We decided to focus on the wonderful side of retirement of travel and doing the things you have always dreamed of. We found most seniors just don’t want to recognize and deal with the unpleasant aspect of growing older, health problems, and care options. ![]() Having gone through much difficulty with my wife’s and I aging parents, we wanted to be able to provide an online answer. Gayland: We started as Senior Genie as a complete information center for seniors. Gayland: Yes, I am one of the original founders of Senior Travel Genie.ĮTN: What made you decide to start a travel web site specifically for seniors? Recently, we had the opportunity to catch up with this active senior and ask him a few questions about his web site.ĮTN: Are you the founder of Senior Travel Genie? Seniors are encouraged to submit their travel photos to Senior Travel Genie so their images can be viewed online by a wide audience of interested travel buffs.Īs a senior, Anderson appreciates the need for instructions, text, and photos that are large enough to be easily viewed by those with “older” vision, so he helped design Senior Travel Genie with a senior-friendly typeset and font, and the submission process for reviews, photos, new listings, new destinations, etc., are intuitive. ![]() For instance, seniors for the most part do not appreciate loud, noisy restaurants even when the food is good, whereas younger patrons may enjoy the loud ambiance.Īnderson is also an avid amateur photographer, so the “Submit Photos” feature is one of his favorites on the site. Anderson believes the seniors’ viewpoint is so important because it can be quite different from the younger generation. Without personally inspecting a hotel or restaurant, it is impossible to know which places are clean and well-maintained and which are “high-priced dumps.” Senior Travel Genie’s “Reviews” feature helps seniors avoid wasting money on below-standard establishments, enabling seniors to have the best travel experience possible. For this reason, Anderson added the Handicap Accessibility Rating information to all paid listings on Senior Travel Genie and encourages all advertisers to include Handicap Accessibility information on their listings.Īs a seasoned traveler, Anderson also recognized the need for reliable reviews written by his peers. They alerted him to the need for handicap accessibility information while making travel plans, something that is very hard to find online. Several of Anderson’s senior friends are handicapped, though they still travel for recreation. This propensity carried over to Senior Travel Genie in the development of the “Coupon” feature, which allows paid advertisers to offer up to two coupons (a daily coupon and a weekly coupon) on their Senior Travel Genie listings, so that seniors can save money while traveling. His vast knowledge and experience have greatly impacted the creation and development of many features of the Senior Travel Genie website experience.Īs a businessman, Anderson was known as “Wholesale Anderson” because of his habit of never paying full retail for anything. Anderson conducted most of his travel by private plane, owning several planes and RVs at one time or another. During this time, he traveled extensively for business and developed a love for travel. Gayland Anderson, president of Senior Travel Genie is a colorful fellow – he is a licensed private pilot, gun expert with shooting prowess, and a semi-retired senior who worked for more than 40 years in private business. Seniors have also added international destinations to the site, so visitors can learn about vacation areas worldwide. Easy to navigate, the site allows seniors to submit travel photos, travel tales, reviews, and new city destinations, in addition to participating in the site’s online forum and blog. ![]() Originally launched in 2004 as Senior Genie, a site offering coupons and information about businesses and professionals located in US vacation and retirement areas, today’s Senior Travel Genie is the only travel website designed by and for seniors and baby boomers who have passed the 50+ milestone. Senior Travel Genie is an interactive online community that offers travel gems for savvy seniors.
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