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

We have a holiday rolled over from last year. We have booked another trip for June recently, I'm afraid I booked online myself though, I just don't need a travel agent and can find the trip cheaper myself. I don't think TAs these days do much we can't do ourselves, they've rarely travelled or been to the places we are booking so if they aren't cheaper what's the benefit? (genuine question). I did use a TA for a Florida package a couple years ago as he was cheaper than direct, but because 9 times out of 10 I've shopped around better for myself I have stopped getting quotes from TAs, I quite like the booking and research myself.

@namechangeagain32

Thanks for the feedback ❤️

When you are booking holiday days in days out , trained for over 20 years I feel quite offended when people
say what’s the benefit ? , I could
do better myself

If you don’t use one how will
you know if they can’t do it cheaper ?
Independent travel
agents check multiple hotels/ airlines etc they are not tied to one

Out of interest can I ask what you do for a living ?

I'm sorry for stress people in the travel industry are experiencing. However it is an industry that should be contracting. The world cannot sustain the rapid expansion of air travel and the CO2 it emits (particularly as most of the expansion is wealthy people taking more and longer flights).

I absolutely love travel and holidays, but I don't do as much of it as I would wish, and avoid flying for leisure reasons because I just can't justify to myself its ruinous impact on the environment. I do know a travel agent but she mostly promotes packages, all inclusive and cruises which is where the money is - and not coincidentally are some of the most harmful types of tourism that contribute least to local economies. I doubt she would make much profit margin on my type of trip and doesn't have any particular expertise.

We will probably book a March/April holiday online directly with the holiday company or airline, just like we always have done. Some good deals to be had and can do at our own convenience. Will of course be sure to check Covid terms and conditions.

Physically going into a travel agency is time consuming and the travel agents are always pushy and pressurising, even if just picking up some brochures.

OP @llm24 are you an MLM independent 'travel agent' ?

Yep booked international holiday for 6 weeks time.

@llm24 I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you, what my question should have been more specifically is what is the benefit to me if I am a very confident internet researcher and enjoy the research? If it's not a cheaper holiday I'm not sure what the benefit to me would be? I didn't mean I don't understand the benefit to other people, completely understand why TAs are useful for people who don't want to be doing that research and booking themselves.

You're right I haven't gone to a TA for every holiday, but for the holidays I have (about 5 times) 4 out of the 5 times I found the deals cheaper myself (the 5th time was cheaper with the TA so I absolutely booked up via them)

Sorry if that sounds really selfish but it's all about cost for me.

I work in information/cyber security.

I’m afraid I haven’t used a TA since the 90s. We’ve done cruises and road trips around the US as well as short haul and always prefer to do it all myself. Sorry

@namechangeagain32

Awh I know you didn’t mean to offend
Just it a very frustrating industry to be in at the moment 😞

@foreverlove

Never heard of this company
I work for a TA aim Scotland ☺️

If I hadn't already booked several trips for 2022 then yes, I would. I'm optimistic that this is the last serious gasp of bloody Covid and I can't wait to get travelling properly again.

Booked for England again this summer, direct with the package provider. I only use a TA if going abroad, and that’s unlikely to happen while COVID is still a consideration.

We haven't booked anything new but we have a holiday that's moved to 2022 from this year. It is booked with a specialist cruise TA.

We've booked an AI package 10 night holiday for Easter break in Turkey. Booked online.

I don't use a TA as a) I enjoy researching places myself b) I'm happy with the online prices c) It's much faster and more convenient to plan and book from my own home d) I absolutely hate feeling any sort of pressure to buy something - I'm the type of person who can't just browse in a shop as I always feel obliged to buy something out of some weird guilt for being there/taking up time!

OK - so I have only just started looking. I quite fancy going to Scandinavia next July - maybe a cruise, maybe ferries from one town to the next e.g Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, possibly even St Petersburg or Talinn - but with Amsterdam or Kiel as a starting point, or Dover at a stretch. For 2 weeks. What sort of thing could you put together for me?

We will do the same as we did last year; book a holiday abroad and a holiday in the uk just in case.

We have Sani booked for June. Fingers crossed

I used to be a 6 months in advance booker but last summer we booked two weeks before. We will probably do the same this year.

Already booked for Easter. Used Jet2 holidays as they have been really good in the past and during covid.
I also use a travel agency - HPB travel club- to book flights etc for some holidays so if I wanted a travel agent I would use them.

This is a very interesting thread, we travel quite a lot but never with a TA.

I like looking up the options myself and sometimes do not know exactly where I want to go, so spend a long time looking at possibilities and it's convenient to do that at home in the evening, rather than having to take some time out of my working day to visit a TA/try to arrange something over the phone. I also like to be able to look at reviews of places on Trip Advisor - many people's opinions, rather than relying on one person's opinion. We did use a TA once in 2016, and they were very helpful, but I felt really bad if we didn't like their suggestions, and also felt kind of ashamed that our budget wasn't more generous! I realise this was due to my limitations as a person and was not about anything the TA did or said.

I think I would find it quite difficult to explain what I want to a TA. We live within reasonable distance of six airports. Picking the right flights involves mentally balancing the convenience of the departure and arrival airports and the cost of the flights/how much they charge for baggage etc. I never know 'I want to fly from Birmingham to Geneva for £300' but have an idea of 'I'm willing to travel from any of these six airports to somewhere in France or Italy for as cheap as possible'. This seems too broad an ask for a TA - but I could be very wrong!

Now that we travel with DD, my requirements have changed and become more difficult for me to fulfil with online research. It would be very convenient to stay somewhere that has at least a kitchenette and a separate sleeping place in the accommodation so that we do not have to sit in the dark in a hotel room with her after she has gone to bed.

A question, do you get any preferential rates on ferry bookings? We are using that more these days, rather than flying.

The covid testing etc doesn't put me off in the slightest, having been through it several times it's just another formality now.

The last time I went to a travel agent, and they were independent, I said we were looking for reasonably priced self catering in Spain. The guy told me that was difficult to find and we should book an all inclusive resort. I explained why that really was not for us and he just insisted we were wrong. I picked up a brochure for Eurocamp while I was there, why he didn't suggest it himself I will never know. Obviously I walked out the door and booked Eurocamp online, it was exactly what we were looking for, exceeded expectations and I have never tried a travel agent again.

I'm about to book tomorrow actually, so yes I would book a holiday now!

I do it myself though as I prefer to book a package direct with the airline. So much easier to deal with the airline directly if any flight changes/seat bookings etc rather than going through a third party. I also upgrade my flights with airmiles and it's much easier dealing directly with them.

With regard to independent travel agents, a lot are MLMs, and I don't support them at all.

@Tequilamockinbird

What is MLM travel agents ?

I’ve not got anything booked at the moment. Nor do I use travel agents but then I work in the industry myself so no need to. However from the other side I deal with customers daily who have huge problems with their travel agents and who are locked into ridiculous contracts with extra service fees even if your flight is cancelled.

I have tried to use a local independent agent with a great reputation a few times but they were useless, lacking in knowledge and offering packages that could be book online for less. I do know of a fab independent agent, a sole trader who is amazing and I would use her in a heartbeat if I was booking in her specialised area. I would chew off my arm before using any larger agents other than a business travel agent.

To the PP talking about searches and dynamic pricing of flights, that is categorically bullshit. I have no idea where that urban myth comes from but that is not how airlines operate, searching repeatedly does not increase the price. Other people booking the cheaper seats while you dither does.

I really don’t know what we’ll do about holidays this year - we’ve not been abroad since covid hit and I’m not feeling that confident about booking at the moment.

As for travel agents - the only time I have used one is a small specialist agency to book a multi-destination trip through China.

However generally when I think of agents I think of high street places selling generic resort package holidays which really isn’t my cup of tea. Is there anything an agent can do for someone like me who likes to travel slightly more off the beaten track? Unless I was going somewhere like China again where the benefit of experience was really helpful, I can’t really see the advantage.