How Do I Choose a Good Travel Agent?

With so many options out there, it can sometimes be hard to pick the right travel agent for you. It’s not just about who’s going to give you the best service. With so many experienced travel agents out there, you want to make sure you pick the right one for what you need. Most importantly, an agent who offers you excellent financial protection and expert knowledge is key.

But how do you go about that? Where do you start? If you’re uncertain on how to recognise and choose a good travel agent, here’s a few tips to keep in mind.

Why Should I Book Through a Travel Agent?

Let’s start at the beginning. Booking a holiday through a travel agent will make things a lot simpler. Despite the convenience of online bookings and easy access to information, there are many more issues that come with that. A lot of complications can be avoided by using a travel agent who is a member of Protected Trust Services (PTS).

Travel agents will deal with a lot of the legal and financial stuff for you.

Whereas if you booked on your own you’d have to pay and make agreements with many different providers. Then you might have to make sure all your bookings lined up nicely. With a travel agent they get that done for you.

They will talk to their trusted service providers and tour operators, finding the best people and deals and combining it all under one price.

They will provide you will all the legal information you need too. Plus, they have everything in one place, just ask and the information is in your hands.

It will take much less time this way. They will have good relationships with suppliers and can handle currency issues too. All you have to do is tell them what you want and pay for it, enjoying the thrill of anticipation for your holiday.

Most importantly, they are a human being that you can pick up the phone to. This in itself is invaluable.

They’re an Experienced Travel Agent

The main detail you need to be aware of when choosing your travel agent: choose someone experienced in travel. Plus, someone who protects your money with the PTS trust account. This will ensure your money is completely financially protected.

This will most likely be someone who’s very passionate about travel. They are big travellers and they love providing the best holidays possible. After all, you wouldn’t go to a tattoo artist with no tattoos, or a dentist with terrible teeth. You want to know that they care about and understand the service they’re providing.

When you’re considering a travel agent, don’t just look at their advertising. Investigate reviews of travel agent services on sites like TrustPilot. Ask them about their experience and recommendations too. With experience they’ll be able to craft the holiday with you, not just do the bare minimum.

Good travel agents won’t just sell you a package, they’re selling you an experience and a holiday that suits you. If they’re not making you even more excited about your destination, that can be a bad sign.

They Have a Trusted Network

This also feeds into experience, as you’ll probably find a lot of their good qualities will. A good travel agent will have a list of suppliers, tour operators, and other travel companies that they’ve worked with many times and trust to provide a good service.

This means that they’ll probably be able to get good deals with these people because they’re familiar. It also means that these service providers will have received good reviews from the travel agent’s past clients.

When you’re discussing elements of a holiday with your travel agent, looking into the reviews of the providers they use could save a lot of time.

Your travel agent should be providing you a specific list of suppliers that fit your exact needs. If you find yourself asking for a service and they cannot provide a specific supplier they trust, they might not be the right travel agent for you.

This comes down to specifics too. All good travel agents will have suppliers they trust, but some may specialise. It could simply be a matter of choosing the right travel agent for the specific place or experience you want who will have more experience in that area.

They Focus on Your Unique Needs

The first thing a good travel agent should do is get all the information you have on what you want.

From here they can select the elements, the providers, the right contract, and the best time to fit exactly what you’re looking for.

They should go the extra mile to ensure that everything is exactly how you need it. A good travel agent will be passionate about travel and want to share that with you.

They will make recommendations based on what you want and make suggestions for things you may not have considered. Ultimately, you will be able to see how passionate your travel agent is about their work. Travel is a career that is much more driven by a love of travel than a simple need for work.

They Will Know Where to Spend

Getting a holiday at a low price seems exciting at first, but there are certain places you shouldn’t be cutting corners. A good travel agent will know how to recognise a true deal.

You don’t want to look for the cheapest travel agent. Look for one that can offer the best quality service for a fair price. That’s not to say that a travel agent will not find you the best deal.

They will recommend where it is better for you to spend a little more for quality, and where you can afford to save some money. A good travel agent will neither be trying to drain your pockets, nor will they seem too good to be true in terms of prices.

The best way to investigate this would be to compare prices and reviews. Generally, you’ll be able to glean the average price of a good quality service based on the prices paid for the service that is most highly praised.

If a service has 60% bad ratings and is being sold at a very low price, it’s most likely that a good quality version of that particular service is worth more than that. Now, you can see where to avoid taking things cheap.

In saying that, it is important to look at the content of the reviews. There could be a lot of reviews that are taking fault with things outside of the supplier’s control.

24/7 Travel Agent Service

For a good travel agent, the job doesn’t stop once you’ve booked your holiday.

This is especially true with travel agents working with the Protected Trust Services’ (PTS) trust account. With PTS your money will stay in trust until you return. PTS travel agent members are there to deal with your concerns throughout the holiday. Think of them as your travel best friend.

A good travel agent will be available to you for any issues throughout your holiday. If you have an issue with the service from a tour operator, for example, and you cannot get in contact with them, that’s what your travel agent will be there for.

Find Them as Early as Possible

When it comes to travel, planning and booking your holiday as soon as possible is always a great advantage.

It gives you a time to find the perfect services and the right prices. It also allows time for queries to be posed and answered. Booking earlier gives you time to make decisions in the situation that something changes. It is also an incredible time to book for 2025 and take advantage of incredible flexible deals available currently.

In the same way, finding a travel agent as soon as possible will give them more time to provide the perfect holiday for you. It is to your and their advantage to plan things out at least a few months ahead of when you want to leave.

It also gives you the chance to take your time in finding the perfect travel agent for you if you don’t already have a trusted travel agent lined up.

Use a PTS Member

We pride ourselves on only having experienced, good quality travel companies as PTS members. From our pool of travel agent members, PTS and its members invests in quality providers.

When in doubt, look for the PTS logo on a company site to be assured you are looking at a travel agent you can trust. If you need further reassurance, you can also search their name or PTS number on our website.

So, if you’re looking forward to your next holiday, don’t wait, book now with a travel business member of PTS for 100% financial protection through trust. Or, if you’d like assistance choosing one of the lovely PTS members to book with, you can contact PTS directly at 0207 190 9988 or check us out on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.  

If you’d like to learn more about your financial protection with PTS or how the Package Travel Regulations protect your holiday booking, check out our pages and Travel Advice.