Frequently Asked Questions

Incognito Atelier is a Boston-based luxury travel design company founded by Valentina O'Kane. We design bespoke, ultra-luxury journeys worldwide for ultra-high-net-worth families, family offices, founders, couples, empty nesters and multigenerational families, from five-star hotels and private villas to private jets, yacht charters and private islands.

We work with discerning travelers who value privacy, time and meaning: ultra-high-net-worth families, family offices, founders and executives, couples, empty nesters and multigenerational families. We also design corporate President's Club trips and executive retreats, including full luxury hotel buyouts.

We design journeys worldwide. Europe is our deepest area of expertise. Valentina grew up in Slovenia, has lived in Italy and Germany, knows the Adriatic and the Croatian islands firsthand, and has traveled to more than 70 countries.

We don't sell trips. We design journeys around why you are traveling, not only where. Every itinerary is built on five pillars: Discretion by Design, Couture Craftsmanship, Uncommon Access, Balanced Flow and Legacy Stewardship. A portion of every trip also supports a charity in the destination.

Yes. Incognito Atelier is an affiliate of Departure Lounge, a Virtuoso member agency, and is a preferred partner of the world's leading luxury hotel programs, including Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Rosewood Elite, Aman, Belmond Bellini Club, Mandarin Oriental Fan Club, Dorchester Collection Diamond Club, Oetker Collection Pearl Partner, Rocco Forte Knights, Relais & Châteaux, The Peninsula PenClub and Auberge Resorts Collection. Our clients receive VIP recognition and exclusive amenities, such as daily breakfast, resort credits and upgrades when available.

We focus exclusively on luxury travel. We book five-star hotels in nearly every case, occasionally a four-star boutique property when it is the better fit. We do not book budget travel, backpacking trips, Airbnb or VRBO.

Incognito Atelier is based in Boston, MA, and designs luxury travel for clients around the world.

A luxury travel designer plans every part of a trip around the traveler: choosing the right hotels and room categories, pacing the itinerary, and arranging private guides, transfers and dining. At Incognito Atelier, we stay involved while you travel to handle anything that changes, and every journey begins with a conversation about why you are traveling, not only where.

Yes. Incognito Atelier is a luxury travel design company based in Boston, Massachusetts. We work with clients in Boston, across New England and throughout the United States, and design journeys worldwide.

Incognito Atelier was founded by Valentina O'Kane, a luxury travel designer based in Boston, MA. Before founding the company, she spent more than 20 years in luxury hotels, including Pebble Beach, working across front office, sales and event planning. She holds a bachelor's degree in hospitality management and has designed travel since 2020.

We begin with intention, not destination. In a first private conversation we ask why you are traveling, who is coming and what you would like the journey to give back to you. Every detail of the itinerary is then designed around those answers.

The VELA Method is the framework we use to design every Incognito Atelier journey. It brings clarity, structure and emotional intelligence to complex luxury itineraries, so that each trip feels effortless, well paced and personal from the first conversation to the return home.

We design multigenerational family escapes, private sabbaticals, celebrations with friends, romantic reconnections and honeymoons, solo journeys, and corporate and private retreats. Each one is designed from scratch around the travelers, never from a template.

Valentina spent more than 20 years in luxury hotels, including Pebble Beach, working in hotel operations, sales and event planning, and has designed luxury travel since 2020. She has traveled to more than 70 countries.

Europe is our deepest area of expertise, especially Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and the Adriatic islands, where Valentina grew up and has lived. We also design journeys worldwide, from African safaris to Asia and the South Pacific.

We offer four signature services: Bespoke Journeys (fully custom itineraries), the Legacy Travel Portfolio (a long-term travel partnership), Private Retreat Design (corporate and private group retreats) and Hotel-Only Bookings with VIP perks at our partner hotels.

Yes. Through Hotel-Only Bookings you can reserve a stay at our partner hotels and resorts and still receive our VIP benefits. Use access code INCOGNITOVIP on our hotel booking portal, or contact us and we will book it for you.

Benefits vary by hotel and often include a welcome amenity, a $100 resort credit, early check-in and late check-out based on availability, a possible room upgrade at check-in, and daily breakfast for two.

Yes. Alongside five-star hotels, we arrange private villas, private jet travel, luxury cruises, yacht charters and private island stays as part of a bespoke journey.

A luxury yacht voyage is far smaller and more personal than a traditional cruise. Yachts like Four Seasons I, Amangati and Orient Express Corinthian carry from under 100 to about 450 guests, with all-suite accommodations, a high staff-to-guest ratio, fine dining and a marina for swimming and water sports. They can also reach smaller harbors that large cruise ships cannot.

Aman at Sea's Amangati and Four Seasons I are the most intimate, with 47 and 95 suites. Four Seasons I offers a one-to-one guest-to-staff ratio, and Amangati is designed around privacy and wellness. The right choice depends on whether you value space and service, calm and seclusion, or the romance of sailing.

Fares on The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection include dining, drinks, gratuities, onboard entertainment and Wi-Fi, plus access to the marina platform for non-motorized water sports.

Aman at Sea's first yacht, Amangati, begins sailing in spring 2027, starting with Mediterranean voyages. Caribbean voyages are expected to follow.

Orient Express Corinthian, at 220 meters, is the world's largest sailing yacht. It set sail in June 2026 and is designed to travel on wind power up to 80 percent of the time.

Yes. We arrange private crewed yacht charters in Croatia, Greece and across the Mediterranean. Valentina grew up spending time on the Croatian coast and knows the Adriatic and its islands firsthand.

An advisor helps you choose the right yacht, voyage and suite, and designs everything around it, from hotel stays before and after the voyage to private experiences ashore and support if plans change.

The Legacy Travel Portfolio is a private, long-term travel partnership. Instead of planning one trip at a time, we build a personalized blueprint of your travel identity and design each year's journeys from it, so every trip builds on the last.

It is designed for individuals and families who travel several times a year and see travel as part of their values, milestones and legacy, including ultra-high-net-worth families and family offices managing travel across generations.

Membership includes an annual travel strategy and curation, dedicated planning and concierge service, access to our global partner network, and continuous refinement of your travel profile and preferences.

Instead of starting from scratch for each trip, we build a long-term blueprint of how your family travels, what you love and where you want to go next, then plan each year's journeys from it. Every trip builds on the last, guided by an annual travel strategy and a dedicated planner who already knows your preferences.

Yes. We work with ultra-high-net-worth families and family offices, and we coordinate directly with chiefs of staff and executive assistants. Your team has one point of contact who knows every family member's preferences, and we plan the family's travel from one shared blueprint, including milestone gatherings, private villas, exclusive-use islands, hotel buyouts and yacht charters.

We design leadership immersions, executive retreats, corporate President's Club and incentive trips, client appreciation trips, family milestone gatherings and wellness retreats, for groups who want to gather with purpose.

Venue sourcing, contract negotiation and coordination; end-to-end travel design and logistics for every guest; itinerary creation; local culinary, wellness and cultural partners; discreet guest communication before and during the retreat; optional on-site management and hosting; and full confidentiality with white-label options.

Yes. We arrange full and partial buyouts at luxury hotels and private estates, with branded gifting and exclusive experiences designed around your group and your goals.

Retreats can be as short as two days or as long as ten or more. We design the pacing around your purpose, your group and the destination.

We design corporate and private retreats for groups of 10 to 250 guests, including executive retreats, President's Club incentive trips and full luxury hotel buyouts.

We recommend booking at least a year in advance. Larger groups need more lead time, because securing the right hotel, a full buyout or enough rooms at a top property is easier the earlier we start.

Yes. Our planning fee reflects the expertise, time, research and personal attention that go into designing and managing your trip. It varies with how complex your itinerary is and how much support you need. Hotel-only bookings are always complimentary. Before any planning begins, we outline your fee clearly, so you know exactly what to expect.

You can absolutely plan a great trip on your own. The difference is having someone who knows you, understands how you travel, and knows what is actually worth your time and money. We don't just book hotels and experiences. We shape every detail around you, and when something goes sideways, you're not left to sort it out alone. We step in, solve the problem and advocate for you.

Tell us who is traveling, the season or dates you have in mind, and what you would like the journey to give you, whether that is rest, celebration, connection or adventure. The more you share, the more personally we can design.

No. Many of our clients begin with a feeling or an occasion rather than a destination. We start with why you want to travel and recommend where to go from there.

Yes. We design multigenerational family trips, celebrations with friends, and corporate and private retreats, including executive retreats and full hotel buyouts.

A portion of the earnings from every trip we design supports a local charity in the destination itself. When a family travels to Kenya, the contribution stays in Kenya.

We focus on three commitments: animal shelters and sanctuaries, education for homeless and underserved children, and local community initiatives chosen for each destination.

Yes. Clients may direct their journey's contribution to a charity of their own choosing. We route the giving there and confirm it once the journey is complete.

Yes. For clients who wish to go further, we can arrange time with the community during the journey itself, such as a morning at a local school or a visit to a women's cooperative.

We support a different local charity in each destination our clients visit. A few of the organizations we have supported include Horizons for Homeless Children, Animal SOS Sri Lanka, Tikiri Trust, Dignity Matters and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

You can call us at +1 (617) 803-1656, email hello@incognito-atelier.com, or complete the inquiry form on our Contact page. Every inquiry is answered personally.

We review every inquiry personally and confidentially, then reach out to arrange a private conversation about who is traveling, when, and what you would like the journey to give you.

Yes. Discretion is one of our founding principles. Everything you share with us is treated confidentially and used only to design your journey.