3 reasons to book that flight and hotel with us

We were just speaking to someone this week who never thought to reach out to us about a simple air/hotel trip since we spend so much time talking about really exciting bucket list adventures. Well, if that’s what you think of us, you might be surprised to find out that we’re more than happy to book a simple air and hotel booking for you. Or even just a hotel, if you’re not yet ready to get on a plane.

What’s the advantage of booking with a verified travel advisor? We’re glad you asked! (You were about to ask, right?)

1. Our rates might have added value.

We’re not talking about the lowest common denominator cheap-o deals. Sure, you can find those on the internet, but every hotel has rooms that are, uh, less-than-desirable, and guess what sites they use to unload them? No, what we mean by value is that our rates frequently include added amenities like included breakfasts, room upgrades at check-in based on availability, spa credits, early check-in, and late check-out, and much more.

Here’s an example. We recently did a hotel-only booking for clients who wanted a nice resort within driving distance for a special weekend.

The lowest published rate refundable rate for their dates at that hotel was 802 USD (tax included). And we certainly would have been able to book that for them. But our special rate with that hotel property was only 856 USD (also including tax) for the entire stay — a difference of 54 dollars. But that rate included:

• Full American breakfast for two daily

• $100 resort credit per room, per stay

• Welcome amenity

• Upgraded room at the time of check-in when available

• Early check-in when available

• Late check-out when available

So, clearly, our rate, though slightly more, had a lot of value. And because we' knew who to call at the resort, the resort was able to upgrade them to a newly-renovated deluxe room, about a week before check-in. When we called in advance of their check-in, the hotel was also able to confirm that their room was available before they’d even left home.

Of course, we can’t necessarily work that kind of magic in each and every case, but we do have relationships with more than 600 four-star and five-star hotels and resorts around the globe that provide these types of amenities to our clients. And for other properties that aren’t on that list, we’ve got some other tricks.

2. We can access wholesale in-market rates.

We also have relationships with wholesalers who negotiate special rates with hotels and resorts, and who buy large numbers of airline seats at bulk or consolidator rates. Thos94e wholesalers won’t sell rooms and flights to you, but they will give you access to those rates if you book through a travel advisor like Huckleberry Travel. Without fail, you’ll need to combine two different travel components to get those rates, but those rates, too, can sometimes include amenities like included breakfast.

So, what does that look like? Well, our wholesalers are contractually prohibited from disclosing rates, so we can’t give you a breakdown. But we can give you a comparison.

Let’s say you wanted to fly from Chicago to San Francisco over Thanksgiving weekend. Leaving Wednesday, Returning Sunday, and you wanted to stay at the Westin in Union Square. If you booked the hotel on the hotel’s website, and the flights directly from the airline, you’d be paying 694 for a traditional queen room (including all taxes and fees). The cheapest flights on United Airlines would be 512.40 for two passengers. That adds up to 1206.40.

But, if you called us, we can bundle that exact same room with those exact same flights and for two travelers through one of our wholesalers, it’d come out to 1181.48, including taxes and fees. Admittedly, that’s not a huge difference, but why would you pay more than you need to, and did you really want to spend your time scouring the internet to see if there’s a lower rate somewhere else? Couldn’t your travel advisor do that for you?

3. We take care of the hassles, so you don’t have to.

Let’s face it. Travel is more difficult than ever before. When you hire us to plan your trip--even if it’s just a hotel, and flight—you’re hiring travel professionals who know the industry, who have relationships with suppliers, and who are prepared to take care of you before, during, and after your trip. If you need to cancel or change a reservation, you won’t sit on hold for hours, because that’s our job. If you need an advocate to go to bat for you with an airline or hotel property, you’ve got our agency, and the networks we belong to—representing millions and millions of dollars in travel bookings each year—backing you up. And that makes a difference. Once a supplier burns one of our clients, we won’t be giving them our business going forward, and we’ll make sure that the hundreds of other independent advisors in our network know about what happened.

So, what do you say—we’re ready to work for you, even on the trips that might seem like “no big deal.” Just send us a note!