Secrets You Should Know About Honeymoon Planning

It seems as though with the Internet and its many travel Web sites, there
would be no need to have an actual person book your travel. Surprisingly,
however, more and more people are going back to using travel agents for at
least some of their travel needs. According to a New York Times article,
Forrester Research, a technology consulting firm, reports 9 percent fewer
people booked travel online in 2007 than in 2005.

This is probably not news to brides and grooms embarking on their honeymoon
planning, and who may find themselves turning to an experienced travel agent
for the very first time in their lives. Most honeymoon couples are young
enough to have incorporated the Internet into most aspects of their personal
and professional lives, so why shouldn¹t they just book a honeymoon online
themselves?

"Honeymoon couples have many reasons for using a travel agent to help plan
and book their honeymoon, not the least of which is the time they can save
and focus on other wedding details, instead. An experienced travel agent can
help them plan the itinerary, book airfare, hotels and activities, saving
them time and, frequently, money," according to Scott Ellingboe, CEO of The
Honeymoon (www.thehoneymoon.com), an online honeymoon resource that has a
honeymoon gift registry service, destination information, honeymoon
packages, and a nationwide network of experienced travel agents.

While it's true that travel agents can save a couple the time they might
otherwise spend on research and planning themselves, can they really save
them money?

"If a honeymoon were simply a matter of booking an airline ticket from point
A to point B, then using a travel agent is going to cost more," said
Ellingboe. "But travel agents have relationships with tour and package
providers that they can leverage in ways the average consumer cannot. Also,
honeymoons can involve complex itineraries to various places throughout the
world." This is why The Honeymoon has put together a network of honeymoon
and destination specialists throughout the country. "These agents don't pay
us to be there, we chose them because we wanted our honeymoon registry
customers to have the most experienced and knowledgeable travel agents in
the industry," said Ellingboe. In fact, honeymoon and luxury travelers have
never really stopped using travel agents for this very reason. Ten years ago
the travel agent was going to be 'disintermediated,' a fancy word for 'put
out of business.' But today agents are still a viable part of the travel
industry.

What it really boils down to is this: there is so much information and so
many travel options from which to choose that using a travel professional
with the "been there, done that" experience can make the difference
between a good trip and a "trip of a lifetime." Long live the travel agent!

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(Metro Creative / 07)

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