Sundance Vacations, Corporate Headquarters

A USA Today Travel article published recently with the headline “Americans ready for vacation, despite high gas prices” claims that “More than six of 10 Americans say it’s important they get away from home this year.” The article also says that most are willing to find a way to go on vacation despite the rising gas prices.

You would think that with increasing costs all around the board from airfare to gas prices to hotel prices most people would prefer to stay home or in other words opt out of a vacation for a staycation. However, Anne Banas, executive editor of the website SmarterTravel, was quoted in the article saying, “I think the ‘staycation’ is dead. People are sick of it.” During the recession we saw many people choose a staycation. People were saving their money or conserving any way possible during the hard times. However, now even the fluctuating fees and rising prices in the travel industry do not play a huge factor in deciding to stay or go. People are going. After skipping vacation last year or the year before people want to get away regardless of the prices.

Because people are traveling despite prices, it does not mean that people are just spending and spending without a care. Travelers are not only going but they are willing to hunt for bargains. Brian Hoyt, spokesman for the online travel company Orbitz, is quoted saying, “Consumers are saying, ‘I’m still going to go, but I’m going to do it smartly… You’re seeing the consumer be very savvy this summer season but again refusing to give up their right to travel.”

Sean Oakley, Marketing Manager at Travel Advantage Network or TAN (A Sundance Vacations vendor) said, “The volume of booking for TAN(Sundance Vacations) clients has stayed consistent, despite rising gas prices. This is a good illustration of one of the biggest benefits of our program: inflation protection. Our clients don’t have to worry about any rising cost in their TAN vacations, which makes it easier for them to travel in the face of rising gas prices.”

In fact, Sundance Vacations and TAN are helping customers travel even more in 2011. Together we created a Value Season deal, which cuts the cost of Peak Season fees in half for select months in various locations. This cuts back on the amount of time a location was normally considered in Peak Season.  So instead of travling for $30 a night during peak, customers now have the option to travel for $15 a month during the new Value season.

Along with Value Season deals, we also split up locations to accommodate more value season dates. Candy Bednar, VP of Business Development, explains, “Another exciting change to the destination list is that Hawaii has been designated by two separate areas just like our Florida destinations. This separation of Maui, Hawaii and Molokai, Hawaii gave way to add a three month value season to Molokai for September, October, and November. I think this is a great opportunity to get our clients on that Hawaiian vacation that they have been dreaming about! It’s already got me thinking about a fall getaway to paradise for a few days!”

With people traveling and relentlessly hunting for the best deals Sundance Vacations is here to accommodate that need and many others at our wide variety of locations and properties at a fraction of normal travel prices.

Just for being our fan, Sundance Vacations is giving you a gift! To get you ready for the summer season, we want to give you a UV silicone bracelet. UV silicone bracelets turn colors when exposed to the sunlight. They are a great reminder to apply sunscreen while out in the sun. These are great for the whole family while on vacation to the beach or any hot and sunny location. The best part is that they are free for you just for being our fan on Facebook.

How do I get my UV bracelet?

• Go to our Facebook page and “like” our page.
• Once you “like” our page, click on the sign up link (or follow this link) on the left side of the page.
• Then click on “begin survey” and fill out your information.

We will then send you a free UV bracelet! That simple.

The sign up form is only used to receive a free gift. You are not entering in any contest or sweepstakes. We are doing this for you, our fans, for your support! We want to give back!!! Sundance Vacations will not use your personal information for anything other than sending you a special gift for being our fan. Sign up to receive your free gift today!!! If you are interested in registering for our sweepstakes, please head over to www.sundancevacations.com!!!

Congratulations to Kandi Mell of New Jersey!!!

The US Travel Association released the Traveler Sentiment Index yesterday.  The Index measures consumers’ expectations to engage in travel. The Index soared to the highest level in 4 years.  An estimated 138 million adults expect to take at least 1 trip between now and July.  The report also revealed that positive increases were also observed in the “interest in travel”, “time for travel” and “money available for travel” categories.

“This is consistent with Sundance Vacation’s experiences throughout this recession,” explains Founder and President John Dowd.  “Our sales results remained robust as many Americans still value a family vacation.  Saving money is important to this group and Sundance Vacations is well positioned to serve this segment.”

The US Travel report continues with a segment on discretionary spending.   When asked about their future discretionary spending plans, US adults indicate their intentions to spend more in the coming year in only three categories with leisure travel topping the list at 20%.

There are also 40 million US adults who remain undecided about taking a leisure trip during the next six months.  “This is an incredible opportunity for us,” reports Shane Lewis the Assistant Vice President of Sales at Sundance Vacations. “We’re ready to educate this block of potential travelers about our destinations and the many benefits of traveling with Sundance Vacations.”

Unfortunately, the price of an airline ticket is already on the rise this year.  Carriers have increased their fares four times already this year compared with only three increases for all of 2010.  “Last summer we saw a distinct trend for “drive to” destinations but with gas prices also on the rise we remain hopeful that we can fill our “fly to” destinations as well,” says Dowd.

Click to download pdf Sundance Vacations: Write a review, Get Money Back Flyer

As discussed in a previous blog post the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) is under a lot of pressure to implement a program to alleviate unnecessary screenings for trusted and respected travelers. As the TSA works tirelessly on finding a way to create an adequate and efficient traveler trust program, a few articles have already started hinting at some of the procedures and processes involved with the programs logistics. The concept that we have come to know is a 3-tier approach to security. Travelers are classified as either a Trusted Traveler, Regular or Risk.

According to an article posted on Flying with Fish (a blog about flying) the 3-tier program works like this:

The Trusted Travelers, would be those who submit to a complete background check, much like those under the previous Registered Traveler program, and similar to the current Global Entry program that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (US CBP)has in place at international airports. US CBP’s Global Entry program allows those who have undergone a background check to bypass the lines at passport control and use a kiosk to enter the country.   With the TSA’s projected Trusted Traveler program, a traveler who has been verified would receive a ‘lighter’ search,  use a walk-through-metal-detector instead of an Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanner and in theory be able to keep their shoes on and their laptop in the bag.”

A “Regular” traveler would undergo the standard security procedures in place today.

A “Risk” traveler would receive a more thorough search of their clothing, baggage and potentially be asked a series of questions.

However, many are skeptical of this approach and feel a lot of roads need to be crossed in order for it to be an adequate and safe system. The same article goes through multiple steps that need to be addressed before a new program is implemented:

• Being able to positively identify each traveler and matching them to their boarding pass
• “IT issues associated with having a live stream of data of all passenger information coming into each and every TSA checkpoint.”
• IT-Hardware needs – “hardware needs a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars … something the TSA does not presently have in its budget.”
• Logistics – “The physical altering of security checkpoints at airports to allow for the three-tier screening to be carried out.”

And of course, “Who would perform the passenger background checks for the Trusted Traveler system and who would determine a ‘Regular’ vs ‘Risk’ passenger?”  The “Who?” and “Where?” seem to be the biggest issues – government agency or independent contractors? How will the information be secured? How will it be payed for?

These questions and many more are on everyone’s minds considering the TSA has yet to answer any of these questions. It is only a matter of time before any of this becomes a “TSA just talks” game.

Be sure to keep reading the Sundance Vacations blog as we are going to update you as information is released.

Source: http://boardingarea.com/blogs/flyingwithfish/2011/02/10/can-the-tsa-create-a-viable-trusted-traveler-program/

In order to be transparent and open, we decided to crawl the web in search of actual customer experiences with Sundance Vacations. We found an experience that dates back a few years but is completely unbiased so we thought we would publish it for our clients and potential clients…

Registered Online with the certificate on July 31, 2007

August 8, 2007: I received a letter in my email for the $50.00 deposit remittance coupon. Then a letter was also written by Spirit on August 1, 2007 (received 8/9/07) and sent to my home regarding the deposit and confirming my initial registration with the certificate. The letter also stated that I had one year to use the certificate from the date of registration. I mailed deposit that day.

August 16, 2007: Received a letter from Spirit confirming receipt of my deposit. In the letter, it provides you with a link/website to visit to begin the vacation selection process. It stated that once I picked my dates and Spirit received them, then a travel consultant would call me within 21 days. The letter also explained the option of upgrading the trip. Additional nights, upgraded hotel accommodations, and expanded airline schedules. I immediately went online and submitted my selected travel dates.

1.You must select a dates between Sunday and Wednesday only.
2.Once you put in the first date, the system then narrows your options further.

I started with October 21st -23rd of 2007 (not my preferred date, but started there)
Then computer asked me to pick between December 2-4th, 9th-11th and January
6th-8th, 13th-15th, and also some dates in February. So they give you dates to choose.
I was pleased because I initially wanted to go on the trip Jan 6th-8th to begin with.

Then, I was told that a representative would call me regarding my travel arrangements within 21 days. I spoke to someone on September 10, 2007. We talked about availability and cost. They told me they had my January dates available for me. At that moment, she said I had to book right then and there and be prepared to pay as well, but I was not. I had something important going on at work, and could not stay on the line for 30 minutes. They ask you if you have 20-30 minutes to wait around while they check availability. She then told me I would have to call the customer service department when ready to book.

I called at least once a week from late September 2007 on, until November 20th, 2007 when “Elaine” called me at my work number. She asked me if I had the 20-30 minutes to talk with her and I accepted, due to the fact that I did not receive a call back for a long time before and wanted to finalize the trip. This process was the only difficulty. It took longer than expected for someone to get back to me.

First, she went over the taxes of the trip and then the upgrade options: additional nights, expanded airline options, and upgraded hotel accommodations. She said if you upgrade to an additional night, including rearranging the airline flight, it would be an extra $125.00 person. That price included the additional night as well as a changed flight. Then the taxes, which we do not disclose from our customers, are always anywhere from $45-65.00 a person.

If you chose not to upgrade, she told me, you would only have to pay $132.16 for the airline taxes of the trip. I said that would be fine, let’s book January 6th-8th, 2008. She then asks you to hold so she can book everything. I was on hold about 10 minutes. She came back and told me my flight information:

Depart DAY on 1/6/08 @ 7:03pm, Arrive in Atlanta @ 8:38pm, Leave Atlanta @ 9:20pm,
Arrive in Orlando @ 10:24pm. (So you get there on first day late at night).

Depart Orlando @ 6:00am on 1/8/08, Arrive in Atlanta @ 7:27am,
Leave Atlanta @ 8:15am, Arrive in Dayton @ 9:44am.

The Hotel in Orlando would be the Ramada Plaza Gateway

I put her on hold to speak with someone regarding the trip. At that point, I wanted to see what the cost of upgrading and what it entails would be. So you only actually get less than one day in Orlando, if you have to be at the airport by 4:00 am.

Cost of upgrade: $312.00. This included extra night in hotel, and much better flight times(3 full nights in hotel, and perfect flight times for us). This cost included the “airline taxes and all other fees as well.” New Schedule would be as follows:

Depart DAY on 1/6/08 @ 8:05am Arrive in MCO (Orlando) @ 10:11am.
Depart MCO on 1/9/08 @ 6:22pm, Arrive in DAY @ 8:25pm.

The Hotel would also be the Ramada Gateway Kissimmee(one mile from Disney)

Accepted upgrade, received an email from “Elaine Garcia” at Spirit Incentives that day with all of my travel confirmations: A Confirmation from Air Tran Airways, and the Ramada which I was to print off and take with me. A few days before the trip I called Air Tran to confirm my flight, and all was set. I did the same with the Hotel and all was set as well.

If you are paying airline taxes anyway ranging from $60-100+ a person, why not upgrade for just one more hundred dollars to make it more memorable. Everything went smoothly.

The hotel (Ramada Gateway Kissimmee) was very nice for what I was paying and how many nights we ended up staying. There were a few pools, game rooms, 2 restaurants, shuttle service to the parks, and other restaurants and activities close by. Disney was less than a mile from hotel. My advise would be to upgrade if you can. It was well worth it.

Spirit was very accommodating after that point as well. The back of the certificates are key. I have read the terms and conditions on these several times, if people read them, and follow the instructions word for word this is simple.

Well folks, Phil did not see his shadow which means Spring is right around the corner. But lets not jump to any conclusions just yet… According to Wikipedia (yeah, yeah, yeah. Not the most reliable source but for Groundhogs Day I am sure it will do.),  “of [the] 115 predictions on record so far, Punxsutawney Phil has predicted an early spring 15 times (13%). As to his accuracy, according to the StormFax Weather Almanac and records kept since 1887, Phil’s predictions have been correct just 39% of the time.” To add more to that, the entire North East was just hit with a pretty major snow and ice storm. Phil made his prediction but I think it is safe to say we should wait to see what Mother Nature has in store for us for the rest of February…and at this rate, March too.

The Gulf Shores Plantation runs along the Gulf of Mexico in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  With 4,000 feet of private beach, guests are sure to have a relaxing vacation.  Gulf Shores Plantation has six outdoor pools, an indoor pool, eight tennis courts, a basketball court, volleyball court, shuffleboard, horseshoes, putting green, an exercise room, outdoor charcoal grills with picnic tables to enjoy a family cookout, a sauna, and a game room.   Also, for the avid golfer, Kiva Dunes Golf Course is conveniently located right next door.

There are numerous activities for guests to participate in on their Gulf Shores vacation.  Parasailing, scuba diving, boating, fishing, kayaking, jet skiing, sailing, golf, mini golf, and even dolphin cruises are among the fun activities available in the Gulf Shores.

Looking to do something out of the water?  In the Gulf Shores, there are many fun attractions that make for perfect day trips away from the beach.  For the kids, there is Waterville USA, where you can splash around in the water rides, or the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo to enjoy the wide variety of exotic animals.  Fort Morgan is another popular attraction that is only eight miles away from the resort.  Take the Mobile Bay Ferry from Dauphin Island to Fort Morgan and enjoy a trip into history.

The units at the Gulf Shores Plantation include air conditioning, telephone, TV, unlimited free WiFi access, a kitchen with a dishwasher and a microwave, and a balcony or patio.  Travel to Gulf Shores and experience all it has to offer!

Deep in the serene backwoods of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, on 60 wooded acres, sits the Dells Club Condos property.  The property is located next to the Wisconsin River and is surrounded by magnificent landscapes. Seeing as Dells Club Condos is in a rustic area, hiking, biking, fishing, boating, horseback riding, skiing, snowboarding, and golf come natural as some of the most popular local activities.

Dells Club has a heated pool with deck area, a tennis court, and a boat pier with seating, to entertain guests while on-site.  The units at Dells Club Condos come complete with a full kitchen – including a microwave, TV, VCR, a patio or balcony, and a wood-burning fireplace for the cold winter months.

Despite the peaceful surrounding, there are definitely way to make some noise during an experience in Wisconsin Dells.  Downtown Dells is a must-see during the trip: dining, shopping, art galleries, boat tours, and exciting nightlife can all be found in Downtown Dells, along with so much more.

Other attractions in Wisconsin Dells include visiting Noah’s Ark Water Park, Timbavati Wildlife Park, Cave of the Mounds, the Kalahari Indoor Theme Park, and the Ho-Chunk Indian reservation to try your luck in the casinos.  Also, there are dinner cruises, theaters, and plenty of restaurants for guests as they enjoy their stay in Wisconsin Dells.

Guests looking for a relaxing, nature-filled getaway must visit Dells Club Condos.