Here is the question I get more than almost any other: is it actually worth using a travel agent for luxury travel, or is that just something travel agents say? If you have wondered whether a luxury travel agent really makes a difference, you are not alone.
I just got back from Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas with an answer that is more specific than anything I could have manufactured on my own. In fact, that event gave me unique insights only a true luxury travel agent could share.
Virtuoso is a global network of luxury travel agencies representing some of the world’s most accomplished advisors and suppliers. Virtuoso Travel Week is the network’s annual gathering — five days of back-to-back appointments between advisors and the world’s leading hotels, cruise lines, tour operators, and destination specialists. Think of it as fashion week for travel. The suppliers are the designers. The advisors are the buyers. What happens in those appointments shows up in your itinerary. It is curated with the expertise only a luxury travel agent brings.
This was my first year attending. I came home with new relationships and meaningful enhancements for trips already in the works. In addition, I came home with one addition to the 2027 Emily in Paris journey that I genuinely could not have found any other way. Working with a travel agent that specializes in luxury travel revealed experiences completely unknown to most travelers.
What a travel agent actually does at a conference like this
Virtuoso uses a matching algorithm to pair advisors with suppliers based on the kinds of clients they serve and the trips they design. The system looks at your practice and decides who you should meet. I walked into some of those matched appointments with no particular expectations, something only a dedicated luxury agent could truly appreciate.
One of them changed the entire Emily in Paris trip. Clearly, the value of a luxury-focused travel agent cannot be overstated.
The experience that no algorithm would have found
La Samaritaine appears in Emily in Paris. If you watch the show, you have already seen its iconic Art Deco interior. However, most visitors will never know about L’Appartement — a private VIP shopping space within the store, accessible by appointment only. It is a space where a personal fashion guide designs a completely bespoke experience around each guest’s budget and style. It takes a luxury agent to find these exclusive gems that computers simply don’t suggest.
Every guest on the 2027 Emily in Paris journey now receives this: a 1.5-hour guided tour of La Samaritaine followed by a three-hour private shopping session with a fashion guide who has already been briefed on exactly who they are and what they are looking for. The experience is valued at $500 per person. There is no minimum spend. It is included in the trip. It is delivered through the connections of a luxury-focused travel agent.
It happened because a computer in Las Vegas decided I should meet the right person at the right moment. That is what Virtuoso access looks like in practice—truly, this is how a travel agent who specializes in luxury travel can open doors you didn’t know existed.
What else a travel agent brings home
La Samaritaine was the headline. It was not the only story. There’s always something more for those using a travel agent for their luxury adventures.
The team at de l’Europe Amsterdam, a five-star independent hotel I will visit in person next week, helped me arrange behind-the-scenes tickets to the Van Gogh Museum and secured the best private nighttime canal cruise in the city. In addition, they pointed me toward the best frites in Amsterdam — which I am pleased to report is the same spot I have been recommending for years. That kind of relationship, where a hotel team becomes a personal concierge for the entire city rather than just the property, is Virtuoso access working exactly as it should. Such perks are most easily secured through the expertise of a travel agent focused on providing the best luxury travel experiences.
At dinner one evening, I sat next to the Scotland representative for Cameron House on Loch Lomond — a five-star estate on the banks of one of Scotland’s most celebrated lochs — and locked in one night there for the 2027 Outlander set-jetting experience. That conversation happened because I was in the room. No booking site offers that outcome, but a luxury travel agent can.
Is a luxury travel agent worth it? Here is the plain answer.
A luxury travel agent with Virtuoso affiliation brings three things a booking site cannot: relationships built in person with the people who run the world’s best properties and access to enhancements and experiences that are never listed publicly. Also, they bring the professional standing to secure them on your behalf before you ever ask.
The La Samaritaine experience is not on any website. It is not in any search result. It doesn’t exist in ChatGPT or any other AI tool’s database of things to do in Paris. It exists because a travel agent specializing in set-jetting group travel was in a room in Las Vegas, was matched with the right supplier, and knew exactly which guests she was designing for. That specificity is the entire value proposition. Let your next journey be guided by a true luxury travel agent for unparalleled advantages and authenticity.
Luxury travel is not difficult to find. Luxury travel designed around exactly who you are is. This is the difference a Virtuoso travel agent makes, especially when your plans demand an expert in luxury travel agent services.
If you want the full story of Virtuoso Travel Week — including what it felt like to walk into that first conference as a newcomer and walk out quoted in Luxury Travel Advisor magazine — Episode 174 of Jet Setting with Me is the one to listen to this week. Let a luxury-focused travel agent guide your next adventure if you want the very best of what the world has to offer.
