I don't really plan the travel itself, so no help there. As for where to go - keep in mind 90% of what you find is going to be someone trying to sell you on something for financial gain. That's fine, but leads to questionable honesty. I've had best luck asking someone from a country you're interested in, if you're lucky enough to know one. If not, perhaps try the subreddit. I find people tend to perhaps overstate attractions at home, but not as far as to be deceitful. And they'll call the bad places bad.
Try oyster.com. They send their own people to check out hotels, and give you their own photos. This lets you compare the unvarnished reality against the brochure photos.
I really like this idea, but I tried 2 searches and just got hotels. I'm more interested in the attractions themselves.
One other thing that's rarely captured anywhere is how crowded some places are. The benefits of a local is that they usually will tell you this, and sometimes even suggest a similar place that's less known.
