About us

Two advisors, one standard of care

Kingfisher Luxury Travel was founded by two friends who kept being asked the same question by the people around them: could you just plan it for me?

Kari and Schelli together at sunset

Our story

Named for a bird known for poise and patience

The kingfisher sits still for a long time before it moves, and when it moves it does not miss. That is roughly how we plan: a great deal of patient work before anything is booked, so that the trip itself feels effortless to the people taking it.

We started Kingfisher because travel had quietly become a research project. Reviews contradict each other. The best rooms are not the ones the website pushes. The right week to go is rarely the week that is cheapest. Our clients are perfectly capable of doing all that work — they simply have better uses for their evenings.

So we do it. Then we stay on the line while you travel, which is the part that actually distinguishes an advisor from a booking site.

Kari and Schelli planning at a desk beneath a world map

Meet the founders

Kari and Schelli

Schelli Bettega, co-founder of Kingfisher Luxury Travel

Schelli Bettega

Co-Founder · Client Experience Manager · Travel Advisor

Schelli looks after the part of travel most people never see: the sequence of small decisions between a good idea and a week that actually works. Rooming, timing, the order of the days, the alternate plan nobody ends up needing.

She is the person clients reach when something moves, and the reason it usually moves quietly. Her care shows up as an absence — of queues, of confusion, of the sinking feeling that something has been forgotten.

Her own travel runs to long stays, market mornings, and the kind of place you only find because someone local told you about it.

Kari Bradbury, co-founder of Kingfisher Luxury Travel

Kari Bradbury

Co-Founder · Sales & Marketing Director · Travel Advisor

Kari begins every journey with the conversation rather than the catalog. What is the trip for? Who is it really for? From there she designs deliberately, shaping each day around how you want to feel — a room chosen for the morning light, a drive taken the long way, a table booked because the owner will remember your name. Her conviction is simple: true luxury is personal, never performative.

She leads how Kingfisher speaks and who it speaks to, and she plans the milestone journeys and cruises that make up much of our work — with a particular depth in Europe and at sea.

She is a firm believer that the best day of a trip is usually the one with the least on it.

What we hold to

Our values

Honesty before the sale

If a destination is wrong for your dates, or we are not the right advisors for the trip, we will say so before you have paid us anything beyond a discovery session.

Fewer, better decisions

We do not hand over twelve options. We recommend the one we would book ourselves and explain the reasoning.

Present while you travel

A direct line to a real person in your time zone hours, and someone who can act rather than escalate.

Pace over itinerary density

The best day of a trip is usually the one with the least on it. We protect those deliberately.

Clear money

Planning fees, consultation fees and what they cover are stated up front, in writing, before you commit.

Discretion

Your plans, your celebrations and your budget stay between us.

Credentials & affiliations

Who stands behind the advice

Fora Travel

We are independent travel advisors of Fora Travel, which gives our clients access to preferred hotel programs, amenities and on-the-ground partners worldwide.

Virtuoso

Virtuoso property benefits — breakfast, credits and upgrades subject to availability — are applied to eligible bookings at no additional cost to you.

ASTA

The American Society of Travel Advisors sets the professional and ethical standards our practice follows.

CLIA

Cruise Line International Association training and continuing education keeps our ship-by-ship knowledge current across river, ocean and expedition lines.

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