DestinationWeddings.com * Post all experiences, info and questions here! *

[CristiandJamie]

Help!!! I'm using DW.com and today my agent calls me to tell me that the Palace resorts are not doing good!!! I'm under 4 months away frm the wedding and people have already booked through my agent. She didn't go into detail but now I feel uncertain. Anyone know anything about issues with Palace resorts or If DW will not follow through with booking? She also seemed disorganized and afraid she will lose someone's reservation.... Help!!!

[Shakara]

Okay... so I supressed this anger with this company for a while because it was upsetting to even talk about them but I'm over it now and I need to do my part in warning people.

 

I'm sure EVERYONES experience was not as bad as mine and i'm sure some have had great weddings with them BUT my expereince was awful! So first, I was assigned an agent who really knew nothing about anything I asked and it ended up being me looking up everything... asking her... and still getting wrong info and thats when I actually could get her to respond to me which she NEVER did. She even told me that I shouldnt book my resort/wedding until a few months in advance and I was very early in the planning process (this was back in June 09 and I was planning on getting married in June 10)

 

So I brushed it off and assumed she must've been super busy with other weddings that were closer. I spoke with the manager who gave me a new agent. At first she was nice very helpful (this was back when I didn't know this site existed and didn't do my homework on resorts) I wanted ocho rios and the resort had to be children friendly so she said Beaches was the best place and I said great and gave her my deposit. (stupid i know)

 

Now Beaches sent her a confirmation with their WC's name at that same time of my deposit (this was June/July). After I put the deposit down she RARELY talked to me or responded to my questions. Then in September I found this site!! And realized I shouldve been doing some planning so I asked her questions about beaches like location and ceremony sites etc and she said I should ask Beaches WC.... I didnt even KNOW i had a wc at beaches because she never sent me the info that beaches was supposed to send me. I know that because when she finally sent it, it was dated the day I paid my deposit and addressed to me and my FI.

 

I WAS SOO MAD... anyways after a complete breakdown and finally discovering ALL the extra costs... I found a new TA and switched resorts..... BUT it took me about 3 months to get my deposit back after a BUNCH of hassle, letters, countless phone calls daily, untill finally I had to get the legal dept at my job involved to take care of it. It was seriously the worse experience of my life.

[boscobel]

I'm going to merge this with the DW.com thread

[Shakara]

thanks Carly! Wow how the heck did I miss this thread!?!? It looks like i'm not the only one!

[Shakara]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tammy Host have you seen what happens when the weight of this forum is behind a bride? that is something to consider when thinking about using a TA from BDW...not only are they experienced in destination weddings (many of us ARE former destination wedding brides) BUT we all have great releationships with the resorts. we are one of the few companies working with the resorts to hold webinars, etc.

Tammy, I couldnt agree with you more. I am seriously the happiest bride to be ever and the only stress that I have now is the occasional family member or bridesmaids drama and Maureen is always right there to help me through it I honestly feel like planning a wedding is the best thing ever at this point... and before I discovered this site and Maureen... I didn't even want to get married. We were literally 2 steps away from the point where my FI and I were like lets just call it off and go to the court house. I've never met her and I feel like she's closer to me than anyone besides my FI.

I can't tell everyone enough how important it is to have someone who KNOWS what their doing in this planning process to the one of the biggest moments of your lives. And it also makes a world of a difference to have someone whose actually been there before and has your back through everything.

[KittenHeart]

DW.com is definitely hit or miss depending on your actual agent. I had the absolutely WORST travel agent ever and requested I be switched to another Travel Agent twice before I got my current agent at DW.com that is fabulous.

 

So... I do wish I had used BDW TA but switching TA's and demanding I get a female in my same timezone has made all the difference in the world.

[H-Town Liz]

I had a HORRIBLE experience with Destinationweddings.com!!! DO NOT USE them!

 

Where do I start....

Trying to get rooms under contract, this took several weeks, and every time my TA Brittany Schiffler would send me a contract, there would be some detail changed, like the type of rooms reserved or the price, or the dates. I would ask her to correct the issue and she would resend a contract; however, now the date at which everyone would have to book their rooms by would change, (to a much earlier date). This happened several times. I should have known then.

 

Then when my guest attempted to book, it would take her several weeks, in some cases, to get back to them. Also, when she did return with their quote, many times it was wrong, or for much higher amounts then I was quoted. Good thing I let my guests know what prices they should be paying, because they were able to catch these discrepancies.

 

That brings us to 1 week before the wedding in Mexico. None of my guests have their travel documents. Including myself and my fiance. My paper work arrived 1 day before my departure. We were told the paper work was to go out 2 weeks before departure. There were several guests that never received theirs and had to call destinationweddings.com's corporate office and speak to about 5 people before they got their documents faxed to them.

 

Now it is wedding time. My now husband and i were meeting with our wedding coordinator and were going over the rooming list. The wedding coordinator had identified that there were 4 quests that were scheduled to leave the Thursday BEFORE our wedding on Saturday. This would not have been that big of a problem except for the fact that the hotel was now sold out!!!!

 

So there was one no show at the hotel and one of the couples were able to stay in that room. As for the other couple, one of our wedding guests had his own room and offered to give that room to the couple, and the one male guest shared a room with another friend.

 

This guest that gave up his room is still attempting to get a refund for his room that he did not get to use. It has been almost 3 months. He has continually tried to contact destinationweddings.com and has been getting the run around.

 

These are just some of the issues....I could probably go on for days about all the little mess ups there were.

 

So, long story short, my experience with them was a NIGHTMARE!!! No not use Wedding Destinations and Planning | Destination Weddings .com at any cost!! You will regret it.

[staceysbride]

When we were picking a place to get married last year, I think it was literally around this time last year, the TA that we have through DWeddings.com told us then to stay away from the Palace resorts. She had had problems with them and another company- I think RIU but don't quote me on the second company/resort- and so we never even ended up looking there. Now, from my experience with my TA (YMWV) if something goes wrong on the resort end you will NOT be left high and dry and will be rebooked at a new resort of your choosing and everything will be transferred. However, again, this is with my TA and with the trip insurance we have.

 

I'm praying that the same would hold true from you if you wanted/needed to change resorts!

 

Keep us posted!

 

------Nikki-----

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by CristiandJamie Help!!! I'm using DW.com and today my agent calls me to tell me that the Palace resorts are not doing good!!! I'm under 4 months away frm the wedding and people have already booked through my agent. She didn't go into detail but now I feel uncertain. Anyone know anything about issues with Palace resorts or If DW will not follow through with booking? She also seemed disorganized and afraid she will lose someone's reservation.... Help!!!

[staceysbride]

wow, i swear i was blessed with the only competent TA at DWeddings.com

 

I can say you have to watch them on the rates they give you vs your guests, but I've stepped in each time and made sure they were getting rates similar to mine, but other than that- no issues. My experience has been great, but I can see i'm definitely in the minority.

 

----Nikki----

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by H-Town Liz I had a HORRIBLE experience with Destinationweddings.com!!! DO NOT USE them!   Where do I start.... Trying to get rooms under contract, this took several weeks, and every time my TA Brittany Schiffler would send me a contract, there would be some detail changed, like the type of rooms reserved or the price, or the dates. I would ask her to correct the issue and she would resend a contract; however, now the date at which everyone would have to book their rooms by would change, (to a much earlier date). This happened several times. I should have known then.   Then when my guest attempted to book, it would take her several weeks, in some cases, to get back to them. Also, when she did return with their quote, many times it was wrong, or for much higher amounts then I was quoted. Good thing I let my guests know what prices they should be paying, because they were able to catch these discrepancies.   That brings us to 1 week before the wedding in Mexico. None of my guests have their travel documents. Including myself and my fiance. My paper work arrived 1 day before my departure. We were told the paper work was to go out 2 weeks before departure. There were several guests that never received theirs and had to call destinationweddings.com's corporate office and speak to about 5 people before they got their documents faxed to them.   Now it is wedding time. My now husband and i were meeting with our wedding coordinator and were going over the rooming list. The wedding coordinator had identified that there were 4 quests that were scheduled to leave the Thursday BEFORE our wedding on Saturday. This would not have been that big of a problem except for the fact that the hotel was now sold out!!!!   So there was one no show at the hotel and one of the couples were able to stay in that room. As for the other couple, one of our wedding guests had his own room and offered to give that room to the couple, and the one male guest shared a room with another friend.   This guest that gave up his room is still attempting to get a refund for his room that he did not get to use. It has been almost 3 months. He has continually tried to contact destinationweddings.com and has been getting the run around.   These are just some of the issues....I could probably go on for days about all the little mess ups there were.   So, long story short, my experience with them was a NIGHTMARE!!! No not use Wedding Destinations and Planning | Destination Weddings .com at any cost!! You will regret it.

[peterpanpixiedust]

I was interested in them too, but they asked for $50 as a way to show you are serious. I heard some girls say they used other places that don't charge, so I choose not to use them. No bad reviews from me, just... why use a place that charges when there are free places. If you use a TA on here, I'm sure you will have plenty of help. I'm probably saying what everyone else has, but I thought I'd just help. Feel free to delete if this is redundant.