First thing I want to mention is that I am not what you would call a seasoned traveler. In fact, I hadn't traveled anywhere for over 13 years, and never had traveled without additional family members. But I knew that for our honeymoon we needed some additional help to book the trip of our dreams. When I first contacted Totem Travel, I did it through e-mail and talked to the manager Linda. She was extremely helpful and answered all of my questions. After a few inquiries over e-mail she told me that it would be best if I came into the actual business to discuss details and possibly book the trip. When I first went in I met with a woman named Patty. She was beyond helpful, and was more than catering to the fact that I had no idea what I was doing. I felt as if I was in really good hands so I booked our honeymoon with Totem Travel. As the months went passed Patty was able to continue answering all my questions and helping me book additional details for our trip. Sometimes I would stop by Totem Travel to ask additional questions or confirm other details and even after months I would walk in and Patty would recognize me right away, ask me about how my work was going, remembering every detail that I had ever told her. It is great when a business these days can have that extra personal touch. I wouldn't even have to remind her who I was ever, because she was always one step ahead of me. We just got back from our honeymoon a few days ago and every little detail that I had discussed with Patty went exactly as she had said. She had requested to the hotel that we get a hotel room in a certain area and we did. She made sure that we sat next to eachother on every flight, and not every couple was that lucky. The trip was exactly what she had led my expectations to be. And it was the absolute perfect honeymoon. Upon arriving back I even received an e-mail from her asking how it went and wanting to see pictures. :) I would recommend this business to everyone! read more

We usually book our own travel arrangements but decided to go with a travel agency since this trip was for our honeymoon and we wanted to make everything as simple as possible. I found Totem Travel from their online reviews and sent them an email. Patty emailed us back and she was great to work with. We told her we wanted somewhere in Mexico on the Caribbean side and adults only. She found a few places for us and have us pricing for a week long trip and then some details about the different resorts. We even compared prices between Totem Travel and if we were to book it all ourselves and it was close to $500 cheaper to use Totem Travel! We ended up choosing a resort in Playa del Carmen that was right on the beach and had an adults only and family side as well. The trip included airfare, transportation to and from the airport and the stay itself. We are now back from our honeymoon and the resort was great. Patty did a great job working with us and I have already recommended her to family and friends. read more

My husband and I begun working with Patty at Totem travel a little over a year ago. We had gotten engaged and decided we wanted to celebrate our big day in Mexico with our close family and friends. When we met with Patty she asked a lot of questions, listed to us and provided us with many options. We were blown away by Patty's expertise and knowledge of all the resorts in the area. We decided to travel to The Royal at Playa Del Carmen. Once we decided on the resort Patty obtained a list of all our guests and worked with each couple to help them with their trip to Mexico! We are friends with some pretty seasoned travelers and not one of them could beat her prices. I cannot tell you how easy this made our life that Patty organized everyone's trip! As we approached the wedding date Patty was in constant communication with us and our guests. This made me and my husband feel very safe knowing she had our back. Ironically about a week before our trip there was a travel warning to this area in Mexico due to a ferry incident. Patty gave us all the details of the incident and provided us with feedback of her guests recent trips to make us feel safe. Once we arrived in Mexico we had a van pick us right up and take us to The Royal. When we arrived we felt like royalty. You cross the beautiful 5th ave shopping district and entered the most beautiful resort. I cannot stress how safe we felt in Mexico with all of the police presence and hospitality of the people. While on vacation we went on an excursion to Cozumel, Isla Muheres and The Majan Ruins at Tolum. Our wedding was the most special day and Charon (our wedding coordinator) and the rest of the staff made sure that everything was perfect. It is also worth noting that Patty had stayed at The Royal and let us know how dedicated the staff was and how prestine the grounds are. If you decide to have a destination wedding or simply get out of town for a few days I would highly recommend Patty at Totem Travel! We will be working with her in the years to come. read more

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I first used Totem to plan an all-inclusive to Puerto Vallarta many years ago after a colleague had a good experience planning their honeymoon with Linda (the manager at Totem.) Although my experience with Totem was good, the accommodations, food, and location of our trip were dreadful - worst money spent on a trip hands down. I decided to give them another shot, and Linda basically blew me off. When asking about details or info for an upcoming trip I was hoping to take with my fiancé, she responded three days later suggesting that time/space was limited to make the trip happen and she threw a grotesque quote at me. Granted, we were trying to go to Costa Rica in December and I contacted them at the beginning of November - I admit, we cut it close. When I asked for a little more research and provided her with some specifics as far as dates and what we wanted to do on our trip, she got back with a one-liner to the effect of "you're too late." When I emailed a day later to say "thanks, peace out" I got an auto-response saying that she was on safari in Kenya and that I should talk to one of her associates. I can respect that she may have been busy trying to get out of town, but why treat a customer like garbage instead of just referring them to one of your colleagues in the first place? Even if she had given us ideas, links, brochures, SOMETHING to give us some traction on planning. I'm sorry to say we won't be going back. read more

****DO NOT**** utilize this service! The way Linda Martindell (Manager) handled her potential customer was horrible. I had given her the dates and times of travel and said I would like a quote on an all inclusive hotel plus transportation. She responds a month later by saying "I am backlogged on requests so if you are just shopping around for quotes, I'll leave you with that". Worst customer service ever! Who....in the right mind within the customer service world would treat people like this????! I would rather book my travel through her competitor than to be treated this way. If I were you, I would definitely work with a different company if you are planning to go to Tahiti. Totem Travel is NOT the way to go! read more

This is a horrible business! The "New Zealand specialist" I spoke with was SO unprofessional and rude, she lost my business right away. I came in to inquire about planning a 3 week trip to New Zealand. She took one look at me and assumed I was some college kid planning a budget vacation, and said her services were too expensive for my type! Before knowing anything about me or my trip plans, she said "i don't do B&B's or hostels", and that she "did not know if I would be worth her time". It was like I was out of the movie Pretty Woman! First of all, I'm a 38 yr old ICU Nurse! Maybe I should be flattered she thought I was in college, but the fact is, she judged me pretentiously, and assumed she would not be making any money off me. Their loss! I just wanted to share with others what type of business this is. Snotty and pretentious. read more

We have just had the good luck to find this travel agency. Patty, our travel agent, has been efficient and lovely to work with. She has secured the best price and eagerly answered all of our silly questions. Our trip is in a couple of months, but we have NO doubt that when we are gone and IF something goes wrong, we will have Patty at the helm, making it all better. We will be using her for all of our future trips! Thanks Patty!! read more

We booked a family vacation to Hawaii and enjoyed a seemless process. I've also received great insights into traveling abroad as we prepare to travel abroad more in the future. We're currently working on going to Sandals. read more

We heard some good things about Totem Travel and we needed an agent to help plan our honeymoon in Belize 2 months in advance, so we walked in one afternoon on the weekend and spoke with Linda. She listened to all the things we wanted to do and wrote them down and with her expertise immediately came up with some ideas that were exciting to us. She too had been to Belize, and knew the all the good spots and deals. We were able to take some Belize brochures home with us and a list of resort names and excursions she suggested. My wife and I took a little time to research what we wanted to do and agreed her suggestions made sense for us. Once my wife and I figured out all the dates we wanted to go and things to do I gave Linda a call and she did the rest for us and made it so easy and hassle free! Linda booked all of our flight reservations, all of our transfers, and reservations at the resorts and was in constant contact through email to update us. She made it super easy and within our proposed budget. By the time the trip was almost here, Linda carefully, and clearly explained to me the order of events and what papers I would need for the transfers and answered any questions I had. I liked how she really took her time with me to make sure I got what I needed to know, I didnt feel rushed or anything, and I appreciated that and since this was our big trip outside the states by ourselves, she definitely made me feel comfortable and confident about the big trip! We were so excited! And guess what? The trip to Belize was amazing and flawless! We stayed at San Ignacio Resort and Hamanasi Resort, both were awesome! Hamanasi Resort was the best resort we have ever stayed at. We saw the mayan temples, we went cave exploring, snorkeling, hiking, birding, canoeing. All the flights, transfers between resorts and the airport were on time and with Linda's help, the trip was really easy and stress free and we had such a relaxing honeymoon. I would totally go back to Totem Travel again, I really trusted Linda with her recommendations and expertise and we got an amazing honeymoon. Best of all she made it really easy and stress free, and thats what a vacation is suppose to be all about, right? She also gave us this little binder to keep all of our passports, tickets, and reservation papers in and that came in super handy during the trip! Thanks Totem Travel and Linda! read more

Patty at Totem Travel has been fabulous to work with. She is so efficient, friendly, knowledgeable and caring. Patty is easy to get ahold of. I can either call or email her and will have a response within a short period of time. I am using her to book our wedding/honeymoon and she has made the process so easy. I plan to refer her to our friends/family and will book our next trip with her. read more

We were planning a honeymoon to Fiji and had contacted several agencies for pricing. Totem Travel, and specifically Linda, was so incredibly easy to work with, it was not a difficult decision to go with them. She listened to what we were looking for, and what activities we wanted and provided us with great options. Now that we have returned, I must say she did an amazing job! The resorts we stayed at were exactly what we were looking for, and we couldn't have been happier. Linda kept us updated on itineraries, payment scheduling, any travel related issues, and was so helpful in editing or adding anything to our package at any time. She was always available to answer our questions and make sure we had everything we needed. We would definitely use Totem again and would highly recommend them!! read more

This has to be one of my best rental car experience ever! I was in and got the car out in about 5 min! There is no BS, no pushing, no upsell in the front desk! The front desk staff was very pleasant to deal with. After reading the scary reviews of the other car rentals around the LAX area, this was a great relief! read more

They make vacation planning easy. They answered all my questions, and were not pushy. I will definitely use them again.