An Internet (virtual) travelling agent or a human traveling agent

 Wrote and edited: Yair Bar-Zohar

Date: 03.11.2004

 Planning a trip requires reading books, observing at maps and sitting for hour in front of a computer. Browsing the web takes hours, weeks or even months to prepare for the trip. There are those who get much pleasure from this and even get added value  in addition to the tips and tricks they have found.

And then, we see those people around the world with the same pages printed from the internet, aside the trip books they have bought.

As a part of the trip's planning, there is a need to order necessary services to build the route. Today, there is a big variety of internet agents that offer bids, that sometimes are even cheaper and better than what the travelling agents offer, and something that cause confusion and insecurity about what is the right thing to do.

From my experience with these orders, I suggest some rules that will guide you in choosing which one to prefer.

 

When to turn to a human specialist:

1.When you go on a long, complicated and expensive trip, where the odds to have problems and malfunctions in planning are big, and also there is the human factor which you can always address, and he can solve all your problems easily and without frustration.

2.When you don’t believe the information given in the internet or you can't filter the information. You need to remember that there are tendentious articles that don’t reflect the real situation and you can easily fall in the trap.

3.When you don’t have time in your hands to plan the trip.

4.When you don’t have the tools to plan a trip. Usually, the agents have the basic tools to plan the initial part and the rest could be found in books or in informative websites.

5.When you think that personal communication is important.

6.When you don’t use the internet or don’t like using it.

7.When you have a personal experience or a friend's recommendation.

 

When to turn to an internet agent:

1.When you plan an internal vacation, inside the country you live in.

2.In specific conditions, like "whenever the travelling agency is closed", "from tonight to tomorrow morning", "weekends".

3.When you are a spontaneous traveler.

4.When you go for a short vacation.

5.When you know reliable virtual agencies. They might be significantly cheaper than the human agent. Those agencies have a search engine, which scans hundred of central tourist websites, a tool the human agent doesn’t have.

6.When you have a lot of experience with these kinds of agencies.

7.When you order services like flight, car rental, concerts or attractions, where you can find price differences in dozens of percentages. Order only with big, known and based companies. Those sites offer coupons, free tickets, and guiding brochures, which can save you a lot of money.

8.When you have the tools to compare between sites and travelling agencies.

9.When you have a backup for the agent, and a voice mail, in case you need assistance. It is common in today's big and based companies.

 

Conclusion

In addition to what's written, today, due to the big competition, the prices differential between the human agent and the internet one gets smaller and smaller. Therefore, if the difference is small, it is recommended to make a reservation with your travelling agency. Today's trend is to combine websites with travelling agencies. After you've picked your vacation, you'll accept the decision, because it suits you best.

 

It's recommended to print this article.     

 

Look & See

http://www.tiulim.net – for israelies travelers

http://all4free.co.il – for Israelies entertainment  

http://addyourpoint.com – for all travelers in the world

 

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