F.A.Q.
What exactly do you do?
True Luxury Boutique Hotels & Travel is a premium travel design service for US travelers. We create highly tailored journeys across Italy and Europe for clients seeking exceptional independent hotels, cultural depth, private experiences, and seamless planning.
Are you a travel agent?
Brian is an IATA licensed travel advisor specializing in end to end travel planning for US travelers.
We thoughtfully design and coordinate each itinerary from beginning to end, while reservations are confirmed directly with our trusted hotel and travel partners using your preferred method of payment. This approach combines highly personalized advisory service with a direct relationship between clients and providers.
What type of hotels do you recommend?
We specialize in hotels with genuine character and a strong sense of place, often beyond the reach of traditional travel platforms.
How do you choose the hotels you recommend?
We select hotels based on atmosphere, authenticity, location, design, service, and the overall guest experience.
Many are independently owned or deeply connected to their surroundings, offering a level of warmth and individuality that cannot be measured by star ratings alone.
Do you help with the full itinerary or just hotels?
We curate the full travel experience, including hotels, routing, transfers, travel insurance, and experiences, while clients book flights directly using their preferred airlines, loyalty programs, or points.
What kind of trips do you typically plan?
We design highly personalized journeys shaped around each client’s interests, pace, and style of travel, from iconic cities and countryside retreats to coastal escapes, food and wine experiences, and multi destination itineraries.
Whether it is a milestone journey, seasonal escape, or spontaneous getaway, every itinerary is designed to feel seamless, personal, and thoughtfully considered.
What budget should I expect?
Our focus is on value for experience, ensuring each itinerary reflects the quality of its hotels, atmosphere, service, and overall experience.
Why wouldn’t I just use a booking engine or credit card concierge service?
Large booking platforms are useful for comparison and convenience, but they often prioritize scale and visibility over individuality.
Many exceptional hotels are difficult to discover this way, and it can be challenging to distinguish what is genuinely special from what is simply well marketed.
Our approach is curated and relationship driven, built on firsthand knowledge, trusted local connections, and a deep understanding of the atmosphere and service our clients value most.
Do you only work with certain destinations?
Our expertise is rooted in Italy, the United Kingdom, and Europe, regions we know deeply through longstanding relationships, firsthand experience, and extensive travel.
This focused approach allows us to curate more thoughtful hotels, richer local experiences, and itineraries with a genuine sense of place.
What makes your approach different?
We are a small boutique travel design practice by choice. Every client relationship is personal, every recommendation carefully considered, and nothing is formulaic.
We listen closely, apply genuine judgment, and tailor every journey to the individual client. Our recommendations are grounded in firsthand knowledge and trusted relationships, while every logistical detail is managed from start to finish.
Because we work with a select number of clients at a time, each journey receives our complete attention from the first conversation to the final day.
Why do clients continue to travel with TLB?
Clients return to us because they value thoughtful guidance, trusted recommendations, and the ease of having every detail carefully coordinated. Over time, we develop a deeper understanding of how each client likes to travel, allowing every journey to feel increasingly personal, seamless, and rewarding.
How do we get started?
Every journey begins with understanding how you like to travel. Share your dates, interests, preferred pace, and the places that inspire you, and we will shape them into a private itinerary with the right hotels, experiences, and logistical flow.
How are your services compensated?
We are compensated through a professional travel design fee together with commissions paid by select hotel and travel partners.
The design fee reflects the time, expertise, and coordination involved in creating a highly personalized itinerary and overall travel experience. Because every journey is tailored individually, the scope of planning can vary from hotel recommendations to comprehensive itinerary design and trip coordination.
All fees are discussed clearly in advance, with no hidden costs.