{ TRAVEL WITH JESS }
WHY DO NEED A TRAVEL ADVISOR? BY DR. ANIKA SIMONE JOHNSON
Why do I need a Travel Advisor? I have traveled before, and I can do it! Sure, you can do it, but why would you want to when you can have someone handle all the planning details, the stress for you and it is free? Here are four important reasons to consider using a Travel Advisor for your next weekend away or vacation! NUMBER 4: TIME MANAGEMENT AND SAVINGS: Depending on the destination, you could have to decide between as many as 30 to 50 different hotels or resorts. Depending on the cruise destination as many as 8 different cruise lines with several different ships and itineraries. Which ones are in your budget? Which ones sleep a family of 5? Which ones have king beds and which ones only have doubles? Which ones offer a dining plan or free breakfast? Which have a gradual entry pool? Which ones are closest to the destination or attractions? Which is in a safe area? Which one would be best for my family? Which one is more adult only? Which restaurants would we like the food at? What does “all-inclusive” mean for this resort? What amenities are included? What ports does this cruise stop at? What happens if Covid causes my cruise to cancel? The list of questions that you must consider could be very long and the time it takes to research and find answers to all of them takes away from the time that you could be spending with family, working, or doing a thousand other things! A skilled and experienced Independent
Travel Advisor takes the time to get to know the group going on the trip and then selects hotels/resorts or cruises to best meet the needs of their clients and to keep them on budget. They are knowledgeable about all the resorts and cruise lines, as well as the other components to the destinations that they specialize in. They also have the connections and resources to find out about areas that they are not as familiar
with quickly and efficiently. The advisor does this all while you are able to go about your daily activities and not even have to give it a second thought! NUMBER 3: UPDATES, CHANGES, AND NEW PROCEDURES! In the age of Covid, everything is changing and almost daily! It is a good Travel Advisor’s job to keep up on the latest changes and developments, the latest openings, closings, and new procedures. Then it is our responsibility
to help our clients navigate and learn about those changes and how they may impact your vacation. This is a very real example that happened recently: A bride was planning a getaway bachelorette party with herself and 15 of her closest girlfriends. They decided to go to Walt Disney World for 5 nights. The bride, not wanting to deal with any of the details or stress contacted a colleague and had her find the perfect house nearby and handle the tickets for her and 10 of her friends. The other five girlfriends had been to Walt Disney World in the past and thought they could handle their own tickets. Fast forward to the weekend of the trip. My colleague gets a phone call from a very upset bride that while her and those that went through the Travel Advisor are good to go, the 5 who purchased their own tickets did not know about the new covid protocols. Because of that they never made park pass reservations and now they cannot get into the parks at all as they are booked due to capacity restrictions! Unfortunately, this meant that those 5 ladies had wasted a great deal of money and while their friends were drinking around the world in EPCOT and celebrating the bride’s upcoming wedding with Mickey Mouse and his friends in Magic Kingdom, they had to stay behind at their rented house. If they had used a Travel Advisor from a Disney Earmarked Travel Agency, who specialized in Disney destinations (like the bride had), they would never have had ROCHESTER WOMAN ONLINE :: AUGUST EDITION 2021
323
