By Lisa Rogak

When you can book airfares, rental cars and hotels at one-stop travel websites like Orbitz, Travelocity or Priceline, it’s easy to think travel agents are an endangered species. To the contrary, 41 percent of all trips booked in the United States are done through travel agents, according to PhoCusWright, a market research firm.

The online sites serve a purpose; they’re best for simple trips such as a weekend stay in a city or airfare to visit family. But an agent can provide invaluable advice for more complex and expensive travel.

Experience pays

"Any time you’re going to be spending a lot of money or taking the trip of a lifetime, you should consider using a travel agent," says Stephanie Oswald, host of Fine Living’s series All-Girl Getaways. "A travel agent has a grasp of the big picture and can put all pieces of the puzzle together for you."

"One important reason to use an agent is that they love to travel," says Nadine Nardi Davidson, master travel planner at the Travel Store Inc. in Los Angeles and author of Travel with Others Without Wishing They’d Stayed Home. "Not only do you have their own travel experience at your disposal but also the feedback they receive from hundreds of other clients."

Sheila Beal of Raleigh, N.C., considers herself a seasoned traveler; she also writes a travel blog on Hawaiian vacations at govisithawaii.com. And yet, when the time came to plan a trip to French Polynesia with her husband, the logistics stymied her. "I didn’t know enough about the flights, how to get from point A to point B, or the documentation we’d need," she says. "It was great to turn everything over to a travel agent."

The agent coordinated their travel schedules, a true challenge with only two weekly flights from Sydney to Tahiti. She also recommended particular islands to visit and steered them away from hotels under renovation. "We would have had to do hours of research to get that information on our own," Beal said.

An agent will also take charge when things fall apart. During the recent American Airlines fiasco when hundreds of planes were pulled out of service on short notice, travelers who booked flights through travel agents were able to get rebooked more quickly than travelers who bought their own tickets. "When you’re stuck on an island after a hurricane, an agent will work on getting you home ASAP," says Debbie Gioquindo, certified travel counselor of Personal Touch Travel, personaltouchtravel.net. "If you booked yourself online, you’re on your own."

"Because travel agents move hundreds of passengers, they have more clout when it comes to resolving travel problems," the Travel Store’s Davidson adds.

A real bargain

Cruises and resorts pay agents a commission while car rental companies and airlines have phased out agent commissions. Some agents tack on a fee -- typically ranging from $25 to $50 -- for these smaller-ticket items, while others charge by the hour.

But you’ll probably pay the same price whether you’re booking through an agent or doing it yourself due to deals that are available to agents. "People don’t realize that the price they receive from a travel agent is usually the same as if they booked it themselves," Gioquindo says.

To find a travel agent, ask friends or co-workers who love to travel for recommendations. Fine Living's Oswald suggests visiting the American Society of Travel Agents at asta.org to find an agent in your area or one who specializes in the type of trip you want to book.

"It’s an agent’s job to save you time and money," Oswald says. "Think of an agent as the equivalent of a concierge at a hotel."