Well.. I understand your point of view Amanda. Im not sure if i ever spoke to you as a booker, but I know your a great girl when I met you and was never disappointed.
The bookers are not credited with what they are due in this industry. They are very extremely hard working people and do the best to recommend what they feel is what would fit the profile that you would want.
I'll give a point of view that I've seen that i'm sure many other merbist have not. I have been on both sides of the industry, Working for one as a scheduler for an agency in Toronto ages ago when I was in University as well as going to agencies here. I have great respect for the bookers as their jobs are not as simple as most people think it is.
I'll stick to what Merb has to offer and what we agencies used to be here, or at least advertise to stay in the scope of this forum.
Before Euphoria and XO, I had close contact with Mike from Candygirls/GoodGirls and you cannot say he did not know or ever seen the girls. He drinks at the hotel incall lobby all the time with his girls!. They hang out, relax, chill etc. He knows is girls, he knows how they look outside of a picture, he knew their attitudes from just sitting with them. I'm sure James from Euphoria knows his girls too. He talks to them and all the time, same with Matt at Velvet, both of them are extremely professional when I ever reach out, but that would be the scope of how much those 2 bookers do and work and take care of their girls. I wouldn't be able to say more as I do not know them that much more but every conversation is always professional and they make you feel like your the VIP customer all the time.
I especially know Sam at XO and how meticulous he is to making sure his girls are happy. I've supported Sam since his first ever girl Ashley and have probably been a key customer for him during his first 2-3 years of business. At the beginning it was just Sam, he was alone but he did everything. He would not post a girl up for work without ever meeting her, setting basis, guidelines, knowing a bit more about them. I understand your point of view "they doesn't know because they didn't see the girl naked and know little about the service. The bookers get their information from their clients whom are willing to take the dive to try and give the most honest feedback possible, good or bad. Some of these clients eventually build a closer relation to the booker, helping the business out. The clients themselves do not benefit from this, but with the quality control eventually set, it helps the business grow to what it is today. Every agency has their go to customers to get the most honest information. The booker uses that information to support what he knows and builds a profile. I understand that the booker cannot fill the needs and expectations of every single client, but when you have a booker getting feedback, positive or negative, it gives an outline and a basis to recommend to others.
From that information, this is where the recommendations are. Sometimes they recommend based on what physical attraction you might have to the girl, but it doesn't mean you will have a good time with the person.
I will give an example, probably one that Sam is aware about. Everyone has great reviews about Dasha, she is physically beautiful, attractive, you can even see her pictures, face etc. She has twitter etc. She is breathtaking her service is out of this world. I was one of her first customers to see her. I found she was extremely beautiful but we just never clicked. I gave my opinion to sam for him to be made aware of this wonderful girl and what he has but I was also honest to let him know that we did not click but it would not mean that it would be the case for others, and thankfully in this case for everyone else, i was that 1%.
Honesty is Honesty. Ive been 99% satisfied with almost 100 girls seen at XO. There will be that 1% where you will get the worst possible situation, but the booker cannot guarantee everything. They do the best with what they have and know. Take it from experience. I believe in my span with Merb here and with XO, I believe i wrote only 1 Super negative review on an extremely negative experience that i couldn't hold back, whom the girl eventually stopped working after 1 week.
I message Euphoria time to time, it was ages since I last saw a girl there, but I do remember when Heaven first started there, James was quick to recommend her even though no review was up. I don't believe I ever got any similar recommendations in the past but I know when he recommends it's usually good. I in the end was not able to meet her due to scheduling but the reviews here.. the many comments build a very good story about her. I also believe his confidence in recommending is based on what you want and also the feedback he gets from his close clients as well.
So I think if honesty, you SHOULD take the booker's advice as he has hands on information that many do not have. If you think a mere review is good enough as a recommendation, then I would clearly say otherwise. You need to take both information with a grain of salt and assess the information.