FAQs

About Ella Travel

  • Ella Travel gives travelers direct access to the people who know a place best. We connect you with vetted Local Advisors — guidebook authors, travel journalists, sommeliers, historians, and longtime insiders — for paid 1:1 consultations that deliver personalized, trustworthy advice. Each advisor brings deep, current local knowledge of your destination. In 30 to 60 minutes you can sort a whole trip with someone whose only incentive is to help you get it right.

  • Often the best intel never makes it online. Guidebooks, blogs, and forums give you generic, often outdated information written for everyone. Ella Travel gives you a real conversation with a Local Advisor who tailors advice to your exact plans, answers follow-up questions in real time, and tells you honestly what's worth your time and what's overrated, helping you make decisions. One consultation replaces hours of scattered research with clear, current advice you can act on.

  • No. Ella Travel's Local Advisors never take commissions or kickbacks from hotels, tours, or brands — they're paid only for their time with you. For years, the people giving you travel advice have worked for someone else. Ella Travel's advisors work only for you, so the guidance you get is genuinely unbiased.

  • Ella Travel is for anyone planning a complex trip, or who simply wants real, authentic advice they can trust. Travelers come to us at any point in their planning — some with only an idea and others with a full itinerary that they want a trusted check on. Ella is for anyone traveling with a partner, family, friends, or on their own who want to make the most of their time, discover where locals actually go, and avoid getting caught in the tourist traps — people who trust a knowledgeable human over another page of search results.

  • Yes. A single session typically saves 5-10 hours of pre-trip research and replaces second-guessing with confidence. Your advisor shares neighborhood-level recommendations, flags what to know before you go, steers you away from tourist traps, and helps you prioritize — so you arrive knowing exactly how to spend your time.

  • Ella Travel is based in Shoreditch, London. We connect travelers with a global network of vetted Local Advisors who know their destinations inside out.

    Ella Travel is fully independent, 100% woman-run, and backed by Expedia and CitizenM Hotels.

Consultations & Booking

  • Ella Travel's Local Advisors offer four consultation formats:

    Destination Deep Dive: a 30-minute session to plan your trip in minutes instead of hours.

    Destination Wedding & Honeymoon Planning: 45 minutes of local advice on the where, what, and how, for couples planning something special.

    Cruise Day Trip Itinerary Planning: a 30-minute session for a custom day plan that makes the most of your time in port.

    Custom Trip Planning: a 60-minute session to build, review, or refine a bespoke, often multi-destination itinerary.

  • Pricing is set by each advisor and shown on their profile page, and it varies by consultation type, length, and experience. Consultations range from around $30 for 30 minutes up to about $200 for an hour with a highly experienced advisor. You'll always see the exact price before you book — you can view consultation formats and prices on any advisor's page.

  • Choose your preferred session on any advisor's page, then at checkout:

    1. Note your preferred date(s) and time(s).

    2. Choose whether you'd like to meet by video, phone, or WhatsApp chat.

    3. Once you've booked, the Ella Travel team coordinates with your chosen advisor to match your preferred times to their availability.

    4. When it's confirmed, we send you and your advisor a calendar invite.

    Find a Local Advisor here.

  • All consultation times are displayed in your local time zone, even when your advisor is in a different country — so there's no time-zone math to worry about.

  • After booking, you'll receive a short pre-call questionnaire to capture your trip logistics, questions, and goals. This is shared with your advisor so they can prepare tailored advice.

  • Advisor consultations happen in a private 1:1 WhatsApp chat or Video call.

    • If you’ve chosen a Video consultation, click the [Join the Google Meet] button in your calendar invite at the time of the call.

    • If you’ve chosen WhatsApp, you’ll be added to a group chat by our Ella Travel number (+44 7457 411378) up to five days before your scheduled consultation.*

    Your Local Advisor will join at the scheduled time, ready to help. Once your time is up, your meeting will end. Within 48 hours, you’ll receive personalized recap notes covering all the intel and recommendations from your session, plus a few extra tips from your Local Advisor.

    *If your privacy settings block group chat invites from unknown numbers, you'll need to save our number (+44 7457 411378) to your contacts or receive our invite via WhatsApp DM.

  • Anything travel-related. Ask whether and where it's safe to walk at night, how to get from the airport into town, how to travel between destinations, or where a local actually eats. Your advisor will share their go-to neighborhood spots — right down to a hyper-local cooking class taught by a beloved nonna — and tell you honestly when something's overrated and what to do instead.

  • Yes. Many travelers book a consultation because they're the one planning for a partner, family, or group and want to make sure everyone has a great trip. Your advisor can help you build a plan that balances different interests, paces, and priorities, so you're not carrying all the research and the decisions on your own.

  • Our advisor network spans the globe and is always growing. Whether you're headed to a well-traveled city like London or New York or somewhere less-visited like Tanzania or Iraq, we can connect you with a Local Advisor who knows it well. Browse our destinations to see who's available where.

Pricing, Cancellations & Gifts

  • You pay for the consultation upfront when you book. Each advisor sets their own rates and keeps 75% of every fee; Ella Travel keeps the remaining 25%. Advisors take no commissions or kickbacks from hotels, tours, or brands. Likewise, Ella Travel does not accept sponsored promotions or ads — so you can be sure that Ella Travel and your Local Advisor have your best interests in mind.

    A note: we operate this way because we believe the best places are not always the ones with the big marketing budgets. Small, independent hotels, family run restaurants, and local shops are the heart of our communities — and they are what makes a trip feel so special and unique. By operating without commissions from the big players, our advisors remain incentivized to help you discover the small ones.

  • We understand plans change—but Advisors often spend time preparing for their Consultations in advance. 

    As such, our cancellation and refund policy is as follows:

    • You may cancel a Consultation up to 7 days before the scheduled time for a full refund.

    • You may request to reschedule a Consultation up to 48 hours before the scheduled time.

    • If no mutual reschedule time can be found, a full refund will be issued.

    • Cancellations made within 7 days of the scheduled time are not eligible for a refund.

    If your Advisor is more than 5 minutes late, or if there is a technical issue on our side, we’ll reschedule or extend your session. We do not issue refunds or time extensions for lateness or no-shows on your part. 

    See all of our terms here.

  • Yes a travel consultation is an excellent gift for the traveler in your life. You can buy one here.

    Please note that gift cards are subject to certain terms of use.

  • No problem! If you need more time with your Local Advisor, just contact us via WhatsApp or by email and we’ll help you book a follow-up session. 

  • Our Local Advisors are vetted destination specialists — guidebook authors, travel journalists, sommeliers and wine writers, historians, and longtime insiders — each with a distinct, opinionated perspective on the places they cover. They're chosen for specific, current expertise rather than generic credentials, and their only job is to help you travel well.

  • Every advisor in the Ella Travel network goes through a multi-step verification process that confirms they're knowledgeable, trustworthy, reliable, and genuinely equipped to help travelers plan their trip.

    Want to become one? Visit our Become a Local Advisor page to get started.

  • Our advisors have deep, current ties to the destinations they cover. Some live there full-time, while others split their time, travel as digital nomads, or return home frequently — but all bring genuine, on-the-ground local knowledge. The network spans the globe and keeps growing, from major hubs like London and New York to off-the-beaten-path places like Tanzania and Iraq.

    View our current advisors here, and our current destinations here.

  • We're always looking for knowledgeable people who know a destination inside out. Visit our Become a Local Advisor page to get started.

Our Local Advisors

A smiling woman with curly hair and glasses, wearing a gray coat and orange blouse, standing on a city street and looking at a store window while holding a smartphone.

Contact

  • The fastest way is WhatsApp: +44 7457 411378. You can also email us.