Articles tagged “travel agents”

Although his company has made it a mission to tell customers to book direct, Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta knows he can't afford to overlook other distribution channels, including online travel agencies and travel agents.

Still-unproven Lola, the travel startup, has some online travel heavy hitters as co-founders, investors and board members. If the premise to involve human travel agents in trip-planning doesn't work out then the team can always pivot toward something else.

The direct booking wars are heating up.

Agents said late last year they were expecting big growth in the Caribbean, but it remains to be seen if the recent spread of the Zika virus in the region will have an impact.

The travel agent of the future is focused on end-to-end customer experience, utilizing technology to forge better relationships with travelers.

We'd be interested in seeing where the remaining travel agents are concentrated and which specialties may be growing while others continue their decline.

While some travel agency clients are concerned about safety following the Paris attacks, most travelers are unfazed and will travel to France as usual.

25 Moments that Mattered in 2015: To make our selection of 25 moments, we thought back to the stories that drove reader engagement and sparked discussion among both travel experts and the general public. Some stories were quick blips that represented bigger things while others were narratives that built slowly through out the year. Each one, though, spoke to where we are right now when it comes to the big business of global travel.

The biggest things that Lola have going for it are co-founders Paul English and Bill O'Donnell and their track record in travel tech and mobile. Apart from that, Lola faces headwinds in really going against the grain of instant bookings and digital-only travel. It's a very ambitious project with huge challenges.

Don't call it a comeback. Travel agents never disappeared; the savvy agents just got serious by re-branding themselves as travel consultants and learning to specialize in what technology companies can't provide: a human touch.