Century Travel

These ladies have planned several vacations for me. Two that were over seas and involved several different countries and cities. They are wonderful!
Cheryl and Kim are both amazing. They are great at planning trips around the type of traveler you are! They also planned my destination wedding.
My husband and I do not like to be parts of large groups and we don’t like every second planned out. Cheryl and Kim always make sure that we have plenty of time to do our own thing. They also find the very best hotels in the best locations with the help of contacts that they have in each country.
They ask for a price ceiling and plan around it. I have never had to pay more. They also add in little extras… Like private tours, private transfers. They make sure you are prepared for anything you might not already know about your destination.
Thanks to Century Travel we always get first class treatment everywhere we go! We never have to worry about a thing! It’s class all the way! And the prices are very reasonable.
I wouldn’t trust anyone else!

Would you hire a general contractor to remodel your kitchen without first asking about their experience, pricing, insurance, and etc. Probably not and for good reason. Is hiring a travel agent any different?
There are many articles on the web that suggest asking critical due diligence type questions before hiring a travel agent. For example, does the agent have experience with booking travel to the specific region and if so how much experience? Has the agent personally traveled to the region? how do the consultant fees work? Are there any booking fees in addition to the consulting fees? When and how are payments handled. What are the specific services provided? Does the agent provide after hours communications in case there is a problem with reservations and etc. Etc. etc.
Recently I contacted Century Travel In Austin, Tx on a quest to hire an agent to help book a trip to Italy. The receptionist was great and put me in contact with an agent. In the initial contact with the agent (email), she noted that the first 20 minutes of the first meeting would be free and there after I would incur a consulting fee. I explained that the fee would not be a problem once I decide to hire century travel as my agent but before deciding that I would like a face to face meeting to ask my due diligence type questions. From there the communication between myself and the agent went down hill. The agent all but refused to answer any of my interview questions. The last communication I had with agent I asked about a manager or owner. The agent promptly replied that the manager is already aware of our communications and essentially said they did think they were the agent for me.
At the time of this writing, I have not had any contact with the manager even after leaving both an email and voice mail message.
I ask you, is it unreasonable to perform due diligence in hiring a travel agent without incurring a consulting fee? I have no issue with consulting fees once I have hired an agent and consulting work actually begins.