You want to go away. You want the best deal you can get. How do you wade through all of the information available to make for a stress-free travel experience from start to finish? And this is exactly why your should use a travel agent.

How Travel Agents Get Paid

Now, you're wondering if you have to pay to consult with your local travel agent. The answer is no. Travel agents are paid on commission by the travel companies, hotels, cruise line, and airlines they book with. So, agencies only get paid if you book with them, and they get paid anywhere between 5 and 15%.

So, say you book a trip online. You spend hours researching the best companies for the eco-travel trip you've been dying to go on since you read The Swiss Family Robinson. You finally make a choice, you book, and pay. You would have paid the same price for the trip if your booked it through a travel agent. You see, the tour companies, hotels, airlines, and cruise line don't pass that percentage discount along to you for omitting the middle man. Furthermore, you've paid the same amount, and you've done all of the work.

When Travel Agents Charge Service Fees

People tend to shy away from using a travel agency because they think they charge fees. And in some cases, travel agencies do charge nominal fees. For example, most travel agents these days charge a fee for airline tickets. Why? Well, the airlines, in an attempt to cut costs, cut their commissions to agents. The fact is that now, with ticket machines and other overhead involved in running tickets, it ends up costing agencies to run tickets. So, if you just need a flight to visit Aunt Bea in Hollywood, no car, no hotel, you will pay a nominal fee to book this with your travel agent (usually $20).

However, this isn't a reason to shy away from using an agent to book your airline tickets. Travel agents have access to all of the available flights on all of the airlines. They can quickly check availability. They know what the cheapest cost per ticket is and they can tell you which days and seasons it is cheapest to fly. They can get you the best flight times, connections, and seats available. They can sell you insurance on the ticket and they can get you travel vouchers if you had a bad flight. You decide if this kind of expertise is worth 20 bucks.