Global Connections
The travel club concept is coming to the forefront of the industry. Travel Clubs fill an important niche in the travel and hospitality market because consumers can avail themselves to a wide range of travel options, ranging from access to resort condominiums to hotels, tours and cruises. Many of these services and benefits are available to members at a discount, making vacationing extremely affordable. The shorter-term commitment options, long desired by consumers, along with the highly valued vacation options, have pushed travel clubs up the ladder in desirability among consumers today.
Leading the way in this unique segment is the award-winning Global Connections, Inc. (GCI). The well-positioned company, a pioneer in the travel club industry, is a full-service travel agency and travel club fulfillment provider, resort developer, and property manager. Tom Lyons, President, and CEO, officially opened the privately held company on July 19, 1996, with a singular mission: to give families the opportunity to take affordable vacations. GCI is particularly well-positioned in that its umbrella includes its own portfolio of five resorts further ensuring vacation options for its 75,000 active members.
Over the years, GCI has fine-tuned its travel club services. As the number of travelers grew so did demand for resort locations. In 2004, GCI purchased its first resort, Sea Shells Beach Club, and turned a failing hotel into a thriving condominium resort location. Since that time, Global Connections has developed or renovated seven properties, with five still owned and managed by the company, and in use within the travel club.
Global Connections owns exclusive properties in some of the most desirable resort destinations in the country, plus leases and manages thousands of condominiums producing one of the best-rounded portfolios in the industry. Today Global Connections owns and operates Beso Del Sol (Sunset Beach, CA), Beso Del Sol (Dunedin, FL), Sea Shells Beach Club (Daytona Beach, FL), White Oak Lodge and Resort (Gatlinburg TN), and its most recent acquisition Skiers’ Edge Lodge (Breckenridge, CO). Its management arm works with resorts all over the continental United States and Hawaii, as well as Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico.
With each development and management contract, the GCI travel club product was masterfully designed to provide an affordable vacation package people could use. This natural progression resulted in the creation of one of the leading travel clubs in the industry—Global Discovery Vacations.
Today the company employs over 150 professionals at its corporate office in Overland Park, KS, and condo and cruise reservation offices and property management offices located in Clearwater and Orlando, FL, and Myrtle Beach, SC. Global Connections’ travel club is sold through independent sales distributorships located in cities across the United States.
To become a distributor or learn more about Global Connections, Global Discovery Vacations and the company’s products and services, call Melanie Gring at 561.471.7559.
For more information, visit www.exploregci.com
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