Imagine feeling like royalty wherever you go. Imagine the places you visit have everything you wish for. Imagine traveling is as easy as going home.

Traveling has nowadays become one of the urban society’s principal needs. People travel more frequent, more imaginative and more long-termed. Arguably the only thing that irritates travelers is to plan it. The flight booking, hotel arrangement, itineraries and activities in foreign countries can be overwhelming for some. Not to mention, all of the hard work can go down the drain if the results are not what they expected them to be. Disappointing hotel service, unqualified tour guide or uncomfortable crowd are amongst the most common problems that travelers have to endure.

Emerging as the solution to this problem, Afini arrives in Asia as a luxury destination club that will change the way people travel. HighEnd had a chance to meet the forerunner behind this startup company, John Blanco, on his visit to Jakarta. Our discussion started off with one simple question: what is luxury? The CEO mentioned that luxury, especially in traveling, used to be defined by five-starred hotels and their perfectly packed itinerary offerings. However the trend has shifted. Today, luxury traveling is much more individual. Luxury and authenticity is defined by each person’s preferences and their life experiences. Hence, defining luxury becomes a lot more challenging, especially for the Asian market where it has a higher standard for services.

Mr. John Blanco

It was John Blanco and his fellow teammates’ idea to create Afini for those looking to experience a better way to travel, with a sense of exclusivity, reasonable prices and impeccable service. By joining the Afini membership, traveling will be what it is supposed to be: a vacation. Members only need to inform their personal travel concierge about what kind of hotel they prefer, where and what to dine, down to the smallest details namely their wine preferences, their favorite cuisine, their go-to retailers to shop, activities they have been dreaming about—the coordination is effortless. From the time they arrive until the departure, Afini’s travel companion and lifestyle consultant will be on-call 24 hours for them.

Another thing that Afini got the upper hand is the consistency of openness service. Members can enjoy exclusive treatments without any disturbance of peak-seasoned tourists. Afini currently owns 12 travel destinations with 25 properties around the world. They also host private events such as dining with one of the Formula 1 drivers at the Singapore F1 Grand Prix or a tour for private collections at the Hong Kong Art Center. So, whether it is long holiday to Europe or a quick weekend getaway to the tropical Southeastern islands, just sit back, relax and let Afini do the rest.