non-googleable experiences

from icbellagio.com, the premier Virtuoso onsite for Italy

Just back from Brownell Travel's annual meeting in Atlanta, #BrownellAcademy. This was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with the best travel consultant colleagues in the industry ... along with dozens of industry sales reps there to share with us the latest news about luxury hotels, cruise lines, and custom tours.

One phrase among many captured my attention last weekend: non-googleable experiences. Google, first a number, has become a noun, then a verb, and now has been incorporated into adjectival form. I was attending a class conducted by IC Bellagio, a premier company based in northern Italy that crafts the finest custom tours in that country. One of the things they offer: non-googleable experiences.

Non-googleable experiences ... what does that mean? Many travelers plan their vacations by googling their destinations — for instance "best things to do in Italy" — and are presented with millions of possibilities, webpages such as "the top ten things to do in Italy." Put those ten activities on your Italy bucket list, and you'll have a pretty routine trip — along with the thousands of other tourists queueing up to do the exact same thing at the very same time as you.

Instead of responding to "what did you do in Italy?" by listing the ten bucket lists items that everyone sees, what if you could tell your friends about an utterly unique experience that hardly anyone even knows about. That's where our Virtuoso tour partners become very useful. They can help plan dozens of unique experiences that will give you the trip of your dreams, paying you a lifetime dividend of priceless memories.

Want to discover more about the wonders of the world — and experience them in style? That's what Brownell, Ourisman Travel, and Virtuoso are all about. Fill out our travel request form to start planning your next trip!

copyright (c) 2015 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

#VirtuosoWeek top ten | Ashford Castle

This is number eight of my "top ten list" from Virtuoso Week.

One of the most highly anticipated annual awards at Virtuoso Travel Week is the "Hotel of the Year" award presented at Wednesday evening's Hotel & Resorts Banquet. Voted on by Virtuoso travel consultants, this year's winner is Ashford Castle.

Located in County Mayo in western Ireland, north of Shannon, Ashford Castle has undergone extensive renovations. A one-time residence owned by the Guinness family (yes, that Guinness family), this is your chance to stay in a real castle and experience a genuine sense of place. Just a short walk from the cute town of Cong where the movie "The Quiet Man" starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara was shot.

Beautiful rooms, wonderful food, and lots of activities including fishing, golf, falconry, clay shooting ... and a newly created spa. Virtuoso guests receive great value in addition to the Full Irish breakfast already included in the rates: an 85€ F&B credit, upgrade if available, and early check-in/late check-out if available.

And if that weren't enough to temp you, the first Travel Horizons reader to book Ashford Castle through me will receive the voucher below for an additional 50£ towards a single F&B purchase at Ashford Castle. The voucher is valid until Dec. 31, 2015. This makes a total of 135€ in F&B credits just by booking through me!

copyright (c) 2015 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

visiting the California Wine Country

Next week will take me to Napa County and Solano County, just north of San Francisco, for a site inspection trip to nine upscale inns and resorts in Wine Country.

This was supposed to have been a trip to Dubai, taking advantage of an incredible Ethiad Airways fare for travel consultants ... but, alas, it had to be ticked through Ethiad's New York ticket office and they would neither answer their phone (before it switched back over to the international agents) or answer their email. So instead of traveling 16 hours, I'll be going 45 minutes away from home in Berkeley.

A popular weekend and summer destination for oenophiles and gourmands, we will be staying at three different properties and visiting six others over our five days in Wine Country. We will be visiting three different Virtuoso member properties — Calistoga Ranch, Meadowood, and Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn (a fourth, Carneros Inn, won't have any rooms to show because of being fully booked).

I'll also be doing inspections of six luxury resorts that are not Virtuoso — Hotel les Mars, Hotel Healdsburg, The Farmhouse, Kenwood Inn, Auberge de Soleil, and Bardessono. Hopefully most or all of these will make it onto my google map of Ourisman Travel's Preferred Hotels in Wine Country!

Be watching this space for my impressions of our trip to Napa and Sonoma next week.

copyright (c) 2015 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas | Vegas serenity

one of the pools at Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas

Here in Las Vegas for Virtuoso Travel Week, Claire and I are spending Saturday and Sunday nights at the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas. There's a lot to love about this hotel. Located center-strip, right in City Center with its entrance off Las Vegas Boulevard, it's a quiet, serene, and elegant haven of sanity in the midst of the madness that is Las Vegas.

With the best room product in Las Vegas (unless you go for some of the ultra-expensive specialty suites the city is known for), the Mandarin Oriental is a great choice if you appreciate contemporary elegance. The first WOW moment hits you the moment you stop off the elevator at the 23rd floor lobby and see the facing wall with almost sculptural qualities (pictured to the left). Rooms have a lot of space. Our 20th floor bedroom (room 2008) faces south down the strip, with a direct view of New York, New York with its skyline, roller coaster, and the Statue of Liberty. There is a large dressing room area, bathroom with dual vanities, huge soaking tub, a great shower, and separate WC. The spa is fabulous (we both enjoyed treatments last year) and the $100 Virtuoso or FAN Club spa credit will go about half-way to getting you a wonderful experience. Quite worth it at $100 off!

The Cosmopolitan is right next door to the Mandarin Oriental, and we had a site inspection last evening. One room was held out of the inventory for travel consultants to tour during Travel Week, a Terrace Studio. A large room (about 600 sq. ft.) with contemporary furnishings, it is set up as a Junior Suite. The bedroom area is by the outdoor terrace (the room we were shown had a killer view of the Bellagio fountain), separated by a low wall from the larger living room area of the Studio. There is also a kitchenette, but ask the hotel to clear out the minibar if you want to use the small fridge (as the minibar has "touch it and you pay for it" technology). The bathroom was full featured with dual vanities, jacuzzi tub, large step-in shower, and WC. The Cosmo appeals to a young crowd, and offers a loud, pulsing vibe that will appeal to many Vegas visitors. (My 25-year old daughter tells me it's her favorite place in Las Vegas).

Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2013 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

travel insurance | four helpful tips

Our rep from Travelex visited the Brownell office earlier this week to do some training on travel insurance for newer travel consultants. I read the summary of her presentation and wanted to pass along these tips:

1. Pre-existing waivers. Travelex provides a waiver of pre-existing conditions if you purchase their Travel Select policy or better within 21 days of your initial period. You must be fit to travel at the time of purchase. If you miss that 21 day waiver period, the policy would look back 60 days from the date of purchase in your medical history.
2. Zero-band policies are very inexpensive. They include no trip cancellation insurance but provide medical insurance while you are away, including medical evacuation.
3. Keep your receipts. If something happens while on your trip (a medical situation or a delay or interruption in your travels), keep the receipts of all out-of-pocket expenses. Only expenses with proof of purchase can be reimbursed.
4. Your policy can be transferred to another trip within one year of the travel date (in the event you cancel the trip for which you initially purchased the policy).

Do you need travel insurance? We were told that 40% of of the time, on average, travelers file claims. Click here to learn more about Travelex travel insurance and get a quote.

travel insurance (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2013 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

Super 8 DFW South | not so super

Not so super. Super 8 DFW South is not a 5-star hotel. It's not even a 1-star hotel, according to my assistant Anne. She spent last night there when she was unable to make her connecting flight out of DFW. Here are the highlights of her site inspection in which she awarded this property... 

... one-half star. "I think the bed was made out of some sort of cardboard." The towels were so old and worn she could see through them. There was no drinking glass, or even a plastic cup, in the bathroom; she had to drink water by cupping her hand under the faucet. The hotel's maintenance was shoddy, as evidenced by the "carpet" in the elevator being taped to the floor with duck tape. No room service (obviously) or in-house restaurant; "apparently the only restaurant around is a nasty hamburger joint in a gas station."

Obviously there is a need for inexpensively priced hotel accommodations, but there are minimal expectations that any guest should be able to count on, no matter the rate you pay: comfortable beds, clean linens, a well-maintained property, and a feeling of hospitality. So, Super 8 DFW South, you need to do a better job!

Don't call us to book Super 8. We are travel consultants specializing in five star luxury hotels with value-added Virtuoso and Four Seasons Preferred Partner amenities: room upgrades, complimentary daily breakfast for two, and more.

travel consultant (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2012 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

congratulations, Jessica!

Jessica Ourisman, travel consultant, on a hiking trip in Wales

Congratulations to Jessica Ourisman who has been named to Travel Agent magazine's list of "Top 30 Under 30" travel consultants for 2012. She's pictured above while on a hiking trip in Wales. Here's what the article says about her:

Jessica Ourisman is the co-owner of Ourisman Travel along with her father-in-law, David Ourisman, and both are independent associates of Brownell Travel, a Virtuoso agency. “I manage my own client list and specialize in trips to Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America,” she says of her job. 

But, she adds, she has only been an agent for one year, even though she helped develop Ourisman Travel. The agency started just as social media began to take off, and she leveraged the nascent technology to its full advantage.  

“Today, we are one of the top sellers of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, and I think that is a great testament to the way we chose to direct and focus our marketing message,” she says. “I was more than eager to get involved on a new level, to take real ownership in the business, and to start thinking about the next growth stage for us.” 

Troy Haas, CEO of Brownell Travel, has high praise for her. “Jessica has masterminded one of the most successful ‘new models’ of travel we have seen in our long history at Brownell. Even before she entered the travel business she advised her father-in-law, David Ourisman, on use of social media for leveraging his deep passion and knowledge of hotels. Today David is our top seller of luxury hotels as a result, and Jessica has joined his practice to help develop that amazing success she helped create.”

travel consultants (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2012 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.