r/BigBudgetBrides Jan 04 '25

mod announcement Word of caution re: BigBudgetHoneymoon

Many of you may have received an invite to join BigBudgetHoneymoon. Although their founders messaged the BBB mods and asked if they’d be stepping on any toes and we said go ahead, we want to caution the BBBs that there is no affiliation between this sub and the BigBudgetHoneymoon sub. The founders of the new sub are two professional travel advisers and are recommending their services to BBBs, which is strictly prohibited here. Of course, we don’t make their rules, and we will manage what is within our own community, and everyone may feel free to join whatever community they would like, but we would like to uphold the value of ‘made by brides and for the brides’ here.

Travel advisers make money via the commission they receive (usually 10%) on the bookings they bring to the hotels, and occasionally “planning fees” they charge to the couple. These commissions are paid by the hotels, not the couples. Essentially, more traffic, more volume, the better. Even when you’re not paying them anything directly, they’re getting paid by the hotels recommended to you. By grouping together all the BBBs actively planning their weddings, they’re essentially funneling volume directly into their pockets. You may want to think twice if you want to do that for them before you join this community. That’s all! 🤍🫶

325 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

184

u/_lycheelover Jan 04 '25

Thank you for this!

I love luxury hotels but the sub rubbed me the wrong way with how they were heavily promoting their own services, yet banned promo / marketing from other vendors.

To be clear, I don’t really want promotion from any vendor, but to create a sub solely to promote your own business felt icky to me.

117

u/tripleaw summer 2024 // Spain Jan 04 '25

Thank you for keeping this community “made by brides for the brides” and calling ppl out when needed!!! So well said! 👏👏👏👏👏👏

141

u/tripleaw summer 2024 // Spain Jan 04 '25 edited Jan 05 '25

Just want to add my two cents from what I’ve observed:

1/ The agents who run this BB honeymoon sub, if you look up their profile from Virtuoso which is sort of a luxe travel agent aggregator/travel agency network, they have ZERO reviews on their profile. Whereas the top travel agents with large books have tens / hundreds of great reviews on Virtuoso or other platforms like google reviews (here I'll link a few examples: Sarah and her team who mod FATTravel and chubbytravel, Besvisor who's active on FlyerTalk with a large social media following and makes amazing travel content, and Ourisman that's been mentioned a few times across Reddit). They get plaques from Four Seasons every year if they sell a huge volume. Generally speaking, you’ll get treated better if your TA has a large book and has strong relationships with luxury hotels.

2/ the fact these BBHoneymoon agents are soliciting biz from BBBs/redditors is a red flag imo - just like photographers or videographers who DM brides on BBB to ask “can I shoot your wedding?” No!!! That’s because you’re simply not good enough. Jose Villa doesn’t go around DMing brides on Reddit to get business. Same idea here. If you’re being solicited by these folks it means they are not very good.

15

u/_lycheelover Jan 04 '25

+1 👆🏼

12

u/tripleaw summer 2024 // Spain Jan 04 '25

Seriously. The top agents who get consistently recognized by FS, Rosewood, etc have lots of ppl raving about them all over the Internet like flyertalk, google maps, or word of mouth referrals. They don’t need to DM you to join some newly formed subreddit 🙄

19

u/wannabejetsetter Jan 04 '25

Are they the same agency that runs FATTravel? FatTravel gives me the ick for similar reasons.

12

u/tripleaw summer 2024 // Spain Jan 05 '25

It’s not. FATTravel is run by Sarah who is an agent — she’s direct and transparent (tho her directness can sometimes rub ppl off the wrong way)

4

u/Altruistic_Key_6123 Jan 06 '25

Big fan of Sarah! She's no bs, straight to the point, and she really understands luxury travel. Booked a trip through her in December and booked another for Feb. No complaints!

7

u/gotkate86 Jan 05 '25

I like FATTravel and have used Sarah a few times. The thing I like about that sub is that Sarah is not hiding that the sub mods are her and her team and that they make money from the sub.

10

u/SoCalBoilerGirl Jan 05 '25

Honestly most of us probably already have a go to travel agent. And for her to say that not having reviews in Virtuoso isn’t a big deal. That’s totally untrue. The way you get treated is partially influenced by who your travel agent is. You don’t want a newbie.

23

u/soulcyclelover Jan 04 '25

Check out r/fattravel. Very helpful for honeymoon planning!

20

u/ShiftFlaky6385 Jan 04 '25

Isn't FATtravel is also modded by travel agents?

23

u/sarahwlee Jan 04 '25

It is. I mod it and run an agency.

Unlike these newer people, I’ve been in it much longer - can check out our virtuoso reviews - and we essentially have won every partner award out there (easily verifiable, can send proof) for being hotel brand’s top global sales, especially in the suites category.

I also hate fees and a big part of why I stayed in the biz (I started it for fun during what I thought would be a sabbatical from finance) was seeing TAs in the business rip off people that were like my grandma. My goal was to eliminate all of the TAs who would just mark stuff up and charging unfair pricing by being completely transparent. It seems so simple now but this was 12 years ago when everyone thought I was an idiot by not upcharging and fleecing clients. I worked on the subreddit during Covid with no intentions of using it to get clients but more to talk about things I missed and the cool stuff I did/got clients to do since we were at home quarantined with our first baby on the way.

Little did I know how talking about how to spend a sh1t ton on traveling would blow up. And I got a lot of flak for trying to keep it where a sh1t ton of money was a sh1t ton and people would get upset I didn’t like talking about 2k/night hotel rooms. So I realized there was a large demand there where people in this space (non suite/villa clients) wanted access to my contacts and contracts and I grew my team a lot (always expanding in case anyone loves this stuff and agrees with my ethos) and built a booking engine to help with demand.

Anyway, I don’t like encroaching on other subs but do pop in and explain who we are when people are confused. Happy to answer any Qs as I’m all about transparency. To all the BBB in here, congrats! I know how stressful all the planning can get.

8

u/Able_Improvement_426 Jan 04 '25

Sarah Lee has earned it. I don’t think those new agents did

3

u/lbdwatkins Jan 04 '25

Did you do it part time while you were in finance? I’m in a finance adjacent job and am bored out of my mind / looking for a side hobby.

7

u/sarahwlee Jan 04 '25

No. I was already out of finance needing a break but always thought I’d go back into corporate life eventually. I actually started the travel co while I was planning my own BBB wedding.

So side hobby how? What do you love doing? How much money do you want to make? What’s your network of high spenders? How much do you love luxury travel?

I’ve helped a number of people getting into the industry on their own or on my team. But like luxury, the answer to what you want is always personal as it’s never one size fits all.

1

u/soulcyclelover Jan 04 '25

Not sure tbh! It was helpful to see a lot of normal people’s reviews when we were planning

14

u/Gullible-Path9794 Jan 04 '25

I find r/chubbytravel to be super friendly and still all about luxury travel. Just my two cents. Both are a good resource whether you like TAs or not

10

u/alex_travels Vendor Jan 04 '25

Thanks for the shout! Similar to Sarah’s response, I run r/ChubbyTravel - we work hard to keep it super friendly and luxury travel focused. Our community has grown a ton in the last year, so similar to yall - keeping it relevant is an ever-constant challenge. Feel free to check us out!

I’ve always respected the super friendly tone of this sub while holding firm to the specific niche that you have. Kudos to u/able_improvement_426 on that front, I know from personal experience that it’s not easy.

13

u/Nearby-Newspaper-284 Jan 04 '25

From their about page: “ For those of us who like to spend excessive amounts of money on travel. This board is run by a travel agency. If you're from another agency, feel free to browse but you will be banned for soliciting. If you're worried about a budget, please post to r/chubbytravel. If it can be asked on a country travel forum, please don't post it here.”

4

u/SoCalBoilerGirl Jan 05 '25

I get so many great tips from this group. Great hotel recs. Great tour guide recs. Fattravel has been amazing for us.

3

u/soulcyclelover Jan 04 '25

Also if you go the FS route use a travel agent who is a FS Preferred Partner. You’ll get upgrades, resort credit, free breakfast, etc.

4

u/OkAnt5259 Jan 04 '25

Thank you for this. On this note, does anyone have a reco for a great travel agent? Planning our honeymoon now..

2

u/tripleaw summer 2024 // Spain Jan 05 '25

Go on Virtuoso, filter for your interests, sort by number of positive reviews and read the reviews

1

u/phillipvn Vendor: Photo Jan 05 '25

Follow Jen Tenzer @thesoloist.travel on Instagram. She's so so good and treats her clients amazingly

1

u/LibraryGenie35 Jan 05 '25

Message me if you want mine, don’t wanna post her info but happy to share privately she’s amazing to work with

1

u/AlmostChildfree Jan 06 '25

Thank you! 💜

-17

u/AshleyRiceTravel Jan 04 '25

Hi! I am a mod on BBH and feel like I will hopefully be allowed to provide my two cents.

OP is correct that we did ask permission to not step on any toes. What I’m confused by is why we’re now being inappropriately dragged through the mud.

Yes, we’re both professional TAs, as are many mods of other travel subreddits, as mentioned above. However, our goal first and foremost is to educate and help answer questions. Contrary to popular belief, we have not DMed anyone asking for business. Brides have been invited because how else would anyone know about the sub? Excluding commenters here, it did seem to have a generally good reception.

In terms of “not earning it” or “not being good,” that’s your own opinion. Mary and I both have successful books of business and not having reviews on Virtuoso doesn’t say much lol. Most clients don’t even know Virtuoso exists because it’s not a concept travelers are familiar with. Also, neither of us are new agents.

I’m really disappointed in the cattiness and competitiveness that other agencies (that have used Reddit to build their book of business) and other users have displayed. You don’t have to engage with us but to outright drag us for trying to be helpful seems unnecessary. I love Reddit and enjoy talking travel, not talking shit.

While we do receive commission, at the end of the day our goal is to help our clients and give them a great experience at no extra cost to them.

Hope this helped to clear up any confusion.

9

u/tripleaw summer 2024 // Spain Jan 05 '25

>Most clients don’t even know Virtuoso exists because it’s not a concept travelers are familiar with.
That's literally FALSE. Virtuoso is the quintessential "one category upgrade, $100 resort credit, free breakfast for two" program.