The one thing Amy Ziesel knows about is travel. As a young ad executive at J. Walter Thompson, she had stood around the water cooler hearing about the great trips colleagues took and felt she herself should experience these exotic places that they spoke about. She then set about working part-time on weekends to gain that knowledge firsthand and found that she not only was good at it, she loved it. That was over 30 years ago and today she is still doing what she loves as owner of Coral Reef Travel.
The world has changed since Ziesel had opened her doors here 33 years ago on Plandome Road. With the advent of online bookings for flights, hotels and cruises, the business has changed. Ziesel has changed with the times as well. In my short conversation, which covered several hours, I understood why a travel agent is so necessary in planning your next trip. As in every facet of life, you can not beat experience and Ziesel has plenty of it. The reason why she is so successful and has remained in business after so many others closed shop is that she knows what she is doing. No matter how exotic or common the destination is, Ziesel has been there, reviewed the hotel, concierge services, transfers and transportation options to every locale possible so that she delivers not only quality but value to the vacation package she books for you.
The value of this expertise provides you with the rest and relaxation you are looking for in a vacation rather than stressing out over the details of travel.
Ziesel has developed personal relationships with the companies she deals with. She leverages these relationships to get you things you can’t get on your own. She also has exclusive entrée to experiences you might not know are available to you.
In addition to getting you more on any particular trip you desire, she can step in and fix things when your trip goes awry. As a consumer, you have little or no leverage when things go wrong, Ziesel is constantly selling a particular supplier and has the leverage to fix things, even when the supplier isn’t directly at fault. Travel suppliers value the travel agent’s business much more than any individual traveler. They will step up to make things right or simply to make sure that the traveler, and their travel agent, are happy.
Have you ever booked a great trip online just to find out there are fees and transfers not included. The minute you step off the plane you realize you have no idea how to get to the hotel or resort and are taken for a ride by the local shyster? Ziesel makes sure that does not happen because of her unique access to benefits that can save you a lot of money and provide you with a better experience including free room upgrades, spa credits, food and beverage credits. Add in hard-to-get restaurant reservations, exclusive or priority access to attractions and added amenities, and you will have a lot more value for your travel dollar.
The explosion of restrictions and fees—many of which are not obvious to the casual travel buyer—further muddies understanding of the bottom line on any itinerary.
A newly released ASTA survey bolsters what mountains of anecdotal evidence has long suggested; leisure travelers who use agents truly understand travel agents deliver a higher caliber vacation experience than they’d be able to arrange on their own. The 2015 Travel Decision Making survey was based on answers from 3,000 U.S. consumers who were roughly divided between agent users and nonusers.
As a travel professional, Ziesel has essentially become the key to discovering the latest travel trends and world-class experiences that cannot be easily researched online or discovered by robotic algorithms.
What Does It Cost? Since airlines no longer offer commissions of any kind for their work, travel agents have had to charge travelers directly for airline bookings. In Ziesel’s case she charges a retainer fee which she applies to your booking so you lose nothing and gain the most incredible trip you have every experienced. One of the things that was clear to me in our discussion was no matter what natural or man-made disaster that occurs, Ziesel will be there to make sure you are okay. All trips carry insurance, so if you hurt yourself on a moped in Hawaii, your bills are covered if you booked through Coral Reef.
Coral Reef Travel is located at 331 Plandome Rd. Telephone is 516-627-0700.
