Chat with John Novotny about the perfect summer getaway.

Moderator

Thanks for joining us. I’m Haley Harrison and will moderate today’s chat with John Novotny from Travellers Inc.
He’ll take our questions about summer/spring getaways.

John Novotny

Thank you for having me today and I look forward to answering some questions

Moderator

What are some of the most popular vacations and getaways this summer?

John Novotny

Right now Mexico is a great destination and family vacations on cruises and to the Disney Parks

Moderator

On this rainy day, I can imagine many people are dreaming of a vacation. What can you suggest for a quick Memorial Day weekend trip. Something inexpensive and quick.

John Novotny

On short notice we always look to destination that Southwest
Airlines flys. Chicago, St. Louis and Denver are all great
cities and the fares can be very low.

hawkperchedatriverfront

Mr. Novotny,,the travel agencies have lost their luster. When Maupintour was operating along with others in town, it seemed to be better for the traveler. Why doesn’t Travellers offer some exciting trips from Lawrence, affordable flights and/or bus packages. Better yet, why doesn’t Travellers partner with Amtrak and have an affordable Grand Canyon tour starting with train stops in Kansas City , Lawrence and across the state? It seems that the travel agencies just want a traveler to come to them? When can we expect a fascinating train trip from Lawrence to “someplace’?

John Novotny

That is a great question. We for years have tried to offer trips to the general public to many destinations and without group leader who has a following those trips are very hard to sell and have enough people to operate. If you’re a member of a social club or something like that we’d be happy to put something together special for you. I’ve been at this for 29 years and I wish we could offer more with local flavor.

Moderator

Have high gas prices detered people from taking trips?

John Novotny

I’m sure it has and we’ve seen the cost of air travel increase a little from Kansas City. Kansas City still has some of the lowest air cost in the country. We don’t deal with enough people traveling by car to comment much about that mode of travel.

Moderator

What are the benefits of working with a travel agency instead of planning a trip alone and using sites like expedia.com or priceline.com?

John Novotny

I think that anytime you can purchase items locally it just makes sense. In my office we have well over 150 years in the travel business. It almost all cases the cost is the same if not less through a travel agency. There are rare times when a simple point to point airline ticket might be a little less online. But I think when you look at the overall cost of the trip including the hotel, car, sightseeing etc. any small service fee that might be involved with a travel agent is money well spent.

Moderator

What are the benefits of using a travel agent? What would an agent be able to tell me that I couldn’t figure out on my own?

John Novotny

Good travel agents are professionals just like any other profession. We’ve been trained to help people with airline tickets to visit family or that once in a lifetime vacation. We know the marketplace. That is to say when it is good time to buy or hold off and wait for prices to drop. Every week we help someone who is looking online from making a bad purchase.

Moderator

Time for just one or two more questions. What’s the greatest insider tip you can offer to people planning vacations this summer?

John Novotny

Call Travellers with as much notice as possible with one or two sets of dates to check for you.

Moderator

Fair enough. Thanks for joining us today. We appreciate your time and talking travel with us.

John Novotny

Thank you very much