There is bad news for senior women travelers. Worse news for senior women who travel solo. Lets hope 2025 brings travel industry improvements for the 77 million women over 65, who FYI hold most of the discretionary $$. (Source: AARP). Here are suggestions for the industry who might be anxious for the $7000 we each spend on travel annually. These are cheap solutions.
Let’s start with the subtle theme called “who pays for the wine”, aka “couples on tour do not want to eat with solos”. It costs a new tablecloth, for a hotel or cruise to add a singles’ common dining table. And involves a few edits to change a tour application to request the common table? It is so easy to make a solo diner comfortable. Note: communal dining tables are one of the biggest trends in restaurants today. And this is even easier in Asia when food might be shared.
Women tell our office they bought new phones for their first solo trip. Imagine understanding electronic plane tickets, seating charts, visas, trip documents, travel apps, insurance policies with a smart phone you just bought? After Covid, many guests were unfamiliar with uploading photos of vaccination proof for visas. Staff empathy and training was needed.
Tour activity levels are hard to decipher. Level 1 in one tour brochure we scanned, says ‘Easy’, described as ‘standing or walking for extended periods of time’. There is no information on pace or inclines.
Travel brochure photos often show people dressed in outdoorsy clothes. Jackets by Patagonia? Shirts by Columbia? Parachute pants by LL Bean? Women travelers use brochure wardrobe to assess the group. Seniors will rarely book a tour, where everyone in the brochure is in fly fishing gear.
Tour companies do not disclose the ages in the group. They rarely even disclose how many singles are booked. How will a senior woman know if she will fit in?
Medicare is very limited for Americans overseas. Insurance for older travelers is exorbitant. Policies costing over $1800 for a 10 day trip with single supplement and airfare are not uncommon for a 75+ traveler. Travel insurance companies do not seem to use information in actuarial decisions, as life insurance companies do. They do not ask for medical history, smoking, allergies etc.? They only ask for age and price of trip.
Finally an obstacle is the single supplement. A senior woman told us that she tried to book solo with a major tour company. The company claimed its hotels were out of single rooms. She checked with all the hotels; there were single rooms available. The tour company turned her away. This is pure age/sex discrimination.
We have the money, health and expensive tastes. Just make a few adjustments and come and get our cash! We are still booking for Vietnam and Cambodia in January. Happy 2025 to all you great women out there.
Phyllis Stoller, President of The Women’s Travel Group, 32 almost 33 years of understanding women and our travel wishes.
