The Wanderer
In conversation with Meg Walker.
A native of Downpatrick in Co. Down, Rory King spent ten years travelling the world, visiting more than 50 countries on a budget, and has traversed all 32 counties on the island of Ireland. He set up Rory’s Travel Club to showcase affordable travel both in Ireland and abroad and inspire Irish people to explore the world and the best experiences on their own doorstep.
The inspiration behind Rory’s Travel Club Rory’s Travel Club came about from my own love of travel. I spent ten years travelling the world on a budget. Five years ago, I worked for a French company that was taking up to 30% commission on Irish hotel bookings, and that made me think, there must be a way that Irish people can save that money as opposed to it going to multinational platforms outside of Ireland. And with the rising cost of vacations in Ireland, I just saw a gap in the market in terms of saving local people money. Initially, the idea was to cut out the online middleman and allow Irish people to book Irish accommodations directly but we then began to delve into other areas like group trips, sites and attractions. We then started working with Irish travel agents who were able to give us special offers on some of their packages.
How it works The membership is €10 per year and we send our members 1020 offers each week on trips in Ireland and abroad. What we do is negotiate discounts with travel providers for our members. Typically for an Irish hotel, we could negotiate 1520% off the usual rate. So if you booked just one trip a year, you’re going to save multiple times the cost of our subscription. The whole purpose is to inspire people to travel.
Rory’s proudest moments since launching the club I was named ‘Ireland’s Top Travel Influencer’ in the Irish Independent’s Reader Travel Awards 2023, which is a massive accolade because it kind of legitimises what I do and will strengthen the club, leading to more people working with us, which inevitably means our members will benefit even more. We’ve also organised about 100 group trips over the last 12 months, both in Ireland and abroad. I personally went on half of those because I want to meet with as many of our customers as possible. Bringing 3050 people together from all over Ireland to enjoy travel is massively rewarding.
Rory’s Irish holiday recommendations Every single town and village in Ireland has something unique, something beautiful. I personally love Lahinch in Co. Clare, which isn’t too far from the Aran Islands, which I also love. There’s so much to see and do in the area. If I could go anywhere tomorrow, it would be Lahinch. That being said, there’s beauty everywhere. You could equally have as much fun in Donegal as you would in Kerry or my own county, Down. I work with a boutique hotel here in Newcastle that’s recently been refurbished called the Avoca Hotel. It’s really quirky and the staff are brilliant. There are so many amazing things to see in my home county. We have the Mourne Mountains and beautiful beaches… I could talk about Co. Down all day! Ireland has so much to offer that’s unlike anywhere else – the geology, the people, the hospitality, the craic… Over the last few years, I’ve spent a lot of time in each county but probably one place I’d love to explore a bit more would be West Cork, which I plan to do very soon.
Coming soon We’re currently building an app called The Book Direct Club, which should go live on the App Store in May. It’ll allow Irish consumers to book Irish accommodations at cost price. This means we’ll be saving people 15% on international thirdparty booking fees. There will also be many other benefits from the app, including flash offers and group trips.