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Think "Value," Not "Cheap," Travel Execs Plead

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April 14, 2006

Consumers need to grasp that specialized tour operators or central reservations offices can get them a better combination of lodging and services than what they get with lowest-cost deals from big booking engines, she and others attending the recent Mountain Travel Symposium in Squaw Valley said repeatedly.

"What they really want is value, value, value," Hauer says.

Without naming names, travel agents, hotels, car agencies and property management companies are feeling the pull of the Expedias and Travelocities of the Web, as clients move away from "experts" to make their own choices.

The problem rears its head when, say, a family of 6 winds up with too small a car, a condo far from the slopes or a third-rate hotel room, agents say.

Wrong! says Expedia and Travelocity.

"There are some people who know what they want. We empower them to make the decision themselves," says a spokesman at Expedia's Bellevue, Wash. headquarters. "The vast majority of people who come on our site do not book according to lowest cost. They come because we are an unbiased source of opinion," she says.

Travelocity says it has come out with a guarantee that changes a lot of what the travel agents are saying. "We have invested nearly $20 million in technology and training programs aimed at backing our promise “that everything about a traveler’s booking will be right or we’ll work with our partners to make it right, right away,” said Joel Frey, a Travelocity spokesman.

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