The holidays clients used to book with us, 10 to 15 years ago, were all about luxury resorts, almost always on a sandy beach, with family accommodation, kids’ clubs, sports activities for children, baby-sitting, fun and entertainment, and offering enough sophistication to appeal to discerning parents. In fact, these were perfect resorts for families with children under 16. This is what a significant number of our clients were booking with us a decade or more ago.
Fast forward to now and we have found that these family holiday clients are now so-called empty nesters or, more often than not, partial empty-nesters. The use of the word ‘partial’ is particularly relevant to holidays as we have found that offspring are conditioned and accustomed to enjoying top quality holidays. This inclination also seems to last for many years.
What is a grown-up family holiday?
As a business, we have moved with the times too but are experiencing a renaissance from our ‘old’ family clients who now have grown-up children and yet are still keen to share holiday experiences together. The versatility of our portfolio of holidays, travel arrangements and leisure experiences means that we are very well equipped to satisfy the demands of these new age groups; we can provide for young adults and their parents who seek a wide range of experiences, activities, nature, culture and authenticity, with varying degrees of comfort.
Types of family holidays: classic and traditional holidays
For the occasions you want to travel without the children, our traditional portfolio of luxury, bespoke holidays is a perfect solution. Our classic destinations such as Italy and France have been expanded to include, among others, Spain, Switzerland, and Norway. All these offer independence of travel within a reliable framework. The framework is overlaid with fine dining, wine appreciation, opera visits, walking, private guides, cookery courses, garden visits, golf and other sports – all whilst staying in authentic, characterful and comfortable surroundings. There are plenty of travel options; the appeal of rail travel is increasing, and we specialise in holidays by train throughout Europe.
Destinations: Europe and long haul
Over the last fifteen years our range of holidays has both consolidated and expanded. We are offering more of what our clients want us to offer, and less of having a destination because it’s popular. Our key specialist destinations in Europe are Italy, France, Spain and Norway. Our key specialist long-haul destinations are the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka. This by no means covers everything: we also offer Vietnam, Portugal, Croatia and Australia and New Zealand - all in great demand from our regular clients.
Our grown-up family holidays offer
● Multi centre holidays● Single centre holidays
● Holidays to Europe and further afield
● Activities that are cultural, sporting and educational
● A range of accommodation from luxury hotels to ice hotels
● A mixture of travel, from trains to boats, from cars to planes
● Stays in our personally selected hotels of character
Included in all our holidays
● Concierge service● Handcrafted helpful hints and local information provided with all our holidays
● Personal service by your sales consultant who looks after all aspects of your holiday
● Financial protection with our ATOL (3076) for all holidays including a flight and AFPS (6104) for non-air holidays
