Travel Agent

What are you looking for the travel agent to do for you? Find airfares? Hotels? Places to visit? Arrange a tour?
I'm confused that posters to Rick's site would be looking for a travel agent. I thought the idea behind Rick's books was that you used them as a guide as to what to see, how long to stay, and where to eat sleep and go. It kind of negates the whole idea of a travel agent except to do the grunt work of actually making reservations. The internet and the demise of vendor paid commissions kinda took care of that.
To me the fun is in doing and arranging it all for myself. If I wanted someone else to do it all, I'd just find me a tour group and follow along with the crowd.

Here is what Rick says about using travel agents, this is a quote from page 4 of "Florence and Tuscany 2007": "Airfare: Don't try to sort through the mess. Find and use a good travel agent."

Thank You Kent! I thought I read that somewhere, I just did'nt know where.

I often think that that Rick puts that in his books just to keep the travel agents happy from getting mad. (or because it is wiser to use one if you are trying to transport a camera crew etc.. around Europe.

I too wanted to follow the advice and recently looked for an agent (to buy a plane ticket for 4, I didn't have time to sort through all the sites/dates.) What I found is that most agents don't want to bother with just straight tickets and it was suggested to me by an agent that I look for it on my own.

Do-it-yourself travel doesn't often involve the kind of activities that agents make the most commision on. But traditional tours, cruises, exotic countries etc.. is more their focus these days.

If a travel agent is only getting something like $25 per ticket to make travel arrangements they are unlikely to do much in-depth research to find the best fares. Unless you want to have a lot of hotel and tour arrangements made or you simply don't want to bother you can save money by doing it yourself.

Jacqueline: I've haven't used a travel agent in years. Maybe you can contact your local AAA and see if they have travel agents that will help you with Europe.

If you have a single desitnation - try the big airline (or one you have miles with). But a travel agent thats good will help you - fee or no fee. They will want your return biz. ALl you have to do is ask. The AAA folks are great too - and usually get the same price we can on line. But they can help with car-rentals etc. Im not sure if they have a fee too - depends on the request - but membership gets you a lot for free - so call and ask them . that IS free! (and keep asking around for one of those old-fashioned friendly agents - they still exist!

I disagree about AAA. I have been a member for for most of my 60 years. I saw their ad about consolidator tickets and so went down there and asked about consolidator business class to Europe. Without looking up anything, she just suggested using the standard discount advance purchase business fares. Considering that they do charge their members for airline tickets, she was unwilling to make an attempt to check options which they themselves suggested in the ad. Oh! We were the only people in the office at the time.

Jacqueline,
If you're just taking a trip to Italy, requiring help for flights and hotels, you don't need a TA. I'm leaving in a week and took care of everything myself. Sep is a busier time than Nov and late Oct, so the prices may be a little higher and hotels quicker to book. But you should be able to get an idea for prices by just watching airfare and most hotels have price ranges for different times of the year.
I did everything for my trip online. I knew that I wanted to fly Air France and kept an eye on their fares for months. I didn't want more than one layover. I was flexible with my dates and my arrival and departure cities. I paid $878/pp from SEA. Had I waited one more day it would have been ~$825/pp. I started with Rick's Rome and Venice books for hotel suggestions. I also included TripAdvisor selections. I sent a bunch of emails, weighed the options and made my confirmations via email. If you don't have the time for that, then a TA may be the way for you.

Thank You for all of your advice and suggestions! Any suggestions on hotels in Italy?

Italy hotels: Rick's Italy book, www.tripadvisor.com, www.venere.com