What a travel advisor does —
and what it costs you

Most people's mental model of a travel agent is thirty years out of date — a storefront that books flights you could book yourself. That job doesn't really exist anymore. What replaced it is closer to a fixer: someone who knows which suppliers deliver, holds the whole itinerary in one place, and is reachable when something goes sideways at 6 a.m. in a different time zone.

How travel advisors get paid

This is the question everyone wants answered first, so here it is plainly: the hotel, resort, cruise line, or tour operator pays me a commission after you travel. It comes out of the rate you were already going to pay. It is not added on top.

That's why I don't charge planning fees. Some advisors do — usually for very complex multi-country itineraries — but for the trips I plan, the supplier commission is the whole compensation model.

Does it cost more than booking myself?

No. In practice the rate is the same, and the booking often carries extras the public rate doesn't:

• Room upgrades at check-in, subject to availability.
• Property or resort credits — often food and beverage or spa.
• Breakfast included at many partner hotels.
• Early check-in and late checkout where the property can offer it.
• A note on the reservation that you're a returning or celebrating guest, which is worth more than it sounds.

These come from preferred-partner programs through Fora, the agency I'm affiliated with. They're not discounts — they're amenities attached to the booking.

Is a travel advisor worth it?

It depends entirely on the trip. Where an advisor earns their place:

• Trips organised around a constraint — a tee time, a fishing season, a wedding date. The constraint has to be solved first and everything else built around it.
• Groups. Eight people means rooming lists, split payments, and someone changing plans late. That coordination is most of the work.
• Multi-generational travel, where a nine-year-old and a seventy-nine-year-old need the same week to work for both.
• Cruises, where the ship is the easy decision and the cabin category, itinerary, and excursions are where trips are won or lost.
• High-value trips where getting it wrong is expensive and there's no second attempt.

What the process looks like

It starts with a conversation — where you're thinking of going, roughly when, roughly what you want to spend, and how you like to travel. From there I put together an itinerary, we adjust it, and once it's right I handle the bookings. Before you go, you get everything in one place. While you're travelling, you have my number.

There's no obligation at the conversation stage, and no charge to find out whether I can help.

How far ahead should I book?

• Fishing lodges and marquee golf tee times — a year or more. The good weeks go early and don't come back.
• Cruises — six to twelve months for the cabins worth having.
• Resort weeks — three to six months is comfortable.
• Holiday travel — as early as you can stand.

Last-minute trips are still very possible. There are just fewer options, and the good ones go first.

What if something goes wrong?

You contact me, not a call centre queue. Flight delays, a room that isn't what was booked, a plan that needs changing mid-trip — those get handled directly with the supplier. That's the part of this job that doesn't show up in a brochure and matters most on the day it's needed.