The Benefits - continued
We know about new and rare experiences
That feeling of wanting to go on vacation, of needing a vacation. You know it right?
When you’re so fed up with the monotony of day-to-day life that you just need a break?
The first decision you need to make is when to go and then the second decision is where to go.
Let me ask you a question though… have you considered letting a professional travel advisor give you a shortlist of destination ideas? Perhaps somewhere that you’ve heard of but never been to or maybe a totally new destination full of new experiences.
As professional travel advisors, we hear about new destinations and experiences before they go to market - that new overwater bungalow hotel in the Caribbean? The new all-suite hotel with Eiffel Tower views and private balconies? Or maybe that new state-of-the-art river cruise ship in Egypt sailing on the Nile River.
Do you ever feel like you need a vacation to cover from planning your vacation?
Are you the person who always ends up organizing everyone, researching everything, collecting everyone’s payments, and making sure everything is booked?
It is stressful and time-consuming to book travel.
More than likely you end up with dozens of browser tabs open looking at options you’ve already looked at thousand times over.
You don’t need to do that anymore. I’m sure there are other things you’d rather do with your time.
Emergencies happen
Sometimes life will throw you a curveball when you’re on vacation - it could be a family emergency back home, a border closing, Covid-19 protocols changing, civil unrest, an airline strike or Mother Nature getting sassy.
In fact, all of these things have happened in the past year. And when something happens on vacation, you want to know that someone has your back.
When you a professional travel professional (like me) manage your travel, I can support you and advocate for you no matter where in the world you are. I can jump on the phone to airlines, tour operators, and tourism boards. I can change your plans or make new plans.
I can get you home or move you somewhere else. And I’m only ever one click away from - my messenger, email, or phone.
When you book travel on your own or through an online travel website, you don’t get that. You are left on your own to troubleshoot everything - often in a foreign country, language and currency.
Don’t let that happen to you.
You'll end up down a rabbit hole
Have you ever tried to find a really quick answer to a really simple question? And it turned out that hours later you had no clarity and no answer, despite having 45 tabs open on your computer?
That happens all the time to most people who plan their own travel. Now that anyone can post anything to the internet it’s hard to distinguish fact from opinion.
Just because you read something on a travel chat forum or social media thread, doesn’t make it accurate. If it even was accurate, it may have changed since it was written.
One of the many benefits of using a professional travel advisor like me is that we often have direct contact with travel industry partners like cruise lines, hotels, resorts, and tour operators. When there is big news, they often let us know first.
Avoid scams
Over the past year you may have seen on the news, a continuous stream of reports where hard-working people just like you have been scammed out of thousands of dollars.
Scammers pretending to be travel companies are rife. Their websites look and sound real and they often have great deals and discounts, or availability when everything else seems fully booked.
While they fool many people, they don’t fool a professional travel advisor like me. I know exactly how to spot them and avoid the scam. I am directly connected to the actual suppliers - no shady websites or robocall centers.
When you use a professional travel advisor like me, you can have 100% trust and peace that you won’t be scammed. You won’t lose your money and you won’t be taken advantage of.
Stick within your comfortable spending limit
Recently a friend of mine told me that she thought you had to be rich or spend tens of thousands of dollars on a vacation in order to use a professional travel advisor.
Myth: A professional travel advisor will always try to upsell you and make you spend more than you have or want to so that they earn a commission.
Truth: FALSE. Big fat lie. Big fact misunderstanding. Here’s how it works…
Qualified professionals like myself often charge a one-off planning fee (just like if you went to see an attorney or tax specialist). For that one fee, we do all of the planning, research, verifications, and bookings. We then put together all of the individual elements into one set of easy-to-follow travel documents.
We ALWAYS try to work inside your budget. If your budget is $1000 or $10000, all you have to do is let us know. We will present flight and accommodation/cruise options that best fit that budget. We may suggest adjusting the length of your vacation or the style of accommodation, or perhaps a different flight to help your budget.
But know this… our goal is ALWAYS to get your next best vacation booked just the way you need it.
Nobody is going to thank you for putting in all those hours of work
If I asked you to find 20 hours of time that you can dedicate (next week) to plan your next vacation, I think you’d look at me like I’m crazy.
Who just has 20 hours of planning time to look at, compare and book flights, cruises, hotels, transfers, resorts, tours, and travel insurance.
NOBODY!
Well, actually we do. Because planning vacations is my profession (one that I trained and certified in) it takes me much less time to find what you need. It takes me less time to know what will work and what won’t.
I don’t have to plan your vacation around anything else because it’s quite literally my job.
Consider it as attractive as handing over those other time-consuming tasks that no one will thank you for - doing laundry, cleaning the house, or mowing the lawn.
I will do my best to help alleviate any undue stress when we work together to plan your next adventure!
So tell me... Where would you like to go next?!
