Virtuoso and us-- a good fit?
I’ve tried to read all pertinent threads here and research on my own on finding a good TA, in particular a Virtuoso advisor and I have further questions. We’re trying to decide whether we fit the profile for “luxury” travel and whether a Virtuoso TA is right for us.
My husband and I are medium healthy seniors in our early 70s living in No. CA. Because of a major move, several surgeries and dealing with some chronic health issues, we’ve not traveled in the last 3-4 years except one trip in Sept, 2014. Ironically, on that trip to a No. American location, my husband came down with bacterial dysentery, had to be hospitalized for four days and almost died. That changed our perspective on travel quite a bit—making it easier (TA), spending a bit more money and doing it sooner rather than later.
1) does geographic location of TA matter—do I need an advisor close to me? It seems to me everything can be done online or by phone and TA can be anywhere
2) will I get better attention/service at a small agency or should I go with a larger one with presumably more contacts, experience with more locales, etc.?
3) We do have miles we’d like to use for airline but will pay OOP for hotel. My research indicates I may need to pay an additional fee or consultant to book airfare using miles.
Our past travel has not been budget but it’s not been 5-star luxury either. It’s not just about money but more the fact that we prefer smaller, more intimate boutique hotels instead of massive corporate hotels. We want to be taken care of, make it simple, hire local guides and have excursions booked by our advisor and are willing to pay for this. Do you think we could find a match and be a good fit for a Virtuoso agent?
We would like to take a last-minute trip to Hawaii in April or early May, 2015 and in the next year we’re considering a small ship luxury cruise (we’re not large ship cruisers) to the Pacific Northwest, a trip to Costa Rica with a Panama Canal add-on and a river boat cruise to Europe.
I’ve PM’d a Virtuoso agent here and got no response. I’d welcome PM from other agents. What can you recommend as our next course of action?