Is it cheaper to use a travel agent to book Flight or do it yourself?

Whenever a holiday trip is planned, several points need to be covered to draw up the entire travel itinerary. Budget is the most crucial part of planning, and then comes to the available options for planning a trip 1) hire a travel agent and 2) do the planning and bookings on your own.

Both these options have their own pros and cons, which are mentioned here below:

Benefits: If a travel agent plans the trip:

Suppose you give the entire responsibility of planning the trip to a travel agent; it will give you the following advantage:

You can sit back and relax and make your shopping list: 

Planning a trip from beginning to end can be time taking and exhausting. A travel agent will take away the entire responsibility of looking after every minute detail of booking flights, hotels, local commutes, and other travel needs. In the meantime, you can plan the things you want to do for fun during the holiday with a free mind.

Discount on hotels and flights: Travel agents usually get special offers as they always make bulk bookings with the airlines and hotels. Resultantly the travel agents extend this discount offers to attract more tourists for the travel agency. You will get accommodations and travel tickets with rental cars at fair prices from a travel agent and within your budget.

You get precise information about the places to visit: Generally, when you visit a place for the first time, you are unaware of the famous spots and other local attractions of that place. The travel agent will give you exact knowledge of the spots that are worth visiting, including the famous eateries and shopping outlets.

Emergency cases: The best thing about hiring a travel agent is, say, during the trip, a medical emergency happens as families e of the situation by arranging doctors and hospitals as they know the place well enough. travel with senior citizens and infants; the travel agency will immediately take car.

To alter or change the destinations in the middle of the trip: suppose in the midst of your travel, it happens that you have to cut the trip short or add a few more days; you can just inform the travel agent and get the required alterations done as per your wish.

Having discussed the benefits of booking through a travel agent, there are a few cons to it.

The options get very limited: when a travel agent books, not many choices are given to you. You just have to go by what the travel agent decides and confirms for the trip. 

You cannot avail of a better option: suppose you don't like the hotel or the car or bus given for local communication. There are no or fewer chances that you can change or alter that even if you want to afford a better one because the travel agent will not give any refund of the money.

Benefits: If you plan the travel by yourself:

suppose you take the pain of chalking out the whole travel plan and do all the search, confirm, books, and finally make the payment by yourself for the following benefit:

You can choose everything needed for the trip of your choice: Say in some place you want to stay in a five-star resort and a regular hotel in other places; if you plan the trip, choices for stay remain within your purview and budget.

You can choose the timings to visit the local spots: when you plan a trip with a travel agent, specific timings are one of the major issues because everyone has to follow that time. If you are on your own, no time bindings will be there, and you can decide when and how to visit the local places according to your convenience.

You save on the service charges: Travel agents charge a service fee on every booking made by the travel agency. You have to pay an additional amount of the service charge with the other required payments for the trip. If you plan the trip yourself, the entire service charge amount is saved, and you can use that money for shopping and other fun activities.

The cons of planning the trip by yourself:

 The only drawback of planning a trip is that it takes up a lot of time, effort, and energy is wasted curating the details.

There are multiple benefits of choosing travel agent and it is quiet cheaper than to book through online. Travel agents can suggest you best deals as well as best way to book cheap flight ticket.

How much should I pay for travel agent?

A payment to a travel agent depends on many factors that are enlisted below:

• The place of the travel, whether it will be domestic or international travel. 

• For domestic you can get both train and flight whereas for international only flight is the only available option and that makes a difference in the travel budget.

• The number of people traveling. Suppose it's just a family of four or a big group.

• The number of days for the trip also plays a vital role in the pricing.

• The choices of hotels and modes of communication are also deciding factors.

Last but not least, travel agent payment depends upon the package you choose for the trip.