Am I crazy? Use a Travel Agent or Not?

I started planning my trip to FP, it seemed in the books and websites that I referenced that many people used travel agents to plan their trips to FP. I have been reading a lot of the books, Frommers, Lonely Planet, Jan Prince(spelling may be wrong), and reading and submitting questions to this forum and 1 other forum. I have gotten quotes from 2 travel agents, 1 based in Tahiti and 1 based in the U.S. with Tahiti connections.

Their quotes seemed considerably higher than I had estimated the cost would be if I planned it myself.

My concern in doing it myself was the planning of the transfers from airports to hotels. We are flying in to Tahtiti, then going to Moorea for 3 nights, then to Huahine for 2 nights, then to Bora Bora for 2 nights and then return to Tahiti for 1 night. We are using hotel points for 2 nights in Moorea and 1 night in Bora Bora, so almost half of the hotel nights are already planned and paid for.

Sorry for the long question, but given the resources I have available to me, books and websites, should I do this myself? What if I arrived at the Huahine airport and no one was there to pick me up? How difficult would it be at that point to contact the hotel and get transportation? Just as a note, my husband and I do not speak French.

Bottom line, I do not want to spend additional hundreds of dollars if I can do this myself.

Thanks so much for your opinions.

Ia Orana,

Although doing your shopping yourself can be entertaining (you will have to select international air, domestic air, accomodations and transfers). I am pretty sure that your bottom line price will be much higher than if you go through a travel agency who have wholesaler rates.

Have a nice stay in our islands,
Kind Regards

We did a two week trip to FP in 2006, visiting Huahine, Raiatea, Bora Bora, Moorea and Tahiti. We did all our own travel arrangements and accommodation booking online. Everything worked out just fine with just one hitch with airport pickup(booked with our accommodation) at Tahiti Airport(we were at domestic terminal instead of international) which resolved itself when we realized our mistake. On Huahine our accommodation arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the airport, our accommodation on Raiatea and Bora Bora provided transfers and on Moorea, our accommodation arranged pick up with Torea Nui at the airport. If you contact the hotels already booked I'm sure you will be able to arrange everything. When booking your own accommodation, inquire about transfers. Most people involved in the tourism industry will speak English so French is not necessary(but a few phrases are helpful). We found Jan Prince's book to be a great guide. As budget travelers we were able to do our 2 week trip for a lot less than advertised tours - if you are more upscale travelers, the difference may not be that much. I would also like to suggest you have a look at the forums at www.tahiti-explorer.com - I learned a lot when planning our trip from the postings there. Good luck with your plans - you have chosen a great place to visit!

I wouldn't worry too much about getting transfers. If you e-mail your hotels a week or two before you are arriving, they can arrange the trasnfer in advance and confirm it by e-mail.

The only time I'd use an agent for FP is if I calculated all the totals----airfare, hotels, transfers---- separately vs. their price, and it was a savings. Usually it will not be cheaper to go through an agent. The hotels have to pay about 25% to the wholesaler, and 10% to the travel agent (through the wholesaler). That's why it's often cheaper to book directly with the hotel via e-mail.

We just returned from French Polynesia (rather unexpectedly, thus not doing all the things planned or going to islands we had hoped to visit), and the one thing you can count on is it being pricy. The local airline (Tahiti Air) has packages which are available on line, and they seem to be a fairly good deal ... check www.islandadventures.com for that info. Flying is usually the easiest way to go around the islands (with the exception of Tahiti-Moorea), and weight limits are strict, so if you buy a package once in Tahiti, fly lightly. If you buy your plane tickets from abroad, apparently you have a more generous weight llimit.

I've broken down package prices too for French Polynesia and found that the savings one expects from a package are not there.

You certainly can do it yourself.

We went to French Polynesia for 3 weeks last may. We made with no problems our own reservations from one island to the other; One general fact : prices are madly too high and you rarely have something correct for your money. Nothing is cheap, and for the same high price you can have a very good hotel or restaurant or something awful. Most of the time the staffs are not professionnal.
Why can you find all the rooms you want? Because people don't come back, once you have been cheated you stay awway.
Of course, it is much cheaper to do it by yourself and you can choose exactly where you want to stay and how long;
Anyway if you really want to go here are a few serious nice places to stay and where people are very nice
RANGIROA : Les relais de Joséphine
RAIATEA: Hôtel Atiapiti
HIVAO :Temetiu Village Chez Gaby
Avoid absolutely at NUKU HIVA Pension Mave Mai.
Bon courage et bonnes vacances

Use a travel agent for convince.......Be prepared to pay about 20% more. I owned a travel agency many years ago and they were worth their weight in gold. In fact it was almost impossible to make your own arrangements.

Sad but true, in this day and age you really don't need one and the margins are so thin they have to try to push high profit travel insurance, etc. to try to make a living at it.

boraborabob.com

i think this will all depend on how adventurous are you. we on the other hand arent a fan of package tourism. we used to taking public transportation, camping, and meeting and staying a lot with locals.

It all depends on your comfort level and peace of mind. but then again, we were there for 2 months so we didnt need to panic