As a travel consultant of 8 years, I wanted to take this time to give some helpful tips to those traveling soon with a group of people they may not know too well;
Or you are slightly afraid to travel after hearing about the recent incidents that occurred in Cabo with Shanquella Robinson.
Don’t be afraid, be cautious.
Don’t ignore any signs from anyone you are traveling with.
If you do ignore them or didn’t see the signs, follow these tips:
- Always book a resort or hotel without a roommate. (Pay a little extra and get your own room with your own key.)
- Make sure the resort is a FOUR and FIVE star in a well populated or a busy area. (SMALL BOUTIQUE hotels in the center of the action not tucked off or secluded is great).
- Never be alone in your room or in the room of another guest you don’t know too well.
- Always meet with the group or other travelers in an open setting, (RESTAURANT, LOBBY, NIGHTCLUB, or anywhere there are a lot of people.
- Never share your keys with others.
- Always tell someone back at home where you are everyday (BE CONSISTENT).
- Don’t accept drinks from anyone, especially if you didn’t see that it was made by the bartender/waitress.
- Don’t book a Private Airbnb or Private Rental with people you are not that familiar with, even if there’s one person you may know very well.. (Hotels and Resorts are great for group trips with a mixture of friends in attendance)
- Book your own trip through a travel professional hired by the hosts, or book on your own after you receive all the details from the group. (DON’T LET THEM BOOK IT FOR YOU.)
- If you are the organizer of the trip let everyone know you will be monitoring or approving guests invites or keep the invite list small with people you know well.
Bonus: Avoid letting the organizer of the trip know you are actually going. Always keep that window open EVEN if you have booked the trip. If they have a travel consultant let the travel consultant know to not announce to the group or organizer that you are going. Say something along the lines, “I may have to cancel and don’t want to disappoint anyone.” or “I want the host to be surprised.” 
Traveling alone has become very popular, and I send dozens of solo travelers safely to destinations all across the globe per year.
Here are a few tips I want to share that I give to my solo travelers to make sure that they are ALWAYS safe no matter what.
- Hire a professional travel consultant to do the research on finding solo traveler friendly lodging all around the globe.
- Make sure that two people back home have your hotel address, phone, and contact them daily before bed or before you leave for the day. STAY CONSISTENT.
- At the resort NEVER let anyone in your room alone.
- Never tell other guests at the resort you are alone.
- Have your person back home call the resort after check in to be patched to your room so the front desk knows you have people concerned for you.
- Always travel to excursions with a GROUP of others. Don’t do solo or private excursions. AVOID THOSE.
- Try not to walk to your room after dark alone. Find an onsite concierge or find others going in that direction. Splurge and get the hotel package with a Butler if available.
- Secure your doors at night so there’s no way someone can come in without you hearing anything. Purchase a door stopper you can pack in your luggage and place behind the door at night.
- Hostels, Smaller Boutique Resorts, Verified Super Host Airbnb’s ONLY with hundreds of reviews, and Large All Inclusive LUXURY resorts are always a go to for solo travelers.
I know this information will not bring that lovely young woman back to life.
This story continues to unfold with no one really knowing what actually transpired and why it even happened.
Her tragic death will not be in vain.
We must all learn from this story.
May there be a swift apprehension of the suspects, and may her family continue to seek Justice for their daughter.
Until next time…
Peace and Love,
JaQuay
Certified Travel Consultant
Young Lifestyle Travel
www.ylstravel.com
