It is an age-old question, and there is no right or wrong answer. Whether you book online or via a travel agent will really depend on a few factors. 

Sure, travel agents can make travel less stressful. Booking a quick weekend away in a major domestic location is not likely to cause too much angst, but for bigger trips, it can be a different picture. 

Planning for a special trip or occasion, a wedding, honeymoon or a much longed for family trip or overseas holiday with connecting flights, accommodation and transfers can be harder, and almost certainly not available through a single-source online booking engine. 

Of course, booking online is fine if you are booking a single hotel stay and are 100% certain of where you are going or what you want. Even for those hardy, experienced travellers that love the thrill of spending hours and hours researching over multiple days. 

There is a strong misconception though that booking through an agent is more expensive. In general, when you compare apples with apples, the prices are often comparable.

Some points of value to note:

• Often we find that once we delve in to price comparison, they are not what they seem. 
• They can have differing room types, different inclusions such as breakfast, and incomparable cancellation conditions.
• Travel professionals have access to special wholesale rates and promotions through suppliers.
• They often can save an additional amount or provide clients with a dining or spa credit that wouldn’t be available when booking through an online travel engine.

One other sticking point is the concept of supporting local, small businesses. When you book your motel via an online in Australia, that accommodation provider often has to pay a lot more commission to the online giants compared to an agent.

Also all the profit will go offshore, as they are all owned by multi-national (often American) mega-companies.  

But if that isn’t an issue, and you are happy to spend the time researching, and are certain of your plans, then online may be the way to go. 

In a 2016 survey of more than 1,200 consumers*, nearly one-third spent in excess of four hours, over multiple days, planning their own trips.