saving money is a powerful motive...

our expert guide from Journey Mexico added so much to our visit of Chichen Itsa

Saving money is a powerful motive when shopping on the internet, but as strong as the impulse might be to click on the lowest price for a product or service, it doesn't always make sense. This is especially the case when:

(1) you do not know (or have someone to vouch for) the vendor
(2) you're purchasing a non-commodity item

If you're planning that bucket list trip, shopping for the absolute lowest price is not a good idea. Here's a true account of a trip to Cuba shared by a colleague. A client wanted to plan a tour for a small group, and my colleague quoted a package from a trusted vendor. The group planner, thinking the quote was too high, decided to save some money by booking everything online.

The trip turned out to a disaster. While their accommodations were ok...

(1) The guide he booked online never showed up.
(2) There was no one to contact for recourse.
(3) Communications were difficult.
(4) One member of the group suffered an illness during the trip.

Because of the difficulty with communications, two members of the group left Cuba and returned home early. Maybe they had saved a few hundred or thousand dollars. But because they were "shoppers," buying solely on the basis of the lowest price, they lost the entire investment they had made in their highly anticipated trip.

The alternative is to plan travel with a trusted travel advisor who, in turn, works with recommended and fully vetted suppliers with a track record of providing great service. You will pay more. But here's what you can expect in return.

The best guides. Guides are not a commodity item. While most guides are perfectly adequate (with a few who are unreliable and/or horrible), there will always be a select group of absolutely terrific guides who will take your trip to the next level! What are your specific interests? Whether you want to explore Cuban history, architecture, music, art, rum, or cigars, you can be paired up with a guide whose expertise matches what you want to experience.

Another consideration: do you have kids? Some guides are terrific working with young children. Others are best with an adult audience. How are you going to figure out on your own which "internet guide" to book?

A workable itinerary. Google is a great resource, but it is not a travel advisor. You can get lists of the "ten best things to do" in any destination, but that can't substitute for local, expert knowledge. What day is the museum closed? In what order should I see things? How long should I anticipate spending at each attraction? How long does it take to get to the next? Such information can help you pace your day. But more than this, what hidden treasures await, what authentic experiences unknown by most tourists because they do not show up on the "top ten" lists?

Things can go wrong. While we don't like to think about it, the unexpected does happen (like a broken arm). When you slip and fall, how valuable it is to have a trusted in-country supplier with a 24/7 telephone number who can help you manage the problem.

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

do less, discover more!

scene from the Ring of Dingle, County Kerry

A traveler planning a trip to Ireland next May asked for suggestions for her itinerary on fodors.com. Her plan is to drive all the way around Ireland in three weeks, beginning in Dublin, going to Belfast, and continuing counter-clockwise all the way around the island.

It was exhausting just to read her twenty-one day itinerary! She had something planned virtually every day. Lots of one-night stays. Lots of long driving days. Lots of attractions to see. Lots of things to do. Lots of places to visit. Lots of questions about even more places she might add to her trip.

The one thing missing from her itinerary was time … time to relax, time to soak in the culture, time to feast her eyes on Ireland's forty shades of green, time to unwind and spend a day in a small Irish village just doing nothing but relaxing, time to meet the locals, time to hang out in the pubs, time to listen to Irish music, time to discover Ireland.

Do less, discover more! Fodors definitely has a bias against using travel consultants. Too bad, because travel can be the realization of a dream … if we can get away from the mentality of checking off items on a bucket list. Focus instead on the travel experiences we want to have. Here is where a trusted travel advisor can be so valuable. She will ask you the right kinds of questions:

• Tell me about the trip you want to take. What's important to you about it?
• What would make this a wow trip for you?
• When you come home from your trip, what will you want to say about it? How would you describe what you've just experienced in Ireland?

Discover More is Brownell's tagline, and our entire purpose is to listen to your dreams, then collaborate with you to design a life-enriching travel experience … and not a twenty-one day endurance test of a road trip.

copyright (c) 2013 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

trusted travel advisor

I was contacted a week ago by a couple making last-minute plans for a trip to Italy. They wanted my help filling in the last two days of their itinerary on Capri and getting them an affordable midday flight to Paris. I got them the affordable flight (the only inexpensive option was out of Rome), but this meant they had to give up one of their two nights on Capri (or deal with a pre-dawn departure). Their story is the perfect example of (1) why to consult a trusted travel advisor, (2) why to do so at the beginning of your trip planning process, and (3) why to start planning your trip many months in advance.

The most important tool I use to plan foreign independent travel is a simple blank calendar page (see above). I keep blank calendar pages in my files for just this purpose. After filling in the dates for the period of time my clients will be traveling, I map out their itinerary on the calendar. I'm a visual person, and it helps me to see the broad expanse of an itinerary. The critical thing: to develop an itinerary that works.

Here's why to plan early, rather than last minute. Had these clients booked their flight to Paris months in advance (rather than a couple of weeks), they could have flown from Naples to Paris very inexpensively, and they could have enjoyed their final night in Capri (instead of an airport hotel in Rome).


trusted travel advisor (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2010 by David Ourisman LLC. 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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booking expedia? read the fine print

This happens more often than any travel consultant wants to think about. A couple contacted me, wanting to plan their honeymoon on Maui. I gave them quotes on several resorts they were interested in and, as they were looking for a great value, recommended another property, the Napili Kai Beach Resort (pictured above). This is a very nice, low-rise group of condos on a great beach. The resort has swimming pools, putting green, beautiful grounds, and a nice restaurant.

I quoted them a complete package including round-trip air on the flights they wanted, five nights in the room category they preferred, and a rental car for the entire period of their stay on Maui. I included in the quote a very reasonably priced travel insurance policy that would allow them to change or cancel their reservations for any reason at any time, very important since the Napili Kai has a rather significant cancellation deadline.

They emailed me a few hours later, having priced out the same package on expedia for a slightly lower price. They asked a reasonable question: why did my package price out higher? So I did my research ... doing a mock booking for the same package on expedia. The result of my research? Expedia's price did NOT include taxes and surcharges on the rental car; mine did. When booking with expedia, it's always important to read the fine print about taxes and fees. You usually need to click through to another page to get to that information — and why is that, I wonder?

Consider the benefits of using a luxury travel consultant. I am, of course, biased in expressing this opinion, but hear my argument. While you may save a (very) few dollars by booking on some website, there are distinct advantages of working with a trusted travel advisor.

• A no-walk guarantee. My supplier, Classic Vacations, has a no-walk provision in their contract with every property they represent. You will not get to the resort and find that the hotel sold your room to someone else.
  
• An emphasis on service. Classic is not a mass marketer selling hundreds of thousands of vacations directly to consumers on the internet. While expedia does have an 800 number, I've read countless accounts of customers unable to get through in a timely way to get their problems resolved. My clients have a toll-free number to call 24/7 if they need help.
  
• Working with a human being. When you use a travel consultant, you're not reduced to clicking buttons on a webpage. You have an experienced travel professional working for you. You can ask questions and get advice. I have traveled the world, very likely have visited the places you're thinking of traveling to, and have a network of contacts who can smooth the way for you.
  
• Special requests. Would someone at expedia call the sales manager at Napili Kai, let them know a honeymoon couple is coming, and ask that they be VIP'ed for their stay? I don't think so ... but this the kind of service I provide every day for my clients.
  
• Small touches like having all the paperwork for your rental car pre-filled. There is a special Classic counter for my clients at the Hertz office in Maui; they won't have to wait in line for their rental car.

How did the story turn out? My clients ended up booking through me. It doesn't always happen, but my job is to give my clients the best advice, service, and value I possibly can. travel consultant (search here on Google) copyright (c) 2009 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. .