How Travel Agents Can Provide Outstanding Value

October 28, 2015

- Posted by Stefan Held

How-Travel-Agents-Can-Provide-Outstanding-Value

 Traveling, especially to foreign countries becomes more and more complicated. New regulations in the travel industry seem to pop up daily, and it is hard for travelers to stay on top of changing laws. Data Security or the potential lack thereof has also become a major danger overseas. This is where you, a professional Travel Agent can shine and provide valuable insights to your clients. Giving your customers solid advice as to what they need to watch out for before a trip as well as during a trip will help them see the added value of your services. 

         

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PASSPORT

Everyone likes to show off the places they have been to. Destinations like Monaco have a beautiful passport stamp, and it will remind us of the great times we spent there.

While a passport full of stamps looks good, it can become a problem when traveling to certain countries. What most travelers don't know is that having too few blank pages in your passport could get you rejected from flying. Most countries requiring visas will look for at least two blank pages, Russia and Greenland ask for four.
Luckily frequent travelers can request additional visa pages for their passport which can double the standard 24 pages to a whopping 48.

Another ongoing debate surrounds a passport's expiration date:

Your client's passport is valid throughout the intended trip, so all is good, right? Wrong!

Depending on where the trip goes, a passport might be required to be valid for at least three months after the indented departure date. Especially pay close attention when booking a trip for your clients to a Schengen destination
 

 

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Best Travel Alliance  

That is most likely a frequent question your clients ask. The answer is not as straightforward as many believe.

One of the main questions to ask: What are your travel goals?

If you client's trip is domestic and you prefer economy, you might be better of with a cash back credit card. If you travel international and prefer first class or business class, you have a variety of options. 

The "Big 3" oneworld, Star Alliance, and Skyteam all have an impressive amount of partner carriers. While Star Alliance has the most partner airlines ( in fact more than the other two combined), there are other important factors to consider: member airline quality, ease of reward redemption and most important of all: where do you primarily travel to?

SkyTeam is strongest in domestic North American flights and also has the most flights from North America to Europe. Star Alliance dominates routes to Asia and oneworld leads routes between North and South America. 

 

 

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Travel Guide Books

While you will plan the itinerary for your costumers and most likely have everything set before the trip begins, a lot of travelers want to read up on their destinations and even plan small side trips on their own. If your customers are visiting bigger cities, we recommend Wallpaper City Guides. Their books cover everything from museums to hidden treasures and great restaurants for over 111 cities worldwide. The fact that the book cover is very plain and does not out you as a tourist is an extra bonus.

If your client is looking for a more detailed, narrative focused guide Rough Guides might be for them. In addition, it offers a historical perspective to the countries your customers visit. RG offers titles covering more than 200 destinations and is also compatible with smartphones and tablets. 

 

 

 How-Travel-Agents-Can-Provide-Outstanding-Value

Data Security For Travelers

This topic is more relevant than ever, especially because we travel further and bring more gadgets such as smartphones, tablets or laptops along the way. Having to lose your vacation pics stored on a device is a minor headache compared to having your identity stolen or your bank account hacked into.

First tip: Stay away from public computers.

While this is a no-brainer, many travelers still use them. But you don't know what software the staff has installed, if the virus and security updates are regularly maintained, or if there is key-logging software installed.

So, don't use it, ever!

Public wi-fi is not great either, but still a bit safer. One thing to do right away is to protect your web browsing. If you use "https" instead of "http" you can instantly see if your data sent and received is encrypted. How? 

Don't want to think about it constantly and have to enter it manually? Then use a tool like HTTPS Everywhere which will do it for you automatically.

 

I hope the tips above help you to provide your clients with a better travel experience. Please share this blog and subscribe below. 

 

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