A travel agency does not stand out from Booking.com, Expedia or TUI by being cheaper, but by offering personal advice, taking care of everything and a travel experience that goes beyond the booking. In short: online platforms sell individual components to people who want to search for themselves; a travel agency sells peace of mind and memorable experiences to people who do not. This article shows independent travel advisers and travel agencies in Flanders and the Netherlands exactly how to make that difference visible to their customers.
Why can’t you beat a booking site on price or choice?
Online booking sites are built for transactions, not travel. They sell individual components:
- a flight;
- a hotel;
- a hire car;
- an activity;
- insurance.
The traveller has to compare, combine and check everything themselves. No independent travel agency can win at that game — more choice at a lower price. The good news is that it does not have to, because that is not the game a travel agency’s customer is interested in.
What makes personal advice valuable today?
A travel adviser does what no algorithm can do: they know the traveller. In practical terms, that means:
- taking the travelling party into account — a family with teenagers travels differently from a couple;
- genuinely understanding preferences and budget, including what the customer does not say explicitly;
- putting together realistic itineraries without unmanageable daily distances;
- suggesting alternatives the customer had not considered themselves;
- avoiding mistakes and poor combinations before they cost money.
How can you make your expertise visible to the customer?
This is where many travel agencies go wrong: the value is delivered, but not shown. The customer sees a confirmation and a PDF — not the knowledge behind them. You can make that expertise visible by:
- adding your own tips for each destination and each day of the trip;
- providing specific points to note ("book the sunset terrace two days in advance");
- recommending restaurants and activities that suit this particular travelling party;
- explaining why certain choices were made;
- bringing together all useful information in one place instead of sending separate emails.
What can you offer that a booking site cannot?
A personal travel app for each customer is a tangible differentiator: a web app that transforms the complete travel file into a daily travel companion, in the travel agency’s branding. The customer gets:
- one overview of the complete trip;
- a personalised daily itinerary;
- accommodation information for each location;
- activities and tips tailored to the travelling party;
- the weather for each destination;
- language assistance while travelling;
- optional currency assistance when travelling outside the eurozone.
No booking site provides this for each individual trip — it requires exactly the in-depth knowledge of the travel file that only the travel agency has. Discover all the possibilities on the features page.
How can you stay visible throughout the entire trip?
The commercial advantage lies in daily use:
- the customer opens the app every day of the trip — with the travel agency’s logo on screen;
- fellow travellers see it too and ask where the app comes from;
- the entire travel experience becomes mentally associated with the travel agency, not with an anonymous platform;
- the likelihood of word-of-mouth recommendations and repeat bookings increases considerably.
Do not compete on price, but on experience
A travel agency does not have to be cheaper than a booking site. It needs to show more clearly why the customer gets more. By making its expertise visible — before, during and after the trip — a travel agency competes in a space where online platforms cannot. Read The booking is only the beginning of the customer experience to find out how to shape that complete customer journey.
Give your customers a travel experience that online booking cannot offer. Try it yourself: generate a demo app in two minutes or get in touch.
