care. I should have contacted our TA then but decided just to enjoy our trip and not worry about it. But on the last day the room on our deck collapsed and it really put a damper on things. The resort manager said he would give us an upgrade on our next trip.

When we got home the TA contacted us to see how things went and we told her. She pulled some strings and got us 2 free nights on our next stay at any of their resorts. Much better than an upgrade.

The resorts want to keep their top TA's happy. So I think it's best to book with a TA.

 

[Demosthenes]

Always, always, always use a Travel Agent. The reason is simple; when something goes wrong, you represent 1 client on 1 vacation. When an agent calls for a problem, they represent multiple clients and multiple vacations. Sandals (or Disney, or whoever) will always respond better to the agent because they represent so many, and have a real opportunity to influence bookings. Agents also get the same prices (sometimes better with group discounts), so there is no advantage to booking independently. If you find a better deal, tell your agent (it is usually only a better deal until you factor in all incidental fees), but even still, the agent can book the same deal or rate, and you still get the protection offered by an agent.