Travel Tom

he was nice but the problem i had with him is that he would not go with what i was telling him i wanted and kept trying to steer me in another direction. My whole thing is that i wanted to hear a few of my options but he was stuck on one thing, which was making it difficult for me to pick anything.

I understand him wanting to stick to a budget but when he says if he found an option that was even just a dollar more than what we said he wont even mention it to us, i said no please mention it to me. I didnt give him an exact amount but more of a range. For some reason this caused him alot of confusion. Well first let me explain so it makes more sense. The whole thing is that Fh and said we wanted to go to monaco and spain, now the thing was that we werent sure at the time how long to stay at each place, i said we'll decide after he gives us a couple of different options, which has always been my experience with other TA's and they all were able to do this. He kept saying well i wont know what to give you unless you give me an exact amount so i said ok if you dont want a range then here is this amount BUT if its a little bit more and worth it then i would like to know and he said no, i said ok but that is just a range i am not looking to stick to that EXACT amount i just need your help to give me a couple of options with different price ranges and THEN i will decide. He kinda kept trying to steer us in another direction. The thing is for spain we were set on a hotel and fh had his heart set on it and didnt want another option. He kept trying to tell us other places we can stay at or something else we should do, i said no this is a definite so to stick with that, but somehow in the middle of the convo i had to end up saying listen we'll book the hotel in spain on our own then bc we can just do it online. I said monaco and gave options of 2 hotels. But throughout the whole thing it was alot of back and forth with him to ask him to please not stick to the price range he felt we should stick to, i said id rather hear my options and that i would personally like to make the decision myself rather than someone else decide for me what i should spend. The reason i even called is bc fh and i couldnt decide how many days to stay in spain, that wouldve all been based on the deal we could've gotten for monaco, and then we would've been able to determine all this. I just wanted to hear, if you stay 3 days in monaco at x hotel it would be this much, if you do 4-5 days it would be x amount or a week.

He said he will call me right back that night and he didn't. I understand if someone is busy but i honestly stayed up waiting for the phonecall since it was 11pm when i got off the phone with him, i finally figured he wouldn't call and went to sleep. He did leave me a VM DAYS later but at that point i decided to go elsewhere.

I had looked online and found GREAT deals and said i would do it myself bc these prices were hard to beat. FMIL said to try the TA they use at her company and i decided why not. This guy gave us seriously such an amazing deal. Even with expedia at $500 one way to spain, he beat that and with a MUCH better airline. For both me and fh together our flights from NYC to barcelona then barcelona to france, then france to NYC came out to 2k so 1k each which is insane. WIth non-stop flights too, and it was the flights with the shortest amount of time. In monaco he suggested a hotel that he had sent other clients too we checked it out and we loved it and again since he did business with them got an amazing deal. So TA's can help, but i like for someone to go by what i tell them, to check my different options and let me decide.

He was very nice though, and i understand that many times he has ppl who call and say i dont want to go a dollar over X amount. But when i say let me know if its a little more so i can see for myself if its worth, i would like to be told instead of being told no

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Posted by Espo22

he was nice but the problem i had with him is that he would not go with what i was telling him i wanted and kept trying to steer me in another direction. My whole thing is that i wanted to hear a few of my options but he was stuck on one thing, which was making it difficult for me to pick anything.

I understand him wanting to stick to a budget but when he says if he found an option that was even just a dollar more than what we said he wont even mention it to us, i said no please mention it to me. I didnt give him an exact amount but more of a range. For some reason this caused him alot of confusion. Well first let me explain so it makes more sense. The whole thing is that Fh and said we wanted to go to monaco and spain, now the thing was that we werent sure at the time how long to stay at each place, i said we'll decide after he gives us a couple of different options, which has always been my experience with other TA's and they all were able to do this. He kept saying well i wont know what to give you unless you give me an exact amount so i said ok if you dont want a range then here is this amount BUT if its a little bit more and worth it then i would like to know and he said no, i said ok but that is just a range i am not looking to stick to that EXACT amount i just need your help to give me a couple of options with different price ranges and THEN i will decide. He kinda kept trying to steer us in another direction. The thing is for spain we were set on a hotel and fh had his heart set on it and didnt want another option. He kept trying to tell us other places we can stay at or something else we should do, i said no this is a definite so to stick with that, but somehow in the middle of the convo i had to end up saying listen we'll book the hotel in spain on our own then bc we can just do it online. I said monaco and gave options of 2 hotels. But throughout the whole thing it was alot of back and forth with him to ask him to please not stick to the price range he felt we should stick to, i said id rather hear my options and that i would personally like to make the decision myself rather than someone else decide for me what i should spend. The reason i even called is bc fh and i couldnt decide how many days to stay in spain, that wouldve all been based on the deal we could've gotten for monaco, and then we would've been able to determine all this. I just wanted to hear, if you stay 3 days in monaco at x hotel it would be this much, if you do 4-5 days it would be x amount or a week.

He said he will call me right back that night and he didn't. I understand if someone is busy but i honestly stayed up waiting for the phonecall since it was 11pm when i got off the phone with him, i finally figured he wouldn't call and went to sleep. He did leave me a VM DAYS later but at that point i decided to go elsewhere.

I had looked online and found GREAT deals and said i would do it myself bc these prices were hard to beat. FMIL said to try the TA they use at her company and i decided why not. This guy gave us seriously such an amazing deal. Even with expedia at $500 one way to spain, he beat that and with a MUCH better airline. For both me and fh together our flights from NYC to barcelona then barcelona to france, then france to NYC came out to 2k so 1k each which is insane. WIth non-stop flights too, and it was the flights with the shortest amount of time. In monaco he suggested a hotel that he had sent other clients too we checked it out and we loved it and again since he did business with them got an amazing deal. So TA's can help, but i like for someone to go by what i tell them, to check my different options and let me decide.

He was very nice though, and i understand that many times he has ppl who call and say i dont want to go a dollar over X amount. But when i say let me know if its a little more so i can see for myself if its worth, i would like to be told instead of being told no

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I am so sorry you had to go through that : ) Can you please FM the name of your travel agent? I am willing to shop around

I agree with Denise:

he was nice but the problem i had with him is that he would not go with what i was telling him i wanted and kept trying to steer me in another direction. My whole thing is that i wanted to hear a few of my options but he was stuck on one thing, which was making it difficult for me to pick anything.

We are going to Alaska. He didn't seem to know much about it and actually tried to change our mind, saying that the trip is a long one and do you really want to spend that much time in the air and you will be tired and I would hate for you to feel tired on your honeymoon. We researched this location for months and it was really the only place that met our needs. When I called him back to say yes, we are sure, he pretty much told me he couldn't help me because his vendors don't book there. I booked with expedia and stayed at nice, chain hotels. (I did originally want a log cabin, but they don't exist there apparently for rentals, and he did help me to see that.) I got an AMAZING deal on our flights and the hotels. I got the impression he didn't really want to help because he doesn't know anything about Alaska. He wasn't rude, but he did give me an air of disinterest ...

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Posted by Annoulak
So, as great as Travel Tom is, he is not without his flaws.

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We had a great experience with Tom and we still highly recommend him. However, I agree that NO ONE is without flaws - he may not be the right fit for you depending on what you're looking for - but the only way you will know is to call and see. He has helped a ton of ladies on here book wonderful honeymoons, so that speaks for itself that he does do a great job.

The only reason I even called is because of how so many girls here rave about him. I was a little leary of the fact that I've only ever seen a cell number and e-mail address for him. I checked AmEx's travel website; they have a list of their agents, and I couldn't find anything on him.

But, anyway, I did my research before speaking with him and knew what I wanted. He ended up giving me a MUCH higher quote. When I pointed this out he said, well that must not include airfare. Like someone else said, first he tried to tell me I was wrong. So I gave the benefit of doubt and I checked again with the other agent...it included the airfare AND a package...his did not. So when I clarified this to him, then he tried to talk me out of the other deal and put doubts in my head about the other agent being as available as him if something happened. I purchased insurance, so that shouldn't be an issue. I had a hard time even getting him on the phone. And, I just didn't appreciate feeling like he was trying to double talk me. It just turned me off. I felt more comfortable dealing with the agent I used.

And, incidentally, even if you book on-line, if you have an AmEx account you can purchase insurance through them. I did that the last time I went away. I booked my flight directly with AA, booked my hotel directly with the resort, and purchased insurance through AmEx.

the thing with some TA's is that they specialize in certain areas which is fine. We had contacted 3 TA's in total. One was a TA FH's family used quite a few times, but when we told him what places we wanted he told us straight up he specializes in the caribbean, cruises and packages of that sort and that hes sorry but he doesn't have alot of info on europe and doesn't have alot of connections there, i was glad that he just told us straight up. Its fine and understandable.

With travel tom i notice the girls who post about booking with him are usually alot of the same places. I see hawaii alot, st. lucia and other parts of the caribbean. So if thats what youre looking for then for that i think he will have alot of options since seems like he specializes in that.

He seems to book a lot of Mexico too. I agree...just be straight forward. When I checked on AmEx there is a description for what each agent specializes in whether it's Carribean cruises or so on.

The part I forgot to mention was that when I said I got a much lower prices for everything, he asked with who, and then was suddenly able to match it.

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Posted by Brooklynbride


I am sorry, my experience with Tom himself has been very pleasant, just a little dissapointed with the quotes. We will still book through him,

But travel Tom has been great as far as personality and patience.

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I know this thread is over a week old and sounds like you are looking at other options.. I just wanted to add my two cents that you should NOT 'still book through him'. If you aren't happy there are HUNDREDS of TAs out there. Dont give him your business, he doesn't sound worth it!

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Posted by Espo22

the thing with some TA's is that they specialize in certain areas which is fine. We had contacted 3 TA's in total. One was a TA FH's family used quite a few times, but when we told him what places we wanted he told us straight up he specializes in the caribbean, cruises and packages of that sort and that hes sorry but he doesn't have alot of info on europe and doesn't have alot of connections there, i was glad that he just told us straight up. Its fine and understandable.

With travel tom i notice the girls who post about booking with him are usually alot of the same places. I see hawaii alot, st. lucia and other parts of the caribbean. So if thats what youre looking for then for that i think he will have alot of options since seems like he specializes in that.

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Exactly - and honestly, I felt that since I wasn't going there, he didn't want to bother. Not a nice feeling, but if you ARE going there, great for you!

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Posted by melbalalala

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Posted by Brooklynbride


I am sorry, my experience with Tom himself has been very pleasant, just a little dissapointed with the quotes. We will still book through him,

But travel Tom has been great as far as personality and patience.

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I know this thread is over a week old and sounds like you are looking at other options.. I just wanted to add my two cents that you should NOT 'still book through him'. If you aren't happy there are HUNDREDS of TAs out there. Dont give him your business, he doesn't sound worth it!

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Oh!!! Thanks I really appreciate your advice. After an incident that happened after this posting(which I will not write about or FM---sorry!!!) I will not book with him. We decided to go with someone else who is close to us and matched the Expedia price. We got the insurance through Amex as well, but through the card directly.

The reason I posted this topic is because there are certain things about vendors that we should be made aware of. Who you decide to book with is always up to you.....like another bride here posted....some TA's might be what you are looking for and work for you 100% and some might not.

I never posted this topic to critizice Travel Tom, but just to air my concern about the prices. Business and personal are separate. Tom as a person is great and has a great personality, however...the prices (regardles of which vendors he uses) are always and issue as many can read here. Also, yes!!!! people are not without flaws, but if you can be made aware of the flaws that persom has, you might be able to understand it better and even 'work' with it.

Besides....we are here to help each other!!! Isn't this the reason for this whole thing Who can we count on if we can't count on each other? We are all dealing with the same issues or at least similar issues about our weddings. Any little bit helps

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Posted by DLM107

I used Travel Tom 2x and he has always been awesome. He expressed to me on the phone one day, that he goes away on a lot of business trips. He wants to help everybody but does not always have the chance to return calls right away. LIW girls are not even 10% of his business. So just imagine how many girls you see post about him and then the the other 90% of the people he helps. When you do deal with him, he gives you his cell # and home # so when you do go away and you have any problems you can contact him. I called him once not realizing it was his house # and spoke to his wife and she said he is always busy helping people. It is in his nature. Not everybody is perfect, but he is very good!!

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I am glad you had a great experience with him Is always good to know the good and the bad about a vendor service if possible. For example, last year my FH and I went away to the Caribbean (a place highly recommended by people who had visited the hotel ---by the way TA's are people to, they might have a different taste than you even though you explain what you are looking for) and when we went there we hated the place. We had booked through Expedia because they provided us with the better price of all. When we got to the hotel, we called Expedia and let them know we hated the location and found another hotel next to it which was better and we would like to transfer. Expedia did the transfer with no problem. They also returned some of our money back because the other hotel was cheaper This was at 1:00AM in the morning on a Saturday. Can we call TA's at 1:00AM? Is that possible? I am asking not to be sarcastic, but because I really need to know. What if their vendors are not available? Like I was informed the time I called the TA on a Sunday and could not provide me with a proper quote because the vendors were not available. What do you do then?

Just asking because would like to be informed

i went with DAWN from cruise one. She is a vendor here and she is great!!! She emails me at least 5x a day and she is really working her *** off to save us money.

I suggest you check her out. She also does a registry which was important to me.

Tell her Dana sent you

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Posted by azailia

i went with DAWN from cruise one. She is a vendor here and she is great!!! She emails me at least 5x a day and she is really working her *** off to save us money.

I suggest you check her out. She also does a registry which was important to me.

Tell her Dana sent you

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Thanks

I am sorry to hear that you had such a hard time with this.

I booked with Travel Solutions by Marcia. Marcia was a pleasure to deal with and spent a lot of time working with us at an evening appointment. I had called several agencies and met with 2 others. Marcia got us the best price and we felt really comfortable working with her. This part of the planning should be easy and she made it that way for us.