Editorials
How We Vet Hotels for LGBTQ+ Clients
Discover how Out Of Office vets luxury hotels for LGBTQ+ travellers. From firsthand visits to client feedback, here is our expert approach.
At Out Of Office, we do not rely on brochures or generic reviews.
Every hotel we recommend has been carefully considered through years of firsthand experience, client feedback, and trusted relationships on the ground.
Finding the right hotel is about more than five-star ratings. For LGBTQ+ travellers, it is about feeling genuinely welcome. Here is how we vet every property before we recommend it.
We see it for ourselves
Whenever possible, we visit.
Our team regularly travels to key destinations to experience hotels firsthand. These are not quick walkthroughs. They are detailed, intentional visits designed to understand exactly what a stay would feel like for our clients.
For example, our Head of Travel has spent extensive time travelling across the Maldives, exploring islands, resorts, and villas to understand which properties truly deliver at the highest level.
It is one thing for a hotel to say it is welcoming. It is another to experience it in person.
We attend familiarisation trips with tourist boards
A beautiful room is just the starting point.
On our vetting trips, we spend full days exploring each property in detail. Often working closely with local tourist boards, we are able to access a wide range of hotels in a short space of time, giving us a clear view of what truly stands out in a destination.
We look at everything. The atmosphere. The service. The small details that are easy to miss but make a big difference.
This is how we separate what is good from what is exceptional.
We meet the people behind the hotel
The property matters. The people running it matter more.
During every visit we take time with hotel management and key staff. These conversations tell us what no review can: whether inclusivity is embedded in how a hotel actually operates or whether it is a line in a corporate policy that nobody on the floor has read.
We look for openness, directness, and a genuine ease around LGBTQ+ guests that isn’t staged for a site inspection.
The best trips begin with a conversation, not a booking form.
Request a quote →We Listen to a Decade of Client Feedback
Every trip we plan adds to a body of knowledge built over more than ten years and thousands of clients. We listen closely to what comes back, both the highlights and the details that fell short. Over time, patterns emerge clearly. We know which hotels consistently deliver and which ones have a gap between their reputation and the experience our clients actually report.
That feedback loop is one of the most valuable tools we have, and it is why our recommendations get sharper over time rather than staying static.
We Assess Hotels in the Context of Where They Are
A five-star hotel in the Maldives is a fundamentally different proposition from a five-star hotel in Paris, and both are different again from what five stars means in Brazil or Southeast Asia.
Rating systems do not travel well. What matters is whether a property is exceptional within the context of its destination, and that is a judgment that requires knowing the destination properly.
A Maldives resort is judged on the quality of its overwater villas, its house reef, its staff-to-guest ratio, and whether the privacy it promises actually holds up in practice. A Paris hotel is judged on its location, its service culture, and whether it has the relationships to get things done in a city where access is everything. A luxury lodge in Botswana is judged on its guiding, its camp atmosphere, and how it handles the logistics that make or break a safari.
These are not the same criteria, and applying a generic checklist across all of them would tell you very little.
This is why destination knowledge is not a bonus at Out Of Office. It is the foundation of every recommendation we make. We know what genuinely excellent looks like in the places we send our clients, and we know when a property is trading on a category rating that its actual experience does not support.
Why It Matters
For LGBTQ+ travellers, the difference between a good hotel and the right hotel can define an entire trip. That is why we take vetting seriously.
If you want to know which hotels we would actually suggest for you and why, that is exactly the conversation we are here to have. Get in touch with Out Of Office to start planning.
On this page
- We see it for ourselves
- The Law vs. Reality: Gay Travel to the Maldives
- We attend familiarisation trips with tourist boards
- How We Plan Trips to Countries With Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws
- We meet the people behind the hotel
- Luxury Maldives Hotels Opening Soon: Aman, Capella & More
- We Listen to a Decade of Client Feedback
- We Assess Hotels in the Context of Where They Are
- Why It Matters
New to Out Of Office?
We are a luxury travel company for LGBTQ+ travellers. Everything we sell is tailor-made, planned by one named member of our team throughout, and nothing on this site is a fixed package unless it says so.
Where exclusivity meets inclusivity
Ten years, hundreds of five-star reviews, and a team who will tell you when a destination is not right for the trip you have in mind.
No two trips we plan are the same. Yours will be no exception.
Every itinerary starts as a blank page and is shaped around your pace, your routing and the places you actually want to see.
Stellar service. Stellar products. Stellar people and it gets so much better when you pick up the phone and call.
Anthony S.
Super client centred service. From first contact I have had warm, efficient, friendly and flexible service.
John
I’m confident in giving Out Of Office a 5-star review! They are one of the leaders in this space without a doubt.
Tiberiu
We plant trees for every booking
For every booking made with Out Of Office we commit to planting trees in your name to help reduce the impact of travel on future generations. You'll even get a link to see where your trees are planted in the world via our partner Ecologi.
We donate to Rainbow Railroad with every booking
Rainbow Railroad helps LGBTQ+ people escape state-sponsored violence and persecution. A donation goes with every trip we sell, funded by us and never added to your price.
Start Planning Your Trip
Tell us where you would love to go, when you are thinking of travelling and what kind of trip you have in mind. One of our LGBTQ+ travel specialists will create a tailor-made itinerary designed around your destination, style and preferences.
One named specialist, first enquiry to homecoming. No call centre, and nothing is charged until you decide to book.