Affinity Program
Organize a voyage for travelers from your civic groups, religious groups, alumni associations, gated communities, business associations, or local clubs on one of our River Cruises. No matter the trip, you’ll earn CASH for your organization, while providing educational and cultural experiences for your members.
Want to learn more about the benefits of our Affinity Program? Contact your Regional Group Account Manager for more details.
Affinity Program
Earn CASH for your organization, while providing unique experiences for your members.
OLLI Groups
Hear from other OLLI groups and learn how to travel the world with members of your organization.
What we can do for you
Our Group Leaders come from all walks of life—but they all share a passion for travel. And all of our Group Leaders appreciate the benefits they and their travelers receive with Grand Circle. Become a Group Leader with us and you’ll enjoy …
Personal assistance from our Group Team.
As the Group Leader, you’ll be assigned a Regional Group Account Manager and Service Manager to help you through the process of getting your organization to reserve a trip.
Reserved space on your preferred departure.
Once you’ve chosen the destination, we’ll reserve the space for you. That way, you’ll have ample time to get your members together, without the worry of losing your space!
Personalized flyers and videos.
We’ll create personalized flyers, unique to your group. As a Group Leader, this material can be sent to the members of your organization, to help you provide them with information about your trip.
Benefits of our Affinity Program
- Boost revenue stream for your organization. Earn 10% of your group net sales on groups of 11 or more travelers on Grand Circle Land Tours or River Cruises.
- Receive a complimentary cocktail party for your group of 20 or more travelers on Grand Circle Cruise Line ships.
- Complimentary airport transfers—up to $75 per traveler for a group transfer of 11 or more to and from your home-city airport.
Traveler Stories
Meet Group Leader, Sue Anderson
Hear from a Group Leader about her personal experience in working with our Groups Program.
Meet Group Leader, Sue Anderson
Sue Anderson is the Director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at California State University San Bernardino. She helps organize group departures for her members and recently shared her personal experience in working with our Groups Program.
Tell us about your group: who do you travel with?
Our travel program is part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at California State University, San Bernardino. We offer non-credit courses, discussion groups, events, and trips to people age 50 and over, currently serving about 750 members. Our group is generally pretty educated and well-traveled, and they appreciate a rich educational experience, whether it’s a day trip or extended overnight excursion. We started offering trips in 2016 as a way to enhance the educational programming we offer on campus and to create a greater sense of community among our members. The travel program also generates additional revenue for our program.
What strategies do you use to pick a destination? Is there a time-frame and budget that you feel is most appealing to a wide audience?
We have an OLLI Travel Committee that selects our trip destinations and itineraries based on the personal experience of the committee members and input from our members. We survey our membership regularly to ensure we provide programming that meets their interests, including travel destinations. By offering a variety of day and overnight trip options, we can offer something to meet the interests of most of our members.
In your opinion/experience, what are the biggest advantages/benefits of group travel for your OLLI program?
It’s a great way to expand and enrich the educational experience outside of the classroom. It’s also a way to build a sense of community among the members. Traveling together allows people to connect and interact in a much deeper way, and our trips have helped facilitate many wonderful, new friendships. Our trips have also helped to grow our membership. We have people join our OLLI just to travel with us! Our members are comfortable traveling with our group because they know and trust us, particularly our older and single members.
Why did you decide to lead a group with Grand Circle and/or O.A.T.?
Before selecting our travel partners, we did considerable research on companies that could offer a high quality educational experience and meet the needs of our travelers aged 50 and over. We are committed to working with companies that have a solid reputation, particularly those who work with other OLLIs. Many of our Travel Committee members have traveled with Grand Circle personally, so they are aware of the type of experience we can expect. Since one of the goals of our travel program is to generate revenue for OLLI, we also required a partner who offered a good commission. Grand Circle and O.A.T. met all of those critical criteria. We’ve been very pleased with our partnership to date and look forward to many wonderful trips with Grand Circle and O.A.T.
Call Grand Circle Group Travel Department
toll-free at 1-800-597-2452
Group compensation offer requires a group of as few as 11 paying travelers, and is based upon average amount paid per person, including the tour price, extensions, and air; excludes taxes, Travel Protection Plan, air upgrades, and all other discounts and credits. Compensation will be distributed as a cash reimbursement upon departure, with the goal that you will receive your compensation by your return date. Group compensation offer cannot be combined with our Vacation Ambassador Referral Program or any other offer. Group Leaders are not eligible to earn Frequent Traveler Credits on reservations when taking advantage of the group compensation offer. Every effort has been made to present this information accurately. We reserve the right to correct errors.
