Iberostar does not publish this list anywhere. There is no press release. There is no public leaderboard somewhere you can go look it up. But once a year, they bring their top producing agents from North America together for the Star Agent Awards and hand each of us a physical award. And that’s basically the whole entire ceremony. And if you aren’t in the room, you will absolutely never know that this happens.
This year, the room was at JOIA Paraíso by Iberostar in the Riviera Maya, over the last few days of June into the first few days of July. And I was proudly there, mostly because I had already booked this as my family trip that we take every single year to Iberostar, and it just so happened to coincide with the award ceremony. I counted the room: about thirty of us. In all of North America.
My name is Michael Boguslavskiy, and I am the travel agent behind Caballeros Vacations, and proudly one of Iberostar’s Top Star Agents. That’s the award Iberostar gives its top producing travel agents in North America, measured on booking volume over the past year.
And the award itself is new to my shelf, but the standing is not. My Iberostar numbers have been at this level for several years now. This was just the year I could actually make it to the award ceremony. It fit my schedule. And now I have something heavy sitting on my shelf to prove it.
But instead of writing some victory lap post, I want to use this time to answer the question that actually affects you guys: what does booking your Iberostar trip with a top producer get you that booking it elsewhere just doesn’t?
Staying There a Bunch Is Good. Selling It Constantly Is Better.
Plenty of agents have been to an Iberostar resort, most likely at some point in their career. They’ve done a site inspection, a familiarization trip. Maybe they got a certificate from a webinar. In fact, I actually have a training webinar out for travel agents about the Iberostar Paraíso resort complex. But all of that really just gives you a snapshot of what a resort really is like, and feels like. The resort the way it looked for one week, one year ago.
Selling this brand at volume gives you basically a live feed.
Here’s what that looked like recently. In the space of ONE year, Iberostar went from taking dining reservations, to taking none, to hibachi only, to adding the steakhouse, to adding Olivetti, to opening the Maya restaurants to Lindo guests. Five policy changes. One year. Every single one of them landed on real vacations the week it rolled out.
I knew about every one of them the week it rolled out. Because my clients were standing in those resorts when it happened.
And that is what all of this volume actually gets you guys. Which restaurants at your resort are included. Which ones need a reservation, and when you need to lock that in. Which policy quietly changed since that blog post you read last winter. When you book with me, you don’t find any of this out at the front desk. You find it out from me, before you ever fly.
And yes, I have absolutely been to these properties myself. I’ve personally stayed at over 100 of the resorts I sell, and I’ve learned which rooms are worth it and which ones photograph better than they live. The stays give me the feel of a place. The volume keeps the information current. You want your agent to have both.
When Something Goes Wrong
Booking a room is the easy part. Anyone can do that. The question I’d ask ANY agent, booking site, or app before handing them your vacation: what happens when something goes sideways on day two?
With a big booking site, I can tell you exactly what happens. You call a 1-800 number. You sit on hold. And you end up talking to a call center that doesn’t know you, has never set foot in the resort, and doesn’t actually care.
Several years at this production level comes with something you cannot buy off a shelf: direct lines. To the actual properties. To staff who work there. When one of my travelers has an issue at an Iberostar, I’m not opening a support ticket. I’m reaching out to people at that property who can walk over and make it right.
And this is not theoretical. It literally happened while I was writing this article. I had clients on property at one of the big Iberostar resorts in the Riviera Maya. They went to set up some dining reservations, and instead of going through their building concierge (it’s in my trip guide for that resort, but vacation brain is real), they asked at the main lobby. The lobby routed them to the timeshare desk. And the timeshare desk gave them a hard time, hinting that reservation help comes easier to guests who sit through the sales breakfast first.
That is NOT Iberostar policy. Not even close. That’s a sales desk saying sales desk things. My clients found their building concierge, who took care of them, and they shot me an email about what happened.
And then I was on the phone. With the front desk. With the resort’s public relations supervisor. With my Iberostar BDM. By the time I put the phone down I had made sure of three things: my guests get reached out to directly, they get personalized attention on any reservation they had trouble with, and the timeshare push stays away from them for the rest of their trip.
One email from my clients. Same day. Because the relationships behind this award run both ways. Iberostar’s own team wanted that experience fixed as fast as I did.
That’s what top producer status is really worth. And who’s it worth it to? Not me. You guys.
The Small Stuff You Only Learn From the Inside
I posted a few photos from the Star Agent Awards over on my LinkedIn.
Some of what this standing gets my travelers is big: policy changes, dining access, the right room category for how they actually vacation.
And some of it is small and wonderful. Like the completely unlabeled ice cream bar hiding above the swim up pool at Iberostar Selection Paraíso. It’s not on the resort map. Most guests walk past it their entire stay. My travelers know about it before they’ve packed a suitcase.
That’s the level of detail I mean when I say I know this brand. And that’s what years of top production actually builds. A knowledge base. The award just made it official.
Planning an Iberostar Trip?
This is where I’m supposed to pile on the urgency and tell you to book RIGHT NOW. I won’t. No urgency games here.
Just this. If an Iberostar vacation is sitting on your someday list, reach out to me with some rough dates. I’ll tell you which property fits you, which room category is worth the money, and whether Iberostar is even the right brand for your trip. And if it’s not, I’ll say so and point you somewhere better.
Because all of us work way too hard to not enjoy our vacations.
