Hi, I’m Kelly Hales
I spent 26 years in Big 4 international tax at EY. What that really taught me was how to keep a hundred moving pieces straight, and how to stay calm when one of them goes wrong at the worst possible time. That’s most of what this job is. When a flight cancels at 9pm, you don’t want someone who’s enthusiastic about travel. You want someone who’s already thought about what happens next.
I left EY to do this full time, as an independent advisor with Fora. I’m based in Houston and I book worldwide — Paris, Amsterdam, Vietnam, Thailand, Costa Rica, the Caribbean. Where I haven’t been myself, I have an advisor in my network who has.
Most of my clients are families, and my daughter has been coming with us since she was small. So I know what a long-haul flight looks like with a kid, how much a day can hold before it stops being fun, and which hotels mean it when they say family-friendly. The trips I’m best at have more than one household in them — three generations in Paris, two families sharing a house in Mexico at Christmas. More people, more opinions, and a lot more that has to line up. The itinerary you get is built around the people actually going.
Check out a few of my favorite destinations - and the hotels where I love to stay when visiting there!
Ritz Paris
Paris, France
Superlative stay on Place Vendôme fresh from a top-to-toe renovation — the stuff of hotel dreams.
✈ Guaranteed Upgrade at Time of Booking
✈ Full Breakfast Daily for Two (restaurant or in-room)
✈ Complimentary Roundtrip Private Airport Transfer with VIP Meet & Greet
✈ Full Access to the Ritz Club & Spa
✈ No Check-In or Check-Out Time — Your Room Is Ready When You Arrive
Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai
Hoi An, Vietnam
One-bedroom villas along Ha My Beach, with Hoi An’s lantern-lit old town a short drive away. Easy with a kid, and beautiful enough that you won’t mind the flight.
✈ Breakfast Daily for Two
✈ $100 Hotel Credit ($200 for Suites & Private Retreats)
✈ Upgrade to the Next Room Category (subject to availability)
✈ Early Check-In / Late Check-Out (subject to availability)
Andaz Costa Rica Resort at Peninsula Papagayo
Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Built into the hillside above Culebra Bay, with a beach club below and monkeys in the trees outside your room. The rainforest isn’t a day trip here — it’s out the window.
✈ Breakfast Daily for Two
✈ Property Credit (value varies by property)
✈ Welcome Amenity on Arrival
✈ Priority Room Upgrade (subject to availability)
✈ Early Check-In / Late Check-Out / Connecting Rooms (subject to availability)
“Kelly is wonderful to work with to plan travel. She provides great insights & thinks about all of the details. You know that if Kelly recommends something it is going to be excellent. I encourage others to have Kelly help them create amazing holidays.”
- Cynthia H.
Why work with me?
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Breakfast, a resort credit, an upgrade when there’s one to give. They come from booking through my network instead of a booking site, and they cost you nothing — the hotel pays me, not you.
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Not a list of the best things to do in a city. A plan that accounts for who’s actually on the trip: how far an eight-year-old will walk before the day falls apart, and which afternoon needs nothing in it at all.
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Flights cancel, rooms aren’t ready, someone gets sick. You get my number. The difference between a bad morning and a ruined trip is usually one person making three phone calls on your behalf.
