How One Travel Advisor Scored a Full Buyout Booking of a Top Sicily Resort

When Cheri Burns got her 2025 taxes done this year, she had a moment of shock at how much she owed – that was, until she remembered the massive booking she made, a full-resort buyout that was her largest to-date, and thought, “That’s right. I have that.” 

“It was kind of crazy,” she told Travel Market Report. “I never had that before. I’ve always had very well-off clients, but never like that – this was a unique booking for me.” 

In July 2025, Burns’ ultra-high-net-worth client celebrated his 60^th birthday with a full buyout of San Domenico Palace, Taormina, A Four Seasons Hotel (Four Seasons Taormina), a six-night, 105-room, over 200-guest extravaganza that cost him more than $2.5 million.  

Burns, owner of CB Experiences, an affiliate of Global Travel Collection (GTC), had never even spoken to the client prior to his trip. But, by working closely with his personal assistant, making the right connections, and understanding how to handle quiet luxury, she brought to fruition an epic celebration of life for this man – and a significant payday for herself. 

Landing Her Biggest Booking 

Burns was an in-house advisor with American Express, and then with Altour, before becoming an independent contractor four years ago. She named her business CB Experiences, as opposed to a travel-based name, because “at some point, I’d like to grow my business to doing experiences, like pop up events.”  

Safe to say, she came out swinging in this sector with the knockout Four Seasons Taormina booking that was a big event for the family and friends who attended. 

Burns first began booking trips for the uber-wealthy client when his personal assistant, Burns’ former colleague from American Express Travel, contacted her asking for help. Then one day, Burns received an email from the personal assistant, who was frustrated about hitting roadblocks trying to get full access to Four Seasons Taormina. 

This is where Burns’ expertise came in to save the day. 

She immediately thought of a contact she’d made, the director of leisure sales at Four Seasons, who she connected with on Instagram. He led her to the hotel company’s group sales director, and a back-and-forth began about how to make the buyout happen. 

At one point, Burns was doubtful Four Seasons would agree. After all, this specific property only opens seasonally for a few months out of the year. But between Burns’ Internova affiliation through GTC and lots of patience and perseverance, Four Seasons went forward with the booking. 

Once that was settled, the event went off without a hitch, Burns said. She was in charge of the property reservations, while the personal assistant handled event arrangements such as catering and entertainment. 

“Four Seasons has an amazing group department, and they were all hands on,” she said. “It was a great relationship. The booking didn’t have any problems. There were no hiccups.” 

How the Star-Studded Event Went 

Before she knew it, Burns was receiving videos from Taormina: crowds of friends and family gathering among long tables with candles and flowers; violinist, dancers, and more as entertainers – plenty of dancing, smiling, and even celebrity appearances from friends of the family.  

Burns described it as “seriously what I would think anybody who had a lot of money would have as a celebration – elaborate but not showy or flashy – you could see the family was really part of it. It was the most amazing thing. They were just celebrating life.” 

“He wanted to have a White Lotus experience,” she added. “He fell in love with Taormina, and wanted to be in Taormina, and he wanted to have a celebration of all his friends and family. It ends up being a huge event.” 

As a special touch and way of saying “thank you,” Burns had engraved plates made in Sicily and delivered to the rooms of the client and personal assistant during the trip. When asked if she ever felt overwhelmed or intimidated by the size and high-profile nature of the booking, she said she simply took it piece by piece, believed in her abilities, and persisted. 

“I actually wasn’t intimidated at all. I actually just kept saying, ‘What can I do?'” Burns said. “For me, I felt like it was an opportunity to prove that I could do.” 

“I do have to say it was my huge success story,” she added. “Sometimes you don’t realize what you know until you have to do it.”    

All About Relationships 

Burns grew up in a low-income area of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and hasn’t forgotten her roots. 

“If it was two-and-a-half million or if it was $2,500, I still give them the same type of service, because that’s somebody like [my family was],” she said. “My mother, when she used to take us on trips, we’d go to Cape Cod once a year. I knew how much that meant to my mom, and that was all she could afford.” 

Therefore, Burns only works with clients who aren’t too fussy, want quiet luxury, and understand the value of having her as a travel advisor. She also doesn’t charge fees to repeat clients and says that running a business is not a one-size-fits-all. 

“You have to be true to your own business; you can’t follow the business model of somebody else,” she said. 

In the future, she’d love to book more buyout trips. She credits the relationship with her clients for her continued success. 

“The clients I have are very, very low key. They’re very laid back. They just want to enjoy life, have bucket list trips, and things like that,” she said. “They’re not flashy in any sense, but I think that’s the relationship that we have. So I think they’re very appreciative, and I’m just very grateful, because I have great clients.”