What to Look For When Selecting a Travel Agent for Your African Safari
A Male African Lion, One of the Most Popular Safari Attractions
So you are finally ready to take that trip to Africa you’ve been planning for for several years. Of course you are excited about the chance to see lions, elephants, the other African big five and other animals in their real wild habitats. Or probably the prospects of a luxury beach holiday in the Seychelles or Mauritius islands. Or the much anticipated tour to the great pyramids, Abu Simbel, and other monuments of ancient Egypt. But, wait a minute, where do you start?
If you are like many other travellers, you’ll probably want to use the services of a travel agent to help you put your trip together. Even with the rising popularity of travel booking sites like expedia, kayak, orbitz, and others, you will at some point need to consult a “real” travel agent. Your choice will be between a travel agent based in your home country or one operating in the country/destination you will be visiting.
In a previous post, I mentioned that you should ideally use an agent in the destination country, but that does not mean you can not get a good deal from an agent in your home country. Whatever your choice, today I am highlighting what I think are the important things to consider when choosing a travel agent. The list in not completely exhaustive, is not arranged in any particular order, but I hope you will find it helpful.
1. Destination and product knowledge
Your ideal travel agent should know more about your destination than the average guy on the street. You may not for example know that the bush lodge that your friends recommended last year is currently closed for renovations, or, say, the government has for some reason closed public access to a certain beach front. A good agent will have all this insider information.
Test the agent’s knowledge by asking questions.
2. Credentials, accreditations, and affiliations
There are many dishonest travel agents, and you surely want to stay away from such. Find out if the agent is affiliated to any professional organization in their home country or internationally. Associations like ASTA, IATA, KATO (Kenya Association of Tour Operators), etc demand a certain level of professionalism from their members. You will have more confidence in your agent if they belong to some of these reputable associations. And even if they don’t, they should at the very least be registered with the government/regulating authorities.
3. What guarantees do they offer
It may be hard for an agent to guarantee you that you will see some black rhinos or any other animal during your safari trip. But they can definitely inform you if your tour will be private or you will be grouped with other tourists. If you want to stay in five-star lodges during the safari, the agent should guarantee you upfront that they will indeed book you in five star lodges. And when they cannot book the services you are requesting for, they should be able to honestly tell you so.
4. Pricing and special discounts
A good number of the more established travel agents have negotiated special rates hotels, lodges, and even with some local airlines. Try to find out if your agent has any such special discounts that they can pass to you. Traveling in Africa is somewhat expensive and any savings in costs without compromising on quality is a good thing
5. Clarity of the booking terms and conditions and the cancellation policy
When you book and pay for the services of a travel agent, you are likely not to be refunded your money in full if you cancel your travel plans for whatever reason. And there are many good reasons for that: administrative costs, booking fees prepaid to hotels and other service providers, etc. A professional travel agent will clearly state their cancellation policy in a language that you can easily understand. Ask for the cancellation policy and any other booking terms and conditions. If they are not clearly stated, ask for clarification.
6. Ease of contact/communication
Assume things go wrong, as they sometimes do when traveling in Africa, you’ll want to easily reach your travel agent. It may be a delayed flight, or a car breakdown in the bush, or anything else. A good agent will provide you with multiple channels of communication, and an emergency telephone number, just in case need arises. If an agent takes too long to respond even to the simplest of your inquiries, you may do yourself a lot of justice by going for a more responsive agent
7. Offline and online reputation
Friends’ recommendations is one great way of gauging an agent’s reliability. In the absense of such recommendations, read online reviews in sites like tripadvisor.com and the many travel forums like lonely planet’s thorntree forum. Of course, you should not take all reviews, whether positive or negative, at face value. There’s quite some self promotion, sponsored positive reviews, and mudslinging in some review sites, so use your judgement when making your choice based on online reviews.
8. General professional outlook
Start with the agents website, if they have one. It can give you a good insight into how “serious” and professional they are. But don’t just stop at the website. Look at the quality of email or communication you get from them, the personal touch, professional courtesy, depth of knowledge etc. Trust your gut instincts, informed by the above mentioned factors, and you are in for a memorable trip in Africa.
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