Virtuoso is the leading global network of luxury travel agencies, featuring over 22,000 vetted advisors who specialize in crafting bespoke, high-end experiences, and providing exclusive perks like complimentary breakfast, room upgrades, and resort credits to their clients. Anyone who has ever booked a luxury trip has most likely booked it via a travel advisor affiliated with Virtuoso; their stamp of approval gives advisors total credibility in addition to professional development and networking opportunities.  

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Virtuoso’s network is central to the value it delivers, connecting its travel advisor members to carefully curated travel provider partners: over 2,200 top-tier hotels, resorts, cruise lines, and travel companies across more than 45 countries. 

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In 2025, however, accessing the network was unnecessarily difficult; the company had embarked on a lengthy migration between 2 web platforms, making it difficult to log in and navigate to find contact information. A travel advisor looking to ask a quick question from a hotel or cruise line to finalize a booking would resort to a Google search rather than bothering with Virtuoso’s platform.

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The #1 request from the network was for a network directory app, but the company culture, tech debt, ways of working, and planning processes all prevented it from ever happening.

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I brought a new perspective and seized the opportunity to quickly design, build, and launch a purpose-built Virtuoso directory iOS app, in just a few weeks, leveraging existing APIs and know-how, going live in the iOS app store in time to announce it at the annual mega-gathering of the network: Virtuoso Travel Week, without disrupting any other work streams.

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By building a standalone mobile directory that better connected users within the network, especially when traveling and at events, the app reinforced what makes Virtuoso valuable, while also raising the bar for their digital platforms, setting a new standard for utility, design, and ease of use.

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The process of launching the app surprised and invigorated the whole company and showed the network it was entering the modern age:

• Value: this was one of the simplest ways to deliver on the value to the network — making it easy to look up and contact each other.

• Speed: from idea to iOS app store submission in 4 wks. Made possible by recent tech infrastructure investments and experience with an earlier iOS app, kicked off with a clear and vetted PRD that I authored.

• Secure: network users (Members, Partners, Staff) only, requires authentication, reviewed with legal, tracking integrated from the start.

• Distributed: puts our features and functionality in our customers’ ecosystem vs forcing them to come to ours.

• Iterative: limited to start, iOS only, no bells & whistles but open-ended evolution— best use of the medium rather than replicating the website.