Studio Heliotrope creates lifestyle content for Fortune 500s, media companies, travel establishments and discerning consumers.
Lifestyle content is the fun stuff you want to know about:
- Food, Drink & Chocolate
- Events, Culture & The Arts
- Travel & Family Travel
- Spa, Sport & Shopping
- Learn more. . .
Some of our brands:
Samples of our client work:
These are the travel resources we use.
Destination Info
BBC Counry ProfilesYou have to love the British. Summing up a whole nation in 4 paragraphs, that's impressive (if not always comprehensive). What we like about this site (aside from occasional moments of dry humor, which may be unintended) are the links to local media outlets. Before traveling internationally, reading the local press is a good way to find out the current social and political climate and more in-depth listings of local events and happenings.
Accomodations
Unusual Hotels of the WorldWant to stay in an igloo? Teepee? Treehouse? Cave? This site is a great directory of hotels whose structure is really out of the ordinary.
Bidding for Travel
NOTE: We NEVER use cloaked sites for flights.
HotwireOf the cloaked price sites, this is the first place we go for hotels and car rentals. It is easy to figure out which hotel they are offering by looking at the package deals. If you decide not to do that research, the cloaked listings themselves offer more information than you will find on any other site of its kind. They will list amenities, star rating and a more precise location.Priceline
Priceline is our preferred car rental method. Using Name Your Own Price we have always secured a car from Avis and Hertz for literally less than 50% of what it would cost if the company name was not cloaked. We sometimes use them for hotels IfHotwire does not have what we want AND we are not picky about our exact location or exact amenities.Better Bidding
Start here before you head to Hotwire or Priceline. The forums are filled with people who share strategies and details about recent wins. It can be frustrating to sort through the poor information design, but a little patience and persistence can result in a better bidding experience.Luxury Link
This attractive, easy to naviagate site is best for people who typically pay full price and would like to get a small break without any hassles or surprises. We like that they have stayed true to their original charter: most of the offerings are largely upscale. We don't like that they require a minimum bid. It's either an auction or its not...
Last Minute
Be careful with this site. It can either be a great boon, or a major scam. We have found some great deals when traveling last minute, but we have also been frustrated by the repeated instance of an offer being rescinded at the last minute. Cavet Preemptor!
Travel Insurance
If you are any kind of frequent traveler, going without insurance is a gamble not worth taking. See the smart travel insurance buying entry on our blog for smart strategies.American Express Travel Insurance
Absolutely the best travel insurance is provided by American Express for it's cardmembers. Ask about their baggage loss and trip delay plans, absolutely indispensible for any frequent traveler.Travel Guard
Before we began using Amex's insurance programs, we used Travel Guard. They came to the rescue on numerous occasions and always paid the claim with minimal paperwork and no delay. Note that they seem to recently have been taken over by AIG and we have not used them in the years since that has happened.
Trip Planners
One nice side effect of travel purchsing going online are the plethora of sites that allow you to manage all the details of your trip on one central site that friends and family can easily access should they need you.
Trip HubTripHub is the only online travel planning site we really like. They are comprehensive, making it easy to include every detail from your flights to hotels to sites without forcing us to wade through a ton of superfluous tourist traps and overcrowded mediocre hotels. The interface is simple and it is easy to share with as many people as desired.Triporama
This is mostly for larger group travel planning.
Flights
Airfare WatchdogThis is an airfare deal website with finds you won't get anywhere else AND which are genuine. In other words, a normal person with normal needs can get the advertised deal without any undesirable compromises. This is the ONLY deal newsletter we subscribe to AND read.Flyer Talk Miles & Points Forum
What is it about sites that start out as great niche products and then blow their whole benefit by expanding and becoming just another generic travel site? Flyer Talk is no exception and has now become way over-cluttered with things best discovered elsewhere. However, their frequent flyer forum remains an excellent place to find secrets tips and clarity about frequent flyer programs.Air Wise
One of the limitations of almost all flight search websites (including Kayak and Sidestep and definitely the big 3) is their omission of specialized budget airlines especially when booking international travel. This outstanding site has a comprehensive listing of ALL scheduled flights between two destinations. Go to the "Worldwide Flight Schedules" and do a search from there. You'll get all the flights with the number of stops, trip time and if its a code share.
