A New Approach to Luxury Travel: Lessons from My Time at Conde Nast and Beyond

After over 20 years traveling the world while at GQ, Vogue, T Magazine, Tatler Asia, and, most importantly, as Publisher of Conde Nast Traveler, I quickly learned the importance of a good travel agency. At Conde Nast Traveler, we even had a travel advisory board where some of the “best and brightest” would inform us of travel trends, destinations, and new openings. However, before I joined Conde Nast Traveler, I had never even thought of using a travel agency. I had always booked rooms, flights, and excursions myself or through the hotel concierge, thinking I could do it better (and, honestly, I probably DID do it better more often than not). Yet I knew the stats – that over 70% of Americans used travel agents and were generally satisfied with them…. But how could this be?

The problem I had with travel advisors when I started researching them (with the exception of ONE, who actually inspired me to start my own business) was that they didn’t “get” me. I would tell an advisor what I was looking for (for example, an Italian seaside resort that had “personality”), and I was served up options of large hotels that, in fact, felt quite corporate and had zero personality. After traveling over 300,000 miles in just one year at Traveler and after meeting countless CEOs at some of the best properties in the world, I knew someone could do better and not just opt for the easy crowd-pleasers (which, of course, have their place as well and are very good at what they do!)

I tried everything – multiple travel advisors at some companies that were considered “the best,” then back to booking trips myself after being disappointed even though I had little time to do it. I then even tried to work with American Express, as many do, but I found that I wasn’t getting much at all from them (fewer perks than with an agency and an international booking system that Expedia powered for most properties). American Express, at the end of the day, is just a booking portal, after all.

So, after years of traveling the world, eating at some of the best restaurants in the world, learning and understanding the unique selling propositions of the best hotel brands in the world (and discovering the little hidden gems along the way), I opted to start my own special company for people who want to be understood and listened to by a team of travel advisors who understand that time is the biggest luxury of all. And now, it’s time to maximize that time – your time – without any hesitation or worry, made possible by a team of people who actually “get it.”