Éclat Travel's Blog

Archive for the ‘Volunteer Vacations’ Category

Luxury Villa Provence

Private villas or other vacation rentals are a great alternative to cruises and hotels for multigenerational family groups who wish to stay together when the cruise line or hotel doesn’t offer rooms that accommodate more than three or four guests in a room, social groups or clubs who would like to meet and socialize informally who don’t have a budget for a meeting room, and for small corporate and incentive meetings and retreats where rewarding achievement, building camaraderie, and privacy are important considerations.

Designing your custom vacation, or small group retreat, using a villa rental (or rentals) can offer some great benefits. Among those are space, cost savings on dining out, privacy and common gathering areas. Depending on your budget, you can also locate luxury vacation rentals that include your own staff. Many of them have pools, and recreation equipment such as pool, ping pong or air hockey tables, bikes, theatre rooms and other amenities that traditional accommodations don’t offer.

Vacation rentals are available in many destinations including large cities, country settings and resorts. Finding the perfect villa to rent can be a challenge – there is an awful lot to choose from online. When the real estate market took a dive a lot of people owning second homes, who couldn’t sell them, decided to get into the vacation rental market. Unfortunately, when you are renting online you don’t always know what you are getting until you get there. I’m sure plenty of you have had the experience of booking something that had great photos online, but the place was not nearly what it looked like, or was advertised. That’s one reason to use a group travel organizer.

Villas Sol Costa Rica

Yes, a travel advisor who is also a professional group travel organizer can book vacation rentals and when you book a villa through an agent your chances are much better for getting what you paid for. More and more travel suppliers are offering villa rentals to their guests as alternatives to traditional accommodations and because they do, they are diligent about the quality of home or apartment they are offering.  Group travel planners will also ensure that you know all of the costs involved, such as cleaning fees, additional fees for bedding or maid service, utility fees, etc. And, probably most importantly, a group travel organiser will save you hours and hours of time searching the internet for the right property for your group.

It just so happens that I have many years of experience working with incentive group travel, family reunions and other small group vacations, so, next time you need a professional group travel organizer, let us help you with the details.

Cheers!
Cheryl
Custom Travel Specialist
www.EclatTravel.com

Nihiwatu, Indonesia

When you plan a vacation you take a lot of time to figure out where to go, what to do and how much it will cost. Have you ever considered how socially, environmentally, or economically responsible your airline, hotel, caterer, transportation company or tour operator is? Do you care?

In the travel industry, I’ve come across more and more hoteliers, tour operators and other suppliers who consider these responsibilities to be critical to their success and actively pursue initiatives that raise their profiles as businesses who care and who have programs in place to prove it.  Those are the companies I personally prefer to do business with.  And, as a traveler, I would hope you do too.

Rebecca Fong of the Sacramento CVB recently wrote a blog about catering companies in her city who support and actively promote programs – or are the programs serving economically and socially disadvantaged people and groups in Sacramento. She sites TBL (Triple Bottom Line) as a tool for determining or selecting businesses that a visitor (leisure or business) will choose based on values of the company.

TBL is a way individuals or businesses measure the impact of their decisions based on values about economic, social and ecological success. It’s also one way meeting planners & event professionals evaluate potential vendors & suppliers.

If you would like to find out more about who your responsible tourism partners could be go directly to their website and view their mission statement and sustainability policies, or check other online resources and articles, here are just three:

• There are a wealth of articles at Conde Nast’s concierge.com.
• Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards – 2010 Winners 
• EcoTravelling offers tips for choosing the right travel operators to do business with.
• If you are a hotelier one way you can get involved is through HotelSoap.org.

Hotel Punta Islita, Costa Rica

You can also call your travel agent and tell them you’re interested in sustainable or responsible travel. Thanks.

Here’s to your next responsible trip.

Cheers!

Cheryl

What is a “custom made journey”? Custom travel, to me, is the ultimate unique vacation experience. When I travel, I like to have choices and flexibility. The creation of a custom made journey is to design the vacation experience around your personal likes, desires, interests and budget. Basically, we are answering who, what, why, where, when and how of travel as it relates uniquely to you.

Camel Trek

Yes, you can just book the package and be on your way. But does that type of vacation offer you flexibility and choice, and does it meet your requirements for a spectacular vacation? For many people it does, and that’s OK. I’m talking about taking your next vacation to another level. It’s the difference between ordering off the menu, or “having it your way.” A little more of this here, and a little less of that there, and your meal is much more to your liking. No pickles for me, thanks.

Custom travel offers maximum flexibility, freedom of choice and maximum control. You decide when and how you travel, what to do and when, where you will go and how much it will cost. How is this different from any other travel?

Any type of travel has its advantages and disadvantages. Custom travel helps you maximize the advantages and minimize the disadvantages. Vacations tailor-made to fit you perfectly. Will you fly

Patagonia Penguin

 (commercial, private, charter, economy, business or first), or cruise to Europe? Will you travel by river boat, camel, or private driver guide? Will you join an expedition to Antarctica or the North Pole, take a culinary class in Brussels, or drive a formula one race car? Before or after you learn to make sake? Stay in a Bed and Breakfast so you can interact with the locals, a private villa, or historic hotel? The choice is yours. A great travel advisor will be able to combine and coordinate all of the right elements of your trip to create the perfect vacation.

TIP: Start with a hobby or something you would like to learn more about. What’s yours?

Cheers!
Cheryl