Women over the age of 50 who love to travel and prefer "women only" groups have flocked to the Women's Travel Club. Membership could be the best $39 you ever invested in a vacation club..
Members don't have to be over or under any age to join. But founder Phyllis Stoller, who is in her 60s, still an inveterate traveler and a new grandmother, knows what vacations appeal to women and how to provide it at a reasonable cost. She said perhaps half of the participants in her club are over 50, and many are married women who don't do tours with their hubbies.
"I was a banker," Stoller explained "I started Women's Travel Club for women like me." The club is now a division of travel marketer Club ABC Tours.
The top reasons for joining the club?
- "I'm tired of waiting for my friends" -- Women enjoy vacationing with others but it is a hassle to put together your own group
- "My husband just wants to work" --Husbands are not as interested in adventure travel, or may not be as physically active, or are workaholics
- "I just got a promotion" or "I just got laid off" or "I'm recovering from a divorce" -- Women like to reward and/or comfort themselves by traveling.
- "I've got a yen to see China, Abu Dhabi and Egypt but I don't want to spend a gazillion dollars" -- Women, more than men, seek out exotic destinations without going the Rough Guide/sleep in hostels route.
With the Women's Travel Club, Stoller learned the preferences of clients, who were mostly but not always college-educated professional women. (Since Club ABC Tours now owns the business, Stoller no longer has a planning role.)
One client is a bus driver who saves up her extra dollars for trips. The one thing that unites them is they are all "travel freaks." According to Stoller, her competition is museum- and university-affiliated trips that are far more expensive than hers.
How does the Women's Travel Club manage to pack so much into reasonably priced offerings? She joined forces with ABC Destinations, a leading travel provider. The club is run as a separate division so it has the buying power of a much larger organization combined with the personal touch of a members' club.
The result? Sold-out trips to locations as exotic as Dubai and as traditional as Paris -- with a special touch. For example, at Thanksgiving in 2006, the club went to Italy for five days at a fancy hotel and spa, side trips to unique spots and Thanksgiving at a villa farmhouse where the group cooked its own Thanksgiving dinner with the guidance of a professional Italian chef.
Stoller initiated many unique trip ideas. "I wanted to go up the Gambia river with a university group but it was $10,000. I never saw a trip like it anywhere else so I created one." Sounds like reason enough for a venturesome woman to give herself a membership as a present.
Summary: the Women's Travel Club and others like it that offer all-inclusive vacations appeal to women for a variety of reasons.
Grace Lichtenstein - I prefer "seasoned" to "senior" but whatever term you use, I have been an outdoor adventurer for most of my adult years. I am a cycling ...
