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Travel Advisers: When to Let a Professional Plan Your Trip

By Julie Weed

Decades ago, your vacation most likely began with a visit to a travel agent, who relied on a combination of expertise and connections to find the best deals on plane tickets, hotels, tours and more. Since then, the internet has turned most of us into our own travel agents, and artificial intelligence software is making research and self-booking even easier. But for some trips, that special insider knowledge can still make a big difference.

So when should you hire a professional, and how does it all work? Here are some tips.

Why should I consider a travel adviser?

It’s easy for a traveler to do the research for a standard trip, said Chris Anderson, a professor at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, “so they should look for a specialist for the type of tour they are looking for, say a bike trip in Ireland, who can really add value.”

The insider knowledge offered by a travel adviser can add the most value to trips that have multicity itineraries, involve a wide age range of travelers , are very significant (like an anniversary vacation) or are to destinations you are unfamiliar with, said Gary R. Johnson, who has run the travel agency Woodside Travel in Seattle for nearly 30 years. An adviser could help you decide, for instance, in which order to visit European cities based on local events and transportation options.

What can an adviser give me that a booking site can’t?

Travel advisers can help you research the best destinations, lodging, or activities for your particular group and travel goals, offering up specific advice that might be hard or time-consuming to find yourself. Those specializing in cruises might know which cabin to choose if you are prone to seasickness, while a safari planner could help you decide which park would be best for bird-watching or seeing specific animals, like rhinos.

Travel advisers typically have relationships with tour companies, hotels and cruise lines, sometimes through networks. Those connections can allow advisers to offer extra perks such as late checkout, free breakfast, airport transfers, a welcome basket or a credit to spend on a cruise ship.

“A good travel agent will be a better steward of your travel budget than you are,” said Guy Rubin, managing director of Imperial Tours , which arranges travel in China.

When bad weather or other circumstances disrupt your itinerary, travel advisers often have direct lines of communication with providers and can do the work of rebooking and changing plans, saving you time and stress.

OK, let’s say I need help. How do I find an adviser?

Networks like the American Society of Travel Advisors and Travel Leaders have websites that can help you start your search for a travel adviser by answering a few questions about your desired trip. Once you have a handful to choose from, get on the phone with them to talk about what they might do for you, how they charge and the level of service you can expect. Special trips can cost thousands of dollars, so it’s worth investing time up front, Mr. Rubin said.

Make sure to read over the travel agent’s reviews and any user-generated social content that mentions them, Dr. Anderson said. “If there is no external validation, that’s a red flag.”

How do advisers get paid, and how much will it cost me?

Advisers receive commission from suppliers, typically 10 to 15 percent of the price, when selling cruises, lodging and tours. They also sometimes charge travelers a planning fee, from a few hundred dollars, which may be credited to the final bill if the booking is completed, all the way up to tens of thousands of dollars annually for a luxury concierge travel planner they can call on all year. Mr. Johnson said that he charges a planning fee the first time he works with customers. If they return for other trips, he waives the fee.

Advisers may be tempted to sell you something that will earn them a higher commission, Dr. Anderson said. But, he points out, the same is true for the large online services, which promote hotels that pay them larger commissions. Travelers can ask advisers about specific commissions they receive or how they are affiliated with the products they are recommending, he said.

Sometimes a local tour company will package transportation, lodging and experiences for an adviser, who tacks on a percentage before passing it along to a client. But a bill that is not itemized can make it harder to make trade-offs — between a more expensive hotel and a special experience, for example. If pricing transparency is important to you, discuss it with the adviser up front.

How are A.I. and other technologies affecting travel advisers?

While new technologies are allowing do-it-yourselfers to create their own itineraries online based on individual preferences, and to type questions directly into travel websites, advisers are also taking advantage of those technologies to improve their services. Joan Roca, chief executive of the upscale travel planning company Essentialist said his team “uses technology to enhance the human touch,” employing artificial intelligence to choose options from a database of travel offerings selected by a human team. If a couple wants to take an after-dinner stroll, for example, Essentialist’s app will offer up ideas of where to go, based on what part of the city the travelers are in and conversations they’ve had with their travel adviser.

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The Most Trusted Travel-Review Sites

Hundreds of online platforms post traveler reviews, but only a handful police recommendations for fake or promotional content. Which ones should you rely on when planning a trip? Our expert weighs in.

Heading out the door? Read this article on the Outside app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

Any number of concerns are on our radar as we plan our next trip, from serious issues like how destinations are working to mitigate tourists’ environmental impact to inconveniences like months-long passport wait times. In this column, our travel expert addresses your questions about how to navigate the world. 

There are so many online review platforms out there—Google, Tripadvisor, Yelp. When I’m planning a trip and looking into hotels and activities, which one should I trust the most? —After Good Advice

Online, everyone has an opinion. Even seasoned travelers can find themselves easily led down the rabbit hole of online review platforms and come out overwhelmed.

A friend of mine was recently considering vacationing in Hawaii and interested in the Hana-Maui Resort. Five-star reviews on Tripadvisor tout the property as a 2022 Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice winner, with comments highlighting it as “Exceptional” and a “Bungalow in Paradise,” though others cautioned, “Not Quite as Expected” and “Don’t Stay Here.”

When she looked further into the critiques, she discovered that the negative reviews complained of the lack of air-conditioning and TVs in rooms (who goes to Maui to watch TV?) and of wind and rain during their stays—the latter something no hotel could remedy. Knowing I live part-time on Maui, she reached out to see if I had any first-hand intel. The handful of negative comments on varying review sites gave her pause.

I believe nothing compares to word-of-mouth recommendations, particularly from someone who knows you and your travel tastes. My friend relayed that she and her husband were planning to use points to stay at a trio of Hyatt properties on Maui—in addition to the Hana-Maui Resort, they’d booked the Andaz in Wailea, and Hyatt Regency near Lahaina, both tony, amenity-laden areas on the south and west coasts, respectively.

The town of Hana, on the eastern side of the island, is the exact opposite: remote, undeveloped, sleepy. I knew my friend and her husband preferred the ocean to hiking, and they loved restaurants and nightlife. While I thought the Hana-Maui Resort was heaven, I knew they’d be bored to death and said as much.

“We’re not perfect, but we are constantly working to stay one step ahead of the fraudsters,” says Brian Hoyt, a spokesperson at Tripadvisor.

Trust plays a huge role in our travel decisions. When a friend who shares your tastes posts rave reviews about a hotel or restaurant on their Facebook page, you’re more likely to check it out. When we don’t have personal recommendations to go off, we tend to turn to review sites to see what others thought of it.

Online reviews can be a great tool for anyone planning trips, as well as for businesses looking to drum up interest from prospective adventure seekers. But how do you know which reviews and which platforms to trust?

Where to Find Reliable Reviews

For starters: no one site can (or should) be considered the only option. Because users are providing the information, the sites can inadvertently post misinformation, says Nick Ewen, director of content at The Points Guy, a travel-resource site that reaches over seven million people each month. It’s best to use multiple sites, as casting a wide net allows for a wide variety of perspectives.

Based on my interviews with dozens of travelers and industry veterans, including agents, hotel owners, and tour operators, Google, Tripadvisor, Trustpilot, and Yelp have the most reliable user-generated content. These companies have policies in place to ensure the trustworthiness of the reviews that appear and allow users to dispute content or to click icons within the post to flag suspicions, such as a review that’s promotional or not based on a genuine experience.

Tripadvisor , the world’s largest travel-guidance platform with more than one billion total reviews, has an investigations team of experts specializing in network forensics and fraud detection to help spot suspicious reviews. Shady posts often include review boosting, where a business owner asks someone connected to their company to sing their praises; review vandalism, in which someone tries to slander a business with negative reviews; or review optimization, which occurs when companies are paid to falsify reviews on a business’s behalf.

“We’re not perfect, but we are constantly working to stay one step ahead of the fraudsters,” says Brian Hoyt, a spokesperson at Tripadvisor. Last year, 1.3 million reviews were identified as fake and removed from the platform, and 72 percent were caught before being posted, he says.

Yelp also maintains a team of moderators who keep a hawkish eye out for companies that might be engaging in compensated or incentivized review behavior, which is strictly prohibited. In 2022, Yelp closed more than 77,400 user accounts for violating such policies. Both Google and Trustpilot, too, use software to automatically screen for fake reviews or promotional content.

Tips for Navigating Travel-Review Platforms

Even when you feel solid about a site, it doesn’t mean you’re immune to the barrage of opinions, good and bad. Here’s how to filter what you’re finding.

1. Consider When the Content Was Posted

The more recent the review, the more relevant an experience might be, but older reviews can paint a picture of more consistent experiences had by travelers over time. If reviews suddenly go from positive to less than glowing, consider whether the hotel, restaurant, or tour operator might be under new ownership. If someone is complaining about limited things to do at a resort while visiting in the off-season, that won’t apply if you’re planning to visit during peak periods, says Ewen. And remember: post-pandemic, the service industry continues to lack sufficient personnel; as a result, you might see more negative reviews than positive ones on this front.

2. Read Beyond the Stars

Everyone has different travel preferences, so take time to read the actual review closely, whether it’s a five- or one-star rating, says Ewen. “Someone might give an all-inclusive resort a one-star review because they were traveling for their honeymoon and couldn’t stand all of the families,” he says. “That’s hardly a negative if you’re traveling with your kids.”

3. Look for Consistency

Gather insight across review platforms to look for trends. If a hotel boasts high marks on multiple sites, chances are the reviews are accurate and it’s great. If it has mixed ratings, however, you may want to reconsider. Similarly, when looking at tour operators that run trips in multiple destinations, make sure you’re seeing positive reviews in all of those places but specifically where you’re headed. If, for example, its experiences in California are five-star but those in Utah and Colorado have been rated as mediocre, you might want to do more research or even call the outfitter and enquire about the inconsistency.

4. Use Search Filters to Save Time

As noted, first make sure you’re sorting remarks by most recent. Then use any other filters to zero in on things like the time of year you’re visiting (Tripadvisor has this functionality), specific mentions of amenities (Google has this), or even specific keywords you want to search, such as surfing or hiking (both Tripadvisor and Google offer this), recommends Ewen. With restaurants and hotels, he typically starts a search with Google, as it provides both the location and star rating together.

5. Take Bad Reviews with a Grain of Salt

You can’t please everyone. When I looked for comments about Yellowstone National Park, one of America’s most visited destinations, on Google Reviews visitors lamented, “There was no service and no way to update my Instagram” and “They don’t even let you touch the geysers, and there’s only black and grizzly bears no panda.” Before you write off an experience because of some bad reviews, take the time to actually read the criticism and decide whether it’s warranted. If there’s one bad review but 20 great ones, likely someone had a bad day.

It’s also worth noting whether anyone from the company responded to a negative post. “A bad review is a great opportunity to showcase your true colors,” says Melanie Fisher, an Oregon-based travel agent who also rents a property on Airbnb. “As the business owner, how you respond is very important. If you come across as rude and condescending, you are just confirming the bad review was deserving. Instead, if you respond, explaining how you couldn’t meet the customer’s needs—unsafe, unrealistic, never agreed upon, natural disaster—and you did everything in your power to make it right, others will understand more about you and your business—and in most cases respect the business more.”

Go Beyond the Reviews for Information

Tripadvisor’s forums and journalist-reported travel stories , on topics like family-friendly Greek islands and epic road trips in Ireland, can offer helpful vacation tips and trip inspiration. And take a gander at traveler- or diner-submitted photos. Yelp’s Ask the Community feature allows users to post queries for Yelpers to weigh in on, like how much time you should budget for a visit to New York City’s Museum of Natural History (at minimum four hours).

When looking for activities, Ewen’s first stop is often the website of the local tourism board. “While these marketing organizations have a vested interest in promoting the destination, they also have no incentive to send you on a bad tour, because that’s a loss for the destination itself,” he says. “Virtually every tour or activity I have booked in this way has been positive.”

Magazines, both print and digital (like Outside ), are another great source to legitimize any opinions you read on user-generated review sites. Additionally, the social-media feed of a company can provide insight. Have travelers left positive comments on a hotel or tour operator’s Instagram or Facebook feed? Has that company made an effort to interact with customers? Finally, if you’re mid-trip and still looking for recommendations, chat up the locals. I’ve discovered some of my most memorable meals and hikes based on tips from a bartender.

Have a question of your own? Drop us a line at [email protected] .  

Outside correspondent Jen Murphy is one of the most well-traveled people we know, and we’ve long relied on her expert advice about awesome adventures and how to get there in a sane way.

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‘Under-priced’ Spain plans new restrictions as it battles tourism boom

Tourism has helped spain grow faster than eurozone peers, but what next, article bookmarked.

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Fresh from a tour of Real Madrid ’s glittering Santiago Bernabeu stadium in the Spanish capital, Guadalupe Rebollo says a holiday in Spain with her 15-year-old daughter is a better deal than one on the beach in her native Mexico .

The Rebollos are part of a record surge in foreign visitors to Spain that is helping its economy outperform European peers and create jobs at a rapid rate. However, it is also straining services such as housing and transport and stirring resentment among locals.

How to make the boom sustainable and share its benefits more widely are the tasks facing Spain’s politicians, and some of them think driving tourism upmarket is the way forward.

But for the Rebollo family from Mexico, affordability is one of the factors that makes Spain so attractive, along with its cultural highlights.

Rebollo, 45, said their recent vacation at home had cost them the equivalent of €2,500 (£2,137).

“Here we are going to spend a little more than that, but getting to know other countries, paying for plane tickets and tours,” she said. “The truth is that it is very good value for money.”

Millions of other visitors agree and the tourism surge has helped put Spain, long the laggard among Europe ’s big economies, into the lead, now outperforming the wider 20-country eurozone, which grew a scant 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2024 compared to Spain’s 0.7 per cent.

While France cut its 2024 growth forecast and Germany only just skirted a recession, held back by a dependence on industry and a vulnerability to fluctuations in commodity prices and geopolitical tensions, Spain expects its economy to grow 2 per cent this year.

Expansion is being driven by growth in services as well as public and private consumption fueled by job growth, said Angel Talavera, head of European economics at Oxford Economics.

Tourism accounted for 71 per cent of real growth in the Spanish economy last year, according to tourism lobby group Exceltur. Consumption by non-residents accounted for nearly a third of Spain’s 2.5 per cent growth in 2023, according to BBVA.

But many Spaniards feel they are not reaping the benefits, and the driver of Spain’s success is increasingly being met with protests.

“It is true that we are going like gangbusters, but this phenomenon must be managed,” tourism minister Jordi Hereu said on 8 May. “We are not going to ban people from coming to Spain, but we can put limits on the tourist offer.”

Measures are already being taken, with local governments placing limits on new holiday home permits.

In Barcelona, local authorities asked for a bus route to be removed from smartphone apps to the popular tourist destination Park Guell because the service was saturated.

Nor are Spaniards getting the feel-good factor from the boom. An April survey by the Spanish Sociological Research Centre found that although 60 per cent of Spaniards acknowledged that their personal economic situation was “good”, 59 per cent also said the situation in the country was “bad” or “very bad”.

Cheaper wages are drawing investment in new hotels, which are opening at a rate of one every four days, allowing Spain to overtake the UK this year as the most attractive country in Europe for hospitality investors, according to CBRE.

Antonio Catalan, president of AC Hotels, Marriott’s partner in Spain, said his hotels had seen a 17 per cent rise in foreign visitors in the first quarter who were spending 27 per cent more, due mainly to higher room rates.

“Spain is under-priced and has too many customers,” he said.

A record 85 million people visited in 2023 and that upward trend continued in the first quarter of this year, with visitor numbers growing nearly 18 per cent to 16.1 million, although that may have been boosted by Easter falling within the period this year.

Those who come are spending more, thanks in part to efforts to develop the luxury market, which some regions see as a solution to overtourism.

Visitors to Spain last year spent €109 billion (£93.18 billion) versus €63.5 billion (£54.29 billion) in France as tourists flexed their credit cards in restaurants and designer stores.

Foreign tourist spending grew by 27 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier.

Tourism has also helped boost job growth, with unemployment falling to a 16-year low even as immigration helps fill vacancies in the services sector.

The sector created 197,630 more jobs in the first quarter compared to last year, representing one out of every four jobs created during the period, according to Turespana, the state-run agency that promotes Spanish tourism.

Those new jobs are helping to boost private consumption to complement spending by tourists.

But Oxford Economics’ Talavera warned Spain’s economic boom was not sustainable. “Tourism cannot grow at this rate permanently, nor can public spending continue its expansion,” he said.

Rebollo and her daughter, meanwhile, planned to spend two weeks in Europe, including a few days in France, “but we’ll spend more time in Spain because we’ve noticed it isn’t expensive and Paris is,” she said.

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