Tag Archives: honeymoons

A bride’s biggest moment can be ruined by narrow-minded groom

Posted on by alanwhitt

A destination wedding at a Sandals resort comes free with bookings of six or more nights.

Gentlemen, please pay close attention.

A wedding day and accompanying honeymoon should be a memorable event for both parties. But the truth is … the day really belongs to the bride.

Alan Whitt

Some guys just don’t get it. And the poor young woman who snags a neanderthal in holy matrimony usually pays the price.

Every girl dreams of her wedding day from the moment she reaches puberty … some even younger.

A glorious wedding and well-planned honeymoon can define a marriage.

Guys, if it is within your budget give your bride what she wants. You’ll be rewarded on the honeymoon and for the rest of your married life.

Allure Quest Travel Experience is honored to handle the honeymoon plans for a young lady planning a June 2013 wedding.

In fact, the future bride wants a destination wedding at a Sandals resort in the Caribbean.

She was giddy when we gave her a bouquet of good news.

  1. The wedding would be free … thanks to Sandals’ “Beautiful Beginnngs” package.
  2. With the help of our honeymoon registry they’be be able to get more than they originally planned because much of the honeymoon will be paid for by family and friends.
  3. They get a deep discount due to Sandals’ current sale, as well as an airfare credit and a spa credit.

She was going to have the wedding of her dreams … with a glorious honeymoon … at one of the most famous luxury resorts in the world.

Unfortunately, the groom stepped in and everything changed.

This isn’t about money. I don’t care what it costs as long as the clients have a memorable honeymoon worthy of reflection for the rest of their married lives.

But when you go from a week at Sandals La Toc in St. Lucia … to two days in a cabin in Gatlinburg, TN … well, there’s something wrong here. By the way, the groom – who has never been married – wants to take two kids along on the honeymoon!

The bride’s once bubbly outlook turned into a rather depressed persona. My opinion? It doesn’t bode well for the young lady and her second marriage.

He took her joy and tossed it into a shredder.

Shame on him.

Allure Quest Travel Experience on the web for all your travel needs – including analysis of destinations, insightful videos, the latest travel news and vacations to book.

June brides are still No. 1, but surprising September closing fast

Posted on by alanwhitt

We’re romantics at We 2 R 1 Honeymoons by Allure Quest Travel Experience so we’re celebrating June brides (and grooms) with periodic blogs on destination weddings and honeymoons.

It’s no surprise that June is the most popular month for weddings. But it’s a bit of a shocker that September and October aren’t far behind.

Alan Whitt

Those numbers come from the research company The Wedding Report.

From a honeymoon perspective those statistics make sense. Summertime travel is most expensive, while deals can be had later in the year.

Another thought is with destination weddings on the rise, the costs for guests are minimized during the fall months.

Regardless of when your nuptials are scheduled it’s contributing to a resurgence in honeymoons as the economy recovers.

The average honeymoon costs about $4,000. But if you’re a bride or groom you certainly want your big day and most important trip ever to be more than average.

A good travel agent understands that. An Internet travel site doesn’t. My travel motto (even for my own trips) has always been “cheapest usually isn’t your best option.” It costs less for a reason … something is usually missing.

In order to get the honeymoon you want and not break the bank it pays to plan well in advance.

If you want to be a June bride in 2013 you’ve got plenty of time to make a decision on where you want to honeymoon and find ways to minimize costs. Today’s trend is couples paying for their own honeymoon, not the bride’s parents.

Early planning is always a prudent thing.

Want to reduce the cost of your honeymoon? Try Allure Quest Travel Experience’s honeymoon registry, including a free website, photo gallery and blog. 

You should consider total costs when booking your own vacation

Posted on by alanwhitt

I think back frequently about a conversation I had with a gentlemen a while ago about Internet booking vs. using a travel agent. No, make that a travel professional.

Alan Whitt

The Internet has been both our best friend and our worst enemy .. and you can find just about anything surfing the Web. That doesn’t mean you’re going to find the right thing.

It also gives people a false sense of security, that they can do anything better than someone who has the education and experience in a chosen field.

Before long people are going to believe they can perform an appendectomy better than a surgeon because they found the instructions at surgery101.com.

My job is to give people the best possible vacation for the best price possible based on what they have to spend. That doesn’t mean they’re going to get a Sandals resort for $1,000, but I can get you to Sandals at a good price with significant discounts.

Simply put, a travel professional is going to give you value for your dollars.

Too often, do-it-yourself travel agents don’t consider the entire cost of a vacation. They’ll look at hotel costs and figure they’ll fold in the other elements at it goes along.

A recent client looking for a honeymoon  wanted a “tropical” vacation on a beach and had about $3,000-$3,500 to spend.

They were offered a week at a 5-Star resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic called Dreams Palm Beach for $3,408 all inclusive. That includes flights, accommodations, gourmet dining, unlimited premium drinks, the requisite beach, a definite tropical location and a host of entertainment options.

They declined because they though it was too much, and asked for something in Florida where you can walk out of your hotel straight onto a beach. They never considered the airfare costs (average $700 for two tickets if booked early enough), $1,050 for food ($150 a day), $200 for a rental car (not to mention gas) … and don’t forget that low-end beachfront hotel that runs at least $250 a night.

That’s at least $3,700 … and if you want some drinks and entertainment, let’s tack on another $300.

You get the point.

I’ve talked with other travel professionals who feel the same way. It was particularly frustrating when President Obama made the uneducated statement that travel agents were dead because of the Internet.

Well, Mr. President … just wanted you to know that we’re alive … well … and booking more travel than ever.

Do-it-yourself honeymoons? Call your travel agent instead

Posted on by alanwhitt

You need more than a day to celebrate love so I’ve decided to buck tradition and declare this Valentine’s Week. Therefore, through Friday I’m blogging about romance travel.

There’s no point in being modest. I’m good at what I do and I know it.

Alan Whitt

I love being a travel specialist, and I’ve invested a lot of time and money into educating myself so that I can provide my clients with an expertise that’s impossible to get with a do-it-yourself vacation or honeymoon.

Yes, you can book a bargain vacation online and most times be happy with it. But if you want something truly special … an experience instead of a vacation … then you go to the pros.

We had a client with a budget of $2,000 who wanted a Las Vegas honeymoon this summer.

She’s getting married on a Saturday, and her plan was to leave late on the day of her wedding, spend two nights in Las Vegas, take in a Cirque du Soleil show and return on Monday morning. It would be back to work on Wednesday.

Sounds exciting, but once the flaws of that plan were revealed she had to rethink things.

The first flaw is flying out on the wedding day. That would have made for an extremely long day. Pre-wedding stuff … wedding … reception … airport security … four-hour flight to Vegas … getting to the hotel … check-in … and consummate the marriage … if they have the strength.

Trust me fellas, you don’t want to be tired before sliding into the marital bed.

By the time they arrive in Nevada it would have been nearly 11 p.m. back in Nashville, and regardless of the time zone your body is still on Tennessee time. Checking into the hotel would probably have taken place at about 1 a.m.

Our first suggestion was to get a hotel with free shuttle service to Nashville International Airport for the wedding night. That way they can spend their first night together as man and wife … and sleep as well.

We set them up for a 6:15 a.m flight, getting them there at 9:15 a.m. Vegas time … plenty of time to get themselves situated. Those Cirque du Soleil tickets would already have been purchased and Allure Quest Travel Experience would created a flexible daily vacation plan to help them.

Another flaw was returning Monday morning, when you really don’t have to.  An early morning flight usually makes for an early turn-in the night before. That means you basically have 24 hours in Las Vegas to enjoy yourself.

Not the ideal honeymoon.

Our suggestion was to return on Tuesday evening, on a flight that arrives in Nashville at 12:45 a.m.  That gives them all day Sunday and the bulk of Monday to experience Las Vegas.

The final flaw? The original honeymoon, including flights and two nights at the Wynn, was $1,900 … with no consideration for the Cirque du Soleil show.

For that same price, We 2 R 1 Honeymoons got them a night at an airport hotel in Nashville, round-trip flights, two nights at the Wynn AND two tickets to the Cirque du Soleil show of their choice.

Our services didn’t cost them a dime, and got them added value for the money they had to spend on their honeymoon.

That’s why I’m not modest. I’m good at what I do.

ROMANCING THE WEEK

Monday: I’m rich and famous … if only while writing this blog

Tuesday: Gulp! Honeymoon pressure’s on both travel agents and grooms

Wednesday: A sexy cruise provides many opportunities for ‘romance’

Thursday: Romancing the continent, Africa is a great travel destination

Friday: Do-it-yourself honeymoons? Call your travel agent instead

For more on travel go to Allure Quest Travel Experience 

Romancing the continent: Africa is a land of love & adventure

Posted on by alanwhitt

You need more than a day to celebrate love so I’ve decided to buck tradition and declare this Valentine’s Week. Therefore, through Friday I’m blogging about romance travel.

So what’s the most romantic destination for you and your boo.

Alan Whitt

A luxurious cruise? … Paris, France? …A Sandals resort? … Hawaii?

Yes, they’re all guaranteed to stoke the fires of love and cause the heart to beat a little faster.

But here’s one that may surprise you.

Africa.

Stimulated by the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and hard times in the European economy, the former “Dark Continent” is now cast in a more romantic, exotic light.

Americans in particular were especially ignorant about what Africa has to offer, relying mostly on negative news reports about politics and other issues.

Safaris are increasingly popular getaways, including a 10-day “Intimate Enchantments of Africa” package in Kenya, staying at luxury tented camps that will surprise you with opulence in the middle of the wilderness.

The new Africa not only offers cosmopolitan cities such as Cape Town and Johannesburg, but also an expanding tourism effort across the continent.

There’s the wine country in the Western Cape, as well as the beaches of Durban and Cape Town and whale watching.

And although South Africa is further ahead than other parts of the continent in terms of tourism, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe also have much to offer, and East Africa is a growing market.

ROMANCING THE WEEK

Monday: I’m rich and famous … if only while writing this blog

Tuesday: Gulp! Honeymoon pressure’s on both travel agents and grooms

Wednesday: A sexy cruise provides many opportunities for ‘romance’

Thursday: Romancing the continent, Africa is a great travel destination

Friday: Do-it-yourself honeymoons? Call your travel agent instead

For more on travel go to Allure Quest Travel Experience 

Gulp! Honeymoon pressure’s on both travel agents and grooms

Posted on by alanwhitt

Take her somewhere special or you'll pay a hefty price down the road. Make it extra special and you'll reap the benefits immediately.

You need more than a day to celebrate love so I’ve decided to buck tradition and declare this Valentine’s Week. Therefore, through Friday I’m blogging about romance travel.

Probably the toughest thing for a travel specialist to deal with is waiting for a client to return home from a trip he booked.

Alan Whitt

Talk about nervous, it’s even worst when it’s a destination wedding or a honeymoon.

Think about it for a minute. You’re entrusted with one of a couple’s most important moments in their new life … a signature moment. A great honeymoon can jumpstart a great wedding. A bad experience has the opposite affect.

Who wants that kind of pressure?

You’re out of the loop, so you wonder if the moonlight dinner you ordered went off OK … or if the excursions you arranged were as good as advertised …or whether or not uncle Ned made of a fool of himself (again) and disrupted the wedding.

You don’t call, because you never want to interject yourself into private or family time. You figure that if something goes wrong they will call … but you never really relax until you hear it for yourself.

When you hear the word “Perfect” you finally exhale. Whew!

The last thing you want to hear is … “I’ll get back with you later, I’m with my divorce attorney.”

Uh oh!

Destination weddings and honeymoons are big business. Folks may scrimp on regular vacations, but any guy with even half a romantic streak has to know that his bride has been dreaming about this moment probably from the time she hit puberty.

Maybe even as far back as when her Ken & Barbie dolls hooked up in marital bliss.

Now it’s time for her Ken to step up and come up with an original honeymoon.

On that note, here are five honeymoon planning sins every groom needs to avoid:

5. Never let the kids tag along, even if this is your second, third or fourth wedding. You’ll get enough bedtime interruptions when you return home. Map out a  family vacation later, but this time belongs to the couple.

4. Never surprise her with a honeymoon, even if you think you know that she will love it. That’s a decision for the two of you. Plan your honeymoon together, just as you should every important decision through the years.

3. Never tell her that it doesn’t matter where you go, and leave it to her. That’s telling her that you don’t care, and akin to telling her to buy her own birthday present.

2. Never take her to a sporting event for your honeymoon … even if its the Super Bowl or the World Series. Taking a four-hour break during the honeymoon is a bit different than building it around the event.

1. Never take her to a place you’ve taken another woman. She may not find out immediately, but women have memories like elephants and if you slip up and spill the beans even 15 years down the road … well, can you spell D-O-G-H-O-U-S-E?

ROMANCING THE WEEK

Monday: I’m rich and famous … if only while writing this blog

Tuesday: Gulp! Honeymoon pressure’s on both travel agents and grooms

Wednesday: A sexy cruise provides many opportunities for ‘romance’

Thursday: Romancing the continent, Africa is a great travel destination

Friday: Do-it-yourself honeymoons? Call your travel agent instead

For more on travel please visit Allure Quest Travel Experience 

The perfect marriage begins with a perfect honeymoon

Posted on by alanwhitt

One of my top travel business mysteries involves honeymoon planning.

Alan Whitt

Why do some people wait so late to plan a honeymoon?

I’ve had people come to me a few weeks before a wedding months in the planning wanting to book a honeymoon. Well, I can do that … but why make what I believe is probably the most important part of a wedding – other than the actual vows – the equivalent of an afterthought?

Planning a wedding can be stressful. The bigger the wedding, the bigger the headache. The time and thought that goes into a wedding can be overwhelming, and when the deed is finally done … you’ll need that honeymoon to recharge your batteries and finally get to spend quality time with your new other half.

For me, honeymoon planning is also stressful for travel consultants. We’re charged with making sure a newly-married couple begins their life together in positive fashion. We help create good memories … or bad ones; and a honeymoon disaster can be a sign of things to come.

One pet peeve I have is people asking for a luxurious honeymoon … at a four- or five-star all-inclusive resort … with airfare included … and they want it all for $1,000.

Nope. Not happening. I usually suggest those folks seek out another travel agent willing to sell them anything. At We 2 R 1 Honeymoons by Allure Quest Travel Experience we sell dreams. Quality dreams.

Some folks never grasp the concept that cheap isn’t always the best. You’re only getting married once, and even if this is your second, third, fourth or even fifth trip to the alter, you treat it as if it will be your last.

If you’re planning a summer wedding, your travel consultant should be well on the way to having you sign off on the perfect honeymoon.

Perfection takes planning, and money … but not as much cash as you think.

You can get a week-long honeymoon at a first rate all-inclusive Caribbean resort such as Sandals for as little as $3,232 – and that price includes airfare, accommodations, food, drinks and entertainment. And if daddy wants to go all out in giving away his little girl, he can open up the wallet and get a one-bedroom suite, complete with the couple’s very own 24-hour butler, as well as a private pool overlooking the Caribbean Sea.

If you’re a little behind the honeymoon planning curve, don’t fret. You can call us at 615-818-8241 or 615-336-8580 to set up a consultation, or stop by our Allure Quest Travel Experience booth at The Perfect Wedding Guide Winter 2012 Show, at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center on Feb. 5 from noon-4 p.m., and meet travel specialist Gloria Conley.

Tickets are $10 each, and allow you to bring a guest for free. Even better, Allure Quest Travel Experience has tickets to give away for clients who begin planning their honeymoon with us.

Discover the riches of cruising at an Allure Quest travel mixer

Posted on by alanwhitt

If you’re looking to take a vacation before the end of the year or in 2012, you owe it to yourself to come out Thursday night in Franklin, TN, for the first We 2 R 1 Honeymoons by Allure Quest Travel Experience Travel Mixer.

Alan Whitt

Anyone who loves to travel is welcome. Those who prefer to sit at home year-round …. well, this is a good night to do that.

We’re celebrating National Cruise Vacation Week, a time when the cruise lines come up with deals to entice people to get onboard one of their ships for the trip of a lifetime.

The mixer, hosted by Wish Upon a Wedding, is from 6-8 p.m. at Wedding 101 in The Factory, Building 11, 230 Franklin Rd.

There will be food from Stoveworks at the Factory, wine provided by Domaine Napa Wine Company, and Caribbean music from Brian Snyder Entertainment.

Also in attendance will be personal stylists from Nordstrom at the Mall at Green Hills to get you fashionably ready for your cruise, representatives from Nashville Weight Loss Centers to help you get yourself in shape before you sail, as well as other vendors ready to help prepare you for whatever vacation you decide on.

They’ll also be giveaways .. including a Nordstrom gift card. And of course, the greatest gift of all: The Allure Quest Travel Experience travel specialist ready to answer all your questions and even book your trip on the spot.

So join us as we celebrate cruising. Hope to see you there.

We 2 R 1 Travel Mixer flyer – PDF