The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A different kind of early-bird special for seniors
First in line for vaccines, older travelers now lead wave in travel bookings.
When the coronavirus hit, Jim and Cheryl Drayer, 69 and 72, canceled all their planned travel and hunkered down in their home in Dallas.
But the Drayers both received the second dose of their COVID19 vaccinations. And this month, armed with their new antibodies, they are heading to Maui for a long overdue vacation.
Across the United States, older people have been among the first in line to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations. And among hotels, cruise lines and tour operators, the data is clear: Older travelers are leading a wave in new travel bookings. Americans over 65, who have had priority access to inoculations, are now newly emboldened to travel — often while their children and grandchildren continue to wait for a vaccine. For the silver haired, it’s a silver lining.
“We’ve very willingly been compliant with masking and social distancing, and have basically lived inside of our bubble here in Dallas,” Jim Drayer said. “We haven’t been inside a restaurant in a year. So we’re anxious to get out now and do things a little more safely.”
At the Foundry Hotel in Asheville, North Carolina, an 87-room luxury hotel housed in what was once a steel factory for the Biltmore Estate, reservations made with the hotel’s AARP promotional rate were up 50% last month. Aqua-Aston Hospitality, a Honolulu-based company with resorts, hotels and condos in its portfolio, reports that senior-rate bookings climbed nearly 60% in January.
The Drayers, who have gone gorilla trekking in Africa and done adventure travel in India, Israel and Egypt, admit that their trip to Hawaii, which they booked through the members-only vacation club, Exclusive Resorts, is something of a baby step. (The vacation club reports that more than 50% of their current bookings are vacations for members over 60.)
“We’re testing the waters,” Cheryl Drayer said. “We didn’t want to end up quarantined in a foreign country or not allowed back in the United States. This felt like a safe place to go, where we were still in the United States.”
That sense of safety is partly because Hawaii, with its mandatory quarantine and contact tracing, has managed the pandemic well. The couple feel confident that if they were to face any health issues while on the island, they wouldn’t be stymied by an overburdened health system.
“We’re traveling to a destination that, by all the numbers, is safer than where we live right now,” said Jim Drayer. “It feels like our bubble has cracked open a little a bit.”
Alice Southworth, 75, was also looking for a post-vaccine travel destination in a place that was still taking COVID-19 precautions seriously, and didn’t push her too far out of her comfort zone.
A semiretired psychologist, she has continued to see a handful of patients throughout the pandemic, but hasn’t ventured beyond her hometown of McLean, Virginia, in more than a year. She also hasn’t been able to use an indoor gym or attend her beloved water aerobics classes, so as soon as she received the first dose of the vaccine, she booked a visit to Hilton Head Health, a wellness resort in South Carolina, where she’ll have access to a full range of fitness classes and activities. And when she arrives March 28, she’ll be fully vaccinated.
Older people are more eager to travel in 2021 than other age groups and also more likely to link the timing of their travel to when they receive their vaccinations, according to a January survey conducted by the travel agency network Virtuoso. In the study, 83% of respondents over 77 said they were more ready to travel in 2021 than in 2020, and 95% of the same group said they would wait to travel until they received their vaccine.
For travelers in their 60s, 70s and 80s, said Conor Goodwin, corporate marketing manager of Charlestowne Hotels, the ticking of the clock is another strong motivation to book as soon as an inoculation makes it safe.
“The 65-plus demographic is losing out on their golden years and they’re understandably eager to get back out there,” he said.
The Bristol Hotel in Virginia, which is part of Charlestowne’s portfolio, saw revenue from travelers over the age of 65 increase 179% between Dec. 13 and Jan. 22. The French Quarter Inn, in Charleston, South Carolina, which is also managed by Charlestowne, saw 11% more bookings from people over 65 between Jan. 10-28 compared with Dec. 22 to Jan 9.
Some older travelers are even opting to finally book those big-ticket dream trips. Fernando Diez, who owns Quasar Expeditions, a luxury cruise operator in the Galápagos Islands, says that in December, when front-line health care workers were among the very first Americans to receive vaccines, he saw a wave of requests for trip information from doctors and nurses.
Since Jan. 1, however, 70% of his booking inquiries have come from guests over the age of 65 — in previous years, that number was closer to 40%.
At the Marker Key West Harbor Resort, which sits on two lush acres in the Florida Keys, transactions from guests over the age of 55 were 70% higher last month than in December 2020, translating to a 41% increase in spending.
Allie Singer, the resort’s director of sales and marketing, said the jump is almost certainly coming from newly vaccinated seniors.
The resort responded by bringing back programming that had taken a hiatus during the pandemic but was popular with older visitors in the past, including aqua yoga — which can relieve joint pain and arthritis — and a 5 p.m. “welcome reception” on the resort’s pool deck with appetizers and live music.
“It’s very attractive to the senior crowd at that hour,” she said.