Have Agent, Will Travel: Why Travel Advisors Are the Secret to Truly Unforgettable Trips

Features | Have Agent, Will Travel 

Anyone can book a flight online. But if you’re looking for an unforgettable experience complete with a once-in-a-lifetime itinerary, customized accommodations and foolproof support, you’ll need a travel agent. Yes, they still exist, and no, you can’t do it without one.

Words by Leah Rumack

Maryann Gaskin, owner of the luxury travel agency Gaskin Travel Inc., had to jump through a few hoops to hide a photographer in the woods in France. But when he captured the exact moment her client proposed to his girlfriend on their vacation, it was worth it. She had also arranged for a post-proposal picnic with a bottle of the couple’s favourite champagne and had framed photos of the pair placed in their hotel room. “It’s the little things that make a difference,” Gaskin says.

Indeed, those “little things” are what make luxury travel agents (or travel designers, as some like to be called) such a big asset to those looking for an unforgettable getaway. While it’s tempting to think that travel agents are a relic of a bygone era, the chaos of the internet has inspired affluent travellers to turn to bespoke advisors more than ever to guarantee next-level trips with seamless transitions, authentic encounters, personalized itineraries and special touches. 

In 2023, Virtuoso, a network of luxury travel agencies and preferred partners (including vetted hotels, cruise lines and tour operators), saw a 50 per cent jump in people looking to book with a travel advisor instead of going it alone. A 2024 study from Transat Distribution Canada and Ipsos found that the number of Canadians looking to book through a travel advisor was on the rise.

The IYKYK Pros 

It’s true that internet search engines and airline booking sites have made it easy for anyone to flip open their laptop and book a holiday, but discerning vacationers often don’t have the time—or the desire—to waste hours perusing Tripadvisor reviews written by random travellers. This is, after all, a clientele that’s very accustomed to relying on experts to curate their lives; they might have investment advisors, personal shoppers and trainers, and they definitely have real estate agents and lawyers. A knowledgeable travel advisor is just another well-connected professional in their arsenal, helping them live their best lives.

“I often use the analogy of an interior decorator,” says Kathy Stewart, owner of Porte Travel, a bespoke travel planning firm. “I’m helping to edit the client’s choices. I know when to go, who to go with, which rooms to book, who the reliable partners are, and when you should splurge and when you don’t need it.”

Super hands-on (or as they like to say, “high-touch”) travel advisors who specialize in premium experiences live and breathe luxe travel. They’ve often visited the destinations (tough gig), have cultivated relationships with local guides and suppliers and have access to secret travel designer platforms. Plus, their buzzy network of industry pros worldwide, whom they lean on for advice, allows them to offer up-to-the-minute insights that your friend from pilates who just loves the Maldives could never provide.

“I have lots of clients who are very familiar with New York—they’ve been a million times,” says Andrea Bunker, a senior travel advisor at TWIL Travel boutique travel consultancy. “But they always ask me to book them because they want the latest and the greatest. They want that insider intel. Even if it’s just having somebody who can say, ‘Oh, that hotel has gone downhill,’ or ‘the property next door is under a massive renovation and you’re going to hear noise morning and night.’ It’s so valuable to have that on-the-ground knowledge.”

Ask And Ye Shall Receive 

Like a concierge at a posh hotel, Bunker often fields requests for unusual experiences. An Algarve snorkelling trip that will accept a four-year-old? No problem. A teenager who wants to go surfing in India? Done. She says that it’s the detailed conversations she always has with clients—ones that address all manner of extra challenges, like families with special needs kids or travellers with severe food allergies—that help her design the ideal trip.

Surprisingly, it’s actually not that much more expensive to use a travel advisor to plan your vacation. Although each agency varies, usually they charge an upfront planning fee that runs anywhere from $250 to $1,500, depending on how complicated the request is. This usually covers designing and booking an itinerary and in-destination support. Others might charge a per-person “package” fee for super complex, uber luxe trips, instead of the planning fee. Ultimately, the bulk of their income comes from commissions.  

But where clients really come out on top is through advisors’ access to perks like complimentary room upgrades and resort credits. What this means is that there’s a possibility to actually spend less and ultimately have a more rarefied experience, because the hotel or the tour operator knows the advisor who booked with them and wants to get that booking again. It’s one white-gloved hand washing another. 

“Booking.com or Airbnb don’t care who you are,” says Stewart. “I have relationships with all my vendors. I can call and say, ‘Why is Mr. Jones’ room facing the parking lot?’”

“No Andrea Bunker client is ever looking at the parking lot,” Bunker echoes in horror.

24/7 Service 

But even the best-laid plans can go awry, especially when it comes to travel. And if something goes wrong—delayed flights, lost luggage, sick kid—at this level, travel advisors are always ready to jump into the breach. They all use specialized travel itinerary apps to keep in touch with their clients, and their network of high-end local suppliers will leap into action sometimes before these agents (who can be halfway across the globe) even know something is amiss. If you’ve booked on your own, it’s up to you to solve any problems; if you’ve booked with a travel advisor, they’re the point of contact for the whole shebang.

Gaskin has handled many mishaps, including one where a series of nail-biting travel delays on a couple’s journey to an Australian cruise necessitated her booking them on other flights, finding a last-minute interim hotel room and changing drivers—all on a dime and in another time zone. “We took them straight to the cruise ship with only two hours to spare,” she laughs. “Believe me, I popped a really nice bottle of wine that night.”

Bunker, too, has harrowing tales. Like the time she arranged for two cars (one for the humans, one for their luggage) to meet a family at the airport in Florence, but her clients’ plane had been rerouted in the middle of the night to Siena while she was still fast asleep. “My on-the-ground guys realized that the flight had been redirected, so they had the drivers take the cars to Siena. My clients came out of the airport in a completely different city than they were supposed to land in, and their cars were there. I was pretty proud of that.”

This vital human assistance is another reason the savviest travellers don’t make that other, very modern travel mistake of relying on ChatGPT to plan their vacations. Not only is its information often out of date compared to the travel advisor who has every cool concierge on speed dial, but it just can’t help you when you’re panicking.

“If your car doesn’t show up at Charles de Gaulle airport, are you calling AI?” asks Stewart.

Not if these advisors have anything to say about it.

Featured Travel Agencies

https://www.gaskintravelinc.com/ 

https://www.twiltravel.com/

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