Testimonials
We offer a skillful combination of travel expertise, adept journalism, and professional photography paired with humor and curiosity that results in award-winning content. As earned media, we listen carefully to a destination’s needs, then go above and beyond in meeting them…which is why destinations and companies love working with us, as evidenced by the glowing testimonials below:
Long-format travel journalism is in the HITravelTales wheelhouse. Therese and Michael delivered content for Visit Berkeley that was powerful, beautiful, and perfectly on brand for our destination. Thank you both very much for this symphonic tour de force on Berkeley’s culinary scene. I’m already looking forward to your next chapter here.
After meeting Michael and Therese of HI Travel Tales at IMM NY in January 2020, I have now coordinated multiple press trips with them to the Mendocino Coast of Northern California. In all interactions with Chalkboard Communications, this dynamic couple has been professional and friendly, organized and detailed, and just a joy to work with. Whether Michael and Therese are staying at one of our lodging properties, sipping a glass of wine at one of our wineries, or enjoying a beloved local attraction, our clients rave about them, too, grateful for the fact that they ask pointed and thoughtful questions about each business, and genuinely seem invested in and excited about the area they’re visiting. And of course, Michael and Therese produce great content. Their articles are detailed and well-written, and accompanied by fantastic images. Their social media following is strong as well, and their posts, both during and post-press trip, are highly engaging. These two are exactly the type of media that publicists love to work with, and I’m already dreaming up where I can send them next.
I had the pleasure of meeting Therese and Michael of HI Travel Tales during IMM in January 2020. From the beginning, we all connected super well, and we have since organized multiple press trips with them to San Francisco. The partnership between BESI Business Solutions and HI Travel Tales has been epic! These two outstanding journalists have been professional, friendly, passionate, detailed, and great fun, too.
All of our stakeholders have been extremely happy collaborating with Therese and Michael and with the content they have produced highlighting, for example, Pier 39 Simco Restaurants, Blazing Saddles bike tours, and Adventure Cat sailing, not to mention a beautiful and very detailed article about their experience at Cornell Hotel de France.
I truly enjoy collaborating with these two, and I look forward to future projects together. A huge thank you to my dear amigos Therese and Michael for their amazing work and their passion to describe and invite their readers to visit our businesses and destinations.
Therese and Michael were introduced to me when they expressed an interest in producing content for Greater Palm Springs. These content creators look beyond just the headline attractions to visit – they wanted to dig deep and learn about what makes our destination unique. As award-winning photographers, they were also determined to capture unique images that distinguishes their story telling.
Therese and Michael were flexible, personable, professional, punctual, and joyful to work with. From their single visit, they produced more than a half dozen stories and posts with gorgeous images. I have worked with travel media for 10 years in a variety of hospitality settings and Therese and Michael are on my short list of favorites. I endorse them without reservation! 5 Stars!
I can say without hesitation that Michael Hodgson and Therese Iknoian are excellent travel writers and photographers. Since their initial visit to Louisiana’s River Parishes, they have remained committed to writing about the wonderful and abundant experiences in the River Region. Their stories are always complemented with beautiful images, and Louisiana’s River Parishes is often featured on their magnificent website, HI Travel Tales. Michael and Therese are professionals in every regard, and it is certainly a pleasure working with them.
Michael and Therese have proven to be a great asset for Yolo County, Calif. Over the course of several visits, the dynamic duo have helped raise the profile of our destination through a passion for capturing the lesser-known and bringing it to life in their images and content. With limited resources but great experiences to offer, Visit Yolo has appreciated — and enjoyed — the HI Travel Tales team’s interest in bringing our destination to the attention of their followers and beyond.
I had the pleasure of working with Therese on a press trip to Maine. Throughout the process, Therese was professional, responsive and appreciative of any type of support we offered from hosted lodging, itinerary suggestions and general information. I absolutely loved the follow up she did after the trip! Journalists don’t always send you links of resulting articles, but Therese did that for all five articles she produced as a result of her trip, as well as the social media posts she made during the trip. We thoroughly enjoyed each of her articles and how she captured her experiences in Maine through word and photos. I would not hesitate recommending Therese and HI Travel Tales to other destinations.
Therese and Michael were a pleasure to work with — from our first chat and story development right through to the fulfillment with two well-written and detailed posts (Virginia City and Genoa). They were flexible and up for anything we threw their way, making for great stories to tell as an end result. The beautiful photos were an added bonus making their blog high quality with refined stories we are proud to share with our audience.
We wanted to share with you our appreciation for Michael’s piece 24 hours in Albany – fascinating walk-through time. The article distilled the essence of the deep and rich heritage of our city and the writing perfectly reflected his passion for discovery and exploration.
As our staffs’ attention was called to the article, they invariably shared their comments at meetings or in the halls of our office about how Michael’s genuine curiosity for our city came through in his writing. Katy Holland our Director of Marketing and I both agreed because we were lucky to see that curiosity in person. I am still most struck by Michael’s lunch time interaction with the staff at the food truck, the ease in which he drew out their story and their passion for what they do was intriguing to watch.
Best of luck in your travels, we look forward to HI Travel Tales’ return to our little corner of the world. We will be anxious to hear about your latest adventures and rest assured I will have the bananas foster ready for us to share!
The article you wrote about your visit even made me want to get in my car and go back out and take an Almond Blossom Cruise along our Modesto roads in California. And I’ve been out four times already this year! You really are special travel writers — few would take the time to research, map and track the routes as you provided readers, fewer would go off the beaten path to explore to the extent you did, and even fewer would share the things NOT TO DO the way you did. Thanks so much…. You’re honorary Modestans in my book!
I really enjoyed working with HI Travel Tales’ Therese, who possesses that rare combo of being both an excellent photographer and a great writer. She captured the essence of my client’s hotel in a very compelling way and was very pleasant and professional to work with. I definitely hope to work with HI Travel Tales again!
Therese brought a fresh attitude and excitement to visiting and promoting The Craignair Inn and Causeway Restaurant in Spruce Head, Maine, both during her stay and in follow-up research. She was thoughtful and very interested in what made our businesses unique and why people should visit our spot instead of others. Therese was then able to relay the information she learned through social media posts, email blasts, and blog posts that promoted our businesses. She has even returned on multiple occasions with friends to show off our spot! Her photography skills are incredible, and we love sharing her photos through our social media channels. 10/10 would recommend.
Michael and Therese of HI Travel Tales have been dream collaborators. From in-depth gear testing and reviews, to writing multiple travelogue photo essays that seamlessly feature our products, their creative approach has set a benchmark for what we look for in collaborations. As photographers and world travelers, they have an authenticity that our customers instantly recognize and trust, and their innate understanding of what photographers look for in their gear is invaluable to us.
The Jefferson CVB thoroughly enjoyed working with Therese and Michael. Planning story ideas and itineraries with them was so easy. They were very professional and a lot of fun. They had quite an adventure and didn’t hesitate to share with wonderful articles!
What gorgeous photos (I love the angles you chose!) and such an interesting, thoughtful article on Palm Springs Modernism. Thank you for taking our tour and showcasing it so wonderfully.
Many heartfelt thanks for the fantastic, personal, very professional stories and posts you’ve done so far, as well as your commitment and proactive manner. Already in the pre-trip planning stage, you researched and provided highly appreciated, useful information about your work style and what interested you. This made your encounter in our destination all the more fruitful and efficient. Please be in touch at any time if there is any opportunity for further work together.
