About · Luxury Hotel Advisor
Booking a Luxury Hotel: When to Use an Advisor, and When Not To
I have been a luxury hotel advisor for five years, and this is the first time I have written a proper introduction. It covers what I bring, who I know, how I work, and why I turned my job into a website you can use without waiting for me. The last section is a frank comparison with Expedia-style booking sites — their strengths, and my weaknesses, spelled out.
Credentials first
- Marriott LUMINOUS Crescent Club, 2022–2024: the top 1% of advisors worldwide in Marriott’s luxury program, three years in a row.
- CTA Top Talent Cru: my agency’s Top Talent advisor of the year.
- Virtuoso member advisor; Hyatt Hawaii Five-O Program advisor.
- More than 30 countries and over 100 luxury hotels stayed in personally.
Where I go every year
Every August I fly to Las Vegas for Virtuoso Travel Week — the annual gathering of luxury travel advisors and the hotels that court them, a week of back-to-back one-on-ones with general managers and directors of sales. Marriott flew its top 1% to Maui one year and the Cayman Islands another; I was at both.
The point of these events is not the photographs. When something comes up with your booking later, the person I call is often the one whose hand I shook in that room.
Nearly 800 hotels, with a named contact at each
What five years have built is a list of close to 800 hotels where I have the name and email of someone on the sales side — not the reservations inbox on the website. An upgrade, connecting rooms, a honeymoon setup, a delayed flight and a midnight arrival: that email goes to them before it goes to the front desk. The list is refreshed every year at the shows and over email.
What Virtuoso is
Virtuoso is the invitation-only network of luxury travel advisors; hotels are vetted before they are admitted. The 2,000-plus hotels in its directory give clients of member advisors a fixed set of benefits: daily breakfast, a hotel credit, an upgrade when one is available, and early check-in and late check-out. The part that matters is the price. These benefits are not bought with a higher rate — the rate is the same one the hotel publishes on its own website.
Then I turned all of that into a site you can use yourself
The biggest friction in booking through an advisor is waiting for a human to reply. So I built the FlyBest booking site:
- More than 2,000 Virtuoso hotels with live rates, matching the hotel’s own website, shown as totals with tax, with no booking fee.
- Rates flagged “Virtuoso benefits” list those benefits right next to the price, item by item — not a vague “benefits included.”
- Pick your room, enter your card, and book. The card guarantees the reservation and is not charged; the cancellation policy and its deadline sit at the bottom of every rate card.
- English and Chinese. Hotels only — no flights.
- Rates with complicated terms, such as deposits and prepayment, route you to me instead of letting you book blind.
- Your loyalty points and elite status are recognized as usual — something the booking sites cannot do.
Compared with the booking sites, honestly
Where Expedia and Booking.com win: every tier of hotel, not just luxury; instant booking at three in the morning; a non-refundable prepaid rate that is occasionally cheaper; and changes and refunds handled through the platform, with no one to ask.
Where an advisor wins: the same rate, plus breakfast, a hotel credit and an upgrade; points and status honored; a person to call when something goes wrong; and not a cent in fees.
My weaknesses, spelled out: I cover the luxury tier only; deposit and prepaid rates need a human; and I am not a 24-hour instant reply.
How to decide
- Mid-range hotel, plans still in flux → book direct or through a booking site. You do not need me.
- Luxury hotel, two nights or more, and you care about breakfast and an upgrade → book through an advisor. Same price, benefits thrown in. Two examples: the same room at Conrad Tokyo for ¥180,000 less, and The Samling in England’s Lake District at the same price with breakfast and a dining credit added.
- A honeymoon, a trip with your parents, a milestone birthday, New Year’s Eve — anything that cannot go wrong → all the more reason to use an advisor, because someone at the hotel is watching your booking. Example: four nights at Capella Bangkok over New Year, with the gala dinner included.
Want to compare for yourself? Go straight to the site. Public and advisor rates sit side by side; judge for yourself.
Search live rates for more than 2,000 hotels, or browse the directory by country and city.
Credentials as listed on this site’s home page; the contact count is my own de-duplicated list; hotel count per the Virtuoso 2026 directory. Rates and benefits are subject to confirmation by each hotel on the day. Screenshots are of the live site in September 2026. Photographs are my own.
Jay Yan · FlyBest
