when to use a travel consultant

The August, 2008 issue of Condé Nast Traveler offers Wendy Perrin's list of 128 top travel consultants for various destinations and specialties. I personally know a number of those listed, half a dozen being my colleagues at Brownell Travel. I can attest that they are truly knowledgeable and authoritative travel consultants who can plan over-the-top travel experiences for your next trip.

An interesting sidebar to Perrin's article lists 5 reasons to hire a travel consultant (and 5 reasons not use a travel consultant, the subject of my next article). Here's my commentary on the list:

Do hire a travel consultant for...

1. Start-to-finish customized itineraries with all the bells and whistles

Putting together an itinerary that flows is the single important thing a travel consultant does. Time is your most valuable resource, and a travel plan that makes the most of your time is well worth the trip planning fee that your travel consultant will charge. You'll have a true travel expert looking out for you: avoiding travel connections that may not work in real life, making sure that the museum you want to see is actually open on the day you're scheduled to be there, getting you advance reservations that will enable you to avoid waiting in long lines for tickets, and obtaining dinner reservations at celebrated restaurants. Want a VIP airport welcome on the jetway that will whisk you through immigrations and straight to your waiting limousine? Ask your travel consultant.


2. Once-in-a-lifetime splurges using 4 or 5 star hotels

You want to stay at the world's best hotels, but you also want the most for your money. Luxury travel consultants produce results you simply won't get browsing the internet. How? Someone who specializes in booking five star hotels knows where the best values are. He or she has access to contracted rates and exclusive amenities such as complimentary daily breakfasts (and more). She or he personally knows Sales Managers at top five star hotels and uses those connections to get you VIP service and upgrades whenever possible.

3. English-speaking guides and drivers

There are three kinds of guides — excellent, average, and poor. A great guide can make your trip the experience of a lifetime. A luxury travel consultant has the connections to get you an excellent guide with great English-language skills. Through repeated experience working with local on-sites (travel experts who live and work in the country you're visiting), and through the shared experience of our colleagues, a travel consultant knows which companies most consistently provide the top guides.

4. Special access to monuments, events, or people

Want an exclusive experience you'll remember for the rest of your life? Exclusive, after-hours access to busy attractions just for your family or group? A private visit to the Sistine Chapel or the Louvre? A private romantic dinner and concert in the Library of Ephesus? A tee time at St. Andrews? A cooking lesson with a three-star Michelin chef? A visit to an exclusive winery that normally does not admit the public? Access to private gardens and chateaux? The opportunity to meet foreign nobility? Such experiences are not inexpensive, but a luxury travel consultant can arrange them.

5. Cruises with private shore excursions

There is an alternative to being part of a busload of tourists following a tour guide with a flag. Your travel consultant can arrange a private guide who will meet you at the dock and host your own private, exclusive experience. And if there are as few as four of you traveling together, the price will be competitive with the cruise lines' own shore excursions.

Even in this age of the internet, you don't have to plan your own travel. A travel consultant can save you time, money, and frustration ... and plan a vacation you'll never forget.

travel consultant (search here on Google)


copyright (c) 2007 by David J. Ourisman. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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