Christy Deuschle, Senior Director, VIP Experiences
Long gone are the days when a vacation meant relaxing by the pool or beach with some traditional sightseeing. Today’s vacationers no longer want to scratch off destinations from their “bucket list.” Instead, they want to make the most of every minute of their vacation, immersing themselves in journeys through unique, memorable, and meaningful hands-on experiences. TripAdvisor recently revealed the hottest souvenir to bring back from a trip is a new skill.
If the anticipation of a vacation featuring celebrity meet & greets, private concert suites, destination day trips, wine tastings, sunset kayaking, a dolphin encounter, NASCAR racing, Kennedy Space Center Tours or a Hawaiian luau tug at your adventurous spirit, Holiday Inn Club Vacations (HICV) has just the ticket.
With the return of travel after years of pandemic restrictions, there has been a growing demand for experiential vacations, which are now emerging as one of the hottest segments in the tourism industry. Millennials have helped fuel this trend with 86 percent saying they prefer to travel for experience and culture. Today’s travelers want to participate in cultural events, engage with local communities, and experience activities they were previously unable to enjoy.
After major hotels began to offer these programs, the timeshare industry naturally took notice and jumped on the bandwagon with many developers now offering experiential events. With 32 resorts across 14 U.S. states and the Mexican Caribbean, it was only natural that America’s iconic hospitality company would also offer this benefit to members of their points-based vacation club.
At HICV, VIP Experiences is an exclusive Club Member-only benefit featuring uniquely curated events covering a broad selection of fun and memorable vacation options. Launched in 2022, the company presented 50 curated and fully guided experiences in its first year under the categories of culinary, entertainment, iconic excursions, and outdoor adventures. All events are fee-based, with members paying with points, cash, or a combination of both.
By the end of 2023, the company will have presented 60 events. They include experiences such as both a celebrity and an astronaut meet & greet, destination day trips to Charleston and San Antonio, Elton John and Luke Bryan Concerts, Carolina Music Festival, Swimming with Dolphins, Helicopter rides into the Grand Canyon with a catered dinner, various Walt Disney World Resort theme parks, and Universal Orlando Resort events. The HICV vacation gurus are targeting 75 or more events for 2024.
Existing Club Members learn about VIP Experiences through a monthly email newsletter, content on the VIP Experiences website, as well as signage and collateral material at participating resorts. Events are scheduled about 120 days in advance, with a long-term goal of having event details shared 18 months out to give potential attendees more time to plan.
According to Christy Deuschle, Senior Director, VIP Experiences, “The program was created as an owner engagement loyalty strategy; bringing owners back to the resorts – adding value to their ownership – and enabling them to enjoy totally new vacation experiences year after year. We truly value our customers and want to strengthen that family bond. What’s so great is you see them form new relationships because they all have this commonality. They love to travel and they’re all HICV Club Members.”
Events are located at the company’s popular resort destinations at times when they tend to have available inventory. These include resorts in Branson, Cape Canaveral, Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Scottsdale, and Williamsburg. Although most events are held off-property, a welcome party is held at the resort on the first day, the Experience Day is offsite on the second day and there is typically a post-event gathering held on property on the last day. Luaus are very popular – even though they’re held at resorts on the mainland – they feature an authentic pig roast, hula dancers, and fresh leis shipped in for the event. There are normally 40-60 Club Members in attendance at each VIP Experience.
Because VIP Experiences are created by Event Specialists with Club Members’ preferences in mind, events almost always sell out. The most anticipated and always popular VIP Experiences include live shows, concerts, trips to the Hoover Dam, hot-air balloon rides, fishing, sporting events, Major League Baseball games, culinary classes, wellness spa days at luxury resorts, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and behind-the-scenes tours of local attractions, excursions, and museums.
A VIP Event Specialist hosts each experience and offers white-glove service to Club Members throughout the event by covering all the itinerary details from meals to transportation and everything in-between. All Club Members have to do is show up – and have fun!
As today’s travel becomes increasingly more experience driven, HICV plans to expand both the number of events and the number of attendees per event, open events to non-members and friends/family of Club Members via a “bring-a-friend” component, and begin to offer more offsite events; specifically at highly-sought locations outside an existing HICV destination. The program is extremely popular among members ¬– like most travelers today – who are constantly seeking new and unique vacation experiences.
Encompassing resorts across the United States and the Mexican Caribbean, Holiday Inn Club Vacations Incorporated is a resort, real estate, and travel company with a mission to be the most loved brand in family travel by delivering easy-to-plan, memorable vacation experiences that strengthen families.
Based in Orlando, Fla., the company has been a leader in the vacation ownership industry since 1982, when Holiday Inn® founder Kemmons Wilson debuted the company’s flagship property, Holiday Inn Club Vacations® at Orange Lake Resort, next to Orlando’s Walt Disney World® Resort.
Today, the Holiday Inn Club Vacations resort portfolio spans across the United States, and into the Mexican Caribbean, with the company’s international expansion in May 2023. Throughout its history, the company has maintained the core family values true to its founding Wilson family, while aggressively pursuing growth, transforming its member engagement model and building an industry-leading team passionate about the guest experience.
Marge Lennon has been writing about the timeshare industry and its resorts since forever. She can be reached at Marge@LennonCommunications.com.
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