If you work in the luxury travel space, you know the importance of providing excellent service. You take the time to truly understand your clients so you can anticipate their needs, handle all the little details so nothing interrupts their experience, and make people feel seen.

So here's an uncomfortable question: Are you actually doing that for your LGBTQ+ clients?

I don't mean are you accepting of them — I'll assume yes. I mean, are you actively taking steps to remove the friction that follows them through nearly every trip, even at five-star properties with the best intentions? What a lot of well-meaning advisors and hoteliers don't realize is that the moments that chip away at a queer traveler's experience usually aren't coming from people trying to cause harm, but from people defaulting to what they know.

A front desk agent assumes the king bed was a mistake and offers to switch it to two doubles. A couple arrives to find both the bed and the pullout sofa made up because the reservation was for two women. A welcome letter is addressed to "Mr. and Mrs. Paul and Steve.” A guest asks where the restrooms are and gets specifically directed to the wrong one. Other guests are staring or being subtly rude, and the staff doesn't intervene because they didn't clock what was happening.

None of these are done with malicious intent, but they do force a person to stop, explain themselves, and correct a stranger. When someone is forced to come out repeatedly throughout their vacation, it wears on them. And the low bar of "they're used to it" is not acceptable, especially in luxury travel.

The good news is that this is fixable. As with any client, advisors can never fully guarantee that everything will be 100% perfect once the plane is wheels-up. However, there are steps that they can take to set their clients up for a seamless experience that start well before they depart.

As with any luxury client, building trust with a new traveler starts in the onboarding conversation. The questions you ask (and how you ask them) are a good indicator to a client whether they can relax around you. There shouldn’t be a separate intake form — the key is building these questions into how you work with everyone. When preferred names, pronouns, travel companions, etc., are part of your standard intake, you’re not singling anyone out but just being thorough. Then, when you’re working with properties and on-the-ground partners, you can communicate these things along with all the other preferences and nuances you’re sharing so that they can give your clients the best possible experience.

On the flip side, it’s equally important to take the time to vet properties and partners beyond whether they switch to a rainbow logo during Pride month. When you're vetting properties, ask your contacts operational questions such as how staff are trained to follow a guest's lead on names and pronouns, how the property handles situations where other guests make someone feel unwelcome, or whether gender-neutral facilities exist in other spaces, such as the spa or fitness areas. It’s easy for any property to claim that they are LGBTQ+ friendly, just like they can claim to be accessible for guests with disabilities or other specific needs. However, while some properties consistently maintain and update their policies, others add a line about inclusivity to their website and call it good. Even when you’re working with a hotel that has a reputation for being LGBTQ+-friendly, factors like staff turnover, ownership changes, and training lapses can make that reputation outdated. Ask about what's currently in place, not what the brand has historically been known for.

One of the biggest factors that goes beyond how you and your partners are working with clients is the destination itself. The unfortunate reality is that we still live in a world where LGBTQ+ people are not free to safely exist everywhere, and legal protections for same-sex couples vary enormously — not just by country, but by region within countries. A luxury resort in a stunning location is not automatically a safe or comfortable choice for every client, and "the hotel itself is very welcoming" doesn't fully account for what someone might experience the moment they step outside it. Work with your destination-expert partners and conduct your own research using resources from organizations like ILGA World to ensure you have the most accurate and up-to-date information.

LGBTQ+ clients don't fit a single profile any more than your other clients do. They have different comfort levels, different priorities, and different definitions of a “perfect” trip. The ones who keep coming back (and who refer you to their friends) are the ones who felt like you truly understood them. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens because you asked the right questions and resisted the urge to fill in the blanks.

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