About Jeffsetter Travel

Jeffsetter Travel is the husband-and-wife team of Amanda Sauer, a Virtuoso travel advisor with Pique Travel Design, and her husband Jeff Sauer (aka Jeffsetter). Amanda designs luxury trips for clients as an independent affiliate of Pique. Amanda books the hotels and plans the itineraries for their travel. Between them, Amanda and Jeff have been to 78 countries and territories, as the Travelers' Century Club counts them. Jeff writes reviews of their favorite hotel stays, while Amanda plans hundreds of itineraries for her clients each year.

Every hotel review attributed to Jeffsetter is written by Jeff or Amanda and is based on an actual stay at that property.

Amanda Sauer, travel advisor

Amanda has designed trips with Pique Travel Design since 2016, starting as an independent affiliate, which she still is today. Amanda is also an employee of Pique Travel Design, maintaining their high standards of itinerary design and luxury accommodations.

Before that, Amanda was an international tax consultant with a Big 4 accounting firm. In 2015 she and Jeff put their wine collection in storage, sold most of what they owned and lived as digital nomads for five years, with long stretches in Argentina, New Zealand, Italy, Thailand and Portugal. They came back to the US to welcome the littlest Jeffsetter, who travels with them now as Jack of All Travels.

Her own favorite days on a trip are wine tasting, a cooking class to learn the local food, and a hike followed by a spa treatment.

Credentials

• Virtuoso travel advisor. Amanda's advisor profile is on Virtuoso.com. Virtuoso is a luxury travel network, and Pique describes its member agencies as the top 1% of travel agencies worldwide. Booking a partner hotel through a member advisor adds extras like daily breakfast for two, a property credit, and an upgrade when one is available.
• Pique Travel Design. Her agency, a Virtuoso member agency based in Minnesota and listed by Forbes Travel Guide as one of its Endorsed Travel Agencies.
• Four Seasons Preferred Partner. Through Pique, Amanda books Four Seasons with Preferred Partner amenities.
• National Geographic. Pique Travel Design has a close partnership with National Geographic, and through Pique, Amanda books National Geographic group trips at the same price as booking direct.

Where they've stayed

Between them, Amanda and Jeff have stayed at 57 MICHELIN Key hotels (82 Keys in all), 80 Virtuoso hotels, 12 Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star hotels and 25 Forbes Four-Star hotels. A few of the recent ones:

• Amanyangyun, Shanghai. Two MICHELIN Keys. Two nights in July 2026. Jeff called it "one of the best hard products of any hotel we've ever stayed at." Read the review.
• Abadía Retuerta LeDomaine, Spain. Three MICHELIN Keys. Ribera del Duero wine country, July 2026.
• Capella Taipei. Two MICHELIN Keys. July 2026, booked through Virtuoso's preview program.
• Raffles Singapore. Three MICHELIN Keys. July 2026. Jeff's verdict: his favorite hotel of the whole trip.
• Four Seasons Minneapolis. Two stays, 2023 and 2026. The review is titled "Why We Keep Coming Back." Read the review.

The full list lives on the travel map.

Jeff Sauer, aka Jeffsetter

Jeffsetter started as Jeff and Amanda's hobby blog on travel, points and photography, and in 2013 it joined the BoardingArea blog network. These days Jeff is Amanda's co-traveler and takes the photos for the hotel reviews. Jeff's day job is as a world-renowned analytics expert and educator with 20 years of experience.

Before they traveled full time, Jeff and Amanda "planned an annual dream vacation using our points and imaginations." In 2015 that became the trip they named their One Way Never-ending Journey (our OWN Journey), which is also where Jeff's One Way Podcast got its name.

Island Miler, Covering Hawaii

Kyle, who writes as Island Miler, is Jeffsetter's Honolulu-based contributor. He has published more than 1,700 posts on Jeffsetter since 2015, most of them about Hawaii: hotels and resorts, Hawaiian Airlines, points and miles, and where to eat.

A lot of the Jeffsetter coverage other outlets have cited is Kyle's reporting. Six of the press mentions below point to his posts:

• A New Airport Lounge Opened in Honolulu (2021). The Points Guy credited the Ko Olina lounge scoop to Jeffsetter.
• Outrigger Moves Ahead with Kona Resort Purchase (2021). Outrigger listed it in its own press coverage.
• Yauatcha Waikiki is Closing its Doors in August (2018). Cited by CultureMap Houston.
• Review: PAI Honolulu (2017). The restaurant quotes it on its awards and press page.

Eater LA linked his Holey Grail Donuts review, and Frequent Miler picked his If Hawaii Opens Will Tourists Return? for its weekly roundup.

Plan a trip with Amanda

If a hotel on this site is the one you want, Amanda can book it, usually with Virtuoso or Four Seasons Preferred Partner extras attached. The first conversation is a complimentary 15-minute call, no obligation.

Start here: tell Amanda where you're dreaming of