What if I told you that you're actually paying more when booking with an online travel agency?

More for hotel rooms, rental cars and airfare, leaving less to spend when the real vacation starts. It's an unfortunate reality that many travelers have been discovering; the convenience of booking via a quick online search just isn't what it's hyped up to be. That's why it's best to chuck the cyberspace convenience and stick to the real-life instead, with travel agents like Hawaii Aloha Travel (HAT) equipped and ready to help you!

And we're not just being biased here. NBC dug up the truth about a scheme called "price-fixing," when travel websites and hotel chains band together and agree to offer only the fixed, higher prices to travelers. It's a "dirty little secret" that leaves consumers the losers in the end and the Internet agencies the winners.

We see the commercials and internet ads from online travel agency giants Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia. They tell us about the guaranteed best prices and at the "click of a mouse." But really, it's just a sham. For so many years, we've been misled into believing it's the one and only way to plan a trip. What about the little guys that have been around from the beginning? Before computers and before the internet became a tool to survival. Travel agents, like those at HAT, are still here. So support these small, local businesses, who only have your best intentions in mind. They're real people, and they know the secrets to planning a perfect getaway in paradise.