Out of the Box: Thelma And Louise, Redux

Brandweek

Edited by Becky Ebenkamp

Published:  June 5, 2006

For single girls, there may be a trip to Jackson Hole during peak ski season. For busy working moms, it could be a spa and shopping jaunt to Chicago. For the bride-tobe and her friends, why not a bachelorette escape to the beach in Anguilla?

Seems that whatever your lifestage, there is a travel package tailored just for you—provided you are a woman with some free time, good friends, and yes, disposable income.

With more and more women in the workforce, many are juggling stressful professional and family responsibilities, and they just have to get away, said Tracy Chapman, codirector of brand insights for marketing consultancy Just Ask a Woman, New York.

"They are packing it in," Chapman said, of overscheduled, overworked contemporary women. "Especially with moms, they realize that if they don't take time for themselves, they can't be good role models."

The girls-only getaway isn't exactly new. Long before—and since—Thelma and Louise drove off in search of a good time, women have set out together, looking for broader horizons and a little adventure. Now, the travel industry has finally started to take notice, according to Eric Torkells, editor of Budget Travel magazine in New York. What was once just a trip is now a distinct marketing opportunity.

"The much more recent shift is the branding of the girlfriend getaway," Torkells said. "Once you give it a name, businesses are able to sell it better. In the last couple of years, it has coalesced into something that the industry gets."

Fueling this trend are new study findings by The Zandl Group, New York, showing young women ages 30-34 as more empowered, self-confident and independent than their male counterparts. Women now receive 58% of B.A. degrees; are starting businesses at twice the rate of men; 23% of these women have never married (up from 6% in 1970). Nor are they waiting for marriage before they have children or buy homes.

The result? A growing sense of community and peer support among women, driving everything from girls' night out to book clubs.

To hone in on the demo, Budget Travel last month bowed a 70-page glossy supplement focused solely on women's travel packed with female-friendly tips, such as using a Frisbee as a cosmetics tray, bringing along tea lights and essential oils to freshen up a stale hotel room and the many possible uses for a sarong. Advertising ranges from travel companies and spas to hotels and tourist boards all looking to attract the woman traveler's dollar.

Across the country, hotels are also developing packages specifically for women:

• In New York, one boutique hotel is offering a private shopping tour around SoHo. Available through The Exchange Hotel, the four-hour excursion includes a $75 gift certificate and return shipping for any purchases that don't fit into a customer's luggage, said general manager Rani Carr.

• Omni Hotels promotes a "Housewives on Hiatus" trip to Los Angeles, which includes a bottle of wine, a gossip magazine and a surprise gift package—all designed to encourage travelers to kick back and reconnect with one another. "Girlfriends are truly, from an emotional standpoint, important to your well-being," said Caryn Kboudi, vp-marketing at Omni in Irving, Texas.

• At the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower hotel, a female concierge devised a "Sex and the City" themed package complete with spa treatments, martinis and VIP entry to area nightclubs, said Robert Prohaska, director of sales and marketing. "We wanted to create a fun, sophisticated time for them. And take the planning out of the whole experience," he said.

For many women who are accustomed to making decisions about everything from the family car to the daily afterschool schedule, having someone else do the thinking for them is precisely the appeal of a girlfriend getaway, said consultant Chapman.

"Really plan it out for them," she exhorted the travel industry. "Women put themselves last. They are looking for brands that put them first."