You’ve booked the venue, found the perfect wedding dress, and it’s now time to start thinking about the honeymoon. I know it may seem early, as so many couples wait until everything else is done, but the best opportunity for an incredible honeymoon is when you begin planning nearly a year ahead. Whether you know exactly where you want to go or have no idea where you want to spend your honeymoon, consulting with a travel professional should be towards the top of your wedding to-do list. Here are the top 5 reasons to hire a travel agent:
1. REDUCED TIME & STRESS
Planning a wedding can feel like a full-time job. Add that to your already hectic work and everyday life schedule, and your season of engagement that’s supposed to be so exciting quickly becomes an avalanche of decisions and stress. Most Americans spend an average of 200 hours considering all the options for their next vacation. If you only value your time at $10.00 an hour, the time spent researching your honeymoon options is worth $2,000. Most likely, you don’t have time to spend 24 days (assuming 8 hours per day) planning what should be a once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon! The busier our lives get, the more valuable our time becomes because time is the one thing we can’t create more of. Hiring a travel expert changes the amount of stress and time involved in planning your honeymoon. Imagine instead only spending 2-3 hours deciding on your honeymoon. That’s a great reason to hire a travel agent.
When working with a travel expert, you will likely spend 30-45 minutes talking about your dreams for the honeymoon. From that consultation a travel agent can create a personalized proposal tailored to your preferences. They then spend an hour or two reviewing those options with you and you choose a destination to book for your honeymoon. Not only are you no longer responsible for hundreds of hours of research and preparation for your vacation, but a $10 an hour valuation of your own time is now only costing you $30.00 instead of $2,000. More importantly, you have an additional 197 hours of your time back, reducing your stress level and allowing you to focus your time on more important tasks during your busy engagement.
2. EDUCATION MATTERS
It’s hard to know the differences between each island, resort, and room category. Plus, it’s hard to know which resort reviews are actually accurate because not every resort can be “the best resort ever.” To top it off, almost all of the resorts claim to be “5-star properties”, but that isn’t always accurate either.
Working with a travel expert who focuses on providing you with education is critical. A great travel professional will not only educate you on the resort options that exist, but will also provide expertise on how different factors can be adjusted to make your dreams a reality. Destination, budget, length of travel, etc. can all be adjusted during the planning process to ensure your honeymoon perfectly matches your desires. If your dream is to stay in a suite with a private pool overlooking the ocean in St. Lucia, you should know what that entails and how much it costs. If it happens to be over your desired budget, only you can decide if it’s worth giving up Starbucks for the next nine months or if you would like to stay closer to your desired budget and just have a fantastic ocean view suite. Or if the specific island isn’t as important to you as the experience, a travel professional can provide options for other destinations with a private pool suite that are a more affordable option. The best vacation plans are made when you are educated and empowered to understand the differences that exist between destinations, travel dates, and resorts, so you can book the trip that fits your priorities and dreams best.
3. CUTTING THROUGH THE CLUTTER
Remember the 200 hours of time we talked about earlier that you could spend thinking about and planning your honeymoon? Most of that time is spent sorting through hundreds of destination possibilities and thousands of different resort options, not to mention the insane number of reviews that all sound exactly the same. Did you know that 76% of Americans feel they must read tons of reviews while planning their vacation to ensure they are not making the wrong choice? Hiring a travel professional means you no longer have to scroll through hundreds of resort options, reviews, and photos that all look the same. Your travel expert will share with you exactly why their proposed options best fit you. Then, based on your feedback, your travel expert can make changes to your proposals or propose alternative options if needed. Furthermore, at Your Vacation Plan, we provide our clients custom video proposals, so they not only have information on each destination and experience, but they know the specific details about each property and why it would be an excellent fit. Saving time is a perfect reason to hire a travel agent.
4. VALUE ADDED SERVICES
In the midst of finalizing wedding guest lists, programs, and the hundreds of final details that go into your wedding planning, the value-added services provided by a travel expert can be a life saver. Standard services you should receive from an experienced travel professional include: providing quotes, processing booking, assisting with excursion bookings, ensuring the entire booking is in order, and providing you with travel documents before you depart. Some agencies provide additional services on top of that. For example, a honeymoon registry so wedding guests can gift upgrades to you. Or a pre-trip review of your travel documents and to discuss the trip in detail – even down to the color of the shirt, the driver will be wearing at the airport. We even provide our clients with a custom mobile travel app containing their flight information and documents, as well as 24/7 in-destination emergency support from our trusted travel partners. While you could book your honeymoon on your own, many couples find the extra services a travel expert provides during such a busy season of life to be invaluable.
5. MATCHING PERSONALITIES & DESIRES
This is the top reason everyone should work with a travel professional. Professional agents have been to over a hundred different resort properties, and every single destination and resort has a different vibe. Most importantly, each property truly has its own unique personality. The best honeymoon experiences happen when the property you select matches your personalities, dreams, and desires. Your honeymoon shouldn’t be simply based on your trip budget and the type of suite and view you would like to experience. Those are apparent things people consider important, but this is only a fraction of what a travel professional should take into consideration when working with you to plan your honeymoon. Your travel expert will take into consideration things like: resort atmosphere, how active or chill a property is, the size of the property (and the number of restaurants on-site), the level of service the resort provides, and type and location of the beach.
You and your fiancé deserve to take the once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon you’ll remember for the rest of your lives. With so many things going on in your life during this season, hiring a travel professional will easily be one of the best decisions you make during your wedding planning process. Hopefully, you’ve learned plenty of reasons to hire a travel agent.
MARY BETH LYNN
COMPANY: Your Vacation Plan
I’m Mary Beth Lynn, the owner, and founder of Your Vacation Plan. Helping couples just like you reduce the stress of honeymoon or destination wedding planning is the best part of my job. As an award-winning travel expert, I love being able to leverage my first-hand experience, knowledge, and strong industry connections to help our clients. I invite you to discover a simpler way of finding your perfect destination.
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