Group Travel Scoop - Groople.com

Spiritual Retreats: Advice, Tips, and How-to

Life is not all about the daily grind. Travel is not always about point A to point B. Consider spiritual retreat travel. Be you Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Mystic, or Buddhist, spiritual retreat travel offers a chance to travel not only a physical distance, but also a spiritual one.

With so many reasons to go, it is little wonder spiritual retreats are a fast growing segment of group travel. People of all faiths and walks of life take retreats for a number of reasons. Religious retreats offer a chance to relax at a deep level to rejuvenate your spirit. A chance for quiet fellowship with likeminded people. A retreat is a chance to heal, practice your faith, and search for higher meaning. Many people also find retreats a time of great creativity. People who have taken the journey to retreat almost always testify to the positive effect it had on their life.

Planning a group religious retreat presents a few more problems than simply convincing others why they should go. Before the search for the extraordinary can take place the mundane details of religious retreat details need to be taken care of. With that in mind, presenting a group scoop guide to planning group spiritual retreats:

• Know Your Group. Know what kind of retreat venue you require. Types of retreats and venues vary as much as the people who go to them. Retreat venues include cabins, monasteries, hot springs, ashrams, bed and breakfasts, spas, zendos, and very often it is meeting location that requires people to stay offsite. The retreat venue may book itself like a hotel does on an individual basis, or on a solely group by group basis.

• Remember the Basics. Services at retreats very greatly. Ranging from fully catered meals to picnic tables. From full room service to a cot. From fully pampered to no service at all. So remember to plan a solution for your group's meals. Find a way to accommodate special needs at a place that may not accommodate them for you. Don’t forget the small things like flashlights, yoga mats, swimming suits, bibles etc…

• Plan Ahead. Many retreats are held in or outside of small towns, so hotels are at a premium. Getting accommodations for your group should be done at least 60 days in advance, 120 days in advance if you’re planning for a group of 60 or more.

Planning a retreat should not be a stressful event that counteracts the positive effects of going on retreat. Heed the advice here and contact the group travel experts at Groople and make the trip a pleasant success.

See you UP there.

Great Article on Youth Mission Trip Planning

If you plan group trips for youth ministries or youth mission trips, there are lots of things to consider before you go and during your trip.

Tony Sheng wrote a great article about things you need to consider and plan for when you organize youth trips. His article is specifically about mission trips, but the information is relevant and helpful for group trips of all kinds. He provides tips on everything from the shots you might need for international trips to how you are going to get around once you arrive in your destination.

Read Tony's mission trip planning article now.

Religious Travel and Religious Meeting Planning Tips

Religious travel is a growing market. In fact, religious travel is comprised of several distinct types of travel. There are religious tours, including trips to European pilgrimage sites and the Holy Land. Most Christian denominations hold regular meetings and annual conventions. Some of these church conventions have thousands of delegates and considerable hotel space requirements. Religious conventions often resemble the corporate meetings and conventions market in terms of logistics even though the purpose of each is much different. Other religious communities organize trips for their congregations: everything from just-for-fun trips in Orlando to urban mission/service trips to help out in communities in the U.S. and around the world. In a nutshell, "religious travel" can mean a lot of things.

Here are a few things I have learned about the planning and booking side of religious travel to help you with your own planning.

1) Plan Ahead - You may have volunteered to organize that trip to Orlando for your church's summer youth program, so make the experience as stress-free as possible. Be a hero in the end when you help provide great memories for everyone involved. By planning ahead, you can ensure that you find the group hotel rates you need, in the location you want, on the dates the work for your group trip. In my experience, the larger your group the more you need to plan ahead. It may sound like a lot of time, but I would recommend making your group hotel booking at least sixty to ninety days in advance. If you are making arrangements for a group of 60 people or more, you probably want to book three to four months in advance if at all possible.

2) Remember Your Group Members - When you plan travel for your church group or other religious organization, both the purpose of the trip and the people traveling matter. As the group travel organizer, obviously want to plan the best trip possible. One of the easiest ways to do that is to keep your trip and your travelers top of mind during the planning. Senior travelers may have requirements that other groups do not. You may also need to consider the number of adult chaperones you need for that group of 30 kids you are taking on a long weekend trip. For a couples retreat, where the purpose may be more for personal growth and learning, find the perfect facility to accommodate comfort, openness, and relaxation.

One of the easiest ways to ensure a successful group trip for your religious group is to enlist the assistance of an expert group travel planner.

Search now for hotels that meet the needs of religious travel groups.

Meeting Planning in a Seller's Market

I have written a post or two already about the fact that hotel occupancy in the top meetings and conventions markets is at record levels. It is a seller's market right now, and no significant increase in hotel rooms is expected in most markets until at least 2008. Many in-house meeting planners have complained about hotels turning away their meeting business for more lucrative prospects.

In this market, your best tool is knowledge. By taking advantage of careful planning and by positioning your meeting, conference, or expo as an attractive business prospect you can still secure the hotels and facilities you want in the destinations you choose.

Obviously, top-tier cities including Las Vegas are tough markets, especially during peak times. I will keep hammering these points home, so here are some tips for anyone who is responsible for planning an off-site meeting, convention, or corporate event. Professional planners are expensive, and you can still do this yourself if you give yourself plenty of time and plan accordingly:

1) I still encourage you to consider one of the many fine second or third tier cities that surround major metropolitan areas. You can find some real gems if you are flexible and open to fantastic surprises. This is especially true of your small to mid size corporate meetings. Just think of all the great towns not too far from San Francisco, for example: Napa Valley, Monterey, Santa Barbara (if you don't mind a little further south). You can find these destinations around every major metro area, and an experienced group travel expert would be happy to help you find what you need.

2) Avoid peak conference and convention times in major markets. In a market such as Las Vegas, one of the best times to go to avoid crowds and high occupancy is between Thanksgiving and Christmas. June and July are also considered slow seasons. The fall and spring months usually see some of the biggest conventions, which often create sold-out situations for a large radius around the Strip. Take a look at the Las Vegas Event Calendar for the coming year to get a good sense of what peak seasons look like.

Bottom line is there are many free services and tools you can take advantage of to plan your meeting hotel space and facilities. It is definitely possible to plan a successful meeting or event in-house. My recommendation is to keep planning and get help where you can.

Our group travel planners are happy to help find you a perfect hotel for your next meeting. Search now.

Time to Book Your Religious Travel

The holidays are here. Christmas is right around the corner, Hanukkah begins at sundown this Friday, and Kwanzaa begins the day after Christmas. We know everyone is busy getting ready and soaking up the spirit of the holidays.

We book a lot of trips for religious groups taking tours, for mission trips, service trips, meetings, and just fun travel organized through a church. For 2007 group travel, now is a great time to start planning and booking your religious travel. Here's why.

From the airlines perspective, you are a group if you have 10 or more passengers on the same flight. Those spots can fill up quickly, and as they do prices tend to go up. You also want to get the best prices, locations, and availability on your lodging.

Most hotels consider between 5 and 10 or more rooms a group booking. If your church or religious group is organizing a trip for a substantial number of travelers, it is important to plan ahead so you get the right hotel for your group members. For your spring and summer 2007 trips, I strongly recommend booking by January or February at the latest.

Don't wait - Find that perfect hotel today