Travel Agents ...dinosaurs?

Only for cruises. Mine has a great relationship with cruise lines.

Lots of people for the convenience. Business travel, large companies still do. Some very specialized travel. It varies. Kind of like asking, does anyone take the train? I always fly.

Selling cruises is about the only way for a travel agent to make any money these days. Airlines no longer pay commissions and it is so easy to use sites like booking.com, hotels.com, trivago, etc. for hotels.

Yep, a fair amount of people still use them. In my area, executives with zero time to plan vacations are keeping a very good agency alive as are high-end cruisers. When we went to a nephew's wedding in Mexico, almost everyone used the "planner" (agent) who was orchestrating rooms and transport for all of the attendees.

Richard is right. We used a travel agent, a friend of a friend, for a QM2 crossing about 18 months ago and it made it all so easy. So much easier than when we did it ourselves, plus she found good airfares for us, PLUS there was a bottle of wine waiting for us in our cabin, a gift from her.

A knowledgeable travel agent can be worth their fees. I have booked with a travel agent when itineraries are complex and require coordination with a group and/or multiple travelers. A good travel agent can be worth their fees if thing go wrong during travel.

While not travel agents, I have used booking agencies for sequential inn to inn trips. A good booking agency has a "Rolodex" of overnight accommodations not available to the casual traveler.

Friends who did a three week "Lonely Planet" style trip across China used a booking agent to set up their hotels and were very happy with the outcome. Not all of us have the language skills to navigate Planet China.

That said, I don't use travel agents for North American travel and have self booked European travel. Perhaps an analogy is lawn care. I mow my own lawn but I have neighbors who could do the same but pay a lawn care service to do the weekly lawn maintenance.

I still use one for some things. Not everyone has the knowledge, skills or experience to plan everything on their own, or wants to. Hence the frequent "tell me what I want" posts here. Most US citizens have never traveled outside of North America; a TA can make it easier, not necessarily cheaper or better.

Jim,

"Who still uses them" - I do (for some things).

I normally research flights on my own, but always use a travel agent for booking overseas flights for a couple of reasons. I don't mind paying the small fee, as they've saved me some money in the past by finding cheaper flights or better routing. Visiting the travel agent is also a convenient time to take care of any travel insurance, car rentals, etc. I might need for each trip. I book domestic flights on my own directly with the airlines. I don't use any booking services.

I normally use hotels listed in the RS guidebooks, so prefer to do that on my own as it allows me to choose which hotel and which part of town I want to stay in.

I found that especially being a solo traveller, having a good travel agent is well worth the small fee. My travel agent provided some amazing help on my last trip, so I plan to continue booking with them.

I think the previous responses reinforce the reality of using a travel agent: If you are purchasing a package that saves you money by capitalizing on their connections, knowledge, volume, or by saving you time; then great, if not, then likely they offer no value.

Back in the day, pre-internet, agents had access to knowledge and resources you did not, so there was value. Still today, for a cruise or package tour (all-inclusive resort, Europe in 10 days, etc.) they can offer deals, but to plan an independent trek through commonly traveled areas? It is rare to first find an agent with the knowledge, then you typically need to compensate them somehow, relegating the value portion of the equation to saving you time.

I might consider an agent for a trip to lesser traveled areas (China, far areas of Russia, regions of asia) where information is less available or navigating visas is key, but for general travel in Europe...nope.

As to the original question. I do on occasion.

I think the key to using a travel agent is to find one who is well traveled in the locations desired. Otherwise think you're just shooting craps.

We used a very good one for years who was always able to surprise us. Then she retired 😢. Now only if there are more than 6 travel companions coming from different locations and for flights only.

On occasion for flights and insurance only. I found I out-grew my TA on locations, hotels, transportation since I travel to Europe much more frequently than she did. However, the last thing I want to do when on vaca is deal with airlines. If there is an issue like a strike, I just call her - she deals with the issue while I continue on with my plans. I arrange a time that I will re-connect with her. She knows my travel style (no early AM anything unless absolutely necessary). Worth the extra cost for me.

Plenty of travelers (business and leisure) use retail travel agencies depending on where they live, what type of trip they are planning, where they are going, how much time they have and what resources are available to help plan their trips.

Some folks are simply more confident using a "professional" for some services (one stop shopping) while other folks are comfortable using the Internet and have the time for DIY independent trip planning. To each his own! Dinosaurs are extinct and travel agents are in business for those who choose to use their personalized services and understand the value-added benefits that they may be able to provide. It may be rare, but in my city, I know of several excellent travel agencies with staff who have 40+ years of experience.

One last thought, many of the Travel Forum posters are utilizing the 40+ years of experience that Rick Steves and his 100 staff have as "Europe travel specialists". So you might not be using a "travel agent" to book your trip to Italy, but you may still using the expertise of a travel specialist to help you with some of the planning.

I heard a talk last week with Peter Greenberg (travel expert) and he says to use a travel agent for certain things...... ( he spoke at the Travel Convention here in San Diego)
He also talked a lot about airfare and how difficult it is to you all those airline points you have saved. He referred us to his website http://petergreenberg.com/
for lots of info.
There are many non-us airlines that have amazing fares for flying to Europe or ????
What he said made a lot of sense and I just compared flying
WOW airlines to Iceland rather than some of the "big name" airlines. 1/3 the price....

Bottom line - he uses a travel agent for his flights.
Interesting stuff - I really got a lot out of his talk/presentation

For a number of years we've used an experienced travel agent for cruises but not for European travel or packaged deals. Even though our TA lived and worked in Europe, most have not so using one for European travel may be like buying a pig in a poke. There are exceptions of course.