|
|
Planning a trip can be
confusing and time consuming. A travel agent not only arranges the
various modes of transportation, but also may save you money with early
booking discounts, special fares, accommodation details, and travel
advisories.
At Harmon Travel, we build relationships with our clients to learn their
interests, lifestyles, and travel preferences.
While you can purchase
travel on the Internet, you can’t get the personal
service and security we provide
Benefits of using a Travel Agent
- Providing Value: Harmon Travel
Agents have the expertise and the resources to find the best arrangements
to fit your needs. This often means finding the lowest price.
However, there are times when the best value is found with other
alternatives. For example, a higher priced hotel that is closer to
your desired event could save you money on transportation. Maybe a
special promotion would apply with a simple change of date, airline, or
hotel. There are many considerations Harmon Travel agents take into
account to find the best value for your trip.
- Investing and Supplying Competitive
Information: No single supplier is going to advise a consumer that a
better route of a better fare is available on a competing airline or web
site.
- Clarifying the Fine Print: Such as
cancellation penalties and restrictions; Again, the benefits of a Harmon
Travel professional's experience can save you money, and headaches.
- Simplifying the Research and subsequent
Transaction: Like a personal shopper, Harmon Travel Agents can provide
one-stop shopping when you require air arrangements, rental cars, and
hotel stays - - with helpful suggestions that are in your best interest,
not the suppliers.
- Getting Problems resolved:
Harmon Travel agents serve as your advocate in the even something
inadvertently goes wrong.
- What about the Internet?
The Internet is a great place to
find information, use as a resource, and do your homework. No matter
how you buy travel, the more homework you do the better consumer you'll
be. Once you have completed that part of the task...What's next?
- What are your choices when your
reservations are not how you want them or you have a major change in plans
and need someone to cover your back in this emergency?
- Is your time worth more than being a
part-time travel person?
- How would it be to know the person that
is taking care of your travel plan and to know they know you?
Harmon Travel has the answer
to these questions when you MOVE BEYOND THE NET. We at Harmon Travel
want to partner with you. We trust your expertise. Now you can
trust ours.
While
you can purchase travel on the Internet, you can’t get the personal
service and security we provide.
Getting a view with a room
By Christopher Elliott
Chris
Huban thought the $95-a-night room rate he found at the Westin Chicago River
North hotel on Hotwire.com was too good to be true. When he checked in, he
found out why. Huban, a sales manager based in Abington, Mass., was issued
the keys to a room that smelled of cigarette smoke and had a smaller bed
than he wanted. "It was right across from the elevator, and you could hear
people coming and going all the time," he says. "It overlooked a very large
parking garage." When he asked for another room, the man at the front desk
told him, "Based on the way you reserved your room, we can't move you."
Mark Ricci, a spokesman for Starwood Hotels &
Resorts Worldwide, which owns the Westin chain, says their hotels are not
supposed to discriminate against people who use discount sites. But some say
complaints such as Huban's have grown louder recently. "There's a growing
practice of assigning less desirable rooms to guests who booked online and
got a deep discount," says Bjorn Hanson, a hotel analyst with
PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Passing
grade. Most agreements between travel websites and a
hotel stipulate the room must meet specific requirements. Priceline's
contracts, for example, say the accommodations must be for double occupancy.
The hotels are careful to follow the letter of their contracts, but many
also set up unofficial classes of rooms, ranging from best to worst. (At one
hotel, the rooms are assigned a letter grade.) The most-coveted rooms--with
the ocean view in the quietest part of the building--go to frequent guests
and people who pay top dollar. The worst--overlooking the dumpster--go to
the bargain hunters.
When Wendy Margules, a real-estate agent from
Newtown, Conn., used Expedia to book a room in Venice for this
May, she thought she was getting a view of the canals. But when she called
her hotel directly to verify, her dreams of watching gondolas were sunk. "I
was told that I had booked through Expedia, and for that rate there was no
way I would be in a canal-view room," says Margules, who still is deciding
whether to change or cancel the reservation. Expedia spokesman David Dennis
said his agency's hotel contract prohibits "any kind of discrimination
against our customers." But, he adds, "Hotels are not in the business of
giving away their most expensive rooms, either."
Analysts say the discounts--as much as 40
percent to 60 percent on sites like Priceline and Hotwire--make the travel
websites worthwhile. But, if you can, check with the hotel to learn what
kind of room you get for that rate. Earning frequent-stayer status also can
help your room assignment. If you don't get the room you feel you deserve,
contact the travel website. If you're getting shoddy treatment, a site
can--and frequently does--intervene on behalf of its customers. Just keep in
mind: How much are those savings worth if your goal is a view of
Venice from your window? |
