Getaways with the guys, or mancations, are hot POSTED: 11:27 p.m. EDT, September 20, 2006 Adjust font size: MIAMI BEACH, Florida (AP) -- Gene Grabarnick longed for a hotel with all the things a man would want on a getaway with friends.
Where the concierge ushers guests to the hottest clubs. Where requests, from hand-rolled cigars to a favorite beer in the mini-bar, are unflinchingly filled. Where luxury is wrapped in sexy, swanky style.
So, he built it.
The Regent South Beach, the hotel Grabarnick developed here and plans to open in October, is among businesses nationwide targeting guys vacationing -- or as they like to say, "mancationing" -- with their friends. They are offering everything from poker parties to hand-rolled cigars, buckets of beer to sports tickets, all in hopes of tapping a growing market.
"These trips are about a group of people that most likely met in college and are sort of just extending their yesterdays," said Josh Lesnick, president of I'm in!, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based business founded last year that helps organize trips for groups of men. "It's once a year or twice a year. It's sort of a rite of passage. It's sacred territory."
It's also potentially big business. Research commissioned by I'm in! found trips taken by friends -- male and female alike -- could annually generate $11 billion in online sales and reservations alone.
Grabarnick said his concept for the Regent -- which features a glass-bottom pool, Mercedes-Benz 500S house cars and 24-hour concierge service -- was partly inspired by his own getaways with friends. They jet off to places like Aspen, Colorado, and Costa Rica every few months with a clear idea of what makes a perfect getaway.
"What my friends and I like," he said, "is what we're putting into this hotel."
The Regent will offer a package targeting men with a penthouse room, a private rooftop terrace with a hot tub and wet bar, round-the-clock butler service and a choice of a luxury rental car such as a Porsche, Bentley or Lamborghini.
Dozens of other places are getting into the mancation act, too.
It's a good idea. I don't know how many dudes go on vacations together though. They said its a "growing market" so /shrug. Might be good for business trips too.
Ginzburgh wrote:It's a good idea. I don't know how many dudes go on vacations together though. They said its a "growing market" so /shrug. Might be good for business trips too.
Ginzburgh wrote:It's a good idea. I don't know how many dudes go on vacations together though. They said its a "growing market" so /shrug. Might be good for business trips too.
I generally don't travel away from home with a group of men to spend the night in another part of the country unless we're going to shoot something, or a lot of somethings.
