No kids, please
THE travel and tourism company Tui has decided to increase its number of adults-only hotels over the next year.
Tui will open twelve new adults-only hotels overall in South Tyrol, Egypt, Greece, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey and Cyprus – which brings the total number of these hotels that belong to the Sensimar brand to 45.
Tui is also planning to have a boat – the creatively named Tui Sensimar 1 – cruise through the Aegean Sea in the summer. The boat will have room for only 16 guests in total – which Tui hopes will mainly target millennials.
The company is focusing more on its childless clients in other branches of the business too. For example, in December, Tui’s Fuertaventura hotel Robinson Club Jandia Playa reopened, which is a hotel only for guests over 18 years old. “It is getting more and more normal for couples with children to also go on holiday without kids,” Marek Andryszak from Tui Germany says. “That may have been frowned upon in the past, but not today – society has changed on that front.”
Andryszak says that the main clients in adults-only hotels are couples. But not exclusively – groups of friends or parents with older children are also important customers.
The tourism giant is only the latest of a number of travel companies driving offers for non-parents or adults who want a break from kids.
Travel sites like Oyster and Hotel.com already point holidaymakers towards adult-only hotel options, while the exclusion of under-16-year-old kids is a growing trend in resorts.
Tui has other brands and services that it is looking to expand as well. One of its new services at Tui Blue Hotels allows customers to book a specific room after they have made their reservation. For a minimal fee per room per night, customers can take a look at the hotel map and choose the room they prefer.
Tui estimates that Turkey, Greece and Egypt will be among its biggest destinations next year. After two years of tourists being more cautious about going to Turkey in particular, the country is expected to attract more holidaymakers next year as political tensions ease.
On the other hand, Spain is expected to attract slightly fewer visitors – but it will still remain one of Tui’s biggest holiday destinations. – dpa