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No way. I go online to book everything. I find if you're net savvy (which face it, msot of the bee girls are) it's not a problem and gives you the chance to get great deals. I have found through my parents experience that it's not so much the extra comission they charge, but the fact that they don't always have access to the best deals. Plus you can find some amazing hotels just by googling that no agent would know about. I find agents tend to stick with the more mainstream providers. ANd of course, even if you want to book at the same hotel, with the same airline that the agent works through, the fact is only set plane seats and rooms and prices are available to them. They are allocated in "blocks". Cheaper and I find I'm more confident, being a control freak, knowing that I've planned it all and it's all correct. But each to their own :)
Thanks for this post. I was just thinking about this question this morning. I'm like you, I've booked all of my flights and small trips through Orbitz. I haven't done any international trips, but odds are I would also book them through Orbitz.
I talked to my brother about booking my honeymoon because he's been on cruises and all inclusive and he told me that cruises are fine if you book it online but for all inclusive he would recommend a travel agent.
I'm leaning towards the all inclusive, so I wondering the same thing. Should I book it through a travel agent or online. (I saw cheapCarribean.com and they have some really good prices.)
But will I be missign something if I book it online instead of by travel agent?
I'm looking forward to what bees have to say. Thanks for posting this question.
@yrett- FI and I went on a week long trip to an all-inclusive in Mexico this fall and I booked it online. No problems doing that I found.
We are planning on going to Thailand. Neither of us know much about the culture or about travelling in Asia so we decided to go through a travel agent. Had we been going to Europe we probably would have booked via the internet since that is something we are familiar with.
We used a Travel Agent for our honeymoon but for all other travel, we do everything on line. Most travel agents do not make their commission from you and they can get much better deals and upgrades. My MOH went on her honeymoon last year and 20 minutes before they were to board the plane, the flight got canceled (I never did hear why). She got on the phone with their travel agent who who got them on a flight on another airline 1 hour later for no extra charge. When they checked in to their resort, they found out their travel agent had them upgraded to a butlered room with a couples massage - again no extra charge.
Have heard a few other stories too from other friends about honeymoon bookings and just didn't want to go thru any stress if this type of thing were to happen to us.
I normally book every trip we take online myself, but for the honeymoon we've heard a lot of good things about a travel agent and the possibility of getting you upgrades at no extra charge. There is no charge for us to use the travel agent, and they will check from the time we put down the deposit till we pay the balance to see if the price ever goes down, so I figure it may help us out.
I just read an article yesterday about the times you should use a travel agent, and the honeymoon is one of them. Now I usually book travel on my own, either within the US or outside, but I am considering doing the honeymoon through a travel agent. The people I know who have used one for their honeymoon have gotten upgrades and like I blew the budget said, you have a cancelled flight or hotel mishap, and someone will deal with the stress, not you. I've been on my own more than once trying to rebook my flights and I have yet to find an airline who would put me on another airline, but they are more than fine with me being stuck somewhere for an extra day plus with no hotel....
I needed advice and guidance and the price was the same...plus I don't profess to be an expert at travel, so I trust an expert for my honeymoon and then if something goes wrong ..darling hubby won't blame me!
I'm interested that a few of you have said getting a travel agent was the same price as going online. I kind of wonder how that can be true? How do they get paid? I thought the whole point of doing things online was that it was cheaper to cut out the middle-man.
We did ours online, but after I talked with my bro and SIL they used a travel agent and have kind of convinced me that that's the way to go. When they booked their honeymoon, they got an all-expenses-included deal at Riviera Maya and paid less than what we paid for our cruise! They said they always find cheaper deals in booking with a travel agent then doing it online.
It's interesting how you've posted this topic just the very moment when I (who always avoids travel agents) find a promising travel agent! I've searched and searched online for the best deals and I'm normally really good at finding them! I exclusively book all my vacations (and help family and friends) online. I thought travel agents were a thing of the past and who needs them when you can DIY and save, save, save!
Tonight I was (I really hope I was) proven wrong. I was looking up a vacation location dream (Seychelles) but I wasn't looking for deals since I've already concluded it'd be wayyyy to expensive. I was looking up country information and found their main website maintained by their tourism board. Under their link for packages, there's a choice of countries which leads to tourist agencies. I was expecting packaged deals but continued clicking anyway. I found the BEST DEALS ... too good to be true deals! I found deals on places I originally thought was too expensive to actually put on our consideration list.
I'm calling them first thing tomorrow and I'm really hoping it's real! If so, I'm converted!
We booked ours online because I had been on lots of Disney Cruises before so I knew we were getting good rate with great incentives. Ironically, our tablemates at our rotational dining were travel agents! They specialize in destination weddings and honeymoons, so you can imagine how happy I was to 'talk wedding' on board, much to my husband's chagrin ;)
Here they are if you're interested:
They are so totally nice and down to earth, I'd recommend them!
see, I love my TA. She was one of the best things I found (actually was recommended to her on theknot.com). It was simple easy and I priced things elsewhere and her's was the norm price. Jennifer at VIP Vacations! She's my gal!
We went to a travel agent first, but she didn't have many affordable options in Italy. She only offered us one tour, and that was with a group of people...not my ideal honeymoon. We ended up booking it online for much cheaper than anything she offered.
We booked our DW and honeymoon through our fabulous Travel Agent!!! Any deal I can find online, she can beat, and it's stress free!! And I know she's going to upgrade our room for us (she's the best!)
I highly recommend Travel Agents!
I've been looking online and THEN contacted a travel agent. Right now, same deal I looked at is costing the exact same... only... her's include flights :-) win.
I always like to get prices via the internet, call the agents, and lay out hwat i want EXACTLY. THen i say "ok beat this". They usually do b/c they watn your business! We used oru company's travle agency (back when this was a perk) and we saved $800 off the travelocity price.
Right now we're looking at vacays for March...the prices are about the same, $1900 for two, but the travel agent is able to get us NONSTOP flights, which we can't get on travelocity.
On the other hand, once my parents tried a travel agent and they found the price cheaper online.
we used expedia to book many of our vacations including our honeymoon....all inclusive in cancun, vegas, and our honeymoon; an alaskan cruise. They even credited me back 300 bucks from our honeymoon when the price dropped a few weeks after we made our purchase, and upgraded our room!
We were going to use a TA, which would be a first for us, but so far she has not been all that helpful. We were going to use a TA b/c it seems to be recommended for your HM, but only if the prices were comparable. At the resort we are most interested in, Jalousie Plantation in St. Lucia, we found a deal on a room two levels up from the one that the TA found, and for $1000 less! So it looks like we will be booking our trip on bookit.com!
I did all of my research first from hotels to airfare and sort of priced everything out, even excursions. I went to a travel agent to see if they could beat what I found and for the convenience of dealing with one person instead of several people. When she got back to me with a price it was $1000 over what I had come up with!!! and there was no difference in rooms, flights, times, no upgrades.. nothing! I booked with the hotels directly and they offered us better deals, buy 4 nights get one free. etc etc and we booked our airfare through continental. Costa Rica here we come!!! YAY!
The travel agent I was oh-so-hoping would convert me was kinda a let-down. We specifically contacted the guy that's been with the company the longest and according to his online bio, he specializes in locations we're interested in. I spoke to him on the phone and his English was good but he asked for me to email him. I brushed it off as a cultural thing, language thing, and the fact that email is much, much easier.
Although we're interested in a few packages, we emailed only about one - tryng to make things not confusing and so we can email again after we've established contact.
The guy didn't even answer our questions -- and we wrote it in his native language so the language barrier can't be an excuse! We asked about extra fees and instead he broke-down the prices. It was almost like he was encouraging us to book it ourselves! I got the same feel when I spoke to him on the phone, and after stating the prices for air provider, hotel, and transfer cost, I don't understand what else he could be implying. He did mention something about checking online to compare, but I thought he was referring to the deals on their travel site.
So I checked online ... and it looks like we can get a better deal if we book directly through the resort! The resort I only heard about thanks to him!
Right now, my conclusion is DIY! I'm sticking to my old ways ... and this way we won't have to worry about being charged extra if the currency falls .... which BTW, happened to a ton of people last year! As in charging you AFTER you've already paid because of currency influx. (Yes, that kind of thing is sadly legal in Sweden!)
We booked our honeymoon online (Expedia) and found it to be much cheaper than an agent or directly through the resort. Somebody mentioned above that you are likely to get an upgrade if you use a travel agent, but when I called the resort last week to confirm our honeymoon dates (had booked back in August 09) she immediately gave me an upgrade since we ARE coming for our honeymoon! If a travel agent was the same prace, then I'd definately consider using an agent, but I haven't found this to be the case like somebody mentioned above. I always thought the extra money was their "cut" and for their services...hmmm....strange! But that's great if people are finding great rates thru agents!
I've never used an agent in the past, but since we are going to Fiji I wanted to work with someone who was familiar with all the different areas. They were able to provide expertise on which resorts based on our requirements and also helped us save a great deal of money. By booking with an agent we saved money, got free perks (massages, etc.), and our travle between the islands has been arranged. We are staying at two different island so they booked our transfers which made things alot easier for us.
We haven't booked yet, but have been doing lots of research on the internet. I have begun to toy with the idea of talking to a travel agent though, just bc it's hard to find nice places online that aren't EUROPE or NEW YORK or VEGAS or FLORIDA or CANCUN or any other major main-stream (but still lovely) honeymoon location. We're looking for something a little more low-key and less-well-known.
I got itinerary quotes from TAs to use more as suggestions and then went back and priced it out myself. I was able to find MUCH cheaper flights taking advantage of a 3 day fare sale, and was able to negotiate some comped meals at one of the resorts we'll be staying at. I think it really just depends though, cause we booked a trip to the DR 2 yrs ago through Cheap Carribean which was WAAAAAAY cheaper than anything I'd have put together myself ($500/person for 1 wk in La Romana including non-stop airfare from NYC, transfers, balcony room, all meals, all drinks (incl top shelf!) and resport activities)
Originally I was emailing back and forth with 2 travel agents that I found from deals on TravelZoo. But in the end, I ended up getting a better deal booking everything separately through the internet.
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Beekeeper
For those of you who have already booked your honeymoon... did you go with a travel agent or did you DIY it online? I have only ever booked trips online... including several international trips. I've never had a problem doing this and I never mind putting in the time. I just don't really see why anyone needs a travel agent unless they're going on a complicated trip (more than 2-3 stops, lots of pre-booked excursions, totally unknown locale, etc). I've heard though that you should "always" use a travel agent for a honeymoon... so I put it to the hive:
Did you use a travel agent? Why or why not?
Also-- how much more can I expect to pay with an agent vs. booking myself online?