seal? grout? caulk? help!

We just bought a house that had recently been remodeled, including newly installed stone tile. They used the same kind of stone tile on the kitchen floor, bathroom floor and bathroom shower stall, but we just don't know what kind it is (the realtor was pretty sure it's travertine).
Soooooo. I don't know if the tile was sealed before installing, nor do I know if they sealed the grout after curing. And as far as caulking goes, maybe I'm too optimistic, but wouldn't it be a "given" to seal and caulk shower tiles?
Here are my questions:
Do kitchen tiles and bathroom tiles require a different sealer? Or a different method of sealing? Or am I safe to just follow the advice I found on an older posting on this site? (see below):

"Name: Bud Cline Tile Contracting
Posted: Fri, May 6,2005 at 11:29 am MST

Reply: 7
Fisher,

Listen to me!

Go buy yourself some AquaMix Sealer's Choice Gold 15. Put it in a clean "garden sprayer". Spray the sealer everywhere on the floor. Take a clean dry terrycloth towel and begin to slowly wipe the entire floor.

Once you have wiped the entire floor then rinse the towel with warm water and wring it out as dry as you can get it. Now, go back over the floor again with this damp towel.

When finished, go away and forget about it. You have just spent twelve minutes of your life sealing your grout and at the same time cleaning your tile and you shouldn't have to do this again for the next fifteen years. OH, and you have also ruined one nice terrycloth towel.

That's all there is to it my friend."

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and by the way, we did try asking the seller to give us the information, but he never responded. sigh.

Thank you so much.

Seems only fitting that I jump in here (again).

I stand by the above advice but the above offering has been taken out of context and should be qualified.

The above comments were in response to someone that was trying to seal (grout only) that was installed in a ceramic tile floor if my memory serves me well.

Travertine is a slightly different story.

The first thing I would do would be to splash some clean water on the floor in a few locations both in the high-traffic areas and again in the no-traffic areas. This should tell you if the stone is sealed. If sealer is present the water will immediately "bead" on the surface. In high traffic areas even if the stone was sealed this may not necessarily be the case if the sealer has been worn.

Keep in mind that sealers are vapor transmissive and will likely accept a little wicking in a short time.

These type of sealers are not a "save-all" product and are merely intended to give you an opportunity to clean up a hostile spill but they do not and will not guarantee against a stain.

Should you choose to reseal, the above-mentioned product is a good one but will it be compatible with whatever sealer may be there now? You can only buy the sealer and try it in an inconspicuous location first.

Should all go well---then the above information should be altered slightly with travertine. Above, the objective was to seal the grout, but not allow sealer to remain on the ceramic tile. This is the reason for the wet towel being used in an effort to remove the sealer residue from the tile surface while allowing it to remain in the grout lines.

In the case of travertine the sealer should be buffed and spread after application with a dry towel. Do this evenly and to the point that no streaks or puddles remain on the travertine tiles surface. Follow the manufacturers instructions. If a wet towel were to be used it would remove too much of the sealer from the tiles surface. Sealers not buffed/burnished evenly will leave undesirable shiny spots.

Today, very shiny stone tile is popular. A stone sealer may or may not give you a high shine. The more applications, the more likely a shine would be developed but no guarantees due to the varying porosity of stone tiles.

If it is a high shine you desire there is yet another method of achieving this but if you do, you are opening up a routine maintenance activity you may not want to have to deal with.