Libby Cook-Toppan knows all about the dangers of booking a holiday exclusively online after suffering a bad experience in Boston five years ago.

She had to book a hotel in the American city at short notice after her son was called into hospital there.

"We realised we were going to have to take him to Boston Children's Hospital and it was a really quick thing, so I thought to save time I would just book online," she said.

"I didn't know Boston, so I thought I would just go through an internet hotel booking site because that was the first thing that popped into my head through all the advertising I saw and as it turned out, because I was unfamiliar with city I ended up in a hotel 20 minutes from the city and we had to be at the hospital by 8 a.m. every day, which was difficult."

Fortunately Ms. Cook-Toppan found a hotel nearer to the hospital and moved there instead, but still had the problem of trying to recoup the money she had spent on the first one.

"I panicked having to try and find a place to stay and we did find a hotel on our own right by the hospital, but the real nightmare was that the (internet booking company) didn't return the money and put a hold on our credit card, so we had to use our spending money on the new hotel, so it was really unhappy on that front," she said.

And due to her lack of knowledge of Boston she did not know where to go or what to do there, information she could have got through using a travel agent.

"There is a special tour that happens in Boston and they have these trucks which go through water which are called ducks, which are a really big thing over there and which you have to book well in advance, and which a travel agent would have told us about," she said.

"So, I would say book with a travel agent - my husband and I actually booked our honeymoon with Meyer-Franklin and it was fantastic.

"I just think it helps and it is really important that nothing can replace a person when booking a holiday.

"The worst part about it was the money and you are stuck in that situation - it is not something they tell you on a website unless you read the small print clearly, whereas a person at a travel agent can give you the run down of what it all means."