Frequently Asked Questions
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What is Effortless Vacations?
Effortless Vacations is a service based company that has pioneered the vacation management industry which provides people with vacation management services so that they don't have to spend their valuable time planning their vacation, preparing for their vacation or managing their vacation while they are on vacation.
Effortless Vacations manages every aspect of the client's vacation - vacation objective evaluation, destination selection, accommodation evaluation, transportation arrangements, activity planning, departure services, concierge services during vacation and complete post-vacation evaluation.
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What is vacation management?
Vacation management is a new industry that has evolved from the best practices of the luxury travel planner, destination club and luxury resort industries. It offers its customer all the necessary vacation management services from the time the customer decides they want to go on vacation to the time the return home from their vacation.
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What can a client expect from Effortless Vacations?
Clients pay Effortless Vacations an hourly fee to manage as much or as little of their vacation as
they want. The process starts with a one-time proprietary client familiarization consultation
that allows Effortless Vacations to better understand the client's vacation needs, habits and
preferences, vacation companions and the group dynamics, emotional and psychological stressors
and pleasers and upcoming vacation opportunities.
Based on this familiarization exercise, Effortless Vacations makes recommendations on where the client and their travel companions should vacation and what type of accommodation (i.e. villa, town home, five-star resort, etc.) would best suit their needs. Once the accommodations are identified activity planning and transportation are arranged. Clients may also select departure services (available in select departure cities) like rides to the airport in their own car so they don't have to shuffle car seats, a departure checklist and assistance with their departure checklist and errands. Effortless Vacations maintains detailed client profiles that are constantly updated as the client travels and their preferences evolve. This allows the Effortless Vacations service team to anticipate their needs and ensure that every aspect of their vacation meets their needs.
Clients can also expect that Effortless Vacations will select suppliers based solely on the needs of the clients, not the incentives offered by the supplier.
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What are the benefits?
Most importantly, that clients have exactly the vacation they and their travel companions want so that they return from their vacations reconnected with the people that are important to them and rejuvenated so that they are ready to return to their everyday life. Secondly, these types of vacations are available to them at a value that cannot be found with alternative travel solutions like destination clubs, travel planning services or second home ownership.
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Who is it for?
People who believe that vacations are precious and that they can't afford to leave them to
risk or spend their vacation managing their vacation. Individual people use Effortless Vacations to
plan their next romantic getaway, family reunion, girls' spa weekend, guys' golf weekend, family
spring break trip, destination wedding, etc.
Businesses use Effortless Vacations as a benefit to their executive team which ensures that they
take rejuvenating vacations so they can return to work rested and
to deter vacation planning during
work hours - both improving the executive's job satisfaction and overall productivity.
Businesses use Effortless Vacations to plan
one-of-a-kind and inspiring corporate retreats.
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How did it come to be?
Amber Raleigh founded Effortless Vacations because of her passion for travel and for helping people improve their lives through their vacation experiences. With over a decade of experience in luxury travel - with companies such as Westin Hotels & Resorts, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Destination Hotels & Resorts and most recently Exclusive Resorts - she has watched consumers struggle to plan their vacations, increasing their stress and wasting their time. In this overscheduled, fast-paced world, a vacation is supposed to be an escape from reality, not another stress factor. Yet, there were very few options available for consumers - until Amber Raleigh dreamed up the concept of "vacation management," changing the travel industry forever.
Raleigh has been an innovator in luxury travel industry since the beginning of her impressive career. In the past three years, she pioneered the destination club industry by building a world class marketing program that positioned Exclusive Resorts as the clear leader, as its membership has grown to at least twice the size of its nearest competitor. As one of the first 15 employees of Exclusive Resorts and as a member of the executive team, she also help build this premium resort to what it is today by creating the customer service model, membership acquisition strategy and overall business plan.
In 2003, Raleigh was named one of Travel Agent Magazine's Rising Stars.
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How does Effortless Vacations select its suppliers?
Through an extensive review process which includes in-person site inspections and approval from the Effortless Vacations Advisory Board. Effortless Vacations only works with suppliers who employ parallel customer service and quality assurance standards. Effortless Vacations does not select its suppliers based on commission fees or revenue thresholds.
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Who are the Effortless Vacations competitors?
Since Effortless Vacations invented the vacation management category, there really are no direct competitors. People who are looking for a better way to vacation may consider destination clubs or using travel planners, but both options do not provide a complete vacation management service like Effortless Vacations.
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How is Effortless Vacations different from travel agencies?
Effortless Vacations differs from travel agencies in a couple of ways. One, Effortless Vacations manages
the entire vacation not just the accommodations (travel planners typically book hotels and don't
have much experience in villas) and transportation arrangements.
Two, instead of using the GDS or the Internet, Effortless Vacations uses a proprietary evaluation
process to select its suppliers which includes site inspections of its suppliers and approval by the
Effortless Vacations Advisory Board.
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How is Effortless Vacations different from destination clubs?
Effortless Vacations differs from destination clubs in at least five ways. One, Effortless Vacations
clients do not have to pay significant membership fees (in most cases a couple hundred thousand
dollars) and annual membership dues (usually exceeding ten thousand dollars) to get the same
quality of service or better. Two, clients are not bound by membership rules and usage policies.
Three, destination clubs generally offer their clients residences or condos which may be too
big for some people's vacation needs. Effortless Vacations clients can select from a wide variety
of accommodation types. Four, destination clubs do not offer complete vacation management. They
only offer accommodations and services while their members are on vacation - no departure services,
no commercial air transportation. Five, while today, some destination clubs have more destinations
available than Effortless Vacations; that will not always be the case. The usual business model
for destination clubs has a destination cap and their ability to open new destinations is handicapped
because they have to wait for the homes to be built or gain approval from stringent HOAs to let
them into their communities.
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