You can ask an app to book your flight, your hotel, even your dinner reservation. But some of the best travel experiences only open up if you know the right person to ask.
That’s the bet one luxury travel company is making, and it’s paying off this summer. As AI tools promise to handle more of the planning, Routescape says its travelers want the opposite: a real person guiding every step. The company builds trips across Great Britain, Ireland, France and Italy, trading highways for back roads, chain hotels for family-run inns and typical attractions for doors that don’t usually open to visitors.
Routescape’s Bookings Jump More Than 60% This Summer
Here’s the proof: Routescape‘s summer bookings for 2026 have jumped more than 60% compared to last year, the company says. Chief Operating Officer Rachel Coffey credits the jump to travelers who want something an algorithm can’t offer. “We’re seeing a clear shift in luxury travel in 2026,” she said.
How Routescape Builds Each Trip
Every Routescape journey blends back-road driving with regional food culture and independently owned hotels and inns, the kind of details a booking app can’t replicate. The company designs each itinerary around a traveler’s own interests, travel style and sense of adventure, not a fixed list of tourist stops.
Trips can include behind-the-scenes access and local encounters most visitors never get close to, plus stays the company selects specifically for that traveler. The goal, Coffey says, is a trip that feels both simple to follow and far more immersive than the typical itinerary.
Human Expertise Still Wins
Coffey says the real value isn’t standard VIP treatment. It’s having a specialist who understands both the traveler and the destination well enough to make every detail feel personal.
She adds that this isn’t about resisting technology. It’s about what technology still can’t replace, like trusted relationships, local knowledge and personal connection built over time.
As more travel planning moves online, Coffey says the specialist travel designer’s role keeps growing more valuable, not less. Routescape points to this summer’s booking numbers as proof that travelers agree.
If you’d rather have a specialist build your trip around you than trust an app’s best guess, this kind of travel is worth a look. Skip the algorithm and start a conversation with someone who actually knows the destination inside and out.
Mandy is a luxury travel, fine dining and bucket-list-adventure journalist with expert insight from 47 countries. She uncovers unforgettable experiences around the world and brings them to life through immersive storytelling that blends indulgence, culture and discovery, and shares them with a global audience as co-founder of Food Drink Life. Her articles appear on MSN and through the Associated Press wire in major U.S. outlets, including NBC, the Daily News, Boston Herald, the Chicago Sun-Times and many more.