What is the point of travel agents?

[TedLife]

Have I misunderstood the purpose of travel agents in 2026? They can’t just be for people who don’t know how to book online surely, there has to be more of an offering?

I’m so annoyed by what I’ve just experienced. Family of 4, kids aged 5 & 7. Looking to go on our first sunny family holiday. I have criteria e.g budget, under 4 hrs flight time, all inclusive, 4/5 star, kids activities etc but not bothered about where we go specifically. I thought I’d pop into our local Tui shop and ask a travel agent which I haven’t done probably ever in my adult life. Surely this is the point of them? They are knowledgeable about the holidays they offer, best destinations etc and can recommend somewhere that would suit.

I was met with a blank stare from the girl there who proceeded to search the Tui website in front of me, clicking on a couple and saying “this one is popular” with no further info as to why. After 5 mins of this and more blank stares, I suggested maybe I should go home and search on their website myself. She agreed saying “without me knowing what I want it’s hard to find the right thing” and suggesting I come back when I do. Why would I go back if I find what I want myself?? I’ll just book it there and then!

The mad thing is that I had a similar experience (though not quite as bad) 10mins later in Hays!

They say retail is dying but it’s honestly this kind of thing that’s driving it.

I used one to book a trip to Australia and they were excellent. Sounds like you hit a duff consultant.

No idea what the point of a Tui shop is vs just going on the website yourself but they definitely have a place for more specialist travel, niche destinations etc. I’ve used one for an extended family ski trip where the chalets don’t always have their prices online so it’s easier to ask a travel agent to pull together all the options than call 10 different operators yourself.

Our last family experience was great. The hotel fucked up last minute and the travel agent reorganised our occommodation really quickly and found us a much nicer place. No hassle or stress for us and no cost involved either.

I tried my local one in case they had some secret deals I couldn't find online. The girl just went on the Tui website.

I also tried one that claims to do tailor made trips. I wanted a 2 centre European holiday. The guy came up with very expensive hotels and claimed there weren't any cheaper ones. I said I'd think abouf it and he bombarded me with phone calls, texts and emails.

I used to use travel agents every year but haven't been abroad since the early 2000's. They were always knowledgable and very helpful. Sometimes I was in there for literally hours whilst they nailed down the perfect holiday for me. I actually quite enjoyed my visit to them, it was almost part of the excitement of the holiday. Maybe modern day travel agents don't have the relevant training or are too reliant on the internet themselves and can't think outside the box.

Literally no point when they are rubbish.

I wouldn't go to one that is part of a specific company - as you say, there is no point.
However, there was an independent near me that could put together fantastic packages, suggest add-ons that would never have occurred to me, etc. Sadly, they went bust during Covid .

I haven't used one for maybe 20 years. I can find my own holidays. Also, we have never done AI.

I use travel agents for multi-site with complicated travel arrangements between them outside Europe (so trips to Oz or Africa), usually involving small lodges or hotels where there isn’t really a local alternative. The sort of trips where it is a pain to change.

Outside UK I tend to favour an airline package (having been been snowed in and out of UK a couple of times and stranded due to airline strikes another).

I haven't used one since the last century. They used to be very good - state budget, dates and requirements and they'd present you with options and you'd book - very simple. An advantage was that you had a single point of contact for any queries or issues.

Although nowadays it's much easier for people to find and book things themselves, I still think a comprehensive service as above has a place. The only reason I haven't tried to use one recently is that I am a person of routine and these days I go to the same place on holiday every year.

I am a very adventurous traveller..I have been all over the world solo, pursuing a hobby. And I still just use Booking Com or AirBnb.

I recently used Hayes by phone and service was excellent.

Haven’t used one for years (back in my 20s going in with mates, sitting in front of the lady to announce we wanted a week in Greece for £200 what can you do?! ☺️ then inevitably ending up with accommodation allocated on arrival, late night arrival not knowing what the hell it looked like then discovering next morning it was like the one in the Inbetweeners!!)

I did it this way as at the time wanted to book a city break when there were all sorts of worries about jet fuel shortages, therefore cancellations etc. I couldn’t find an online operator giving full ABTA/ATOL protection for the specifics we wanted so paid a bit more to go with them as for these reasons didn’t want to book all elements separately.

That sounds dire. I’ve never used a travel agent myself, however our local independent one gets a lot of great reviews! Do you have an independent travel agent nearby you could visit? They tend to be family run, by people who have a passion for travel.

I would think small independent ones, rather than TUI etc. are better.

I usually book myself but have occasionally used one in my town because I vaguely know them - it was a huge benefit when a flight was cancelled - easy jet reps were nowhere to be seen but he was online for me searching for 24/7 hotels (as it was somewhere where everything closed early) with vacancies.

I know a lot of people who have had flights cancelled and because they booked them and their hotel completely separately (e.g. flights directly with easyjet, hotel via booking.com or its own website) couldn't get a refund for the hotel - obviously they could claim via their travel insurance but the excess was nearly as much as the hotel. Whereas if you book as a package you are far more likely to get everything refunded.

Obviously you can book a package via booking.com etc. but, again, when I had an issue before trip.com were worse than useless, the chat agent literally told me they were using AI to translate what I was saying and you could tell!

The TA I used does most of their business organising big trips e.g. sports tours or whatever rather than individual trips.

It was Hays I used and all she did was look on the Tui website

My former spouse worked in tv and they used a guy to sort all the details for 'talent'. We used him for a trip to the States, and he was very good indeed at negotiating for 5 star hotels down to normal room rates as he was doing it with the same contacts every day and he brought good looking business to their doors. I wish I still had his contact details, Marc something.

I found this about 10 years when I wanted to book my first family holiday in years and have never stepped foot in one since. I research and book online myself and have done several times a year since then.

I can't see the point of them, especially now there's loads who are members of some kind of 'travel agent' pyramid scheme-mortifying.

I went in a travel agent fully planning to book something there and then, I had had my limit of life and just wanted to go away asap.

Walked in, said as much, adding short haul, warm weather, full board and budget requirements.
"Where do you want to go?"
"I don't know, where would you suggest?
"I don't know, why don't you look at the brochures* and come back to me when you find something"

I walked straight past the brochures and out of the door. Would have been the easiest sale she made that year probably.

(*it was a while ago!)

I had a similar experience a few years ago. I went in with an idea of budget, type of holiday, time of year, places we'd enjoyed before etc and was looking for a bit of inspiration and maybe some ideas we wouldn't have thought of. Tui just honed in on the place I said we'd enjoyed before, went on their website to find availability and tried to quite aggressively sell every available upgrade. The other place I tried (can't remember what company) basically just said I should go home and look on the internet for places I like then go back and she could book it for me. I suppose I expected that even if the person I was speaking to didn't have personal experience of what I was looking for they would have some sort of agents' database to help advise. But all they seemed to have was exactly the same website search for their company that I could access at home.
I can see that proper independent travel agents are probably useful if you are booking a more bespoke trip, but I do wonder if the Tui type travel agent shops are only kept running my older people who are wary of booking online.

I can't remember the last time I used a travel agent, I really enjoy doing the research and planning trips myself. I do think if you want something niche, or at least something more complex than a resort based holiday with return flights, and you don't want to do the planning leg work, there is definitely a place for a good independent travel agent. Agree there is really no point in booking through an agency like TUI who in this instance were adding no value at all.

I used an independent one this year to organise a 2 centre trip to Turkey, they organises the flights (we need to fly from where we are to another UK airport for international travel) and the flights in Turkey, taxi transfers, booked the hotels. It was a huge timesaver for me. And sorted out an issue on the trip too.

Used trailfinders a few times too. I can sort my own trip out but sometimes it's nice not to....

I had similar, I was hoping to get a bit of I sight or advice from a high street travel agent but (after she closed her Facebook page - def hers not the agent's social media) she just opened the TUI browser I could do from home.
I have used a local agent who was amazing, suggesting building a package.

The point is to keep my dh amused before we go for a coffee. And yes we used them last spring for a getaway to Gdansk.

They do have a place especially for more niche trips. We’ve visited places we hadn’t even heard of before on their recommendation for wildlife spotting