Country Holidays' Guide To Choosing the Right Travel Agent

This weekly sponsored blog post is brought to you by Country Holidays.

To learn more about tours and packages, please email beijing@countryholidays.com.cn
or call 8587 9263.

With the boom in the travel industry, new travel agents spring up every day. Each agent professes to be an expert in the destination it sells and claims to have the best service and price. How do we, then, as consumers, decide on travel agents?

1. Recommendations from friends or family

       Referrals from friends and family are your best source of information.

2. Website

A travel agency’s website is the online ‘face’ of the company and it forms your first impression.

• Fonts and layout. Is the look and feel consistent? If not, this indicates the information was assimilated haphazardly, or might have been plagiarized.
• Is content organized logically and easy to search for, or is information all over the place?

It is important to find out more about the travel agent.

• How long have they been in business? Longevity equals reliable. 
• Company size? Does the company have many or few staff? Be careful when dealing with small set-ups as there are cases of agencies closing down suddenly and leaving customers in the lurch. Some smaller agents are good, but find recommendations and testimonials first.
• Visit their office. This is a good way to evaluate legitimacy. 

3. Travel Products

Find out what kind of travel products the agent specializes in.

• Free and easy tour packages?
• Cultural tours, adventure tours, group travel or private trips?
• Tour programs catered specially for families?

4. Travel Consultant

A very important factor is the travel consultant that services you.

• Speed of reply. How quickly does the travel consultant answer your queries? Travel consultants that can give swift replies bring confidence that in an emergency, they will be quick to assist.
• Travel Knowledge. Test how well the consultants understand the destination they are selling by asking questions.
• Experience. Have they traveled to and seen the places they are promoting, or are they just messengers passing information from local operators.
• Rapport. Is the consultant friendly and approachable? Often, good rapport leads to higher levels of service, and better trips!

5. Price

It is easy to compare and look for the lowest cost travel deals but should price be the only criterion that determines our decision?

What kind of holiday?

• For relaxing holidays by the beach, evaluate by price. For complicated itineraries with sight-seeing, logistical arrangements or specialist activities like trekking, price should be evaluated alongside quality and expertise.

Where you are travelling?

• For remote destinations, it is advisable to use more established travel agents. You would not want to be left stuck and alone with no one to call for help if something goes wrong.

Who you are going with?

• In my younger days, when I could weather hardships and traveled alone, I would book travel with the lowest price.
• But when I travel with family, a more important criterion takes precedence – safety. I do not want surprises and I am willing to pay more for a reliable travel agent.

We hope this gives you a better understanding of what to look for when planning your dream holiday!

To learn more about Country Holidays' tours and packages, please email beijing@countryholidays.com.cn, call 8587 9263, or log onto www.countryholidays.com.cn.

Written by: Sharon Heng
Photo: Courtesy of Country Holidays