Through the years, unsuspecting travel companions meet, sometimes several times a week, at Little League practice, dance lessons, soccer games, scout meetings, ice skating lessons, music classes, tennis matches, swim meets, church or temple, play rehearsals, bowling alleys, hockey games or PTA meetings. Many of these people remain friends for life and, even if they move to another city, they continue to keep in touch. So, it’s no wonder that, when they go on vacation, they go together.
 |
// © 2010 Andrew Rich/Devon Gustin |
“Your circle of friends is like a family that you choose,” said Linda Barber, partner at TravelWizard, in San Rafael, Calif. “The adults usually come together through the kids, and everybody has more fun if they travel together.”
However, a group of friends traveling together with their families is subtly different from a family reunion group. In some ways, friends may know more about one another than family members do, since people often share more freely with their peers than their relatives. But there are constraints among friends that are not there with family. Friends know one another socially, through proximity — they may be neighbors, coworkers, attend the same church or be members of the same club. They might also know each other through their children’s activities, from school or art classes or athletic teams. These activities will continue when they return home, and most friends try to maintain a good social image with one another. With families, there is a basic acceptance and usually a basic tolerance; everyone knows the foibles of other family members.
Sign Up for Our Monthly Family Getaways Newsletter
I accept the T&C and Privacy Policy.
Making a Plan
So, when it comes to planning travel for these types of groups, a number of considerations need to be addressed beforehand. Members of the group may have very different ideas about vacationing. Some families may want to just relax, while others may prefer a lot of sightseeing, for instance.
Food preferences may also vary, which can be a problem if the plan involves shared cooking, as in a house or villa rental, or if travel budgets are different. Parents may also have different routines for their children — bedtimes, permission to do things independently, requirements for being in the group — all issues that should be discussed before the trip.
“If some kids are staying up late, the children from a comparable age group will raise the roof if they have to go to bed earlier,” said one parent.
Many of these potential problems can be addressed by the choice of vacation venue. Agents who work with these types of groups indicated that cruises, which offer varying levels of accommodation, are one of the best options for creating a satisfying vacation for friends and families who travel together.
Taking a Cruise
During a cruise, group members may meet at breakfast, fall into independent activities during the day — whether the adults decide to head to the spa and the kids to the pool — and then nearly always gather together again for dinner and at least part of the evenings. Programs for younger cruisers may include separate dining on some evenings or dinner arrangements where children are served all courses at the
beginning of the meal and can leave for their
own activities while adults linger in the dining room.
Many agents mentioned that they have had groups in which one or two families booked balcony staterooms or suites on a cruise and hosted other members of the group who had taken lower category accommodations.
Choosing a destination for a family group is one of the most important decisions of the vacation. And some cruise destinations are better than others. Mexico and the Caribbean offer a wide variety of departures from drive-friendly ports and feature fun, family-friendly ships. Other destinations that are good for families are Alaska, Hawaii, Canada and the Eastern Seaboard.
Once logistical questions have been settled, the advantages for friends bringing their families together on a vacation are clear. Both adults and children have continuity in their social contacts, which can enrich their experiences and make them feel more at home anywhere they travel.
Birthdays and other landmark celebrations are usually more festive among friends, and relationships deepen, as evidenced by groups of friends who plan vacations together year after year, often widening their circle to include more friends as others hear about their experiences.
“I like this kind of group,” said Hope Wallace, owner of ADA Travel in Casa Grande, Ariz. “There’s not typically such a generational age spread as there is in family reunions. The kids are closer to the same age, and they occupy one another.”
Wallace said that, over time, she has seen friends and their families traveling together form groups that build significantly over the years. She also mentioned that one set of friends that started traveling together about three years ago added three or four more families the second year. While the number dropped recently because of the economy, Wallace arranged a vacation for the group closer to their homes and with some special touches. Now, they are working on plans for 2011.
Expansion may be even quicker than year to year, in some cases. Vicki Freed, senior vice president, sales, for Royal Caribbean International, who held a family party onboard a ship, found that 140 of those who came chose to book the cruise and sail with their families.
“It’s like viral marketing,” said Freed, who is cruising with another group of friends and family on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas in December. “It’s an easy way for friends and family members to extend into groups.”
Follow the Leader
Nearly all those who sell “Circle of Friends”-type travel advised agents to be prepared to justify their role, since there is often someone in a group who thinks he or she can make the arrangements as well as — or even better than — a professional.
“I ask them questions,” said Barber. ‘Will this person arrange the hotel the night before the cruise? Will they arrange the flights and transfers? Visas? Shore excursions? Work out reservations for special dinners onboard? Figure out how to distribute he cost if a free stateroom is involved? Negotiate group amenities? You have to let them know the issues and that a cheap resort may not be a good deal. You have to demonstrate your value.”
On the plus side, finding a leader in the group can make an agent’s job much easier.
For instance, Wallace said that she sends several copies of a vacation proposal to the lead family in a group of friends, and they take it to the others, so she has one point person to represent the group’s wishes.
Barber finds that groups of friends appreciate the same special touches that family groups enjoy.
“For example, on a cruise, I will arrange a private shore excursion for the families in a minivan or, if the group is bigger, in a bus,” she said.
Wallace sees friends traveling together with their children as a good market that is easy to target.
“Go to a couple of Little League coaches, talk to church groups, athletic teams, arts groups and Boy or Girl Scout troops,” she said. “If you start with two or three families, and you do a good job, you will not only have repeat business, but the numbers in the group will grow as others hear about how great the vacation was. Agents will be able to get the families even better extras as the group gets larger, and the business will come back year after year.”
Carnival Cruise Lines’ western area sales vice president, Vicki Tomasino, agreed that this is an identifiable group that builds year after year.
“Go to the common denominator,” she said. “Parents whose kids do competitive dance, ice skating, swimming — any common activity that brings them together regularly — are very good candidates for a group of families, and groups are excellent business. Once they work with you, group members are likely to turn to you with their other travel needs, and you have an expanding client list with comparatively little effort.”
