Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The Benefits of Group Travel

No doubt, traveling with your spouse or significant other is fun and memorable.  Likely, traveling with your family is exciting, too. 

No? 

Ok, well, pretend it is! 

Even traveling with a friend has great benefits.

That said, adding to you and your spouse with several other couples, adding extended family members to your immediate family trip, and gathering a group of friends together for a trip makes for a wonderful and exciting time for all allowing multiple experiences and memories.

There are various benefits to group travel, but most often people find the greatest benefit is price.  Hotels, cruise lines, airlines, etc. are eager to provide group contracts with pricing at a lower cost because it’s less work for them.  We, your group travel agent, are able to pass those savings on to you!

Additionally, many people enjoy the opportunity of traveling with people of similar interest.  Joining a group for travel provides a greater energy and vibe than traveling with just your partner or small family.  In fact, we find many of our evaluations state that ‘this is the only way to travel.’

Enjoying a stress-free trip is a bonus for many as well, as there is little to no planning involved for each individual.  Allowing us, your group travel experts, to coordinate a trip for you permits you to sit back, relax and focus on the enjoyment of your trip instead of planning every hour of your journey.

This stress-free trip will likely come from having a group coordinator on your trip to travel with you!  Groups of a certain size (typically 20) will allow you to have a group coordinator on your trip!  Having this coordinator is key in ensuring that your group stays on their well-planned itinerary and is able to see all the sights and destinations that your group chooses to view.

With these great benefits, we trust you will want to join us for a group trip soon.  If you don’t see a trip you’d like to join us for, let’s create one for your group!

Below are some great ideas for groups:

  • Large families
  • Family Reunion
  • Collegiate class year alumni
  • All collegiate alumni
  • High school class year alumni
  • All high school alumni
  • Destination Weddings
  • Multiple couples and their children
  • Bible study
  • Girlfriends only
  • Guys only
  • Country club
  • Garden club
  • Tennis club
  • Fitness club
  • Golf buddies
  • Anniversary with friends and family
  • Birthday with friends and family

Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

US Open in New York City August 30-September 2, 2011


We are thrilled to announce a new trip on the Beyond Group Travel 2011 calendar!  Join us as we travel to New York City for the US Grand Slam event of tennis; the US Open. 

Trip highlights include*:
  • Roundtrip airfare from Houston. (other air cities available on request)
  • Roundtrip transportation between the airport and hotel
  • Deluxe accommodations for three nights including hotel taxes at the Hilton Times SquareHilton-Times-Square
  • Welcome lunch with open bar
  • One (1) roundtrip Metro pass on Subway to Flushing, NY
  • Baggage handling upon arrival in New York City
  • One Upper promenade seat at Arthur Ashe Stadium including grounds ticket to USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
  • Gratuities on included package features
  • Trip managed and accompanied by Beyond Group Travel, Inc.
As you can see, we are returning to the Hilton Times Square, the hotel we fell in love with on the Maggie Dixon Classic trip.

Furthermore, here’s a few more details on the itinerary of your trip with us to the US Open.

Tuesday— Upon arrival in New York City, we will transfer from the airport to enjoy a Welcome New York Pizza lunch with open bar at John’s Pizzeria in Times Square, a popular NYC restaurant featured on The Food Network and The Travel Channel’s Top 10 Pizzerias in the US. Following lunch, stroll to the Hilton Times Square with your room key in hand and luggage conveniently stored in your room. The remainder of this day is open for you to explore on your own activities.

Optional theatre performance viewing such shows as Jersey Boys, Wicked, or Billy Elliot. Beyond Group Travel can help you find the right one for you.

Wednesday—This is our full day of tennis—strap on your comfortable shoes as we will travel by subway to Flushing, NY. Your ticket today provides access to the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center as well as a reserved seat in the upper promenade section in Arthur Ashe Stadium for both the day and evening sessions.

Thursday—This day is yours to create. Choose from an optional second day evening ticket of tennis at the US Open or optional morning World Trade Center Site Tour by New York subway.

Friday—Before your return home this afternoon, you will have the morning free to enjoy shopping along Canal Street, take a walk through the world famous Central Park, or allow Beyond Group Travel to make arrangements for you to tour one of the many sights of NYC. Transfer to airport for flight home.

Package Price:
$1,589.00 per person - double occupancy
$1,929.00 per person - single occupancy
LAND ONLY AIR CREDIT - $325.00 per person (transportation to/from hotel on your own)

This trip is a great value!  Book by January 31, 2011 to receive this published trip price offering tremendous value. Rates will increase after this date due to ticket prices at the US Open.  Click here to view the brochure and contact us as soon as possible to reserve your space while you still can!

Additionally, we still have limited space available on the Mediterranean Mosaic sailing April 26, 2011!  If you are interested in sailing from Rome to Venice with ports of call including Portofino, Florence, and Amalfi, we would love to have you join us.  It’s not too late!  Deadline is Tuesday, January 25, 2011.

Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!

*Trip highlights subject to change based upon hotel, tickets & theatre availability.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Beyond Group Travel is 1 year old!

Beyond Group Travel

Above: Top, Krista and Henry Borchard. Bottom, Linda and Gary Triplett, Cindy and Dave Chambers.

Happy New Year to all of you and Happy 1st Birthday to us!  Tomorrow, we celebrate one year from our Incorporation date.  What a fabulous year this has been!

Cindy and Linda started the year off running and quickly built fabulous clientele, terrific quality trips, all while keeping a straight and organized business.  All the while working on 2010, we were able to build on 2011 and EVEN 2012!  That’s right; keep up with us to see the exciting details we have planned for upcoming years.

We were pleased to host trips with various collegiate alumni travel organizations, country clubs members, garden clubs and more to the following locations in our first year of business:

As you can tell, New York is definitely the signature destination at Beyond Group Travel, Inc.  2011 is already packed full with new destinations and, by popular demand, we’ve included more cruise groups!  If you are interested in hosting your group (family, friends or any other type of group) contact us to discuss the options available to you.  We are looking forward to an even better 2012!

Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Maggie Dixon Classic

Back in October, we told you about our upcoming trip to New York with the Traveling Aggies and Aggie Women’s Hoops for the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden.  This trip departed on December 17th and returned home on December 20th; it was fantastic!DSCN1505

Linda was fortunate to be able to travel with the group of 25 fans that gathered to cheer on the Aggie Women’s team.  Jennifer Bohac, Director of Traveling Aggies at the Association of Former Students at Texas A&M University, was also able to join Linda for this trip.

Accommodations were at the Hilton Times Square, and this is definitely a favorite NYC hotel for Beyond Group Travel.  Providing our clients with the largest hotel rooms in Manhattan is a plus, and the staff is great as well.  We are very pleased!

Our group also enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Carmine’s on Friday evening with all of the Aggie Women’s team, their coaches, and their staff.  The girls seemed to love the family style of dining!

Saturday, the Aggie Women’s team received a touching and well-planned tour by Linda through some of NYC’s highlights and on into the World Trade Center site.  That afternoon, our group of fans and the team were able to see the Rockettes in the Radio City Spectacular.

Sunday, the reason for this trip arrived, and it was time for the girls to dominate Rutgers in the Maggie Dixon Classic!DSCN1518

Our group of fans thoroughly enjoyed their NEAR COURTSIDE seats!  They commented on the fantastic view they had for not only the A&M game but the UCONN vs. Ohio State game following.  The Aggie Women’s team did a terrific job and indeed won their game against Rutgers.  Great job ladies!DSCN1527

It was a wonderful trip and one we hope to repeat!  We look forward to other trips with the team and Coach Gary Blair.  Thanks for a wonderful time to our travelers and the Aggie Women’s Basketball team!

Take the hassle out of group travel; call us to plan your next group trip or join ours!