Top 5 Reasons to Use a Travel Agent for Your Dream Honeymoon

You’ve booked your venue, found your perfect wedding dress, and it’s time to start thinking about your honeymoon. I know it may seem early, as so many couples wait until everything else is done, but I promise the best opportunities for an incredible honeymoon to happen when you plan at least a year in advance.  Whether you’ve known for years exactly where you want to go or have no idea where you want to spend your honeymoon, hiring a travel professional should absolutely be on your wedding to-do list.

Here are the top 5 reasons hundreds of discerning couples just like you have secured our services.  

Reduced Stress

Planning a wedding can feel like a full-time job. Add that to your already hectic work and everyday life schedule, and your season of engagement that’s supposed to be so exciting can quickly become an avalanche of decisions and stress. Most Americans spend an average of 200 hours considering all the options for their next vacation!  If you only value your time at $10.00 an hour, the time spent researching your honeymoon options is worth $2,000.00. Most likely, you don’t have time to spend 24 days (assuming 8 hours per day) planning what should be a once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon! The busier our lives get, the more valuable our time becomes because time is the one thing we can’t create more of. Hiring a travel expert changes the amount of stress and time involved in planning your honeymoon. Imagine instead only spending 2-3 hours deciding on your honeymoon – like our clients do! Our clients spend 30 to 45 minutes on a Zoom call with our team to talk about their dreams for their honeymoon, and once we provide them with their personalized proposals, they typically only spend an hour or two reviewing their options and booking their honeymoon. Not only are you no longer responsible for hundreds of hours of research and preparation for your vacation, but a $10 an hour valuation of your own time is now only costing you $30.00 instead of $2,000. More importantly, you have an additional 197 hours of your time back, reducing your stress level and allowing you to focus your time on more important tasks during your busy engagement season. 

Education

We understand that it’s hard to know the differences between each island, resort, and room category. Plus, it’s hard to know which resort reviews are actually accurate because not every resort can be “the best resort ever.” To top it off, almost all of the resorts claim to be “5-star properties” as well. The bottom line is, you may not know exactly what experience you will end up having when you plan your honeymoon on your own.

That’s why working with a travel expert who focuses on providing you with education is critical. A great travel professional will not only educate you on the resort options that exist, but will also provide expertise on how different factors can be adjusted to make your dreams a reality. Destination, budget, length of travel, etc. can all be adjusted during the planning process to ensure your honeymoon perfectly matches your dreams and desires. If your dream is to stay in a suite with a private pool overlooking the ocean in St. Lucia, you absolutely should know what that looks like and how much it costs. If it happens to be over your desired budget, only you can decide if it’s worth giving up Starbucks for the next nine months or if you would like to stay closer to your desired budget and just have a fantastic ocean view suite. Or maybe the specific island isn’t as important to you as the experience, so a travel professional can provide options for other destinations with a private pool suite on an island that has a more affordable option. We believe the best vacation plans are made when you are educated and empowered to understand the differences that exist between destinations, travel dates, and resorts, so you can book the trip that fits your priorities and dreams best. 

Cutting through the clutter

Remember the 200 hours of time we talked about earlier that you could spend thinking about and planning your honeymoon? Most of that time is spent sorting through hundreds of destination possibilities and thousands of different resort options, not to mention the insane amount of reviews that all sound exactly the same. Did you know that 76% of Americans feel they must read tons of reviews while planning their vacation to ensure they are not making the wrong choice? Hiring a travel professional means you no longer have to scroll through hundreds of resort options, reviews, and photos that all look the same. Your travel expert should share with you exactly why their proposed options best fit you. Then, based on your feedback, your travel expert can make changes to your proposals or even propose alternative options if needed. Our clients receive three custom video proposals, so they not only have valuable information on each destination and experience, but they know the specific details about each property and why it would be an excellent fit for their honeymoon!.

Value-added services

In the midst of finalizing wedding guest lists, programs, and the hundreds of final details that go into your wedding planning, the value-added services provided by a travel expert can be a life saver. Standard services you should receive from an experienced travel professional are providing you with quotes, processing your honeymoon booking, assisting you with excursion bookings, ensuring your entire booking is in order, and providing you with your travel documents before you depart. Some agencies provide additional services on top of the standard services. For example, we provide all our travelers with an optional honeymoon registry so they can upgrade their once-in-a-lifetime experience. We also provide a pre-trip Zoom call to review their travel documents and discuss their trip in detail – even down to the color of the shirt, their driver will be wearing at the airport. Our clients also receive a custom mobile travel app containing their flight information and travel documents, as well as 24/7 in-destination emergency support from our trusted travel partners. While you could book your honeymoon on your own, many couples find the extra services a travel expert can provide during such a busy season of life can be invaluable. One of our recent honeymoon couples Genesis and Dakota said that  “Prior to meeting Mary Beth, we hadn’t really thought of using anyone to book our honeymoon. However, after we met Mary Beth with Your Vacation Plan & had discussions on what she would handle (which was everything!), it was the best decision we made. Not only did she supply the pros to the resorts, but also the cons from personal experience which honestly, is the best way for us to decide. Planing a wedding during a pandemic (or not in a pandemic!) is stressful enough & working with Mary Beth was such a breeze.” The value-added services of working with a travel professional made all the difference for Genesis and Dakota during their busy wedding season. 

Honeymoon matches your personality and desires.

This is one of the top reasons we think EVERYONE should work with a travel professional. However, it’s really important to vet the travel professional you select, as not everyone focuses on this. We’ve been to over a hundred different resort properties, and every single destination and resort has a different vibe. Most importantly, each property truly has its unique personality. The best honeymoon experiences happen when your selected property matches your personality, dreams, and desires. Your honeymoon is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it shouldn’t be simply based on your trip budget and the type of suite and view you would like to experience. Those are apparent things people consider important, but this is only a fraction of what a travel professional should consider when working with you to plan your honeymoon. Your travel expert should take into consideration things like:

• The resort atmosphere 

• How active or chill a property is

• Size of the property and the number of restaurants on-site

• The level of service the resort provides,

• Beach type and location of the beach 

These are just a few of the many factors that should be considered when planning your honeymoon!

You and your fiancé deserve to take the once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon you will remember for the rest of your lives. With so many things going on in your life during this season, hiring a travel professional will easily be one of the best decisions you make during your wedding planning process.