Travel Agents Finding Relevance Amidst Web 2.0

I read an article today on Boston.com which I found really interesting.  Firstly, it confirmed something that I have been arguing for a long time, that travel agents can find relevance in the new age of on-line travel and secondly, despite what critics say, travel agents are not going to go away.  The article titled “With help from the Web, travel agents regain relevance” points out that there are new web 2.0 sites that are being developed that are helping travelers connect with specialized travel agents.  The reason being that many travelers (23% according to Forrester Research) stated that they would use a good offline agent if they could find one (”find one” being the operative statement).  These new sites, including Tripology.com, Compete4yourseat.com, AdventureLink.com, and Zicasso.com act as matchmakers allowing travelers to find and connect with specialty agents.  The results, according to the writer, were mixed.

In an article I wrote back in June 2007 titled “Keeping Travel Agents Relevant” and another article from January 2008 titled “The Value of Travel Agents - Unique Products & Value Add Services” I discussed how travel agents can become relevant again in the eyes of consumers by offering value add services and by specializing in niche travel markets.  In the boston.com article, the author sent requests for proposals to the sites for very specialized trips.  In both cases, the author received messages back that either did not meet his specific requests or seemed “canned”.  The point being, it would seem, that the long tail of travel does not only exist in terms of the desires and needs of the traveler but also in the services and products offered by agents.  If you want to sell everything to everyone then you are going to be competing with the likes of Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and others who have very deep marketing pockets.  If you specialize, however, then you have a chance to become an expert in your specific market and to sell highly specialized, high margin, and difficult to find products and services.  You may be selling less volume in the case of specialization but the profits from these sales could be much higher because you are not competing on volume.  Bottom line, choose a market direction and go with it, but DO NOT claim you specialize when you do not.  As the author of the Boston.com article discovered, there is nothing more frustrating then sending a request and expecting a specialized response and receiving nothing but a canned packaged or product.

It is hard to tell if these types of match-making services will work in the long-term.  We have seen successful RFP style systems like Elance.com work for business to business type match-making, but travel services can be trickier.  In many circumstances a customer is entrusting an agent with their “dream”, and that takes a lot of trust and, in my opion, a strong personal connection with the agent.

If you have had any experiences using one of the aforementioned services, please let me know.  I’d like to hear your story.

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