AI-powered travel platform, the Luxurist, has launched with the ambition of transforming the way high-end travel advisors book trips. Jenny Southan reports

Led by serial entrepreneur David Amsellem, the Luxurist combines next-gen itinerary technology with real-time human concierge services to support luxury travel advisors and their clients.

“Luxury travel has become too fragmented, too frustrating – for both advisors and properties,” says Amsellem, who previously founded the concierge company John Paul, which he sold to Accor in 2016. He says: “We built the Luxurist to solve that problem and give advisors the superpowers they need to succeed in a fast-changing world.”

Launched in early 2025 and live in countries including the US, Canada, UK, Spain, Mexico, Australia, South Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Luxurist connects leading luxury travel professionals with 5,000 luxury properties.

It offers users access to a concierge team, real-time inventory management and booking confirmations, and privileged rates and exclusive amenities for clients. The Luxurist is also integrated into Bedsonline, the retail arm of HBX Group.

“Our concierge is a true game-changer,” says Amsellem. “It’s available 24/7 during a client’s trip – but more importantly, it’s there to support the travel advisor, helping them with time-consuming tasks like restaurant bookings, confirming connected rooms or arranging VIP amenities. That frees them up to focus on what they do best: building strong client relationships.”

Personalisation at Scale

Amsellem believes the future of luxury travel lies in ultra-personalised service, powered by intelligent tools. “What luxury travellers want today is something you can’t find online – a bespoke, transformative experience. Even the best AI can’t replace that kind of intuition and care, but it can enhance it," he says.

To that end, the Luxurist’s itinerary builder uses natural language prompts to generate multi-stop trips in seconds. “A travel advisor can just type, ‘Family trip to Italy for 15 days with three children and four destinations’, and the platform will generate a complete itinerary with hotels and activities. What used to take three hours now takes eight seconds,” Amsellem says.

“But the advisor is still in control,” he adds. “They can adjust the itinerary, swap properties, tweak experiences – and even let the client make edits through a shared link.”

Content Users Can Trust

Another key innovation is the Luxurist’s approach to content. “One of the biggest pain points we heard from advisors was around hotel descriptions. They didn’t trust the content. Room descriptions were vague or outdated. So we’ve built a curated database with verified, rich information,” says Amsellem.

To bring destinations to life, the Luxurist also embeds video content and social media feeds from influencers who match a client’s profile. “A travel advisor can say, ‘My client is tech-savvy, elegant, and travelling with kids’, and our AI will pull in fresh, relevant visual content to inspire them,” he explains. “It allows agents to recommend properties as if they’d visited last week.”

Looking Ahead

Despite its early success, Amsellem says the Luxurist is just getting started. “Our vision is to become the reference platform for luxury travel distribution,” he says. “We’re not here to compete with traditional tour operators – we’re building a digital solution for modern advisors who want flexibility, speed, and deep personalisation.”

And what about the role of AI in the years ahead?

“I always say: AI won’t replace travel advisors. But AI-enabled travel advisors will replace traditional ones,” he says. “The human touch will always matter in luxury, but the tools we use must evolve. That’s what the Luxurist is all about.”