LGBTQ+ travel that's welcoming, not just tolerant
A certified LGBT Business Enterprise through the NGLCC. Also a husband, a shared passport drawer, and a fairly detailed mental list of which resorts hand same-sex couples two twin beds.
The reason to work with an LGBTQ+ advisor isn't solidarity. It's that the research is different — and most people booking online don't know which questions to ask until they're at a check-in desk having the wrong conversation. I already know the questions.
What I actually check
The bed
It sounds trivial and it is the single most common complaint I hear. A booking that says "one king" arrives at some properties as two singles pushed apart, because a local reservations team made an assumption. It's fixable — but in advance, by having the booking noted and reconfirmed. Not by having an awkward conversation in a lobby at eleven at night after a nine-hour flight.
The gap between the law and the lobby
These are different things in both directions. There are destinations with excellent legal protections where a particular resort's culture is chilly. And destinations with no legal recognition at all where the tourism sector is entirely relaxed, and has been for decades. Neither fact is on a booking site. Some of it I know first-hand, some of it comes from suppliers and other advisors, and where I don't know I'll say so rather than guess with your vacation.
Whether the marketing is backed by anything
A rainbow on a landing page in June costs a resort nothing. So I look at whether staff are actually trained, and whether same-sex couples appear in the property's own photography rather than a stock library. And whether the wedding and celebration programs are written inclusively, or just don't say. Properties that have done the work are usually easy to distinguish from properties that have done the graphic design.
Where this matters most
- Cruising — ships are generally excellent, and the ports are the variable. An itinerary can be perfect for six days and awkward on the seventh, and it's worth knowing which day that is before you book rather than after.
- All-inclusive resorts — enormous range. Some properties are genuinely, unremarkably welcoming. Some are fine but will get the room wrong. A few are best avoided, and I'll tell you which.
- Small group tours — largely about the operator and the guide rather than the destination. Some operators are outstanding here.
- Honeymoons — where the celebration program has to be requested properly, which is exactly where assumptions creep in. More on honeymoons →
Family travel
Two-dad and two-mom families hit a specific set of friction points. Documentation questions at borders that different-sex parents never get asked. Kids' club registration forms with "Mother" and "Father" printed on them. And the occasional supplier system that simply cannot record two parents of the same gender. None of it is insurmountable and all of it is easier if someone has thought about it before you're standing at immigration.
Everyone is welcome here
This page exists because the research is different, not because the client list is. I plan cruises, resorts, and tours for all kinds of travelers. If you found this page because you were looking for something specific, though — you're in the right place.
How I'll answer you
Plainly. Chad and I ask these same questions before we book anything ourselves. If you ask me whether a destination is safe for you and your husband, you'll get what I know — including the parts that are inconvenient. And a clear statement of where my knowledge runs out. Sometimes that means steering you somewhere better than what you first asked about. You'll always get a real answer, not a hopeful one.
Ask me anything
Including the questions you'd rather not have to ask a stranger at a booking desk.