Paris, India, China, Mexico, Costa Rica
How to Organize a Group and Earn Free Travel
Women are joiners and doers, and my guess is that Tomatoes out there each belong to no less than 4 professional or friends’ groups. Personally, I belong to a Tufts women’s networking group, a professional group of real estate NY women, a golf club in Pawling NY and The Harvard Club ( must admit it is through my husband). So we spread our wings all over! Why not take these associations one step further and arrange some group trips, with you as the ‘free’ trip leader.
One of the easiest ways to earn free travel is to organize a fabulous trip and market it to a group of friends/ family/ organizations/clubs. Most tour companies, spas, and river and cruise lines will offer you one free place for each 10-25 paid and booked. The number you need will differ from company to company, might exclude children under a certain age, and is usually in a double occupancy room.
Start with a travel companies ( tour operators) that advertise up front a group department. Examples: Isram.com posts a link to Customized Group Travel. Generaltours.com includes: Group Travel/Friends & Family on their site. Cietours.com who specialize in Ireland, display Group Travel in a tab at the top of their site. Group specialists might be able to discount the trip price as you are bringing a guaranteed number. They will not flinch when you ask for a customized itinerary, and should be willing to help you find special events that make your trip unusual. A garden group might include a day trip to Kew outside of London. A book group could visit Jane Austen sites in England, a religious group might secure a Papal Audience in Rome or a private visit to the synagogues of Venice. One clever woman I know added women’s and girls’ projects to a standard Egypt trip so that members of the supporting charity would consider it a ‘business trip’. I once did a botanical painters group who besides touring Royal Horticultural Gardens in Southern England, wanted all the chosen restaurants decorated with botanical prints! Most special events are do-able and if your operator cannot accommodate you, they can usually point you in the right direction.
Start by asking around to see if your organization might be interested. The usual first questions are: “Are we going to be liable if something goes wrong or what will this cost us?” The answers are to make sure everyone has detailed information and proper travel insurance and that your operator is professional and carries insurance they can show you. Credit card usage is sometimes discouraged for group bookings, one tiny snafu to overcome. Mailing is usually done by the tour company, but if you are adding something special like a guidebook or literature about the organization, you might have to do it. Today with e tickets, mailing of final trip packages goes regular mail ,not a big cost. Feel free to use my brain if you need help in liaising with your organization or for questions to ask the tour operator, my email is below.
Now the work and fun begin, as you choose the exact trip, learn it well and can talk up travel, send out clever emails and collect your list of possibles. As people ask questions, make a solid FAQ list. My agent friend recommends: talk to every possible traveler as if they are five years old. It works. You might want to consider arranging shares for women coming alone or have a fun meeting if most are local. Most of all love your trip and where you are going!
Now the dreaming part. Here are some easy trips that work well for groups of women travelers each parts of the world and where you can snag a decent price either due to competition, low currency vs the dollar etc. :
Costa Rica: for 5 nights including Arenal Volcano for an overnight, Monteverde Rain Forest, a coffee plantation and San Jose; another itinerary could include Tortuguero on the coast. Again 4/5 star hotels and definitely overnight near Arenal, which erupts all night. One woman told me she cried when she heard the noise and saw the red hot lava dripping down the slope at night. Avoid shopping as crafts are expensive and many from Guatemala. By the way Guatemala is another perfect destination for the beauty, exotic nature, shopping, birds and fabulous hotels. Costa Rica is easier to sell, but I adore Guatemala and the Casa Santo Domingo monastery hotel.
Mexico: I have to mention the ease of a Mexican spa trip for groups of women. Many of you know I work for Ixtapan Spa Hotel and Golf Resort at spamexico.com but you do not know that a discount starts at only 6 booked, and afree place is given for 10 booked. 7 nights begin at $1175++. We can arrange welcome and farewell dinners and every thing is included in the price so no endless: you owe this and I owe that conversations. Definitely take a side trip to Taxco if you adore fine quality silver and stop by Andres Fine Arts and the Castillo shop, both of which offer the best silver in the country. Andres sells silver jewelry shockingly similar to that of a famous Fifth Avenue and 57th Street store!
China, Thailand and Malaysia are probably not your first trip choices mainly due to their distance. But India is very popular with women and less so with men. Go in November for best weather, 4 star hotels carefully chosen are ok (try isram.com/orient/index.htm for India and other Asian countries), get everyone on the same flight for ease of movements, and go for at least two weeks. People will want to use their ff miles but if so they might lose the discounted inter-city airfares a group specialist can get you. Rajastan with Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Jalsamer, and Jodphur is the usual first trip; add at least one unusual castle stay for great fun, plus visit a private home, again coop stores only to avoid being dragged into tourist traps. I stayed at Castle Mandawa which was a hoot and my group laughed all night while being serenaded by costumed musicians walking the high castle walls above us. Note: castle stays are not always 4 star but are worth it.
I left out US cities but some of the favorites are Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans and Chicago. Within the US it will be harder for you to get that free place and more of your friends will have been already. But as a last note, if you decide to do a US city, definitely add specials they cannot access on their own: private museum tours in Chicago, personal shoppers if NY, cooking in New Orleans or Charleston, back stage at the theater, and such.
I love traveling with women friends and have one rule: Everyone gets one day to whine; no one gets two.
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Phyllis Stoller has a BA from Tufts University, an MA from New York University and a Finance Degree from the University of the South Bank, London England. Phyllis Stoller founded and managed for 16 years, the largest tour operator for women in North America. She was voted top in women’s travel by Travel & Leisure Magazine,the first to receive this honor. Phyllis has appeared on The Today Show, CNN, Lifetime TV for Women and others. She is a consultant on marketing to women.
Phyllis now resides in New York City and London, England and is affiliated with ECPS Consulting Corporation in New York. She prides herself on her family: husband, Eric, a ‘keeper’, sons Nick (comedy writer and director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Matt , a progressive political strategist who works with liberal Democratic candidates. Phyllis can be reached at Phyllisnycity@gmail.com.
Past Articles
TRAVEL TIPS FOR TOMATOES
For more great tips, visit Phyllis at the Examiner.
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Paris for 4 or 5 nights, at a 4 star hotel with touring every morning, lunch or dinner some days and free afternoons. Include: a half day tour, visits to at least 2 museums like the Orsay or Louvre, Jacquemart Andre in a 19c mansion called The Frick of Paris, or Picasso in the Marais. Women love Paris more than men. Those with FF miles will usually be able to scoop a ticket if enough advance time. Transfers into town range from taxis to the cheap Roissy bus. Free afternoons mean time for those who want to see Versailles, or other out of town places, and some dinners and lunches in the first part of the trip means bonding and friendship. 4 star is fine for most of us, and breakfasts at most 4 stars are big buffets. Avoid October, which is the priciest month. I usually stay at the Hilton Eiffel , vintage Castiglione or one of the Golden Tulip Hotels,
Egypt: There are so many deals out there for this destination but many blander itineraries need enhancements or additions. A good trip would be a 7 night cruise, including Abu Simbel, 3-4 nights in Cairo so you have time to say hi to Ramses in the Cairo Museum, for the souk, the Citadel and Coptic areas. Add to a meaty Cairo trip, an evening in a 6 star restaurant, lunch on an island in the Nile, visit to a women’s cooperative for crafts. Avoid Christmas and holiday periods, too crowded and go for a 5 star ship only! Single Supplements on the cruise portion might scare off solo travelers. Also love Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco but Egypt is the easiest sell.
If you wish information on joining me on a wonderful trip to India in November 2010, here I am: Phyllisnycity@gmail.com. Or feel free to ask me questions about organizing travel for your group of buddies.
