First of all, great name, one of my favorite people in the world is named April:) Thanks for your question, I actually think it’s one that people wrestle with a lot since online deals are so prevalent now and really you can book most of your holiday online. I think there are a few good reasons that travelers book through Journeys Within versus online and here’s my top 10:
1. We are regional experts. This is really #1. We live and breathe Southeast Asia so chances are we’ve stayed in the hotel, tested out the tour and trained the guide, which means no bad surprises for you when you get there. It also means we can offer experiences that aren’t necessarily available to the mass market and are only available to those “in the know”.
2. We often can get better deals. Hotels offer us upgrades, discounts and special offers which we can pass on to our guests.
3. Websites lie. I visit a lot of hotels and am often absolutely shocked at what I get…views are photo shopped, fish eye lenses are used to excess and sometimes the room on the website doesn’t even exist! While sites like Trip Advisor can help you make an informed decision there’s nothing quite like local knowledge and someone who tried it out before you.
4. Our guides! We truly have the best guides in the region, they’re dedicated, kind and love their countries, so they can pass this love on to our guests. They are a key part of our team and they are a major part of the experience.
5. Time is precious. The truth is that most people in America get two weeks holiday a year and they want to make it count. As we all know, planning as you go sounds nice in theory, but in reality it means you waste most of your vacation trying to book a flight, a hotel or figure out what you want to do next. To make the most of your two weeks have it booked ahead of time and then arrive and relax, knowing that other people are making sure it all goes according to plan.
6. Medical emergencies. The truth is that things can go wrong and in the last 8 years we have had guests suffer from heart attacks, broken ribs, broken hips and just in our family alone a large gash on the head, bronchitis and chicken pox! When you get sick while traveling, especially in the third world, it can be incredibly scary and we know this. Our guides, drivers and team are trained to help any guest that finds themselves in need of medical assistance. We know clinics, hospitals and in some cases, the doctors themselves. I’ve had two babies in Thailand, taken guests to hospital in Cambodia, gotten my kid stitches in Vietnam and had a wound cleaned in Laos. The bottom line is, when you are feeling your worst, you want the best.
7. Hidden costs. We often have guests telling us about the “great deal” they found at a hotel. If it’s better than what we can get we are really honest and encourage them to book it…often we then hear back from them because the deal wasn’t for that time of year, didn’t include huge amounts in tax or just wasn’t what it appeared to be. This is okay when they figure out ahead of time, but a real bummer when they arrive at the hotel only to be hit with additional costs, with us, our price is THE price, the end.
8. We take you on ONLY off the beaten path! While the internet is a pretty amazing trip planning tool I guarantee that the homestay at Narla’s house, our village tour and even the volunteering we can include in a tour, aren’t online, these are only available because we’re there and we have found the unique adventures.
9. Booking travel can be a full time job. Most of us don’t have enough time for all the things we try to fit into our lives so while planning a trip can be fun, it can also be incredibly time consuming…searching websites, checking rates, figuring out flight schedules, all of this takes time and energy and a lot of our guests would prefer to pass that job on to a professional and just review what we plan to make sure it’s perfect.
10. Last, but not least, one of the biggest reasons to book with us is for when things go wrong. When our guest dropped his passport in a cave and had to get a new passport in Laos or when the Bangkok airport was closed or when a flight is delayed or cancelled you’ll see a lot of people panicking…our guests however will know what the options are and will be taken care of. We got permission to fly the guest to Bangkok to get a new passport where our guide met him and took him to the embassy and made sure he was well cared for. When the airport closed we got guests new flights, we arranged overland transportation and we adjusted itineraries on the fly to make sure no vacation was ruined and any hotel or flight mishap our team is there to make sure it gets solved. A lot of travelers have felt they didn’t need us, until they really needed us and then they were glad they had us:)
