La Valise Tulum, Tulum, Mexico
What is trip design?
All good plans begin with the end in mind. And that’s the idea behind taking the time to design your dream honeymoon BEFORE you dive into a booking website and start looking at rates. But what is trip design?
Trip design is anything but the old way of DIY online travel booking. With the old way, it can easily feel like planning your romantic, once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon becomes a chore, or it can fill you with that dreaded sense that you’re going to somehow screw it up. (You’re already planning a whole wedding! What more can the world ask of you?)
Enter: Reco from Tripadvisor. Reco is a service that matches you to a Trip Designer who will craft a one-of-a-kind travel experience for you. All you have to do is tell Reco where you want to go, and they find a local planning expert who can bring your vision to life.
I asked Reco to help me plan a twice-postponed, romantic trip to Europe for the Summer of 2021 so I could see exactly what it’s like to work with their Trip Designers—I can tell you I’m 100% sure this is the way to plan a honeymoon.
Yucatán, Mexico
How does it work?
We started on the Reco website, entered our chosen destination (Barcelona, Spain), and quickly found two Trip Designers with the experience we were looking for in Europe. Reco Trip Designers are among the world’s best travel experts, so we were excited to get started. Since our trip also includes a few days in Italy, we searched through the Trip Designers until we found one also specializing in Italy. (Reco will allow for multi-destination search soon, but it’s not there yet).
The next step was to set up a call with our Reco Trip Designer. (You can consult with your Reco Trip Designer before you ever pay a dime, seriously.) We LOVED Ane and hired her for our trip. She asked us questions about our interests, our chosen destination, and our vision for the trip. We told her about our love of classical music, tennis, history, and shopping! We wanted to experience live Spanish guitar in Barcelona and lounge by the pool with a view of Lake Como in Italy. Sigh.
Then, she took it all away and worked her magic. She came back to us about a week later with a custom itinerary proposal. It included all the elements that fit our personal interests, mixed with some custom experiences that our destinations offer. She also arranged for perks like a free room upgrade and VIP welcome experience in Italy and a Tapas tour in Spain! We had 2-3 hotel options to choose from in each location and information about transfers, tours, and more.
Grand Hotel Tremezzo, Lake Como, Italy
We LOVED the lake-front, 5-star resort she chose for us in Lake Como (complete with a tennis court!), but it was out of our budget. The next option wasn’t quite the style we wanted. So we gave her some feedback about what we were looking for, and she came back with a perfect third option. And then she helped us book it!
One funny thing about us is that we like to have separate bathrooms wherever we travel. Well, Ane found us a 2-bedroom, 2-bath apartment in Barcelona, attached to a hotel with all the amenities like pool, gym, restaurants, bars, and more—for less than the price of a hotel!
Majestic Residence apartment, Barcelona, Spain
Next, we asked Ane about local tours. She had options that we wouldn’t have found ourselves, as well as links to tours she recommended we book ourselves via Viator. In the end, our Trip Designer took care of accommodations, experiences, and logistics like transfers. She also helped us understand cancellation and change policies, travel regulations, and insurance options. Since we’re traveling toward the end of Covid and Europe hasn’t officially reopened to American travelers, she made sure we could reschedule if necessary without incurring additional fees.
Finally, it’s amazing to know that Ane has our back during the planning and traveling. So, if anything unexpected happens on the trip, we can reach out to her for help.
I can say from experience, Reco’s trip design process is a solid way to ensure you’ll not just have a great trip, but a fantastic honeymoon.
Quintana Roo, Mexico
How much does it cost?
Take my word for it: Reco is worth every penny of the $199 fee. But, because we love you, we’ve secured a 10% discount when you use the code HONEYFUND10, available only via this exclusive link. That makes this must-have service just $179. Enjoy the fun parts of planning your honeymoon, get lost in the romance of the trip designing journey and avoid getting bogged down in the nitty-gritty.
Whether you’re looking for nightlife, killer local cuisine, fast-paced adventures or chill beach vibes (check out this sample itinerary for a romantic Puerto Vallarta honeymoon), your Reco Trip Designer will take it into consideration when building your perfect honeymoon anywhere in the world. The expertise they bring to the table is so valuable for your peace of mind and your future memories. Start your search on Reco now, and start with free 1:1 video consultation with an expert Trip Designer today.
