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Group Hotels For Reunions
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Staying Together as You Plan a Family Reunion Vacation
As the saying goes, “The family that plays together, stays together”, so why not consider a more active role for your attendees at the next family reunion. This is exactly what Sharon and her family recently decided for their family reunion. Rather than attempting to plan the family reunion during a time that most people would be available and not have a conflict with other travel plans, Sharon along with her parents, siblings and cousins decided that it made more sense for all of the family members to reunite while on vacation in the summer.
“We were all at that point in our lives where most of our children were ready to experience a family destination such as Disneyworld. And a number of the adults in our family had not visited the theme park since they were young children, so it seemed like the ideal time to combine the family reunion and the family vacation into one trip,” said Sharon.
The family reunion planning began with an informal meeting of Sharon along with her sister, brother, cousin and eldest niece to determine if everyone could agree on a destination. Since a large number of her family members already resided in the greater Atlanta area, it was quickly decided that a Disneyworld destination could accommodate those family members who preferred to drive along with those who would rather fly to family reunion. This initial meeting became the foundation of a family reunion plan. The five members each selected a different area of the family reunion to focus their planning efforts.
Sharon, who had previously worked in the travel industry, decided that she would coordinate selecting accommodations such as a hotel and banquet facility for the family reunion. Her brother Jake chose to coordinate the family reunion invitations and activities to be held during their stay. As a savvy social networker with nearly 1,000 friends on Facebook, her niece Emily quickly volunteered to organize their efforts into a group page where everyone could share ideas, memories and photos both before and after the family reunion. Sharon’s sister Alice had a close friend who owned a screen printing business, so she elected to take on the task of designing and coordinating family reunion t-shirts for everyone to commemorate the occasion. Finally, her cousin John assumed the role of treasurer and carefully managed the committee’s revenue and expenses for group purchases such as the t-shirts, invitations, games and souvenirs for the family reunion activities that would take place during the vacation.
“Overall, combining the family reunion and the family vacation really worked for us. Both the children and adults had plenty of opportunities for entertainment as well as time to be together as an entire group and to be alone for relaxation,” Sharon reported.
When asked if there was one organizational tool that she would recommend to others who are planning a family reunion, Sharon had only positive things to report about her experience with the online hotel reservation system available at HotelPlanner.com. Most importantly, this website ensured that Sharon was getting the best rate for her family reunion by first surveying her individual and collective needs and then inviting hotels to compete for the family reunion’s business.
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