What does a travel planner actually do?

Why I wrote this blog

Being a full-time traveler, I am constantly meeting new people. At least once a week (sometimes every day) I talk to someone new about what I do for work that allows me to keep traveling.

“I’m a travel planner,” I usually reply confidently, even though I know their reply will often be: “A travel— what?”. I repeat that I’m a travel planner and sometimes throw in the word travel agent to make it a bit more clear. This is normally accepted at first, but with a few more moments of rumination, I’m often hit with “So what do you actually do?”.

It’s a good question.

When my speaking companion hears the words travel agent, I can practically see their tongue drying up like they’re tasting the dusty old lady perfume from their memories.

I imagine them having flashbacks to the AAA storefront (or equivalent) that their parents drove them to back in the day. They probably sat in the stuffy office, bored for hours, watching the old lady sit behind her computer speaking almost entirely in numbers. She was booking flights to family get-togethers, maybe upselling cruises, or possibly booking safaris (if they were lucky). Meanwhile, the kids stared at the half-printed stick—on photographs of penguins on the bookcases stuffed with LonelyPlanet guides and browsed the expensive travel gear, unaware of the adventures that may lay ahead.

Some people may have never had one of these experiences, but they’ve walked by the countless storefronts, able to imagine what lies behind the same stick-on mesh photographs that cover the glass.

While those storefronts still exist all over the world and are indeed quite necessary for people who don’t have the same knowledge of or access to modern travel booking sites. But there’s a new wave of modern travel planners, advisors, and agencies that do much more than sit behind computers in dusty offices. And I believe we’re working wonders in the Western world.

So here I will explain all about what I, and other modern travel planners, do.

Bailey on a biking tour in Berlin, Germany

Introduction

Even in the age of pocket computers and Artificial Intelligence, planning travel remains an overwhelming task. The world is a big place and there are so many moving parts to it. Travel quickly becomes complex when exiting your home country and can be just as complicated when planning something domestic. It turns into quite the guessing game when you don’t have much experience and can quickly get overwhelming. You have to deal with hours of overwhelming research to figure out where you want to go and what you want to do, read reviews, and get price comparisons. Then you have to deal with logistics and coordination, organize the plans, and attempt to keep them all straight.

Every travel planner/agent/advisor will have different expertise, different products that they specialize in, and different processes for planning your travel. Generally, though, travel planners exist to make all this travel planning easy for you.

Salt marshes in the English countryside

So, what does a travel planner actually do?

To put it broadly, travel planners create travel itineraries, book accommodations, activities & tours, and on-ground transportation, and ensure you’re fully prepared for your trip. They have a deep understanding of the constantly evolving tourism industry, have on-the-ground experience with hotels and tour agencies, and have worldwide networks that benefit travelers in more ways than one. But wait—that’s not all!

To break it down even more

There are three main roles of a travel planner:

1. They make planning a trip simple, efficient, and fun – using on-ground expertise, collaboration with destination managers, and/or by leveraging their extensive networks, they take all the hard work off your plate, leaving you to do the dreaming;
2. They book things for you – be it flights*, accommodation, transportation, activities & tours, and sometimes even restaurants. They deal with all the hassle of coordinating your schedule, typing in your information over and over again, making sure that every booking is accurate and fits your itinerary well;
3. They ensure your travels go smoothly, and they are there for you when it doesn’t – if something goes wrong, for example, your hotel cancels your reservation due to overbooking while you’re on your flight, your travel planner is there to hold the hotel accountable and ensure you are well taken care of. They also give you the information you need to be fully prepared with vaccinations, visas, travel insurance, and destination travel alerts — they should also double-check that your passport isn’t expiring within 6 months.

Can you believe it— there’s even more!

Travel planners can also:

1. Get you exclusive perks and VIP treatment – if you work with a travel planner, like me, who is part of a luxury network then you may receive additional perks and VIP treatment at leading hotels. Some of those perks can look like free daily breakfast, free hotel/resort credits (to be spent during your stay), free upgrades, free early check-ins/late check-outs, and more.
2. Connect you with locals for authentic experiences – again, if you find the right travel planner with loads of on-the-ground experience, they’ll be able to set you up with more authentic and local tours, and even potentially give you some friends to connect with in-location

Bailey in the unique desert of the Guajira peninsula in Northern Colombia

Is there a difference between a travel agent, a travel advisor, and a travel planner?

While there are no defined definitions of this terminology, I will share my interpretation, which may or may not be shared by others in the travel industry. (If you have another definitely, please feel free to reach out!)

- Travel Agents solely book accommodations, flights, packaged tours, cruises, and trips to Disney Land. They are more likely to be stay-at-home moms and side-hustle travel lovers and are most likely just connecting you to the right booking platforms. They are the middle-man you want to have in your life.
- Travel Advisors tend to have a deeper understanding of destinations and spend their time advising on top things to do, restaurant recommendations, and are advocates for tour agencies. You can probably categorize influencers here, but that doesn’t mean they can’t make a booking for you too.
- Travel Planners are a mix of the two. They advise on destinations, do lots of additional research on destinations when needed, individually plan your itinerary (sometimes soliciting additional on-the-ground support where needed), and do all your bookings.

To be fully transparent, a travel agent/advisor/planner is going to call themselves whatever they feel like they resonate with most and will not define the services they are able/willing to provide. The terms are completely interchangeable.

Bailey enjoying a glass of wine in front of the Eiffel Tower

So what exactly does B. Adventuras do?

We do a lot! B. Adventuras is a travel planning company. We advise, research, plan, and book. This means we can put together basically any trip request anywhere in the world. This is due in part by Bailey’s personal experience as a full-time world traveler and in another part by the extensive travel agent network she is part of, Fora Travel.

We love putting together leisure vacations, especially the ones that are more off-the-beaten-path and adventurous since that’s the kind of travel that Bailey is most familiar with herself. But we can book cruises, tour packages, adventure trips, honeymoons, you name it! We do our best to pick the sustainable options.

B. Adventuras is also a unique travel planning company because we offer long-term contracts for frequent travelers and those who want a personal travel planner for their around-the-world trip. This is our specialty!

Fill out an inquiry form here

How much do travel planners cost?

This is where you’ll find the biggest difference between agencies. It depends on who you book your trip with and the level of complexity you are asking for.

Most travel agents/advisors/planners will book any hotel for free. This is because most hotels pay travel agents commissions when they make a booking on behalf of their clients. Usually for no additional cost, but that isn’t always the case.

Once you start adding various layers of activities, tours, transportation, and itinerary building, most travel agents/advisors/planners will ask for a travel planning fee. Most agencies decide the travel planning fee depending on the number of days, number of travelers, and level of complexity you are asking for.

However, some travel agents choose to work with a destination management company (DMC). A DMC is an on-the-ground expert of that specific destination who only works with travel agents. When a travel agent works with one, they may not ask for a travel planning fee because the commission they will receive will be included in the total cost of your trip.

B. Adventuras’ travel planning fee starts at $350 for one-week itineraries for groups of 4 or less. We book hotels for free. And we do simple travel research and business trip planning for $35/hour. Long-term contracts are charged on a case-by-case basis, so reach out to schedule a free consultation.

Fill out an inquiry form here

Bailey scuba diving in the Blue Hole in the Red Sea in Sinai, Egypt

Conclusion

If you want your next trip to be amazing but you don’t have a ton of time on your hands, you don’t have a lot of experience with the destination, or you want special perks and recommendations, then it may be time to look into getting a travel planner. And more specifically, it may be time to hire B. Adventuras!

I’m not going to try and convince you that every single person needs a travel planner. But I wholeheartedly believe that everyone can benefit from one. Whether you only need a hotel for a business trip, you want an elaborate 2-week vacation, or you want to travel around the world, it may be better done with real expertise to back it up.

Travel planners can help you make your next trip easy to plan and a blast to experience.

Inquire Here