The questions that get in the way of asking.

The initial assessment and introductory call are free. Depending on the scope and complexity of the trip, a planning fee may apply. Before any costs arise, you receive a clear proposal outlining the service and fixed fee. I begin only after your explicit approval. No additional charges are made without renewed approval.

Depending on the booking channel, I may receive a commission from the hotel or booking partner. Before booking, I compare the price, conditions and included benefits and explain which booking channel will be used. That doesn’t influence which hotel I recommend: the shortlist comes from the Fit Check and the Hotel Check, not from what a booking earns me.

Not as a rule. Before booking, I compare price, conditions and included benefits across the available channels and tell you which one I’ll book through. Any planning fee is set out in the proposal beforehand.

An agreed fee pays for the planning: the shortlist, the reasoning, the questions clarified with the hotels. You keep all of that, even if you decide against the trip. Exactly what applies is in the proposal before you say yes.

The hotel or booking partner directly, never me. I book in your name. No money for travel services passes through me, so your booking never depends on my account.

If you know the destination and the hotel and the trip is straightforward, you should. It gets expensive when you book the wrong room category because the photos showed a different one, or when a sequence of stops works on paper and costs three transfer days in practice. That’s where my work comes in.

For the first reply: where you’d like to go or how the trip should feel, and roughly when. The call makes it more concrete, and the most useful point is the one almost nobody mentions unprompted: what you definitely don’t want.

In the Fit Check I clarify what the trip should be. In the Hotel Check I vet every hotel on location, concept, service, room category, conditions and value for money. The Local Check is an addition: if I know someone locally and it’s relevant to your trip, I ask for an extra perspective. It isn’t possible for every destination.

The first reply comes within 48 hours. A shortlist then usually takes a few days, longer for trips with several stops.

The earlier, the wider the choice. For a long-haul trip in high season, four to six months is realistic; for Christmas and New Year, a year is no exaggeration. Short notice works too, but then availability decides the choice.

Then we do another round. Because every recommendation comes with its reasoning, you can see which assumption I made and tell me which one is wrong.

You get in touch with me and I contact the hotel. I made the booking and I have the contact. I’m not reachable around the clock, and I can’t guarantee the outcome. What I promise, I deliver.

No. I work alone and arrange individual travel services, booked in your name with the respective provider. I don’t act as a tour operator and don’t put together package holidays in my own name.

I don’t issue flight tickets. I do advise on choosing the connection, especially when connection or arrival times noticeably change the trip.

No, but with hotels where the choice makes a difference. That can be a small, very good place with thirty rooms.

The focus is on trips for two, because that’s where the choice of hotel matters most. Ask anyway. If I’m not the right person, I’ll say so.

That’s the normal case. Having been somewhere helps with distances and a feel for the place, and I’ll tell you openly when I don’t have that. Judging a hotel depends on asking the right questions, and those apply everywhere. If I’m not the right person for a destination, I’ll refer you on.