Don Akin: Your Personal Travel Concierge
BY D. J. MORROW INGRAM
Associate Editor
CRUISING TO A GREAT VACATION: Tulsa travel agent Don Akin consults with a client about her options for an upcoming cruise. Akin uses technology to obtain the best rates and amenities for his clients and aims to deliver “hassle free??? vacations. He charges nothing to his clients and obtains rates equal to or better than the Internet, making many wonder why they ever bought on the Internet in the first place.
SHARON CAMERON for GTR Newspapers
If you want to book a vacation with Akin Travel Adventures, don’t expect to visit the travel agency and emerge with an armload of brochures for exotic places. The agency will come to you.
Don Akin is a “home-based” travel agent who has shed the overhead of a traditional office in favor of using technology to serve his clients. By affiliating with a large travel agency, Carlson Wagonlit/Thomas Hogan Travel from Myrtle Beach, S.C., Akin has the resources, training and support of a large agency to provide his clients superior travel services.
Akin markets his business through word of mouth, some targeted advertising and strong networking skills.
“After nearly 30 years in the insurance business I have been able to turn my avocation into my vocation,” Akin says. “I am a cruise junkie and have trained to be a cruise specialist. I am also able to draw on my personal travel experience to assist my clients.”
Akin says that although many internet-savvy shoppers now go online to book cruises and other vacations, there is a definite advantage to going through someone such as him.
“Without a travel agent you are on your own. By using my services you gain an advocate should something go awry—and it often will. In fact, the motto on my website says: ‘Travel is always an Adventure—if you don’t want some adventure in your life—you probably ought to stay home!’
“When working with a client I also evaluate travel insurance, do research on sites that only travel agents can access and read updates on cruise evaluations and State Department warnings—all this and more on a daily basis. The average consumer can’t and doesn’t have time to do this.”
Akin doesn’t charge any fees for this work and offers his clients travel opportunities at the same price or lower than what they can get off the internet. Because of his status as an agent, his relationship with a major travel agency and repeat business, he can obtain perks and amenities the “average Joe” would never receive. In a sense, he becomes his client’s personal travel concierge.
“My goal is to make the trip as hassle free as possible. I try not to put clients on ships I haven’t personally traveled on myself and will track down recommendations from agents I trust for areas I’m not familiar with.
“As an insurance agent I was very detail oriented. Those skills have been an asset in this business.”
Akin is currently offering a five-night pre-booked Caribbean cruise for Spring Break on Royal Caribbean. By pre-booking, Akin freezes the room price and obtains amenities such as early dinner seating. For more information, or to book your next vacation, call Akin at 918-605-2974 or visit his website at www.akintravel.com.
Updated 12-19-2005
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