Having a travel agent on speed dial, once thought of as the way to book travel in years gone by, has gained new popularity for a variety of recent reasons. In the world of cruise vacations, the tragic grounding of Costa Concordia has turned click-to-buy travelers back to using the services of a qualified travel agent thinking they might come in handy if things go wrong. Those same thoughts have travelers who normally declined travel insurance when booking thinking that might not be a bad idea after all.
Nice thoughts. Good ideas. But for all the wrong reasons.
Those who suffered through the Costa Concordia grounding, quite frankly, did not need the services of a travel agent or have a need for travel insurance. In this case, the cruise line picked up the tab for all the expenses and made arrangements, post-grounding, that allowed passengers to get home with the least amount of inconvenience. While there are few elements of the Concordia event that can be tagged “lucky”, that Costa Cruises had the deep pockets of Carnival Corporation behind them to provide compensation for passengers off Concordia is surely one of them.
Still, travel agents and travel insurance are a good idea. The Concordia event illustrates just how very wrong things can go very quickly. The next unexpected tragic event, on land or at sea, may not be hosted by a company with the resources to come in and take care of business.
It happens.
Those who sell travel and travel insurance have been cautioning of this day for decades, a premonition dismissed as a sleezy sales tactic up until now and indeed it may have been.
Now it is here.
Will travelers continue the “click-to-buy without representation” behavior? Will they skip some sort of travel protection? Some will but experts advise against it.
“In an age where travelers of all ages turn to the Internet to book flight and hotel reservations, modern travel agents are offering expert advice on cruises and tour packages to far-flung locales, advice on the best a particular city has to offer, exclusive perks, hidden discount prices and the security of an adviser in case of inconvenience or disaster,” says Katia Hetter at CNN.
Indeed, this is not your mothers travel agent or your grandfathers travel insurance. Today’s travel agents specialize in specific areas of travel as well as all things travel in general. Travel Insurance products like TravelGuard Insurance offer a variety of policy options that can provide valuable protection for a reasonable fee.
We travel a lot and have an annual plan from Travelguard that allows a great deal of flexibility for travel to a variety of destinations by air, sea and land. One-time trip insurance is also available with a variety of customization options that make finding the right product for each traveler easy and affordable. Other agencies have similar protections and options too as might your personal insurance agent, the person who has your auto, home, health or life insurance.
Cruise lines all have their own policies which can be added on any time before final payment is made on your cruise vacations and have some attractive features third-party policies do not offer. Still, experts recommend using a strong third-party source to guard against default by the service provider, something that can and does happen in today’s volitile economic climate.
We are not insurance agents here but do recommend travel insurance now more than ever. After years covering the travel business, we also recommend using a qualified agent for even the simplest of travel and not just for the current keen interest in safety and security. Before the Concordia event, cruise lines were adjusting their business models to match, compete and prosper in an evolving economy and industry. As a result, pricing options, cancellation and payment schedules and more have been changing too. A good cruise-focused travel agency on your side can reap real-time money-in-your-pocket value that will make a difference in the long run.
Frankly? There has never been a better time to start or continue building a long-term business relationship with a reputable, responsive travel agency. There are a bunch of them out there. Find one.
Related articles
- Travel Insurance tips from a company that makes money comparing travel insurance companies (chriscruises.net)
- Travel insurance or assistance, it’s a whole new ballgame now (chriscruises.net)
- Cruise bookings have dropped since the Concordia shipwreck (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- US cruise bookings fall after Concordia shipwreck – Atlanta Journal Constitution (ajc.com)
- Clearly, business-as-usual won’t work for the cruise industry (chriscruises.net)
[...] this link: Travel agent, insurance popularity gains, for all the wrong reasons … This entry was posted in Blog by Chris Owen. Bookmark the [...]