Travel Agents Online
From LoveToKnow Travel
Using travel agents online can be an excellent way to plan your next trip. Not only is an online travel agency a type of one-stop shopping, booking travel online is cheaper than putting hotels, flights, car rentals and attraction tickets together when you reach your destination.
Travel Agents Online Services
Many online travel agencies use databases to search for cheap tickets to the destination you enter into their search function. While this is the basic function of many websites, many online agencies also offer additional travel planning services. For example, on Expedia, you can search for your plane tickets as well as book a hotel in your destination city. Car rentals and tickets to area attractions can also be purchased as part of the package deal.
This sort of planning online can bring discounts into the picture. It is not always the case that booking several pieces of your trip together will make you eligible for a discount, but even if you are not offered a discount, this type of website is very effective if you want to get an idea of how much your trip is going to cost. Travel costs can quickly become overwhelming if you weren't expecting costs to be so high. For example, if you arrive in Orlando, Florida without having booked a hotel and a car, you might ruin the first few days of your vacation worrying about how much you're spending. If you've booked everything in advance there are no financial surprises (except for how expensive food is inside the amusement parks)!
AAA is another good option for planning trips, if you're a member of AAA. Not only do they have an extensive database of options to choose from while planning your trip, they also offer member discounts on hotels. Expedia sometimes offers special deals on combining plane tickets with car rentals or hotel bookings, but this can depend on the high/low travel season.
User-Friendly Agencies
For those that find making travel arrangements online a bit of a daunting task, you may want to check out the agencies online and compare prices between agencies. Then, once you've decided which one probably offers you the best deal or the best options, you may want to actually book your travel with the help of an agent. The idea behind the online travel agencies is, generally speaking, to search for one's trip and book it online with a credit card. However, many travel agents online realize that some people are not comfortable booking travel in this way.
The sites who have realized this niche in the consumer market have enhanced their services to include either the option of calling customer service or chatting online with a customer service representative to buy the ticket. This allows newcomers to booking travel online to get their questions answered by an agent in real time. Of course, many agencies offer the option of emailing customer service; however, this often leads to getting an answer that doesn't fully answer your question. For this reason, phoning the agency or chatting online offers customers the chance to ask all of their questions, and ask follow-up questions when they have them.
Online Chat
The following agencies offer online chat options for those looking to book their travel online but perhaps have a few questions before they actually type in their credit card numbers:
- TripGuy
- This website offers travel to a wide variety of destinations
- VacationCity: Costa Rica
- Only to Costa Rica
- ThaiFly: Thailand
- Only to Thailand
Telephone Customer Service
These websites offer the option to call a customer service number to ask questions or to make the final purchase over the phone with an agent:
The above agencies are not destination-specific and many types of travel can be booked, from family vacations to romantic honeymoons.
Final Advice
If you are only buying a plane ticket, using one of the agencies above is not always the cheapest option. Once you've found the cheapest airfare on one of the agencies above, go to the airline's website and check the price there. For example, if you search Expedia and find that the lowest airfare to Orlando is $275 per person on Continental Airlines, go to Continental.com and check the price there…sometimes it's a bit cheaper. If you're booking more than only plane tickets, the websites above are usually the cheapest option.
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This page has been accessed 563 times. This page was last modified 16:16, 14 December 2008.
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