When making a booking with a traditional travel agent, you almost never have the opportunity to see the computer screen that the agent sees; so it can sometimes difficult to judge whether or not the deal you are getting is indeed the best available. Online travel agencies, however, offer you direct access to a variety of choices including airlines, hotels, car hire companies, prices and destinations. This allows you to see any deals and alternatives available to you, and gives you the opportunity to choose the best package according to your budget and your travel needs.
Being able to tweak your own travel plans to suit your personal needs is particularly important. This is something that Internet travel agents explicitly recognize and conveniently provide on their sites. When booking your trip online, you can take control and plan your trip yourself when and how you want to. With offline travel agents, this is not the case. However, booking your trip using offline travel agents means you will have the opportunity to deal with trained personnel, reducing the stress of planning a vacation.
One of the greatest benefits of using online travel agents is being able to arrange your trip in your own time, at your own pace and without any sort of pressure or human influence. Another beneficial aspect of online travel agents is the flexibility they offer to their customers. Office-based travel agents are restricted to office opening hours, but there are no time constraints with online travel agents. You can book your ticket any time of the day, any day of the week.
Offline, shop-based travel agents work on commission; they have a target to reach. The more they sell, the more they earn. This means that they are sometimes pressured to make as many sales as possible. With an online travel agent, there is no such pressure. Instead they rely of advertising and seemingly cut-rate deals to lure customers and encourage them to spend.
Offline travel agencies tend to specialize in specific areas of travel, catering to certain needs. For example, some are specialists in group travel, specific destinations or people of a certain age group, specializing in cruises and other travel needs that require an agent's assistance. In contrast, online travel agencies are lacking in areas of expertise, especially when you are making your own booking online. Online travel agencies do have a certain level of expertise, but it is accessible mainly though a supporting telephone line on which they sometimes manage customers' bookings.
