Commission vs fee-based Travel Agencies

I've been meaning at some point to perhaps connect with a TA to ask about honeymoon planning, so I was browsing through consortia pages, which had TA names, agencies, reviews, expertise or destination focus, etc.

I was looking through one page and they listed they operated on a 'Design Basis' and charged $1000 per trip (scrolling down the page the value was $500, and I figured they doubled their fee at some point).

I was wondering about the pros and cons of having agents who earn by fees vs commissions.

• Is that an issue or not? The concern in going to a TA is whether the TA is working to help you with where you want your travel to go vs them proving options that benefits them.
• Would fee-based TAs be more 'objective' and not push the highest-commission options? Like how we expect financial advisors who are fiduciaries to be guided by client interest because they make money by fees from the client, not commissions.
  • Although, a fee structure doesn't necessarily mean there aren't additional commissions.
• Does a 'design fee' necessarily mean you're getting anything more though? Or is it just an additional fee just because they can.

Another side concern: It seems many of these subreddits do have TA hanging out, but usually they're anonymous usernames without info, background, etc. How does one trust random reddit usernames?