Kempf - How to be 'virtually' there in travel

I laid back watching the comforting ocean waves crash against the white powdery sand of my personal paradise.

As the foam twirled and skipped along the shoreline, I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I had found my own private corner of the world. Spinning around allowed my eyes to enjoy a 360-degree view of the crystal blue pool behind me. As the water cascaded down the Mayan-style river outside of my personal casita, I knew I had found the perfect home away from home.

It's hard to image the above experience was a recent tour from the comfort of my own home by visiting one of many reputable travel sites, including www.elite-trips.com. One of the biggest and most exciting changes currently in the travel industry is the ability of consumers to take virtual tours of their vacation before purchasing.

It is now possible to test drive a vacation, similar to test driving a car. Previously, the best way for a client to see a vacation was to receive a paper magazine or brochure with very limited information and small or often outdated photos in the mail. Professional travel consultants would also relay their personal experiences to clients.

The disadvantage to these paper brochures was they didn't always paint a true picture of the resort, often showing suites or larger rooms than was actually available to the average consumer. Travel consultants would work to bring reality to the customer of what the resort was "really" like. This was a challenge at times as some resorts rarely updated their marketing materials or their hotel property, so these booklets, if not received by a reputable company, were deceptive.

We've all heard horror stories of people who purchased trips online by non-certified travel companies and received hotel stays that look nothing like the brochure. Hundreds of Hollywood movies have used this past trend of deceptive hotels to bring laughter to thousands of moviegoers with spoofs and satires playing with the unwitting guests misfortune as they checked into a "dump" of a hotel which was shown in the brochure as a "palace."

It has been exciting to be on the cutting edge of technology and to bring some of the most advanced vacation tools home to the Heartland. The response has been unbelievable -- we can actually put our clients in their hotel room and they can virtually look at every corner of it.

People love the fact that via a reputable Web page, they can stand in the middle of the lobby of any hotel and do a full turn to see the shops, check-in area and restaurants.

For the bride and groom, the fact they can see what their room will look like on the most special night of their life brings peace and comfort knowing they will truly have a dream honeymoon. To me, the best thing about this new exciting breakthrough is the ability to view the beach area, and see if your ocean-front resort has a white sand beach, a rocky beach or no beach at all.

In addition to virtual tours, www.elite-trips.com and other top performance sites offer "slide show" features which allow you to quickly view numerous slide show photos of all areas of the resort.

If you are a geography buff, it's exciting being able to go anywhere in the world and view the country, culture, activities, shows, restaurants and other destinations with a few clicks of the mouse.

If you are planning a travel vacation with your family, nothing gets your kids more excited than doing a virtual tour. Children respond well to visual and audio information. As your kids begin the questioning stage with continual inquiries such as "Will we swim with the dolphins?" "Does the hotel have a pool?" "What's the hotel look like?" you can log on, hand your children the mouse and encourage them to click away.

There are two types of virtual tours -- one that is "live," which is real-time views of the destination or hotel, or a "non-live" virtual tour, which is a prerecorded and screened taping or tour of the destination and hotel your are considering.

In my opinion, especially with children, you would want to pick a site similar to www.elite-trips.com because you would not want your children to watch live video. If some crazy person suddenly decides to become one with nature, or the swim suit of the beach beauty consists of nothing more than dental floss and duct tape, they won't be walking in front of your kids. So with anything that involves the Internet and your children, you should view the site first to make sure the information is suitable for your family.

These new virtual sites, combined with the expert advise of a well traveled consultant, should help you select the perfect getaway.

Carolyn Kempf is president of Elite Travel in Cape Girardeau. (334-1234, 1-800-999-6003 or elitetravelinc.com)