If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, wait until you hire an amateur.
It’s true.
It amazes me that people hire someone to clean and/or sell their house, hire someone to change their snow tires, and hire someone to invest their money – but when it comes to their most precious asset, their family’s leisure and vacation time, they think they can do it themselves!
Why is it that very few sit down with the intent to write a symphony because they have a love of music, and know how to play a few chords on the guitar?
Can you book you own travel? Sure.
Should you? No!
Of course, everyone loves to think about travel. Everyone loves to plan travel. But just because you love thinking about it and doing it doesn’t mean your vacation should be left completely in your own hands, and that of Google. Getting information off of the internet is a little like trying to get a drink off a fire hose. You can drown!
Working with a travel advisor doesn’t take away the fun of you thinking about and planning your travel yourself. But….
It does give you a siphon for of all the information that is out there.
The simple truth is that I have education, and training that you do not. I have resources and access to deals that you do not. I have contacts that you do not.
So, why would you not avail yourself of my education, training, resources, access, and contacts to help you? Don’t your family memories deserve to be safeguarded in the hands of a professional?
I tell new clients that when you work with me, you get “PITA x 2.”
It gets you PITA 1. ==> it saves you the Pain-In-The- A$% of doing it yourself. This is pure pain avoidance. You have enough to do! You are already working hard, managing a house and a household, trying to spend enough time with your family, and then try to find ways to relax. You just don’t have the time and energy to siphon through the fire hose spray of water/ information. Nor do you have the education, training, resources, access, and contacts that I have to do it up right.
Working with me also gets you PITA 2. ==> it gives you the Pleasure-In-The-Advisor. This is pure pleasure seeking. Working with me gets you advantages and benefits you can’t get yourself. It’s you becoming a VIP at a five-star hotel, and getting welcomed by name, rather than being relegated to a reservation number. It’s you getting special amenities, like breakfast for two, and a complimentary upgrade at Virtuoso hotels; and being a member of the Virtuoso Voyageur Club onboard top cruise lines to get special welcome receptions, shore excursions, and onboard amenities. It’s you getting a personal concierge (me) who will help you plan and orchestrate your travel dreams. It’s you getting access to someone who will represent you, not the suppliers (as a travel agent does) to plan and organize your travel, and then the access to someone who is available to answer your questions. And it’s you getting someone to call, someone who can act as your advocate, for those times when things just go wrong.
Please don’t hire yourself to take care of your family’s precious vacation time. You are well-meaning, and you love your family; you may indeed be well-traveled; but you are not a travel professional. You are an amateur.
Hire a professional.
Hire me!
Sheila Gallant-Halloran
613-837-0699