Family Vacation Planning Website Expands its Coverage

www.vacationswithkids.com is restructured to provide a broader base of family to family information and help plan vacations with kids

(PRWEB) January 14, 2005 -- VERTEX Management, and its research partner, Specifics, Inc. have assumed full ownership of www.vacationswithkids.com, the family to family Web site to help parents find the best places to take a vacation with children. Tips on where to stay and what to do are included.

This free site contains ratings and verbatim remarks from more than 3,500 families who took vacations at least 50 miles from home in the last year. The ratings data is from surveys conducted during 2004, and it is updated daily with comments of families providing ratings through the Website questionnaire. Respondents provide information on the quality of accommodations, the quality of activities, the variety of dining options and the perceived value for the dollars spent on their vacation. The surveys also measured whether a family would return to that destination city or recommend that city to other families, based on the ages of children and the number of nights they planned to stay.

Marvin Ingram, president of Atlanta travel agency UNIGLOBE Firstworld Travel, said that www.vacationswithkids.com offers families a much-needed online resource.

This is the first truly unique travel planning tool I have seen in my 35 years in the travel business," Ingram said. It can be very helpful to every family considering where to go and what to do with kids."

Joe Blumberg, founder and CEO, said that www.vacationswithkids.com now allows travelers to research the vacation attributes with ratings of more than 150 destinations, including cruises, as determined by other families who vacationed there. Visitors to the Web site can search by state, age of children or number of nights they plan to stay.

Search results reveal how families rate a citys lodging, attractions and other offerings. Many search results also contain a Suggestions page with verbatim remarks from families who visited a particular destination. Search results also include a variety of links that direct vacationers to a destinations own official Web site, sites for children with special needs, travel tips and other resources to help them plan vacations.

If you look at Expedia or some of the other major travel sites, they contain some evaluations, but those are usually based on the opinions of just a few visitors," said Blumberg. Vacations With Kids is based on scientifically sound research. To our knowledge, www.vacationswithkids.com is the only family-to-family planning guide with ratings of vacation destinations from families with kids for families with kids."

Blumberg added: The number of families that have rated each destination is included in the search results. Three ratings is the minimum, but some destinations have been rated by dozens of families. Orlando/Disney World leads all destinations with 212 family ratings."

Families will find a number of destinations that arent top of mind but are excellent values." For example, Santa Claus, Ind., received nearly perfect ratings as a destination for kids of all ages, but only up to 3 nights. Disney World, as expected, received high marks for its attractions, but the data raise some questions about the value of the destination for the dollars spent and the willingness of families to return frequently."

VERTEX Management and Specifics will continue to survey families via phone and update the site with new information. In addition, the Web site encourages families to rate their own vacations by taking a 12-question survey available through the home page.

Selected other findings:

- Wisconsin Dells, and Branson, Mo., have very good ratings for families, especially those with children in the 7 -- 12 age range.

- Big Sky, Mont., is rated highest as a destination for families, but most of the attractions can be experienced in three or fewer days.

- The District of Columbia and Cleveland, OH, having increasing satisfaction ratings as families spend more time taking in the available activities.

- Amarillo, Texas, appears to have great attractions for families with young children (1 to 6 years old).

About VERTEX Management and Specifics

VERTEX Management and Specifics have more than 20 years of experience in the fields of marketing research and marketing services. VERTEX Management has been involved in management consulting and training for a host of companies, including those in financial services, hospitality, facilities maintenance, and IT software and services. Specifics provides customer and employee research for business-to-business and consumer companies of all sizes. Headquartered in Atlanta, since 1985, VERTEX and Specifics have conducted hundreds of studies for domestic and international clients, using focus groups, surveys, modeling techniques, and traditional and proprietary analysis tools to provide companies with market intelligence. For more information, visit www.specifics.com.

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