Can anyone recommend a GOOD travel agent? We have used many and all are disappointing, to say the least.
Can anyone recommend a GOOD travel agent? We have used many and all are disappointing, to say the least.
I expect another brand-new poster will be along to make an impartial recommendation in just a moment.
I use Farrington (I think they might now just be called American Express as they are related). I wouldn't call them really good but if you specify your request clearly enough it works. I can at least communicate by email and don't need to keep chasing people by phone.
I'm assuming you are looking for business purposes BTW which is what I use them for.
I have yet to find a good one. I used to have one back home who knew what I liked and would periodically shoot me an email letting me know of sales etc. Told me where to go, stay and when etc etc. Here in HK? I'm better off doing it myself. Because they have yet to provide anything that I couldn't already do myself and more expensive too!!
No doubt it is simpler but travel agents should be able to find cheaper deals than you booking directly online - airlines and hotels offer them deals to publicize and fill slots.
If the thought of heading to the Bank Centre in Mong Kong and trawling from travel agent to travel agent is your idea of hell then book online.
I don't use a travel agent to save money, I use one to save time. My typical email to my travel agent takes me about 10 seconds to draft "Flights to manila on Wednesday out 9am back 8pm". And the agent knows that I want to fly Cathay in Premium Economy, hold the seat until 3pm the day before and then ticket. Playing around with the Cathay website, even when it's working well, takes a lot longer than that. Plus with the agent she will hold flights until the day before travel meaning that if my plans change, I don't incur a change fee. (And because I'm Cathay diamond she holds the cheapest seats, not the expensive ones). For business it's worth it. When travelling for personal reasons I mostly just book myself because I do odd things like fly ex-TPE which they can't do!
We use Farrington. We also book online. Advantage of Farrington I or any other good agent is you can reserve the ticket without getting it issued.
They will often cancel and redo the reservation to extend the time you have to make a decision.
But like old-timer said, there are also agents that specialize in seriously good deals to certain destinations or on certain airlines.