DIY or Use a Travel Agent?

I don't have any advice but I'm following this thread!

Everyone ready for a shameless plug from Bliss Honeymoons?

Lol Mrs Atwood

Hi Zaz! FH and I are going to Hawaii as well. When we first started planning our honeymoon or thinking about it all, I was DEAD set on using a travel agent. I didn't want to think about it, or do any of the work and figured we could get great deals. We got several quotes from the places you mentioned, and a couple other local travel agents, and some of them were several hundred dollars higher than the research we had done on our own. We decided to just do everything by ourselves, book our own flights and hotels, and find sample itineraries online. This was just our experience, and so far everything's been great.

As a former travel agent, I say the good ones are worth their weight in gold

@MrsA - haha! I honestly can't tell you what any of the sponsored ads are - except the "finance your wedding!" one - and the only reason I remember that is because I couldn't believe it was actually there. LOL

@Angela - thanks for the input! I haven't really started comparing the numbers yet, so I'll definitely keep that in mind!

@Tina - I fully believe you! I sometimes travel for work, and our travel agency is awesome! (Unfortunately, I can't use them for the honeymoon! haha)

Lol @Zaz, I've just seen them post on a few other threads today trying to be all subtle and non-advertisy except they totally linked to their own website lol.

I decided right away I would use a travel agent. With planning the wedding I didn't want to worry about anything else. She lets me know when flights change, booked a honeymoon package and gave me a list of resorts for us to choose from. I think for any other vacation we will do it on our own but I was just lazy with the honeymoon and wanted someone else to do it for me

If you have access to AAA, I say let them plan it for you. They will find you the best itinerary with the least amount of stress. I am planning certain aspects of our honeymoon, but will be visiting AAA in regards to booking our trip to Norway and then our proceeding cruise since it is all international. I am not sure how to go about booking now since I will have my name changed by the time we go on our honeymoon the following May. Some places charge you extra if you need to make any name changes, or may refuse you all together if your ticket and ID don't match. So check on all that if you are planning to change your name / ID before your honeymoon.

FH and I are going to Hawaii too. He was set on using a travel agent and I was impartial to it, but after getting quotes from a few we decided to do it ourselves as well. We ended up putting some United and Marriott points that were gifted to us toward the flights and hotel, and we've been deciding what we want to do while we're there but we haven't booked anything else yet. I'm happy with our decision so far.

We are using an agent, but we are also traveling international. For me, the extra expense is worth it to know that if we end up stranded or have issues, someone can make it right. I love that I can call and speak to a human, not an automated service or someone at a call center that follows a script. Our agent made us luggage tags, printed all our itineraries, gave us a list of do's and don't's while traveling, and she even gave us a celebratory bottle of wine.

To me, it is worth it.

We hadn't ever used an agent before, but decided to this time. We're doing Sandals, so there wasn't much she could do for us in regards to getting a discount, but we paid the same we would have paid if we didn't have her plus we have the security of her support. When it came time to book flights, she sent me a flight schedule and asked if it was okay. It was $1600 total. I pulled up the same flights on my own- $2200 total... For coach. She got us first class. I don't know how she snagged such a good price on those flights, but I would recommend her a million times over again.

FH and I booked through a local travel agent. Most people would agree that it's more expensive to book through a travel agent but FH and I were actually surprised at how affordable our trip is. Also, there are lot of things we didn't think about like travel insurance (which isn't necessary but wasn't actually a significant cost), hotel transfers (we probably would've been trying to flag down a cab), and several other little things we would not have thought about. We don't travel far very often (I haven't been on a plane in almost 10 years) so I like the idea of everyone else figuring this stuff out for me.

We went through a local travel agent which I had never done before. It was SOOOO easy. We told her what we were looking for her, things that were important and not important, and off she went. She gave me a "menu" to choose from and there was ZERO stress. I played around on my own and from my quick search I think we would have saved maybe 200 doing it ourselves, but it didn't include some perks we got booking through her. So far our flights changed once and we had an email about it. I love that I dont have to do all the checking and stuff (well, right now we are 2.5 months away so I wouldn't be watching until closer but still...). I went to hawaii several years back and I think I would have liked a travel agent but it was still a great trip. We stayed on the far side of the island of Maui. If you go there I highly recommend the Road to Hanna tour. It's great!

I feel travel agents are totally unnecessary in this day and age or else I'd be one. I plan all of our trips and I love it! It's also a lot cheaper.

One thing I'm not opposed to is the all-inclusive type tour companies or cruises which I guess are kind of like a travel agent. My friend had a great experience with GoWay Travel.

I may be biased, but as a daughter of a travel agent, they are well worth the time/money. The good ones do the work for you in an already busy time of planning your wedding. They find options and seek the cheapest for the best quality honeymoon, of course, it's like any person you do business with, you find the people that work well with you and ones you trust.

I can understand those who say that it's cheaper to do it yourself, but like real estate agents, travel agents only get paid if you book the trip. They're commission based, so a portion of what you paid for your trip pays them, but it doesn't make the trip any more expensive then if you did it on your own. When you book on your own, the 'commission' pays the website, etc.

They're also an advocate for you, if something goes wrong (missed flight, etc.), they are the people you call. My personal belief is, I'll have enough stress with everything else, let someone else scour the internet for the cheapest flights/hotels.

As I do all brides who ask this question, I highly advise against using a travel agent for domestic trips or all-inclusives. They are FAR to easy to book yourselves, and you don't actually get deals very often by using an agent. DH and I used an agent for a Sandals resort and it is our biggest regret. The agency we went with had great reviews, but then when we actually met with them, the second they got us to book and make a deposit, we were no longer a priority.

Also, many resorts will not work with you if you are using a travel agent. For example, I wanted to confirm with Sandals directly that we were booked so I called them. They wouldn't confirm with me because I was using an agent.

If you do decide to use an agent, do a LOT of research. Talk to people who have used their services because it was quite obvious that the reviews we read were not to be trusted.

Thanks for all the great input, everyone! This is exactly what I needed - opinions from both sides - to help us make an informed decision!

I think it depends on where you are looking to go. Friends of mine are getting married in September and honeymooning in Japan. One groom's father is a travel agent and he told them that he could get the great deals for places like the Caribbean, but for Japan not so much. So they did a lot of Expedia for booking.

I booked our Hawaii stuff for us.

We are going to Maui.

I used hipmonk to set up an airfare watchdog... And got

Our round trip tickets from Denver to Maui for $450 each.

I used Marriott reward points for the hotel.

& I used a loyalty coupon found on a coupon website for our rental car for $250 for the whole trip.

So + food + other stuff we should be under 1.75k for the 6 night trip.

I prefer DIY. I met DH in Mexico. He went with his brother. I took my sons(who were classed adults). He booked through travel agent and for two of them it was 4100. Mine cost 2300. Same flight out of the same city. Same resort same building same floor. Almost 2000 difference