Family vacations are fraught with bored teenagers, screaming infants, and 60-miles-per-hour toddlers – but if you can help a family have that one magical vacation they’ll remember forever, they’ll remember you forever too. Here are my top five tips for nailing the Great Family Vacation.
1. Point your family in the right direction. Think of the Griswolds as a cautionary tale – the National Lampoon’s family always tries to do too much, go to too many places, see too many things. If they were my clients, I’d send them to an all-inclusive resort in Cancun where they can still have crazy adventures exploring Mayan ruins, but where Mrs. Griswold can also lounge in a poolside cabana and ogle the bartender. All-inclusive resorts are ideal for the family who can’t agree on anything (allowing them, for once, to agree on everything).
2. Get on the road. If you have kids, you know the hardest part of a trip is just getting out the door without forgetting anything! As a travel agent, you can help parents by keeping track of their family passport progress (and visas if necessary). Remind them that first time passport applications must be done in person, and minors have to have both parents present. Give them a list of items to bring, including birth certificates, drivers’ licenses, current passports, and two identical regulation passport photos of each person. But don’t just email them a list and forget about it – send gentle reminders to keep them on schedule and unhurried.
3. Settle in. Even though you won’t be at the resort to personally greet your traveling family, you can be there in ways that really count by adding personal touches. For example, say the mother has told you that her child requires a gluten-free diet. You could call the resort and ask which restaurants cater to those needs and have them let the mother know on arrival that she and her family will be taken care of. A phone call takes just minutes and can make a big difference in how they remember your customer service.
4. Share the secret of relaxation. The family that plans together has a great vacation together. See if you can have a planning session with the whole family, getting the kids as involved as possible in the process, so everyone is equally excited (and agrees on activities ahead of time!). Taking that step will pay dividends later. Don’t let them overschedule themselves, but do help them prioritize their goals for their vacation.
5. Understand that things don’t always go as planned. When I took my kids to a ski resort a few years ago, my daughter injured herself on the slopes, and while I was trying to deal with that, my son was standing directly under the ski lift. Someone fell on him, and the vacation ended with my daughter in a neck brace, my son in a cast, and me in a chair sipping wine by the fireplace. Anything can happen with families on vacation, which is why my agents and I make ourselves available by phone 24-7 – and why we always strongly encourage purchasing trip insurance!
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Tammy Levent, Public Speaker & Business Mentor
Click here to read Tammy’s bio and a sampling of her achievements.
