How cheap does a bad vacation have to be before it becomes OK?

This is a question that was posed by a wonderful speaker and motivational travel agent trainer, Nolan Burris, at one of his seminars a while back but I think it is the time to bring it up again.

With all of the options in booking travel, why should you work with a travel professional? Isn’t it just easier and cheaper to do the research online and just book it all yourself? Yes, you could do that if you just want the cheapest trip out there and aren’t looking for the assistance, guidance and expertise that a travel professional can offer.

Let me give you an example:

Did you hear about the honeymoon couple that booked their Greek Island honeymoon through one of the big online agencies that starts with an E? They were traveling in November. That would bring up a red flag in any good travel professional’s eyes. Honeymoon couple gets to Santorini and finds a cab to take them to their hotel which is closed for the season. Unfortunately, they booked it online so there was no one to advise them that the season in Santorini is May-September and most hotels are closed down in October for the winter. What did the honeymoon couple do? Obviously, they didn’t get the honeymoon of their dreams. They did, I believe, get their money back from the big online agency for that part of their trip.

If a honeymoon couple insists on visiting the Greek Islands in November, I might have suggested a Mediterranean cruise that instead. A couple of cruise ships still stop at numerous Greek Islands in November as Meredith and Matt did aboard the Celebrity Solstice this past November.

Let me give you another example:

You want to go to Maui for a vacation and you do all of your research online. How hard could Maui be to book? It’s part of the US and they use US$ and they speak English.
So you find a great deal at a great property in Maui that is right on the beach and you book it with airfare. The price is too good to be true and they are giving you a 3rd night free and breakfast, too. Also, the reviews on all the consumer websites were really good. Perfect- you put down your credit card # and you start to pack.

OK, the flights weren’t ideal. The lay over in LAX was a bit longer than you expected but you’re on vacation, so you can deal with it. You finally arrive in Maui and it is almost dark there. You get to the airport and figure you’ll just hop a cab to the hotel in the Ka’anapali Beach area. Shouldn’t be too far and, anyway, you don’t need a car in Maui, right? Fifty five minutes and $100 later, you arrive at your gorgeous hotel. The lobby is everything you read about. It looks like you are in a tropical rain forest. You forget about your $100 cab ride and put it behind you. Your bell hop takes you to your terrace view room. That sounds so great- terrace view. Too bad it’s dark by now and you won’t be able to see the view until tomorrow morning.

The room is nice- great bathroom, comfy bed, big TV. You put down your bags and go get a bite to eat and wander around the hotel just a bit before going back to your room to unpack and go to bed. It’s a long flight to Maui from the East Coast.

Every few minutes you are hearing a weird noise. Beep, Beep. Sounds like the noise when you are locking your car door. You just ignore it thinking that you must just be tired. You settle into your wonderfully comfortable bed and then hear a car alarm go off.
Now you aren’t imagining it and you go to sliding glass doors and step onto your lanai to realize that your terrace view is actually of the parking lot. This might be happening all week long (:

Had you called a good travel professional, especially one who has been to Maui, they would have recommended you rent a car – probably for less money than a round trip cab ride to the airport and they would have been able to get you that same deal but would have recommended the mountain view room instead.

Again, how cheap does a bad vacation have to be, before it becomes OK?

If you are ok with a vacation like the 2 described above, by all means, please book your vacation online. If you are looking for an experience, please contact me at mindy@myvacationlady.com