Weary of online booking, clients return to travel agents

Vacationers who hire Suzanne Burr book their travel the old-fashioned way. They tell Burr where they want to go and what they require when they arrive, and leave it to her to make it happen.

Burr's business has been booming in recent times, in part because some people who've been booking their own trips on the Internet are returning to her. "They would push the button on some of these websites, and that was it," Burr says. "There was no one to ask a question. Nobody to ask for help. When it comes to really spending money and wanting an advocate, people are turning back to agents because people care. A computer doesn't."

For some travelers, do-it-yourself booking is losing its luster. A study by Forrester Research found that in the first three months of this year, 28% of leisure travelers in the U.S. who booked their trips online said they'd be interested in going to a good traditional travel agent. That's up from 23% in 2008. Another Forrester statement finds that the number of leisure travelers who enjoyed using the Web to plan and book their vacations dropped to 46% last year, down from 53% in 2007.

The findings reflect a growing frustration with sites that fail to simplify an increasingly complicated travel process or to meet a vacationer's specific needs, some analysts and travelers argue.