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

[katrina305]

Staceysbride- my wedding coordinatior was also Brittany. When I first signed up for destinationweddings.com, she called me a few times which was good to get a feel of what I was looking for (Jan). I told her that I was planning a trip to Mexico in March and she told me that she would set up some appointments for me to visit hotels while I was there, which I thought was great idea. I contacted her before she gave me the list of hotels, and told her that I was very interested in Palace hotels, and she said she had bad experiences with them and i shouldn't consider them. I have vacationed at Palace resorts before and LOVE them. So I asked her for examples of what went worng when she worked with them, and she never responded. Then about a month later claimed to be checking in, and asked if I got her last email about her experinces at Palace, and I responded no I did not, and she never responded, or set up the appoinments for me when I visited Mexico. So, I went to Mexico a few weeks ago, and did my own site visits and decided on Cancun Palace. The reason why I think she was steering me away from Palace is because in order for me to get the perks, my guests have to book directly through the hotel which means no commision for her. I'm glad I learned this early in my planning stages NOT to use her! Sorry for your bad experience.

[katrina305]

Sorry, just re-read and realized I had the same coordinator as H-Town Liz , not stacyesbride.

[beachymombride]

I am helping my daughter plan her wedding and we used DW. One word useless!! My daughter's only stress during this entire planning was dealing with the DW agent her email response were short boarderline rude. When you wrote to her you felt you were bothering her. No detail response or no response at all. I wished I read or found this site before we used them. We are going to write a complaint letter but my daughter wants to wait until after the wedding. I would not recommend them. I feel if you don't buy the travel insurance the service drops to the bottom of the earth. I would just go with a local TA or try to find another DW TA with good reviews.

[jk1101]

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachymombride I am helping my daughter plan her wedding and we used DW. One word useless!! My daughter's only stress during this entire planning was dealing with the DW agent her email response were short boarderline rude. When you wrote to her you felt you were bothering her. No detail response or no response at all. I wished I read or found this site before we used them. We are going to write a complaint letter but my daughter wants to wait until after the wedding. I would not recommend them. I feel if you don't buy the travel insurance the service drops to the bottom of the earth. I would just go with a local TA or try to find another DW TA with good reviews.

that sucks - I hope she still has a beautiful wedding -

I actually sent a letter to the 'manager" as well as to the president of DW.com a few weeks after my wedding - they have been very nice so far - it was important to me that they know who was representing them - my TA is very nice, just not very bright, and not a good TA compared to what I've heard about other TAs. Luckily, my wedding was AMAZING, but my DW.com TA was atrocious.

[Pinky]

Wow so much great info on this thread. I know who NOT to go with now!

[ali0284]

Mine was great at first. After several of us had booked our trip, it was like pulling teeth. Then I gave her name to a lot of my guests, and she would tell them she would call them back with prices, etc, and NEVER did. They kept calling her but she wouldn't answer or get back to them until DAYS later. So needless to say, all my other guests ended up booking through someone else. USELESS!!! DO NOT USE, they are travel agents and that is all. THey don't know ANYTHING about where to have a destination wedding, the hotels, etc. Don't be fooled. Consider yourself warned I plan on contacting a manager AFTER my wedding which is in less than 2 weeks!

[taylorwd]

Wow, so my experience with DW.com has not been perfect but it has by no means been like what you all are experiencing. I never would have found my resort without my TA. We traded ideas back and forth for a month until we found just the right one. I credit her completely with the resort we ended up with. It's true she didn't know much about weddings at my resort, but when it came to all the travel stuff, she was on it. Just remember, these are TA's; they're not WC's. Once I came to that realization myself and stopped relying on her for wedding info, we had a great relationship. She got us a great deal and fixed any travel hiccups that came up, and there were quite a few!

[Missjacks]

I'm still working with DW.com as of now and also had to switch TA's. The new TA that I am assigned to now has been awesome so far. She’s quick with responses, also forwards me any information that the resort WC sends her. Also a guest had to cancel a ‘plus one’ they were bringing and switch airline departure locations that he said my TA did with out any problems and also credited him the difference back onto his credit card.

 

She also will email ME when she hasn’t heard from me in awhile or just to see how things are going with the wedding planning.

 

The first TA that I was given never returned my calls, was a bit abrasive and lax on certain things and my guests tell me they like the new TA a lot better as she is easier to work with. So I do believe it can depend on what TA you have assigned to.

 

There’s still 5 months to go, so we’ll see how things turn out til then. Will update later.

[bsf&jpg]

my TA is with DW.com and in hindsight, I would not have worked with them. Honestly because in the beginning it was poor cust srvc. But after complaining to the manager, she made a 360 and was much better. However, we had to put a deposit on 10 rooms. The balance is due 5/28. I have 4 rooms left unfilled. It is a bit stressful. With destination weddings, we all know guests drop like flies so its difficult to get people to commit and pay up. EVEN with giving them 6 months notice. I would just have ppl book through expedia/orbitz/cheapcaribbean, etc. they get whatever deal they can find.

but GL to those who booked them.

[taylorwd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bsf&jpg I would just have ppl book through expedia/orbitz/cheapcaribbean, etc. they get whatever deal they can find. but GL to those who booked them.

Just a piece of advice, I would be really careful about telling people to book on those sites. The resorts ALWAYS oversell and the ones who booked through those are the first ones to get bumped to another resort.

Group contracts can be stressful because you have to worry about filling the rooms. But the flip side is that not having one is stressful, too-- you have to worry about the resort running out of rooms and/or rates going up. People can make an argument for and against group contracts but the bottom line is that both ways have their pros/cons and ALL DWs are stressful!