Spring Break Companies and Quinnipiac University

The snow is breaking records and all that is on my mind is the countdown to spring break. If I could trade the 30 degree weather for bright and sunny 82 degrees in Punta Cana now I would. Sadly, it is more than a month away until the day I leave the snow covered Connecticut behind for a week. Due to spring break constantly being on my mind, I figured why not have a blog dedicated to how companies attract college student’s attention when it comes to booking spring breaks. Let’s be honest, most college seniors are broke and can probably say as soon as they graduate they are in debt from the loans they took out. So booking travel plans that are cheap is a key factor in the planning process.

One of the companies that is dedicated to booking spring break trips is StudentCity. Some facts from their about us page is that they have been in business for 12 years, they have 13 destinations and they travel 10,000 students every year. What makes them stand out is their sponsorship, group rates and the events that they plan if you are going to book your spring break through them. MTV’s spring break is always a huge hit and many people try to travel to wherever this destination is. One of StudentCity’s sponsors is MTV. Therefore, this draws many college students in. Another one of their tactics is through employment. You can become a campus rep for StudentCity and get your group rate at a discount. Also, if you get so many people to sign up with your code, you get your spring break for much cheaper. As a campus rep, who wouldn’t try to convince all of their friends to book through StudentCity? Not only do they cater towards college students, they also have an area for exploration travel, volunteer travel and high school grads too.

I wanted to compare StudentCity to another organization that targets college students for spring break to see how well they competed, at least, on Quinnipiac’s Campus. The company I found to compare to is Sun Splash Tours. After exploring their website it looks just as appealing as StudentCity is. They offer group deals, have entertainment for you while on your spring break and they offer positions as campus reps as well. What I found surprising was that they have been around a lot longer that StudentCity but I have never once heard this name around campus. I think that if this name started to circulate and was as much in your face as StudentCity is, and then it would become more of an option for students on Quinnipiac’s campus. There are a few things that set these two companies apart. StudentCity is sponsored by MTV and has spring break trips where MTV’s Spring Break is going to be and they have a philanthropy. For example, if you are Greek organization that books through StudentCity they donate a portion of the sales to your Greek philanthropy. Check out their philanthropy page for more information about how they are giving back.

We are college students, and if you repeat something over and over to us then we are most likely going to listen to what you have to say. Especially, if this is saving us money. So take a note spring break companies, if you have our friends working for you, can beat other companies in prizes and offer exclusive packages for spring break then we are most likely going to take a second glance at your company.

So Why Travel Public Relations?

Ever since making the decision to study abroad in Florence, Italy spring semester of my sophomore year, I knew that traveling was something that I wanted to incorporate into my future career. Upon searching different ways for me to include traveling into my career I came up with a few choices. I could teach English abroad, I could pack up and live in a different country for a few years or I could go into the travel public relations industry. The opportunities are endless with working within travel public relations. The idea of working with destinations across the world and even having the potential to travel to those places is very attractive.

After goggling different public relations firms I found two that I wanted to talk about in today’s blog. Those two public relations firms are: Abelow PR and Nancy J. Friedman Public Relations.

Abelow PR is located in Connecticut and they specialize in a variety of public relations topics. Lorraine Abelow started this firm in 1993 and with her staff has since made this firm an award-winning public relations firm. It is a small firm but they produce big results. They range from the traditional pr to travel pr. They have been mentioned in Forbes, Traveler, The Today Show, The Discovery Channel and much more. Some of their clients include, CC Africa, Tetley, Mount Snow and Hilton. If you go to their website, they have campaigned results for recent campaigns that they have produced. Their website also includes a blog. This blog isn't all about them. They write about different aspects of the pr world and what clients should look for when they are searching for a new pr agency.

Nancy J. Friedman Public Relations is located in New York City. It was founded by Nancy J Freidman in 1987 and has become one of the most respected agencies. They specialize in everything from media relations to crisis management. Their clients include destinations, restaurants, spas and hotels in and outside the United States. Recently, they won 12 awards at the Adrian Awards. These awards are to recognized excellence in travel marketing, advertising, pr and web marketing. If you look around at their website they have a whole page dedicated to the case studies that have been done on their clients.

Both of these firms are ones that I strive to work for one day. Not only does this field of encompass all the aspects of public relations that drew me into this career in the first place, but it also includes my passion for traveling. I one day know that I will end up in this career and hopefully this blog will start me in the right track.