Travel Agent's vs. Do it Yourself

[Tinbadge69]

I thought this would be an interesting topic to bring up. I just got done reserving my vacation at Disney. What are the benefits, if any, to letting a travel agent do it for you? Is there something they know that we the public dont? From what I can tell it's just the time saved by them doing the booking for you, but that seems to take a little of the fun away for me. Have the fun of it is getting the best price and doing the research on your own. I dont have anything against travel agents, I was just wondering what they bring to the table that you cant do.
If the gang could chime in also I would be interested to hear your opinions. I respect all of you and what you do for the listeners and your customers.

 

[kaligal]

Regular travel agents are fantastic for fixing stuff that goes wrong. Hotel lost the reservation? No problem. Call the TA.

My very favorite thing that the TA does is fight with the airlines when they screw up crediting miles. It would take me hours and who knows if I'd ever get them to fix it. I call her and it gets done, even if all I do is leave her a message. She also knows all the different levels of First Class on international flights, where it sometimes gets confusing. I once booked what I thought was First Class and ended up in what I called First Class Lite. When I say "First Class", she knows what it is.

Delivery of ticket stuff and vouchers is nice, too. No surfing the internet. No entering info and then going to email and printing stuff out and keeping all the different stuff together. Make a call, someone drops off a little vinyl thing with all the crap.

And she calls me her "Little Pumpkin" and "sweetie", etc. I would not call myself those things.

The regular TAs don't know all the ins and outs of Disney, though. They'll make your reservations, but they aren't hunting down discounts. Not Disney pros.

Disney agents are mostly online and aren't going to drop stuff off at the house. I don't know if they fight with the airlines for you or if there is a number to call if something goes wrong along the way. They do know all the Disney crap, though. All the codes, all the discounts, all the stuff that you could spend hours (if not days) trying to figure out...and then checking all the time to see if some better deal is available somewhere that you missed. I really think they save people money, too.

If you really enjoy all that stuff and are confident that you are getting the very best deal, you should do it yourself.

 

[Tony NY]

??? does useing DTC count as a travle agent or DYI ???
I DYI I the hunt for a good deal & having pin codes don't hurt eather ...

I have used a travle agent befor but for some reason he just don't get it !!! LOL the look at me like I'm

He was cool but he did't have a clue but he got me a good last min weekend Diney fix

I latter found out I delta vacations does some great deals from a CM who uses it to come up to NY to vist her family..

 

[Mickey's Other GF]

We've been to Disney so many times that we really don't need a travel agent... but we love the one we've used for years, so we keep going to him.

His name is Travis and he can write upside down.

 

[Cherinva]

I mainly do it myself, and after many years I'm pretty good at it. However, when it comes to trips with cruises...I let Dreams handle those completely.

 

[medicjch]

I think it just depends on where I am going, but it seems that I have used a TA more often than not. Even though I can book a Disney trip by myself, I've used Dreams and they were invaluable when I had to make some last minute changes. I'm kind of getting to the opinion that since it doesn't cost any more to involve a TA, I just let them do all the legwork for me and save myself the hassle. We are going to Hawaii next week and I intitally tried to figure everything out myself, then I gave up and called my local TA, best thing I could do. So, all in all.........big trip, big $$$, my vote is for a TA.

 

[sayhello]

For me, it really depends on where I'm going, and how much I need specialized information.

When I did my first cruise, I knew nothing about cruising, so I did some preliminary research online, and then let a TA explain it all to me & help me get the best deal. This was before they changed the rules, and TA's could offer actual discounts on cruises. He was the one that turned me on to trip insurance, and I was SO glad he did. (Scratched cornea, $300 to see the ship's doctor).

When I went to Alaska, I didn't know anything about it. I was referred to a TA who specialized in Alaska, and she really walked me through the difference between the cruiselines and the different options for cruisetours, and really helped me pick the ideal trip. However, I was frustrated when the perfect cabin became available over a weekend and I had to wait until Monday for her to be able to book it. Luckily it was still available, but it just as easily could have been gone. I'm still glad I used her.

Other trips, I can totally research & reserve on my own, and I do.

Sayhello

 

[parrotheadlois]

I vote for Dreams too. Yes, I'm perfectly capable of making my own reservations. But Dreams will continue to check for any applicable discounts, they'll make your ADRs for you. We love being able to make payments towards our vacation (kind of like a vacation lay-away plan). It's a win/win option!

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I like to do it myself. I had started a trip last year with a Disney-specific travel agent, and every time I e-mailed a question, they were "out of the office" and usually took 2-3 days to get back to me. So, I (ashamedly) told her we cancelled the trip, and then just re-booked on my own.

 

[wishspirit]

I've used Dreams for the Universal portion of my trip, since their website was almost impossible for me to navigate to get the best deals. They were always prompt with replies to my questions and really helpful.

However for the Disney bit it depends on the exchange rate. If it works in favour of be buying in UK currency I will book my own (like I have done recently), but if it favours US (even with me having to pay a small bit on top to pay in dollars) I would have to go through a TA since I can't use the American parts of Disney's own website. I would always go with Dreams though!

 

[queensara]

I was wondering the exact same thing lately. What is Dreams?

 

[dansyr2514]

Dreams Unlimited ...is the travel provider that's affiliated with the Dis boards.
At this point I know enough to book myself, but last yr didn't have the time to call Disney for quotes and things when new promos came out so I used Dreams Unlimited. Jen was our travel agent and she was awesome. If we weren't renting DVC this year, I would request her again. Dreams will keep checking for discounts for you, and book dining, tours etc. Saved me time.

 

[YukiPhnx]

It seems like a lot of people believe you either do it all yourself or you don't.

I LOVE researching and looking up all sorts of deals myself, but I also LOVED my TA for doing all the technical stuff like putting in my reservations and room requests and dining and DME vouchers and all that.

They take care of all the little details, but I still do the research on my own and bring it up to my TA. Another plus is that because I'm coming from Canada, I don't have to pay any long distance fees cause I don't have to be the one to call Disney!

I've yet to use an agent for my non-Disney trips though, but I think I would for cruises and trips to other continents.