I would appreciate a travel agent who actually knows the area that I am travelling to and can make good recommendations - not just tell me the same stuff I can read in a brochure.

Thank you for the reply! So recommendations from an area that you cannot read in a brochure. Small B'B s, interesting sites that are not in the guides etc. things like these?

I want a travel agent who has actually travelled and can make personal recommendations.

Exactly. The TA would have to be able to offer information to me that isn't readily available.

The only times I have used a TA myself is for business travel when I had to. Otherwise, it seems that the services offered by standard TA's don't fit my needs. It seems that for people doing a cruise or some sort of package, TAs can be a big help in getting better deals for people - or are good for people who don't want to do the planning - just pick from a list and have someone else do the work. Of course, most TAs make their money from commissions so they need to book people into resorts and things that will pay a commission.

I can't think of anything. Someone would have to prove to me there was some advantage to use a TA in the first place. I never have.

@november_moon Thank you!. @suze If a travel agent would be specialized in a certain area that want to visit would use his services. If he could give you information about not so touristical places, places off the tourist tracks?

Nope, still not of interest. I know what I want from my trips. I don't care about "places off the tourist tracks". I do my own research from the library, guidebooks, and mostly the internet. Everything's out there available for everyone to read these days.

@suze Ok! Thank you for your answers.

I would want a Travel Advisor (Agent) who listens to my requirements and helps me to create a trip that not just matches my expectations but exceeds them. Communication between a Client and Travel Advisor is extremely important. A good Travel Advisor is an advocate of his/her client and not of Suppliers.

@travelutionist thank you for your opinion! So it is important to listen to offer additional ideas for the client that he/she can include in the trip we are planning together and to communicate on all levels very good.

This topic is still available and I prepared to listen and read.

I agree with suze, sorry. The last time I used a TA was in 2006 when I was trying to book a flight from Australia to Italy and the emirates airline website wasn't working. The deal I had seen was about to expire so I raced to a nearby TA who booked that flight for me. We did the rest of the 6 week trip ourselves. Sorry, that's probably not what you want to hear.

I still remember the travel agent I booked through for my first scary overseas trip, gave me a few tips and didn't just hand over some brochures. One was check that your luggage is labelled YVR (my destination on that trip). I still keep an eye on the label to make sure it is correct. Yes things can go missing but at least I have the best chance possible when it is labelled right!!

Don't assume money is the sole factor in choosing a particular flight or destination. Ask someone what is most important to them... flying times, stop overs, extra etc. On my last flight the travel agent had gone against my wishes and downgraded me on an internal flight. She said, "oh, it's such a short flight and it will save you money". I didn't want to save money. I wanted a nicer seat, lounge privileges, priority luggage and check in and more concern if something went wrong on an overseas flight or at the airport.

You need people who cant do things for themselves, who cant read a weather report, who cant read a map. People that are too clueless to use tools like youtube and gmaps. you need to find them on trip advisor.

I would go with travel agents that can help you to prepare and organize any necessary documents that you may need in order to travel outside of the country.They can direct you to your local passport office, and they know where you need a visa, as well as any other documentation that you might need along the way.

Wouldn't be a TA, would you ella? None of that requires a TA, just a search engine and/or a guidebook. Or even a post here on Fodors....

An Travel Agency should be trustful so that if you can buy a nice place than it should be nice place..................

Only satisfied service and offers... help any time

I am having trouble picturing how an on-line TA would differ from doing things myself. I would be inclined to use a concierge service, an agent or agency that would help with passports and visas (forms, double checking, arranging for delivery to/from embassy - I'm not always available to receive couriers), someone who could give me tips about airports - for example the ladies room by departure gate 3 is usually the cleanest and least busy at Sharjah Airport (truly it is). Someone whom I could contact without notice if my purchases at an exotic locale did not fit in my luggage and I needed help shipping them back. To be honest lack of good customer service is what drove me away from TAs and led me to being self-sufficient in my travels. Now if a local concierge travel service were to appear on the scene and market itself properly... well I for one would use them for some of my travels.

I'd use an agent who 1) really knew the area I was traveling to, and 2) really listened to my needs and preferences. I feel that agents nowadays are just pushing expensive hotels and tours that they get the best kickbacks from. Very hard to work with them, as they don't want to do any real work, but just put together a standard tour package that they've sent all their other clients on. They also don't want to break out prices, so it's very hard to determine if you can do better yourself on one particular hotel out of a longer trip -- they want to give you a single price for the entire trip. For me, the biggest issue would be whether I trust the agent to give me unbiased advice that's actually customized to my needs and preferences.

So I'd probably use a good agent to book lodging and activities, as I think they may be cost-effective there. I don't think an agent is cost-effective on airfare (but I could be wrong). If the itinerary was very complex, it may be worthwhile to pay an agent to find the best airfare -- for a recent trip, I must have spent 6+ hours running all the possible combinations of the itinerary through kayak.com and so on; that's something I definitely could have offloaded onto a competent agent. For longer trips (2+ weeks) to places I knew nothing about, I'd consider paying a few hundred dollars for good advice and itinerary planning, just to save the hours and hours it might take to research online.