Would you book a holiday just now ?

[llm24]

The travel industry has been one of if not the most hard hit industries since the start of the pandemic

January / February is normally one of the busiest times of year and every travel agent looks forward to these months with a lot of money going into preparing and advertising

My question is simply

Will you book a holiday for Summer 22 over the next months ?

If not , why not ?
If yes , will you be booking through a Travel Agent ? If not why not ?

Help a Travel Agent out

I only use a travel agent for specialist ££ complicated trips involving multiple stops at small size lodges/hotels/camps. I've never though to compare prices (but I think I prefer to sit at home comparing hotels by myself). I do remember DH and I popping into a travel agent to announce "where in Greece can we go next week" etc and asking to look at a paper hotel directory in the 90's.

I do tend to book packages if we are going to a resort hotel (albeit online) as I've recently been reminded at how fab BA holidays were at rearranging our December holiday one snowy year, when we were firstly snowed into UK and then couldn't fly home (they just phoned the hotel, sorted the bill and told us to stay until they called again). City breaks/European stuff I sort out myself.

I haven't used a TA or booked a package for more than 20 years. I am starting to look at what we will do next summer - but will only book something that can be cancelled close to departure date. We live in mainland Europe and I prefer driving or taking the train to flying. This year we booked accommodation early to make sure we got what we wanted and kept our fingers crossed. This luckily worked well for all the trips - though I did push back our summer holiday by a week so we knew we'd have our EU Covid passes in time.

We’ve booked to go away in May for a sporting event. We use a company who specialises in these events but have booked our own flights via BA as if we do need to cancel we are ok to have a voucher from them. The company we book with are being flexible about moving bookings to other events if things change as they did this year.

For general holidays we don’t tend to use travel agents. I like to do my own research and just don’t need to help.

@falalalalalalablahblah

Thanks for your feedback
It’s unfortunate you have not found the right travel agent to book your holidays
Many independents can beat the online price and offer more ❤️

@stripyleopardsleep

Thanks for your feedback

So many agents have multiple experience of holiday through their own trips and
educationals and have worked in the industry for 20 odd years

Maybe we don’t shout about our experience as much as we should

When it comes to pricing yeah we don’t win them all BUT I can count on one hand how many we do loose

I don’t understand why when it comes
to holiday people don’t use the experts in that field 🥲

For your next trip give an agent a chance you might be pleasantly surprised 😊

For your next trip give an agent a chance you might be pleasantly surprised

Thing is, how do you find a good agent that fits with your needs and works well for you? The time spent researching agents to find the right one for you could arguably be spent researching holidays...

I really empathise with the whole travel and tourism industry, its been so hard hit (I live in a touristy area and we have seen very different UK visitors in the last 2 summers). But the industry has changed significantly with easy access online holidays, OTAs and a better informed customer base.

I always book online. We go abroad 3/4 times a year but only went once in both 2020 and 2021.

I find much better deals online than in store. Usually book with Jet2 or TUI but always online.

I’ve already booked a few for 2022. If they don’t happen I get a refund so nothing lost.

@Chatwin

I 100% get ur point and Im
not here to beg for business and appreciate its hard to find a good honest reliable agencies

The one I work in has agents that have been in travel between 20-30 years , not
many of them around unfortunately

I’m in Scotland and our company have few agencies in England

The only people I know who use a travel agent now are old . Most people can look online themselves?

The one time I booked flights through one it was a real pain. Never again. If I book dorect with sinagpore airlines I could change seats/food choices etc myself. With the travel agent we couldn't do that and they didnt guarantee our seats. Couldnt so it direct as it was a block agent booking. It was an absolute nightmare.

We’ve got New York booked (BA holidays with tiny deposit and good refund options if can’t travel). Have an apartment in Gozo booked (roll over from last year) - we will book Ryanair flights nearer the time, ditto car hire. We went to Egypt in October, booked online via TUI.

I love researching holidays and haven’t picked a dud one yet. We have young kids so it’s something I can do from the comfort of my own sofa when they are in bed. Part of the fun is doing the research, I would feel like I had lost out if I asked a travel agent to do it.

I can see if people were wealthy and wanted someone else to do the work for them they would use one.

@WoodenReindeer

Thanks for your feedback

Sad to hear your booking with an agency was a nightmare

Can’t think why they wouldn’t give you the airline locator to allow you to choose seats /meals etc that is not the norm

Sometimes we do have group bookings where this can’t be done but this happens when the airline sell the agency sells seats to the agency cheaper than you would get booking direct so this benefit to most out-ways not being able to choose a seat
If the seat is needed for medical reasons the above doesn’t apply and can always be booked subject to availability

I honestly can’t see how Travel agents still exist nowadays . How can they make something cheaper than direct?

For example we have a holiday rental business.
If I rent for €100 euros per night for a direct booking, that’s the cheapest someone will get. They pay €100, I get €100.
If they go via booking or air B and B they add 12% fees so I will add at least 5%. So it would cost guest €105. I then only get £93 as pay 12%. Hence for hotels/ apartments etc it’s always better to book directly as they don’t loose out paying commission

A travel agent will do the same surely? They cant have a business if they charge customer €100 and give me €100, they have to take a commission somewhere. So either they charge customers more, or they give holiday business less or both.

@welshweasel

Thanks for your feedback

Most holidays booked with TA have the flexibility you get online too especially the Independent ones

Great to hear you booked a TUI package , I’m sure your local agency would have appreciated the business being booked through them for the same price you got online ❤️

@Caspianberg

Thanks for your feedback

I totally understand where you are coming from and can see how you would reach this opinion

HOWEVER
I will give you an example my agency works in partnership with a popular tour operator , we book holidays at the price online and I can assure you we still make money

No it wasnt cheaper. We had to argue to get a price match! It always seems to be cheaper direct. I have ME and ptsd and wanted to sit with family and have an end seat. Always been easy to do but we kept getting fobbed off by the TA being told it needed to wait til nearer the time/ then it took lots of phone calls to arrange and then it turned out it wasn't all in place. It was much easier when I could just go on the system myself!

I can completely see that your travel agency is probably very different but for the sort of travel I do its easy just to deal direct with no middle man. Similarly with disneylandparis groups online those who have dealt direct with dlp have sorted refunds/chamge of date etc quickly under zen guarantee but those with travel agents have had an extra layer to trudge through. I just dont see the point.

However we aren't high earners. If I wanted a bespoke package to Thailand for example I absolutely could see the point.

No
Too much hassle with testing
Too much uncertainty
Not able to relax while away
Booked annual leave which is then wasted

Never did use travel agents. Prefer putting together my own travel/accommodation/itinerary - not one for package holidays and the bespoke agents are very expensive.

Will be taking main holiday in the UK plus some extra short breaks possibly when the situation eases.

@welshweasel

Thanks for your feedback

That’s why I love my job I enjoy helping families find their perfect holiday and I’m
happy you have never booked a dud one before , neither have I booked a dud one either 😜

No, far too much hassle with testing, uncertainty etc.

But IF I book a holiday in the future I would always use a Travel Agent, I can't stand booking & faffing about online, I would like someone with the necessary skills and expertise to do it for me. A few years ago we used our local Travel Agent and after asking for advice she came up with the most amazing suggestion which we all enjoyed for a holiday so much we did the same the following year (and then booked for the next year which never happened due to Covid but we got a full refund without any problems).

@WoodenReindeer

You defo sound like you had an awful experience and I’m sorry you experienced it
Still baffled why due to medical reasons you couldn’t get your seat booked , sometimes no matter how hard an agent works with an airline issues can be caused by them 🥲

@Ragwort

Thanks for your feedback
Great to hear your positive experience ❤️

No, I wouldn't book a holiday for 2022. I have a big family so massive inconvenience if it gets postponed/cancelled. Then there's the possibility of having to self isolate in the foreign country etc. No thanks.

@HarrisMcCoo

Thanks for your feedback, totally understand your concerns 😢

I've booked and been on 6 holidays abroad during the pandemic. Aiming to go away for a couple of long weekends in Feb. Haven't used a travel agent since my post-A Levels girls' trip to the Canaries in 98. Am a confident and well-seasoned traveller and can sort trips myself. Always get good insurance, especially now, for if things go tits up.

I think I mean "seasoned" rather than "well-seasoned". I'm not a joint of lamb