A suitcase on a brass luggage cart in a hotel entrance

The Vacation

Tell me the trip you keep putting off.

The one that lives in forty browser tabs and a note on your phone. You bring the people and the rough dates. I bring the properties, the access, and a finished plan.

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The forty-tab problem

Planning a good trip has become a part-time job.

Reviews that contradict each other. Prices that move while you sleep. A hotel that photographs beautifully and sits on a highway. Twelve hours of research to feel eighty percent sure, and a nagging sense that you have built the same trip everyone builds.

The gap I work in is the one a search bar can’t close. The room worth requesting by number. The table that books out ninety days ahead, held in the spring. The driver who becomes half the reason you loved the city.

What is included

The whole trip, not just the room.

  • The property

    Fora Reserve and partner hotels with negotiated perks: upgrades when available, property credits, breakfast, late checkout. Or a villa with staff when the trip calls for a house.

  • The itinerary, day by day

    Tours, tastings, cooking classes, tickets, tee times, boats, and the tables you couldn’t get on your own. Built with you, revised until it’s right, reserved before you land.

  • The ground game

    Airport transfers that are actually waiting, private drivers, rail bookings, a car delivered to the hotel for the days you want the road to yourselves.

  • Luxury rail

    The great train journeys, booked through the Belmond partnership, as the trip or as the way between chapters of it.

  • The insurance

    The unglamorous thing you’ll be glad exists, sized to the actual trip.

  • While you’re on it

    One number to message. A strike, a storm, a room that’s not what was promised: I fix it while you keep your vacation.

How it works

Three steps.

1

We talk

Twenty minutes. Who’s going, roughly when, what a great trip looks like to you, and the budget you’re comfortable with. I’ll tell you honestly what’s possible, including when the answer is “go somewhere else, and here’s why.”

2

I build

A real proposal: the property, the rooms, the day by day, the transfers, the reservations, and the reasoning behind each choice. We revise it together until it’s yours. Planning is complimentary.

3

You go

I book every piece, confirm it, and stay reachable for the length of the trip. When plans meet reality, you make one call and go back to your dinner.

Questions

The things people ask first.

What does this cost me?
My planning is complimentary. Hotels and suppliers pay me a commission from their side, and you typically pay the same rate you’d find yourself, often with perks you can’t get on your own. If a specific trip ever carries a fee, you’ll know the number before we start.
I actually like planning trips. Why would I use you?
Some people genuinely love the research, and I’d never take that from you. Where I earn it anyway: the access that doesn’t appear in searches, the rate perks, and the safety net while you travel. Plenty of my clients arrive with a spreadsheet and taste. I make their good plan better and then make it real.
Where do you plan trips to?
Anywhere. I’m destination-agnostic and property-led: the trip starts with where you should sleep, and I’ll tell you honestly when a place is overexposed, overpriced for the season, or simply wrong for who’s going.
How far ahead should I reach out?
Four to eight months for peak season at the best properties. Less than that, ask anyway. Shoulder season is where a lot of my favorite trips live, and short timelines are solvable more often than the internet suggests.
What if I just need a hotel, nothing else?
Then you’ll get a very good hotel with perks attached, and it still costs you nothing extra. Trips have a way of growing once you see what’s possible, but a hotel is a fine place to start.
What happens if something goes wrong mid-trip?
You message me. Rebooking, rerouting, and making the hotel honor what was promised is the job. You’ll finish your dinner while I do it.

Contact

Four ways to reach me.

Twenty minutes, no obligation. Tell me roughly what you have in mind and I’ll tell you what’s possible. Planning is complimentary.

Plan a trip Book a call Send an email Send a text

Email steph.irwin@fora.travel
Text or call (408) 420-0126