Traditionally, vacationers and businesspeople alike depended on travel agencies to book travel. It was not until the Internet explosion in the late 1990s that online travel websites began to flourish.
Online bookings offer convenience, and websites today are easy to use. Frequently travel suppliers offer online discounts, partly because these transactions are more cost effective.
Extensive and complicated itineraries cannot be efficiently booked, and many times travelers must book different portions on separate websites. In addition, fare restrictions, usage rules and other important guidelines may be easily overlooked, causing difficulty later.
Travel agents deliver expertise. They coordinate all aspects of the trip---air, hotel, tours, car rentals---and take responsibility for meeting a client's expectations. Often a travel agent has personal experience with the destination or the mode of travel, and can provide personal advice.
Travel agent advice is not free, and most charge a fee for bookings. In addition, some agents may push certain suppliers from whom they get a special commission.
Generally, consumers should consider a travel agent for extensive travel involving several airlines and hotels, particularly for international travel. More than one online traveler has been stopped at the international check-in counter and denied travel due to improper documents. This would not occur if a travel agent had been consulted.
