Booking Tours to Pompeii, The Amalfi Coast and Capri - The Big Agency Myth
The Big Mistake most People Make I have found that companies and individuals all seem to make the same mistake.
They make the mistake of believing the myth that by booking all your arrangements through a big agency, you will get better service.
For 20 years, I have been collaborating with big city agencies and I know it to be false.
Because your rep in the big agency cannot have expertise on the ground where that tour or event is going to happen, and all sorts of things go wrong.
This means that very, very often the most critical decisions, like what is included, when things will happen, for example, have already been decided by people who have no idea about the area you will be spending your time.
An Example - The Amalfi Coast Tour Another example I can mention to you that is very famous here where I work as a tour planner and guide in Italy is the Amalfi Coast.
This is really attractive for people and even agencies because they can sell easily, It's very simple for them to sell The Amalfi Coast.
The Amalfi Coast until recently could be driven along by buses that hold up, let's say 50 people.
This is the biggest bus size we have.
Now, busses this size are no longer permitted on the Amalfi coast.
Very few agencies who are not from here know that! They don't know, as well, that very, very often you can drive only one way along the Amalfi Coast.
Do you know how many times I have been given this program where they did it the wrong way? Lots of times.
Hundreds of times.
That's because in the agency they just look at the map.
They can see the road.
They assume that the buses and that road - they work together perfectly.
Then, no matter how hard your local guide works to execute a plan full of planning mistakes, the result is generally more chaotic and of a poorer quality that if the people had come directly to a local expert in the first place.
You Pay The Price, For The Mistakes Made By The Agency Ultimately, it is the customer who pays the price in the end.
Whenever this happens, it is never the main agency that solves the problems that they created.
It is the guide or the local planner like me who is running their event who has to resolve the problems.
An Easy Solution The advantage in my opinion of not believing this kind of myth that big agencies are better than going directly to a local expert is that you have the direct relationship with a place.
The assurance of better quality, especially information, is not "lost in translation.
"
They make the mistake of believing the myth that by booking all your arrangements through a big agency, you will get better service.
For 20 years, I have been collaborating with big city agencies and I know it to be false.
Because your rep in the big agency cannot have expertise on the ground where that tour or event is going to happen, and all sorts of things go wrong.
This means that very, very often the most critical decisions, like what is included, when things will happen, for example, have already been decided by people who have no idea about the area you will be spending your time.
An Example - The Amalfi Coast Tour Another example I can mention to you that is very famous here where I work as a tour planner and guide in Italy is the Amalfi Coast.
This is really attractive for people and even agencies because they can sell easily, It's very simple for them to sell The Amalfi Coast.
The Amalfi Coast until recently could be driven along by buses that hold up, let's say 50 people.
This is the biggest bus size we have.
Now, busses this size are no longer permitted on the Amalfi coast.
Very few agencies who are not from here know that! They don't know, as well, that very, very often you can drive only one way along the Amalfi Coast.
Do you know how many times I have been given this program where they did it the wrong way? Lots of times.
Hundreds of times.
That's because in the agency they just look at the map.
They can see the road.
They assume that the buses and that road - they work together perfectly.
Then, no matter how hard your local guide works to execute a plan full of planning mistakes, the result is generally more chaotic and of a poorer quality that if the people had come directly to a local expert in the first place.
You Pay The Price, For The Mistakes Made By The Agency Ultimately, it is the customer who pays the price in the end.
Whenever this happens, it is never the main agency that solves the problems that they created.
It is the guide or the local planner like me who is running their event who has to resolve the problems.
An Easy Solution The advantage in my opinion of not believing this kind of myth that big agencies are better than going directly to a local expert is that you have the direct relationship with a place.
The assurance of better quality, especially information, is not "lost in translation.
"