What Is a Travel Club?

A travel club is an established consortium of individual business owners and corporations in the customer service and travel industry that join together to form an affiliation of wholesale travel packages. Vendors in the travel industry, from hotels and clubs to airlines and travel agents, use a travel club to market their products, and by using these free advertising strategies, can offer discounted prices to their members. There are several different types of travel clubs, ranging from luxury leisure travel to affordable adventure travel and a whole slew of others.

Benefits

The benefits of belonging to a travel club can be immense. Most memberships come with several free trip offers each year, which can sometimes be an all-expense paid tour, cruise or beach resort vacation. Travel club membership offers monthly benefits and cheap trip options, as well as providing member profiles for saving trip preferences, forums, chatrooms and monthly newsletters to increase their members knowledge of the various travel club offers. The benefits of joining a travel club can range anywhere from unlimited flexibility in travel options, trip packages in over 6,000 destinations, low cost hospitality exchanges and savings on all the extras that go into planning a trip like car rental, hotel reservations, airline tickets and discounts on food and drinks. Travel club membership also works like airline mile rewards programs, giving you additional benefits for traveling more. Travel club membership can save individuals up to 75 percent on general vacation packages each year.

Types

There are several different types of travel clubs, from women's only clubs and travel clubs for people with disabilities to sport-specific travel clubs like ski or golf travel to clubs for traveling singles. Most travel club memberships require a one-time nominal fee, while other clubs may require annual or monthly membership fees. While there are many travel clubs out there for luxury and discovery travel vacations, not all of them are for leisure vacationing. There are also several travel clubs that coordinate professionals, like doctors and teachers, with professional services related travel opportunities. Another unique type of travel club works on an exchange program. Ambassador Exchange and Hospitality Club is one such travel club. It is a registry-based club that arranges adventure and hospitality exchanges to travel enthusiasts.

Significance

A travel club offers travel enthusiasts a convenient and more affordable way to explore their passion. With the vast array of travel club options and types, just about every traveler can find a club that is unique to their individual tastes. An important factor is convenience. A travel club allows members to maintain up-to-date profiles based on their travel interests that help the club to weed out potential offers and trip options for them. A travel club also helps to link like-minded individuals, like traveling singles and people with disabilities, which helps to simplify the travel planning. With a vast array of travel tools, a travel club simplifies the travel planning process by keeping everything its members need in one easy to access site.

Misconceptions

Belonging to a travel club does not mean you will get free trip packages and special offers on every trip you fantasize and dream about. Travel club membership offers discounts on trips that are sponsored by vendors within their affiliation. Also, free vacation packages are not completely free. While many of these packages will offer a free hotel stay or free airline tickets, there is almost always some portion of the trip that will be paid for by you. Taxes and fees, as well as booking fees for resorts, tips and most food and drink options are usually in addition to the free package and you will have to pay these fees out of pocket.

Warning

Like with any special offers and discounts you find on the Internet today, travel club options should be thoroughly researched for legitimacy. There are many travel-related Internet scams and con artists working on the Internet today and preying off the vulnerability of trusting individuals. Be sure to check a companies reputation by conducting a basic Internet search like checking the Scam Busters website, contacting the Better Business Bureau, or by simply calling the company in question to ask for more information and an annual report. Before giving out your credit card information and paying a membership fee, be sure you know that the company is legitimate.

Resources

• Handicapped Travel Club
• Scam Busters website
• Better Business Bureau