Both business and leisure travelers have raised questions about the services they require while on the road. Read the Wts Travel Review, click here

In my opinion, the majority of vacationers believe that they can get a better "deal" (read: a lower price) if they book their trip independently via the internet rather than through a travel agency.

The truth is they cannot and will not, but that does not dispel the myth. The cruise lines, airlines, and other travel suppliers that the small travel agency competes with are obligated by contract to sell their products to the smaller agency at the same price they sell them to their own customers and to pay the smaller agency a commission based on the assumed volume of business from that customer.

Let me be forthright and say that there are a plethora of "Cheap Travel" sites available on the web today. What exactly are these discount travel sites selling, and why are they thought to be a better deal than booking through a TICO-accredited travel agency?

You'll see that the shipping dates for these items are almost always very soon. There are a few caveats to these low-cost vacations that need to be addressed. As the departure date draws nearer, the owners of these trips will reduce the price in an effort to recoup some of the money this product cost them. Initially, these products are purchased in bulk from a large supplier. In theory, that's not a terrible plan. However, when you take into account the fact that the remaining product is the product that nobody else wanted, such as the less desirable cabins on the ship or the suites in the resort's less desirable areas (or even environmental problems, if the resort is overbooked), you can see that it's not such a good plan after all.

Is it reasonable to assume that the vast majority of vacationers would appreciate some kind of guidance when deciding where to go, when to go, what to do once they get there, how much to pay for what they'll get, and whether or not they'll have any recourse if anything goes wrong? The best part is that the family won't have to pay anything extra on top of the advertised or base price for the trip.

There is also no need to spend time reading up on everything tourists should know before going abroad. E-tickets will be delivered online just as if you had spent hours researching and booking the trip yourself, but of course, you won't have to waste any of your time doing any of that.

Getting back to my original point, today's travel agencies serve as intermediaries who, in a short amount of time, provide potential clients with solutions to their problems—in this case, their needs, wants, desires, and budget for their upcoming vacation.

The earlier in the planning process a family begins looking in a specific travel area, the more likely they are to find what they want at the time, place, and price they desire. A reputable travel agency will keep an eye on the price of the booked trip and refund the difference if it drops before the client's departure date for any reason. That cannot be done on any computer anywhere.

Using a TICO registered travel agency and a TICO qualified travel agent has many advantages, but we'll get into that in more detail in a later section.