For winery owners, hosting a group travel trip is a great opportunity to boost revenue. Not only is there the possibility of your visitors buying wine during their trip, but it will also create a positive experience with your brand.

To ensure a positive experience for both you and your guests, careful planning and organization is critical. To help make this a reality, we’ve put together this wine owner’s guide to hosting a group travel trip.

Why Should a Wine Owner Host a Group Travel Trip?

Owners will benefit in both the short- and long-term by organizing a group travel trip.

In the short-term, hosting trips is a great way to increase your profits. By establishing relationships with tour providers and hosting regular trips, you will increase visitors to your vineyard and any associated businesses, like on-site restaurants.

The benefits of a wine owner hosting a group travel trip begin at the departure. Your brand will forever be associated with the wonderful memories of your guests’ trip. Travelers will love indulging in and purchasing your wine while abroad. As soon as they open the bottle back home, they’ll instantly remember the wonderful memories they made on your trip.

Over time, if they truly love your wine, they’ll be more likely to be a loyal member and continue purchasing through your club. Even if each group member only buys a couple of bottles, you’ll see a significant increase in sales when you multiply that across your entire club.

Work With An Experienced Travel Planning Group

You may be a bit intimidated by the logistics that go in to planning a trip, despite the many well-known benefits.

Although it’s plausible to plan your own getaways, it’s in your best interest to work with an existing tour company or operator. Often the most difficult part of getting started is getting your label out there and attracting the first few visitors. By working with established and stress-free travel companies, most of the logistics are solidified and you can simply focus on providing the best possible experience for your guests.

Tips for Hosting Group Wine Tours

As soon as the guests arrive, it’s time to showcase the absolute best of your winery! Whether you’ve been serving guests to your cellar door for decades, or you are welcoming new guests, here are some tips to take your trip to the next level.

Learn the Interests Of Your Travelers

You have a variety of tours and trips at your disposal, all appealing to different clientele. Your first priority should be to find out as much as possible about the travelers and their interests, so that you can plan accordingly. For example, a trip where you host a group of wine experts as part of an epicurean tour will look quite different than a group of wine novices.

Knowing your guests is extremely helpful when planning your itinerary. Not to mention, your staff will appreciate knowing what to expect and how to pitch the tasting, and the guests themselves will likely notice those personalized touches.

Give Each Guest Personal Attention

Even though your guests are traveling as a group, it is important to remember that everyone’s experience matters. Take time to ask each member of the group their name or how they enjoyed a particular variety of wine. This personal touch will go a long way.

Consider bringing one staff member solely dedicated to taking care of the needs of the group. You don’t want guests to be sitting around, waiting with an empty glass!

Extra Steps To Make Travelers Feel Special

For many of your guests, this trip you’ve planned is the adventure of a lifetime. Additional experiences, such as opening an exclusive reserve bottle or serving a homemade appetizer will make your guests feel like they are true VIPs. Another option is to offer a special discount for their group, such as free shipping. This will help your guests to know they are getting great value from your winery.

You can play a great role in creating amazing memories that they will treasure and remember when purchasing wine in the future.

Offer Delivery of Your Wines

A final consideration when hosting group tours is that your guests may be restricted in how much wine they can bring with them. Their suitcase size as well as customs at the airport may prevent them from bringing home your wine.

One easy solution to this is to offer complementary delivery of your wines. This takes a lot of the hassle away from your guests and may even encourage them up to buy more bottles. So, before your tour group arrives – do some research to find about interstate/international shipping and the costs.

Are you ready to plan and host your next group travel trip? At Food & Wine Trails, we specialize in helping vineyard owners like you in planning trips of a lifetime. From creating marketing materials to crafting the perfect itinerary, we will support your planning from start to finish. Contact us today to learn more!