As a travel advisor, I’m constantly refining how I work with my clients. It might not seem like a super important job but I’m providing a service for people that is very personal. I’m guiding them on how to spend their disposable income and precious vacation time. If you’re going to Italy with your family this summer, you don’t want to stay in the wrong hotel, take the wrong route, eat at the wrong restaurant and so on. The more I know about my client's likes and needs, the better service I can provide.

To help your vacation planner do the best job for you, whether it is a professional advisor, a family member, or a friend, here are a few things you should do to get the most out of your planner.

Ask questions!

The more you ask, the better your trip will suit you.

1: Ask questions. This is the most important part about planning! Ask the little questions that your advisor might not be thinking about. What’s important to you, may not be important to the next person. These are a few of the questions I ask myself when I’m looking for a hotel. Is there a coffee shop nearby, is there coffee in my room, can I get room service at midnight, how many rooms are in the hotel, are there places in the hotel outside of my room that I can relax. These things are important to me because I’m an early bird so I like to get up and have coffee, usually outside the room because my husband is a night owl and likes to sleep in. So, I will get up early, find a place to get coffee, hunker down someplace quiet in the hotel and read or work. My husband likes to stay up later and have a quick coffee in the room before we head out. And if my teenage son is with us, he just wants to eat when he wants to eat!

2. Think about what kind of experience you want to have. Just because you are going to Paris, doesn't mean you have to see the Eiffel Tower and Versailles. In fact, these places are quite crowded during the height of the tourist season. If you're mostly interested in food or architecture, let your planner know this, they have many resources to find interesting ways to experience a place that might not be exactly the way other people experience it. On the flip side, if all you want to do is see the Eiffel Tower and Versatile, your advisor can also help you experience these places in the most pleasant way possible. It might be with a private guide or during off hours.

Just because you are in Paris, doesn't mean you have to see the Eiffel Tower.

3. Ask your advisor what they think of your schedule or plan. Everyone's pace of travel is different so your advisor may think you like cramming every experience into your schedule unless you tell them otherwise. Or, you may want your beach vacation to have planned activities. I recently had a client ask me where I thought the holes where is her itinerary. I really hadn’t thought about it that way. As a result, made some minor changes to her itinerary which meant canceling one hotel, adding another, renting a car and booking a special evening out. It was more work, but she had a much better trip because of it. Your advisor's goal is to plan a great experience for you, that might mean a little extra work but the goal is to give you the best experience for you.

4. Let your advisor know you. It’s so important to let your advisor know even the little things about you so that they can think creatively when they are planning your trip. Advisors are not order takers. It’s not solely up to you to tell your advisor what you want. It’s more important for them to know you so that they can make valuable suggestions

5. Lastly, don’t feel bad about asking your advisor to research things, request things from hotels and tour companies and don’t feel bad about asking questions. I know way too many people who apologize to me for “asking too many questions” or for being indecisive. It’s ok, that is why we do what we do. We are here to answer your questions and help you flush out what you really want. That’s what the job is!