Is anyone here a travel agent?

[RSO 34]

I'm trying to book a possible honeymoon location and am thoroughly frustrated with trying to decipher such widely divergent reviews of places by people going to the same resort, and often times during the same week, where some people say it was the worst experience of their lives and others simultaneously saying it was the best.

Spent an hour with a travel agent today who was very helpul and informative and later went online to find more of the above in terms of reviews. I know they work on commissions and generally I shouldn't have to disagree with a resort with a 5 star rating but the reviews are extremely disconcerting. I realize that to get 90% satisfied customers should be a good thing but the other 10-12% of the negative reviews can be shocking.

So I'm not really looking for a recommendation for a friend or a cousin who is a travel agent but rather want to hear the "straight full story" from someone here in the business so I can try to narrow down my choices. For example, I was looking at Sandals Negril and was told that it is a private beach so we wouldn't be bothered with locals selling crap and having others try to sell us drugs. Yet online that is a major complaint about that location.

Ideally a beautiful private beach, good snorkeling, no locals hassling guests on the beach (or in the water), was hoping for all inclusive since I don't feel like getting bothered in towns and am quite happy to stay on site if everything is up to par (I don't mind spending money but some of these 4 and 5 star properties seem to make even up scale areas look like a travel risk).

Even if you are only willing to talk "off the record" about what the real stories are then that is fine. I am just hoping someone will tell me the whole truth so I can go in with eyes wide open and make an educated decision.

 

[DreamPowered]

Bob, give me a call back when you get a chance

 

[06_typeS]

You have to remember that North Americans love to complain. Well everyone likes to complain for that matter. It could be the smallest pettiest of things, but someone would complain, then feel the need to post their own review. "the Shower head wasn`t clean enough" "The bed had a wrinkle in it" "The food sucked!" You get my idea.

When I go down south I do not pay attention to what anyone says. I base my decision on what I like/dislike about the resort, beach, food, etc. But I would never post a review to influence a decision of someone else that has the potential to want to go to the same report.

Its the same as going to watch a movie. One person will rave that it was was best movie ever where someone else will find a way to tear it apart.

Good luck on finding you resort. My wife did the travel agent business for a while, but people were to cheap. After she would search for hours for someone for a trip, they would come back and say "I found this place for $30 cheaper", and they would just go ahead and book it themselves.