A Professional Always Saves Time, Money and Frustration

     A business owner told me a story the other day.  He and his wife had used Expedia to on-line book an airline trip to a National Conference.  Interestingly, the online travel site had scheduled their departure from their second airport 45 minutes before they were to originally arrive from their departure point.  Well, you can guess what happened-- they arrived 45 minutes after their connecting flight had departed.
     What happened next was unconscionable.  Once they recognized the mistake, they called Expedia for assistance.  The assistance they received was that they were told that each traveller is responsible for insuring that the reservations and connections were correct before they begin the trip-- in other words, Expedia took no responsibility for any mistake.  The bottom line was that my friend and his wife had to pay another $1700 to continue on to the national conference.
     Now, when I was told of this story, I told hm that I always use a local travel agent, Travel Cafe for all of our personal and corporate travel arrangements.  Yes, I pay a  fee for their service, however, if we have any challenges, I have a professional travel advocate working for me, not me or one of our professional staff trying to resolve some snag with a grumpy airline employee. 
     Using a professional is priceless!  At the end of the day, does it really cost anymore?  In my mind, the answer is NO, using a professional actually costs less.  The Internet has proven to be the great equalizer in many varied matters, however, there are some things that are not worth the hassle and inconvenience.  In my mind, travel is one of those areas.  Our professional travel agency always knows what is going on, what the challenges are at the distant end and always has a solution or idea for our team to use.
     Did my friend get his money back?  No, not yet!  His wife was going to contact somebody on TV and try and get some consumer help.  However, if they had used a professional, they would not have had the problem in the first place!
     Remember, you always get what you pay for!  Can you get some good deals on the Internet?  Sure you can!  However, when you do have a snag, trying to resolve the snag is normally more painful and costly than the cost of the professional in the first place.  A professional always saves time, money and frustration.  In today's world, I need more time, more money and much less frustration.