Gay Travel: 5 questions to Jimmy Pauwaert of Holidaypride

Aug. 03 2015

by misterb&b

Based in Brussels for over ten years, Holidaypride is a "straight friendly" travel agency dedicated explicitly to gay travelers, offering them cruises, honeymoons, or customized trips. Faced with competition from online travel giants, Holidaypride continues to serve a loyal customer base that continues to grow. Here's misterb&b's interview with its managing director, Jimmy Pauwaert.

misterb&b: At a time when everyone can book a hotel or flight on the Internet, what are your customers looking for when they come to Holidaypride?

Jimmy Pauwaert: In three words: advice, quality, safety. Although anyone can now book their hotel and flight on the Internet very quickly, travel agencies are not dead; quite the contrary. Agencies that specialize in a niche market (such as gay travel, for example) and emphasize advice, service, and quality have survived the economic crisis and the internet boom and are now growing.

Today, in addition to our travel boutique in the chic Avenue Louise in Brussels, we also offer our travels on the web at www.holidaypride.be, in Dutch, French, and English, which attracts a clientele throughout Europe.

Booking a few hotel nights or flights on the Internet may seem easy, even though you spend hours searching among the thousands of offers and reviews before making up your mind. Holidaypride will guide you directly to what you want, depending on your budget and expectations, because we know better than anyone what the gay clientele wants.

For customized trips, honeymoons, or upscale trips, travelers still prefer to book through a travel agency that guarantees the quality and the service before, during, and after their stay. It's also because it has a license, all warranties, and consumer protections.

When you book a gay cruise or any other travel directly through a provider abroad, for example, you will get no protection or financial guarantees in case of insolvency of the foreign tour operator. By booking via Holidaypride, you'll be subject to Belgian law regarding travel contracts. In case of insolvency before departure, the deposit will be refunded through our affiliation with the Travel Guarantee Fund. Holidaypride is also a UPAV (Professional Association of Travel Agencies) member, a quality label, and the IGLTA (International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association), so we guarantee a charter.

Holidaypride also makes regular trips to check the quality of our travel deals. We also travel and discover new holiday destinations to offer more choices while ensuring quality. And anyone who thinks booking through an agency costs more to him is wrong. All this together, we have been in operation for more than ten years, with a loyal customer base that continues to grow.

misterb&b: What kind of trips do your customers look for?

JP: One hundred percent gay cruises, such as Atlantis, RSVP, and The Cruise, but also gay-themed cruises, such as Source events, Cruise for Bears, or cruises on smaller ships, are increasingly successful year after year since they're an "all-inclusive" product that offers the best value for money.

We also have more and more requests for honeymoons since gay marriage is now becoming legal in more and more countries in Europe and the world. And for the most important trip of their lifetime, honeymooners prefer to entrust their journey to a gay travel agency.

Of course, the inevitable gay destinations such as Sitges, Mykonos, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Tel Aviv, Key West, Palm Springs, and many others are still pretty popular because we offer a good range of exclusively gay or gay-friendly hotels at competitive rates.

But 50% of our gay clientele chooses a more classic and refined trip because, contrary to what many think, we do not offer only gay travel. Our specialty is customized travel: together with the client, according to their wishes, we search for the trip of their dreams, whether through a classical tour operator or in a unique hotel.

misterb&b: What are the trendiest gay destinations this summer?

JP: Sitges, Ibiza, and Mykonos are the top gay destinations in summer. But Tel Aviv, to me, the trendiest and gay-friendliest destination in the world, is growing and requested more and more. Scandinavia and cities such as Stockholm, Oslo, and Reykjavík are also very popular; they are beautiful destinations and very gay-friendly.

misterb&b: What about winter? Any destination or any event?

JP: The event not to be missed this winter is TropOut 2016, a new concept of sophisticated gay travel in Thailand from 3 to April 9, 92016. A unique one-week travel experience in a tropical paradise designed for gay travelers across the globe. It takes place at Angsana Laguna Phuket resort, an idyllic five-star resort, with nearby Nikki Beach and Xana Beach clubs reserved exclusively for TropOut attendees. By day, you can relax in the sun loungers overlooking the turquoise Andaman Sea to the sound of Café del Mar or explore the compelling Thai culture. At sunset, the atmosphere electrifies with a wide range of entertainment and the pace of international DJs. For more information, please visit www.tropout.com or the Holidaypride website.

Before the end of summer, we will launch a new feature, our "Pride Tours by Holidaypride," cultural tours for small groups of 15-20 gay people. We have more and more travelers' requests to organize cultural tours between gays, avoiding tours with families and children. We will offer the opportunity for singles to share a room so as not to have to pay a single supplement. The first 2016 tours will be in Israel, South Africa, Peru, and Iceland.

misterb&b: You have a competition running right now with a trip to Gran Canaria to win. What is the occasion?

JP: We shot a promo video with our customers, and the result is excellent. To launch this video, we organized a competition where you could win a trip to Gran Canaria.

To do this, go to our Facebook page. On the wall, you will find the video: click "Like" and then "share" and share with "everyone" to reach as many people as possible and thereby increase your chances of winning. Send a screenshot of this video posted to your wall on August 31 to jimmy@holidaypride.be (the number of "likes" must be visible on the screenshot). The person with the most significant number of "likes" wins!