For sale by owner or use a realtor? Manage your own stock portfolio or hire a broker? Cook yourself a gourmet meal or go out to dinner? Plan your own vacation or hire a travel agent. These are all things you can do yourself, but is it worth it?

As Director of Sales for Apple Vacations, I find value in travel agents because they qualify our customers. Their service and expertise helps customize the perfect Apple Vacation resulting in happy customers and repeat clientele. For us, its a service worth paying for and including in the price of our packages. Yes, I’ll admit, there are bad travel agents, but there are also bad restaurants, movies and sushi too!

In November, I will travel to 12 cities and speak to roughly 3,000 travel agents. I want to teach Travel Agents what you the consumer truly want from them. Please tell me, what would motivate you to use a travel agent on your next vacation? And then I’ll pass it along.

13 Comments

When faced with two reasonable choices, I always base the decision on which one will be more memorable. Well, if you want me to go on vacation with your group, I am looking for the same. I don’t care if you are offering the least expensive price for this vacation, I’d pay a little extra to go away with just my wife. However, if you are offering a unique experience, something the vacation even more exciting than I could do on my own, then I am interested.

If you are going away as a group, its easy. Of course book through the Groups Department for the added benefits, but then don’t stop at price. Plan a beach party for your group. Have everyone dress in white and have the hotel light up the beach in colors, set up a buffet, a band, a bar, entertainment exclusively for your group. How amazing would it be to have an elaborate private beach party just for you and your group on a gorgeous Caribbean Beach? Its awesome, trust me, I’ve done it! If not a party, how about an excursion? Take everyone in your group Zip Lining through the jungle like Tarzan. Sounds crazy and ridiculous, Great! That means everyone will be laughing all day long and remember it always.

Life is a collection of memories, don’t offer people a cheap vacation, offer them a memory for a lifetime.

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Being able to conveniently get around while on vacation is key for a fun and relaxing vacation for me and my wife. However, we also want to stay in the most beautiful areas of the destination, which can sometimes be off the beaten track. You need to do a lot of research or ask your travel agent to get the best of both worlds. I’ll give you some tips on where to stay in some of the most popular destinations.

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Yoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!  This is a familiar scream of excitement that I always love to hear around a Craps table.  For those of you who do not gamble or play craps, “Yo” is not a rap term, but the term players use to refer to the number eleven.  It pays great odds and therefore people get excited when the dice roll eleven.  If you like Craps, then when you head down to Punta Cana, make sure you stay at a resort within close proximity to the Tower Casino at Princess Resorts.  It is located in downtown Bavaro Punta Cana and it the only Casino with a Craps table in the area.  Shocking, I know, but you don’t go to the Dominican Republic just to gamble, it is simply one of the many offerings you can enjoy while vacationing in paradise. …Read More>>

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Jimmy Buffett put it best: “Don’t try to describe the ocean if you’ve never seen it. Don’t ever forget that you just may wind up being wrong”. Well, that is the value of a Destination Familiarization Trip in a nutshell. “Fams” are the business trips that professional travel agents take to learn more about destinations and resorts, so that they can better match their customer’s needs to the right vacation. And, though it might sound like fun, they are generally hard work. …Read More>>

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