Collette in 2015 is launching Collette Spotlights, short tours designed for travelers who have limited vacation days and want to spend their time in a single destination.
The tours are four to six days in length and feature a stay at one hotel. Several meals and some guided excursions are included, but travelers will have free time to explore on their own.
Jaclyn Leibl-Cote, Collette’s dire
ctor of product, said travel agents providing feedback indicated that clients “were looking for shorter stays, city-specific [tours], but they didn’t want it to be totally stripped down.”
Leibl-Cote said that while travelers often want free time, they still want some guided excursions included in the itinerary.
Collette is introducing 16 Spotlight itineraries in 14 destinations: Florence, Rome, Venice, Paris, the French Riviera, Dublin, London, Barcelona, Madrid, New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, San Antonio and Beijing. There are holiday itineraries for New York and San Antonio.
Leibl-Cote expects that the tours will attract young and semi-retired travelers who have a limited amount of vacation time.
The Spotlight tours are less expensive than than Collette’s standard tours, but will “meet our brand standards that we have across our product lines,” said Leibl-Cote. Collete will include four-star hotels in desirable locations.
The San Francisco Spotlight tour is priced at $1,649 per person, based on double occupancy (land only). Paris is $1,749, Dublin $1,549 and Beijing $999.
Group sizes will be Collette’s standard of a maximum of 44 travelers. As for the number of departures, it will vary by city. “We’re not coming out with just a small number of dates,” said Leibl-Cote.
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