Hotel & Motel Management - October 15, 2007 - (Page 14)

14 Guest Column IN THE details Sexes stick together Gender-speciﬁc trips rise Guys stay away longer Women stick close to home By Brian Harrington H&MM Guest Columnist H&MM October 15, 2007 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition Consumers spend on gender-based trips I magine this: A $40-billiona-year niche in the hotel industry that has gone almost completely unnoticed until recently. Destination weddings? That’s old news. Gay/Lesbian? Guess again. Believe it or not, it’s genderbased group travel, and the industry is ﬁnally waking up to the popularity and proﬁtability of these trips, such as girlfriend getaways, guys’ golf vacations and destination bachelor/bachelorette parties. Industry research indicates that today, 8 million gender-based group trips occur annually, with an average length of 3.5 days and the average person spending $800. This is not to say genderbased group activities have not always existed, they have simply evolved. For example, the weekly poker game has now evolved into a weekend away ﬁshing, mountain biking or playing cards in Vegas rather than in someone’s kitchen. “Girls Night Out” has become the girls’ weekend away, and college fraternity reunions at the local bar have transitioned into annual week- long golf getaways. Until recently, this lucrative market has been largely overlooked by the travel industry because, while gender-based groups often look (and book) like leisure travelers, they act like groups once on property. However, perhaps due to the “mancation mania” that took the media by storm last year, many suppliers have begun to target this market aggressively. For example, if you conduct an Internet search for “girls trip ideas,” you will ﬁnd a host of tour operators catering to the gender-based market with everything from surf camps to scuba diving adventures. Likewise, if you search for “guys getaway ideas,” you will ﬁnd an array of special packages, including everything from shark hunting to ﬂy-ﬁshing. Particularly interesting are the innate differences between men and women and how they plan these trips. While women have a strong desire to go away with their friends just like men, research indicates that the average women’s trip is about one day shorter than the average men’s trip (2.5 days versus 3.61 days). In addition, a majority of women’s trips also are drive trips versus ﬂy trips, typically visiting destinations within three hours of home. Women’s groups also tend to be smaller, with an average of ﬁve to six people, compared with seven to 10 people on the average guys’ trip. Even still, millions of dads every weekend are trying to ﬁgure out whether pizza is part of the food pyramid while mom is away with her friends. Amazingly, all these groups are real and are out to have real fun together. Even celebrities tend to travel in a posse—I recently read that billionaire Sam Zell just returned from riding Harleys in Croatia with his group, Zells Angels. Now there’s a group I’d like to be a part of. hmm@questex.com Brian Harrington is president and co-founder of I’m in! (www.imin. com), the leading authority for gender-based group travel. He can be reached at brian.harrington@ imin.com. CIRCLE NO. 129 http://HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition http://www.pmctrust.com http://www.imin.com http://www.imin.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - October 15, 2007

Hotel & Motel Management - October 15, 2007 Contents Concord Sets Goal to Double Portfolio Leaders: Budgetel Brand Off and Running Pension Funds Put More Capital Into Hotels Perspective Letter to the Editor At Your Risk Consultant's Corner Sales Clinic On Finance Guest Column Trends & Stats Industry Leaders Say Healthy Times Will Continue Eco-Concious Hotels Looks for Certification Events Removing Chemicals, Suds from Housekeeping Products Handhelds Help Track Safe Activity People on The Move Awards Transactions Supplier News Ad/Editorial Index Bath Trends Marketplace Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - October 15, 2007

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