Work with me
Travel that stays with you.
Whether you’re planning a trip, building a campaign grounded in psychology research, or looking at your property through a guest’s eyes, here’s where to begin.
The places we go don’t stay behind. They become part of us.
— Dr. Katie Blake
For travelers
Bespoke travel planning.
Most travel planning optimizes for logistics. Mine optimizes for meaning. As a social and cultural psychologist, I bring a research-backed understanding of how place, pace, and experience shape who we become, and I use it to build trips that actually feel like you.
This is for you if you want a trip that feels curated and considered, not just planned.
- Bespoke itinerary planning
- Hotel + experience curation
- Psychology-informed travel frameworks
- Solo + couples travel planning
- Multi-generational trip design
- Individual + small group travel
For brands, hotels + media
Work grounded in psychology research.
I collaborate with travel and hospitality brands on psychology-driven campaigns, content, and guest experience work that goes deeper than aesthetics, grounded in research on how people relate to place and experience.
This is for brands that want real research behind their storytelling.
- Brand campaign collaboration
- Psychology-driven content strategy
- Editorial copywriting + storytelling
- Quiz strategy + creation
- Guest experience audits
- Podcast + Substack features
- Speaking engagements
- Press + media inquiries
For travelers — how it works
Most people plan a trip. I help you design an experience.
I don’t believe in putting people in a box. Every itinerary I build starts with you: who you are, who you’re traveling with, and what you want the trip to give you. When the destination fits and the pace lets you settle in, a trip stays with you long after you’re home.
Where I specialize
Destination
Scotland
The Highlands, the islands, the castles, planned with the depth and detail that only comes from genuine love for a place.
Destination
The American Southwest
New Mexico and Texas, from Santa Fe’s art world to the Texas Hill Country: unhurried, layered, and full of character.
Experience
Boutique & Independent Hotels
Properties with a point of view. I specialize in finding the hotel that feels like it was made for you.
Experience
Disney Vacations
As a Certified Disney Travel Specialist, I plan immersive, stress-free Disney trips for families, couples, and solo travelers.
Experience
Universal Orlando
As a Certified Universal Orlando Resort Specialist, I handle the complexity so you can enjoy the parks.
Style
Slow Travel
Travel designed around depth over breadth: fewer places, longer stays, and the kind of pace that lets you actually arrive.
Tell me about your travels
Fill out a short form so I can understand your travel style, personality, and what you’re looking for.
We have a planning conversation
I’ll reach out to schedule a short call to confirm the vision and make sure we’re the right fit.
I go to work
Based on your chosen service, I design your trip, from a curated hotel list to a fully booked itinerary built around your style and needs.
You travel well
You arrive with a trip built around your pace and personality. I’m here throughout, ready to help with any needs or hiccups that arise.
Services + Investment
Hotel Curation
No fee to you
You know where you want to stay. Through my agency’s membership in Virtuoso and other luxury hotel networks, I secure room upgrades, resort credits, and amenities you won’t find booking direct.
Trip Planning
From $250
A psychology-informed itinerary built around your pace, personality, and travel style. Includes destination research, a day-by-day framework, and experience recommendations.
Full Service Planning
From $450
Everything in Trip Planning, plus full booking management, restaurant reservations, experience bookings, and support throughout your trip.
“A huge thank you to Katie for all her help planning our honeymoon… From staying at the Kimpton to witnessing the most insane wildlife views on the Channel Islands, and enjoying a classy, beautiful private wine tour — we truly had the best honeymoon we could have imagined.”
Juan R.
travel to Santa Barbara
“She directed us towards great tours, answered all questions quickly and completely. I would recommend her for all travel needs.”
Diane
travel to London
“Katie is an excellent travel advisor! The booking experience was seamless! I’d recommend Katie 10 out of 10!”
Matthew
travel to New Mexico
For brands — how it works
Psychology-driven work that makes your audience feel something.
Travel brands have a rare opportunity: to shape the experiences guests remember long after they’ve gone home. Psychology research shows what makes a stay memorable, and that’s what keeps guests coming back.
Reach out
Send me an email with a brief overview of your brand and what you have in mind.
Receive the media kit
I’ll send my full media kit, with audience stats, signature topics, services, and partnership pricing, so you can review it before we talk.
Initial consultation
We meet to discuss your goals, scope, and investment. If we’re aligned, we move forward, with a proposal if needed or straight to work.
We collaborate
I bring psychology-backed insight and editorial craft to your brand, creating work your audience will actually remember.
Signature Projects
Editorial Feature
A bylined, travel psychology–themed long-form article written for your brand: research-backed, story-rich, and built to last.
Hotel + Destination Collection
A psychology-driven curated collection matching your properties or destinations to traveler personalities and mindsets.
Branded Campaign
A full branded campaign built around a custom travel personality quiz, with personality mapping, editorial content, and hotel or destination recommendations.
Full partnership pricing is included in the media kit, shared after your initial inquiry. Get in touch to request it.
For hospitality
The Psychology of Travel: A Guest Experience Audit
The UX of the in-person experience.
Every property makes promises before a guest ever arrives, in the way it’s photographed, described, and imagined. The real question is what happens next: does the physical experience deliver on that promise, psychologically, from the moment someone walks in to the moment they leave?
I bring a PhD in Social Psychology to a site visit, evaluating a property the way a guest actually experiences it, across ten dimensions from anticipation and arrival through belonging, connection, restoration, and departure. It isn’t a mystery-shopper checklist or a satisfaction score. It’s an assessment of what a property is doing to the people who stay there, by design or by accident, and where the opportunity is to do it better.
The result is a working diagnostic: a written report, a set of prioritized recommendations, and a conversation with your leadership team about what to do with them.
This work sits alongside my research and writing on the psychology of place, belonging, and travel: the same intellectual territory, applied directly to a physical guest journey.
Available for boutique and independent hotel properties, hospitality groups, and curated group trip experiences.
Inquire about an audit →“Katie blends some of my favorite topics: psychology, neuroscience, and travel. Her style is effortlessly authoritative and relatable.”
— Maggie Hollinbeck, M.A., LMFT
For media inquiries, bios, and press resources, visit the Press page.