Taking Spoke Trips From a Hub Grows Popular

Mature and senior travelers have enthusiastically taken to the one-destination, extended-stay vacation concept in Europe, where, instead of taking an escorted tour, they stay in an apartment-hotel for a week or two and enjoy the area at leisure with short trips.

Now Bob Costa of Corliss Tours, a Monrovia-based tour wholesaler, has adopted a similar idea for seeing the Eastern United States and Canada, except that he’s taken the extended stay at one destination and combined it with an escorted tour.

His new program, called “Stay-Put Tours” consists of escorted one-week tours to Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston, New York, plus Montreal and Canada. Starting in June and running through October, there will be seven departures for Philadelphia, four for Boston and five each for the remaining destinations.

“We’ve designed many of the departure dates so travelers could combine two, even three destinations on one trip if they wish,” Costa said. “They are well-paced tours, so 14 days wouldn’t be at all tiring for even the oldest travelers.

“Stay-Put tours are run on a Saturday-to-Saturday basis,” he added, “and tour members just have to pack and repack once because they are in the same central hotel for seven nights.”

Tour Packages

A quick capsule on each Stay-Put destination:

Philadelphia, staying at the Holiday Inn Independence Hall: In addition to extensive city sightseeing, side tours include the Pennsylvania Dutch country, Hershey, Pa., Valley Forge, Winterthur Museum and Gardens, and Cape May, N.J. Price is $730 per person double, $990 single.

Washington, D.C., staying at the soon-to-open Grand Hyatt Washington: comprehensive city sightseeing with side trips to Gettysburg, Mt. Vernon, Baltimore and Annapolis. Price is $735 per person double, $1,015 single.

Boston, with accommodations at the Back Bay Hilton: city sightseeing, plus Cambridge, Lexington and Concord, Old Sturbridge Village, then Plymouth and Hyannis on Cape Cod. Price is $840 per person, double, $1,215 single.

New York City, staying at the Novotel at East 52nd and Broadway: city sightseeing plus side tours to West Point, Hyde Park and Long Island. Price is $850 per person, double, $1,245 single.

Montreal, staying at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel: local sightseeing plus day tour to Quebec City, another into the Laurentian Mountains and Canada’s capital at Ottawa. Price is $750 per person, double, $970 single.

Visit to Niagara Falls

Toronto, with accommodations at the Royal York Hotel: land and lake tours of the city plus side trips to the Muskoka Lakes, Ontario’s Mennonite area around Kitchener and Waterloo, plus Niagara Falls. Price is $730 per person, double, $960 single.

Tour prices include hotels and all transfers, sightseeing and admissions, five special meals per tour (only four in Boston) and tour escort. Tour price does not include air transportation.

“We’re a tour wholesaler and sell throughout the West,” Costa explained, “so we don’t include the air fare as part of the tour package. All our travel agents can easily arrange the most convenient and economical air fares and can utilize any senior discounts available.”

Solo travelers have noticed the stiff supplement for a single room for seven days, which is particularly noticeable in major hotels in New York and Boston--about $50 plus a night extra. Don’t blame the tour operator or travel agent. They just pass on the hotel charges.

Corliss Tours does try to match singles as much as possible to help pare travel costs, but they are not guaranteed.

“We’re trying something new here,” Costa said, “something aimed at overcoming the objections some seniors have to the traditional motor-coach tours and multiple destinations. With more time available, we can offer features not usually found on motor-coach tours. And there is always one completely free day on each tour.

Keyed to Special Events

“These Stay-Put tours are also designed to key in on special events and activities going on in the hub city and surrounding area, such as the 200th anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution. That’s why we have seven departures for Philadelphia, where many events are planned.”

The new Stay-Put tours are only part of the Corliss Tours program, which includes escorted air and motor-coach tours throughout North America, with emphasis on the Eastern United States and Canada, fall foliage tours, Alaska, a Dixieland tour and many others.

Costa has been president and owner of Corliss for more than 10 years and is a member of the National Tour Assn. (which requires a $1-million bond for tour operations) and of the Senior Travel and Recreation Assn. of California.

For more information: As Corliss is a tour wholesaler, you can contact any travel agent and arrange all plans through that office. If your agent does not have the Stay-Put brochure, contact Corliss Tours, 696 W. Foothill Blvd., Monrovia, Calif. 91016. Phone (818) 359-5358 or (800) 448-5717 (California only).