travelgaythailand

[pong]

when I used google to find this, and a few related sites, this (apparently thus paid link) this site travelgaythailand.com came in top. It seems to be a sub-brand of expedia.co.uk (a very well know ''leading'' as they say, name in www-air and HTL travel bookings), promoting travel bookings to the country we all come to and like so much. Besides this name, it offers nothing, except a few copycats parrotted from other sites. It recommends the ROSE hotel as a good and ''hidden gem'' lower-budget accomodation choice, as they say it is gay-owned. For the young and backpacking budget-crowd they mention various hostels-shared dorms (which BTW cost more per bed as a cheap single room in the real backpack area of Banglamphu). (on bangkok.com, there is currently also a list of the top 10 ''must see/do'' gay places in this big city.

Are there still gay-aimed/owned specific travel agencies like in the USA or UK for that?

[TotallyOz]

Yes, that is a paid link. Travel agents are dying as most people now book on the Internet for less.

[Moses]

Travel agents are dying as most people now book on the Internet for less.

 

Hehe... smart agency are working in internet

[Guest Thor69]

Many businesses try to redirect traffic from their competitors to their websites. This is done all the time.

 

Travel agents are a thing of the past. Do you know anyone that uses one that actually saves you money? I would like to hear about it if you have one.

[Guest]

I also cannot imagine why anyone would use a normal travel agent.

 

The only time I use one is when booking business travel, as my employer insists on using an agent. I have experienced the following problems with these agents:

1 Uncompetitive flight costs.

2 Hotels which cost more than if booked through the hotel website.

3 Booking my flight at the wrong time and then dishonestly claiming there is no space on the flight originally requested (They tried that with the wrong person & I had them correct the booking)

[TotallyOz]

I also cannot imagine why anyone would use a normal travel agent.

 

Nor can I. But, I travel often with friends that use them for business. The reason, if anything changes in their itinerary, they just send an e-mail to the agent and all is magically changed for them with no hassle on their part.

 

Other than business travelers, I don't see the benefit.

[Guest fountainhall]

I also cannot imagine why anyone would use a normal travel agent.

There is one very good reason - and Michael refers to it in his later post: greater flexibility. If I make a booking on the internet for a special low fare, it generally has to be quite far in advance to benefit from the lowest fare. But it is also laden with conditions - non-endorsable, non-reroutable, non-refundable etc. So once I have pressed "confirm", I get the ticket, my credit card is billed and I am then more or less locked into that flight - or just maybe another flight on the same carrier on the same route at a later date, sometimes with a supplement.

 

If I book via a travel agent, however, I am usually able to lock into their fare and have that booking held without payment until 2 or 3 weeks before travel. So it's easy to cancel or change. If my agent can offer a fare slightly higher than the internet fare, I will tell them and sometimes they will offer to match it.

 

Another less common reason is that just occasionally an agent can come up with a better fare, Last Friday I had a good example of this. A friend is flying to London for just 2 nights next week. She checked all the internet sites, but being peak season, all flights out of Bangkok in business class are very full. One agent, however, was able to get a price of Bt. 109,000, whereas the cheapest offer on that particular airline's website was Bt. 146,000! So it pays to check both agents' and internet prices.

[Rogie]

If a normal travel agent is taken to mean premises on a high street you can walk into, then no, I don't use those.

 

I usually use a company who charge an annual fee, about UK£70 or US$110. Booking is by phone or by email. Here is what a customer had to say, earlier last year following the volcano eruption in Iceland:

 

"I just wanted to drop you a quick email regarding .....(name of agent). The service she has provided us has been second to none; during all the flight cancellations due to ash in the air she was always one step ahead and dealt with any problems quickly and efficiently. Her help was greatly appreciated and she made the whole process easier for us. She is a credit to your company".

 

Luckily I have never experienced any such disruption to my travel plans, but it is good to know were that sort of thing to occur I'd have someone to at least try and help me. If you book on the internet, who is going to help you? Maybe if you fly first class or business there might be a real person at the end of the website, but I certainly don't think there's anybody for us economy flyers!

 

For similar reasons I've stuck to buying my household and motor insurance using a traditional family insurance brokers. Maybe they can't shave every last penny off the premiums but what matters to me is similar to what the person in the quote above is saying, personal service. All those fliers that come in unsolicited through my letterbox advertising rock bottom rates go straight into the wpb.

[Guest fountainhall]

If a normal travel agent is taken to mean premises on a high street you can walk into, then no, I don't use those.

For more than ten years, I have used just one agent each in Bangkok and Hong Kong. The first time I used them was a kind of trial. Since then, I have been pleased with their service for flights out of those cities. So I keep using them. unless I book directly on the web.

[Jason1988]

Larger companies have an in house travel agent or use a travel agent that is contracted with the company. This allows those needing travel services to call and get whatever they want, when they want it. If they have to change plans, cancel or whatever, the travel agent takes care of it without any hassle for the person using the services. This is an idea situation as you wouldn't want everyone doing his own bookings as they don't have experience with the airline rules, etc.

 

Years ago, when I worked in the corporate world, this was the norm and still exists today for many larger companies.

 

As for an individual needing airline services, the best travel agents I have used were in Bangkok. However, most of the time I book my own tickets on the internet. With airline loyalty programs you can get a bargain fare and still get your frequent flyer points. Use certain credit cards and get still more points.

 

During certain airline promotions you can get double miles. Couple that with the miles from a credit card and you can usually rack up those miles at a record pace.

 

Many corporate employees leaving the corporate world have upwards of a million or more miles banked and this gives them many free holiday trips. Maybe this explains why all the first class seats are filled on flights to Bangkok.