I have been booking with Vacation Outlet for about 15 years and I have never booked at one of their stores! I have never even met the agent (Trisha) I book with! I have always gotten great advice from them and never had a problem! In fact, my dealings by phone and mail have always been excellent!

I can understand that you like to deal face to face with your travel agent and if that is the reason you decide not to use them again, I can understand that. If the only reason you don't book with them again is that you want to pay them in cash and in person, I don't understand that, especially when paying by credit card is safer and in some cases can give you added consumer protection like additional travel protection.

I'm sure that their closing of the retail outlets was based on costs. It's sad that they are not going to offer this sevice any longer for those who want the face to face service, but it is common trend in the leisure travel industry!

"mistreated",,, "outraged"..."buyer beware" seems to harsh to me.

I hope you have a great vacation in spite of stress in arranging it!

Westernmass

Hi CapeNancy,

I feel bad that the Travel Outlets are all shutting down, they've been so reliable all through the years, what a shame, it's probably due to online bookings.

Whenever I go to Vegas my friends and I want to speak to a travel agent face to face too. We're the same way and will only take our trips paying with cash or we don't go away that's all there is to it! We've all been like that for years, that's probably why we've been able to go to so many places! I can tell you that we always use AAA Travel Agents for Vegas, there was one at 125 High St. in downtown Boston that was always very reliable for the longest time, and I found a AAA travel agent up near me in Portsmouth so I used them for Napa Valley a few years ago when I booked that and they were GREAT, I never had any trouble with them all through the years, they're very upfront and reliable. I hope they don't close down too, or we'll all be up a creek without a paddle, we'll be like the rest of mankind booking online, oh no!

Good luck!

"Its all about money and not hands on service." Vacation Outlet and BJ's are part of parent company National Leisure Group. I tell you what happened the president of the company passed away in a bike accident.(Greg Davis) The company lost its soul that day. After that piece by piece the company was taken apart. Staff was down sized and the corporation closed reservation centers in Arizona and MA. After that they moved to store's and demanded agents get e-mails @ when booking. Only to find in a few years they would let them go to. Mostly everything now is internet driven in travel. Travel proffesionals are mostly obsolete because of so called technological evolution. The most tragic thing of all was the loss of "adventures". Travel advisors that loved the work and made peope happy. Gave everyday people the vision of the world and stimulated a huge amount of our nations ambasadors. The industry just took to many hits the economy, terrorism, and people's loss of love in travel. No more would people budget two vacations a year. Sure I still travel but I see so many that just dont anymore...If thats the worst then so be it. I really feel bad for all those third world contries that suffered from corprate greed.

Careful when you cancel within the guidelines. i have been waiting 2 months for a refund and I have been getting the run-around for 2 weeks trying to find out the status. i gladly paid when I booked and would like to get my refund as promised when cancelled. Still waiting to hear......

unfortunaley in these modern times the good ole days of popping into the local travel agency is no longer . just as shopping online has replaced the local department store , the most efficient and cost effective way to travel is the new fashioned way: ala internet. And rest assured, you will have a personal travel agent made of flesh and bones available to you through the telephone instead of face to face who is just as qualified if not more.