What Do We Do? We Plan Travel.

You may wonder why you should even consider a travel planner? It's a common misconception that using travel planners, agents and/or advisors will cost you more because they are shady characters. Trained travel planners, like Ruth and Carol at Magic Planned, may be characters but we are not shady. You're paying for an agent's commission whether or not you use a travel agent. But if you avail yourself of our services you will get more for your money. We have access to many tools and options not available to the public, we travel and we do a lot of research. Trips don't inherently cost more when using a professional travel planner and you will get the added benefit of having a personal advisor helping you as much or little as you require. Vacations are a major investment both in time and money and a good travel planner can help you save both. Don't spend your time dancing with Mr. Internet. He's not even a very good dancer. A good planner knows the products, will do the research and present you with carefully vetted options that are a reflection of your desires. We work for you, stand by you, plan a better experience, advocate on your behalf and take care of all the details. You will travel in confidence knowing that your travel partner has your back. If you're having a problem, not sure of something or just need a little hand holding we're here for you. 

   When shopping for a planner here are just a few things to consider, 1/ Do you like them? I know, right? Planning vacation travel is a very personal thing and if someone rubs you the wrong way or doesn't appreciate your wishes, you shouldn't work with them. I know there are a lot of travel agents I wouldn't use. That's fine. 2/ Do they respect your budget? While it's true that many inexperienced travel clients initially have very unrealistic budget ideas (we can't work miracles), if having a smaller budget means you are not worth an agents time, then move on. They aren't worth your time. 3/ Do they charge fees? Some travel advisors charge fees above the commissions that they earn planning your travel. There can be perfectly good reasons to charge fees. For instance it's not uncommon for people to "fish" for ideas by asking a travel advisor for help. Travel advisors can spend a lot of time planning trips for these "fishy" clients who then use that research to book the trip themselves even though it doesn't save them money (why?). Some planners find that charging a service fee eliminates these types of anglers. 4/ Do they understand what YOU want and take the time to listen? Travel Planners are human and have their own opinions and tastes. Frankly some of them can be real snooty snobs. So you want to make sure that your planner understands and accepts what makes YOU happy so that they can help you plan YOUR perfect vacay. 5/ Is a planner looking out for YOUR best interests. Here at magic Planned we plan travel for you like we plan it for ourselves.

   People often wonder how travel planners get paid and erroneously think that a trip will cost more if they use a planner. Nope, nada, nhet, nein, non, NO! Honestly most people don't understand how the travel industry business works. We hear some crazy stuff from people. Most travel planners such as ourselves are actually volunteers who spend days planning your travel, hold your hands and sit on hold for hours (that happens a lot) for free 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Just kidding folks - why would we do that? The vendors that planners book through pay them. The cruise line, all-inclusive resort, tour operator, hotel, you name it --  pay the travel planners. As mentioned above some planners do charge fees on top of what they are paid by travel vendors for a variety of reasons so make sure you ask and decide for yourself if their services are worth the extra charge. You may wonder why vendors wouldn't prefer to sell directly to you rather than through an agent. Some do - but not for less and they don't offer the services we provide. The best travel vendors understand that travelers have better experiences when using an agent and are therefore going to leave better reviews and are more likely to book a similar vacation in the future so they prefer their clients to use travel agents. The best locations, cruise operators etc. are in it for the long haul. They offer quality products that represent a good value and they want clients to return again and again. They gladly work with and fully support travel planners as their clients consistently achieve outstanding travel experiences.

   Often travel planners don't get paid for certain add ons but an awesome agent will take care of them for you anyway within reason. You are NOT charged more for working with a no fee planner and you DO NOT get a discount if you book it directly yourself. But you WILL personally get to sit on hold for hours to fix a problem when they inevitably come up if you didn't use a planner. Good times - OR you could use a planner and let them sit on hold. If you think booking through "discount" vendors for that cruise or resort getaway is a good idea, think again. These vendors are in fact, mass market travel agents who are not selling you cheap stuff out of the goodness of their hearts. Sometimes there are some "deals" to be had, but remember they always come with a lot of fine print and restrictions (and sometimes deception i.e. not telling you about some fees and taxes up front), that's why they are a "deal". If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Furthermore, you are not going to get a personal contact number for a friendly human who will help you when your "cheap" trip goes up in flames. Generally when we see a lot of 50% off, 75% off, FREE this and FREE that, our suspicious radar goes haywire. The best products don't use these gimmicks but still provide outstanding value. Remember that.

   What about buying travel from Big Box stores? Not naming any names here. We all love them. We buy our toilet paper there, and darn fine toilet paper it is. We all spend way to much money at them. In fact if I added up all my "impulse" buys (hey we really needed that) from my favorite toilet paper purveyor I could take a luxury cruise around the world. But seriously, what about their travel options? I think if you know exactly what you want to do (me never), they have the exact product you want, and it offers a significant savings - go for it! I still occasionally check them for rental car prices, although they haven't offered the best price for my personal travel for some time. Remember they are just selling you "the ticket" with no personalized services to go along with it. Yep that ticket for resort X in country Y will cost Z dollars. No ma'am I have no idea if you will like it. Do you want the ticket? If I was saving hundreds of dollars and felt comfortable dealing with all the other details necessary for planning a top notch vacation I might go for it. But if I was saving nothing or a much smaller amount I'd go with the travel planner. They will help you put together a complete trip with all the details seen to and will be with you every step of the way. That service is valuable and you will have a much better trip for it. And frankly we often find the BEST travel providers don't sell through the big box stores.

   The world of travel is more complicated than ever and we have seen some crazy and unexpected things happen. Our advice - don't go it alone - use a planner.