Travel Agent - July 7, 2008 - (Page 10)

FROM THE EDITOR Top 10 Reasons to Use a Travel Agent WHILE I’M ON THE ROAD THIS WEEK, I thought it would be a good time to repeat a column from last year that our readers continue to request. Here’s an open letter to your prospective clients who are debating whether to use a live travel agent to book their vacation or to go it alone by using the Internet. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 You’ve Googled “Mexico vacation,” and come up with 17.8 million responses. Need a little help editing those choices? Remember when you used that obscure website to book your hotel, and when you got there you spent your beach vacation overlooking a parking lot? How many hours were you on hold with the airline when your flight was cancelled because of a snowstorm? Did you really mean to spend your honeymoon at that resort whose one tiny pool was filled all day with 12 screaming children? Who knew that when you booked that “villa” in Tuscany, it would be a small room with a kitchenette and no air conditioning? Funny, it looked much better on your computer screen. No one explained to you that in July, it’s winter time in Rio, and so you showed up there with nothing but five Hawaiian shirts and three pairs of swimming trunks. How about the time you really needed a restful vacation, and you ended up in New Orleans during Mardi Gras and someone threw up on your shoes? Yes, I guess that hotel must have used a telephoto lens when they took a picture of those guest rooms that you saw on their website. I suppose contacting the Attorney General to resolve the fact that that Internet site has billed your credit card three times instead of once is the only route to take at this point. It was definitely odd that there were no cab drivers at the airport at 3:00 in the morning when you finally landed in Costa Rica, but booking a transfer to your very remote hotel would have been a good thing to remember when you purchased your airline ticket and hotel online. CONNECTING YOU For more from Ruthanne Terrero, visit www.travelagent central.com/edletter Editorial Director Ruthanne Terrero RUTHANNE TERRERO, CTC EDITORIAL DIRECTOR 10 | TravelAgent July 7, 2008 http://www.travelagentcentral.com/edletter http://www.travelagentcentral.com/edletter

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Travel Agent - July 7, 2008

Travel Agent - July 7, 2008 Online Now Contents Contributors From the Editor Europe: History and a Scenic Landscape Define Normandy Pacific/Asia: Kuala Lumpur Offers Luxury Shopping and Hotels Hawaii: Honolulu’s Nightlife is as Dazzling as its Sunshine Canada: VIA Rail Offers a New Way to Enjoy the Great North Las Vegas: Hotels and Casinos Away From the Strip Florida: Hilton Daytona Beach Offers Budget-Friendly Packages Central & South America: Panama is Poised to Become a Hot Destination Mexico: The ME Cancún Targets an Upscale Clientele Caribbean: Maxim Opens a New Resort in Puerto Plata The Latest News and Notes from Dominica Cruises: A CLIA Study Offers Good News About Cruising Cartagena and Santa Marta Offer Two Different Sides of Columbia Cover Story: Wendy Goodenow Industry In Crisis: A New Report Offers a Gloomy Forecast for the Airline Industry Hotels: Prince Edward Island Celebrates Anne of Green Gables EZGuider: Vacation.com Launches a New Platform Agenda: Fam Trips, Deals & Incentives, Calendar Opinion Consortia Can Be An Agent’s Best Friend MLT Expands Roles and Offerings Malaysia Continues Agent Push In the Spotlight Agent Access Classified Marketplace Editorial Index Advertising Index Trendwatch

Travel Agent - July 7, 2008

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