8 Myths about Travel Advisors debunked !!

(Image cred: Getty Images – Virtuoso)

We’re here to set the record straight.

2020 brought it’s fair share of travel nightmare stories and most of them were from folks who planned trips on their own. If you worked with a Travel Advisor in 2020, then you know the lengths we went through for our clients – canceling bookings, securing refunds and travel credits, changing itineraries and making sure that everyone got home safe and sound.

I think that people really don’t know what Travel Advisors actually do and may feel that they don’t need one. If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that navigating the travel world and Global travel landscape is overwhelming to say the least and it changes every day………

In this age of information overload (a Google search of “Where should I stay on Maui?” returns 7.7 million results) and pandemic-related uncertainty, we believe travelers can benefit from personalized vacation-planning help now more than ever. There are thousands of travel advisors around the world (including 22,000 Virtuoso travel advisors in 50 countries, to be exact) who are ready to help make travel dreams come true.

Despite what you may have heard, travel advisors aren’t a vanishing breed; they aren’t trying to upsell you; and – trust us – no matter how well traveled you are, Virtuoso travel advisors have way more connections than you do. We’ve uncovered eight of the most common myths about travel advisors, and we’re here to debunk them, once and for all.

Myth #1: A travel advisor is just a fancy name for a travel agent.

Think of travel advisors like financial advisors: They’re trusted, knowledgeable sources who help shape and support big decisions in your life. Travel is an investment, and it can yield an incredible return on life. Deciding where and how to go shouldn’t be taken lightly, whether that’s a years-in-the-making Italian sojourn, a bucket-list world cruise, or a spring break safari with your family. Travel agents can be merely transactional – they’ll book plane tickets and finalize hotel reservations – but travel advisors are transformational. They make it their business to get to know you, and they’ll work with you again and again on your travel plans, learning everything from your favorite spa treatment to the go-to bottle of wine you like to have waiting in your hotel room.