By SARAH DAVIS
LDS Travel Network, a system for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to travel anywhere and stay at other members’ homes at low cost will be launched this month.
The travel system is exclusively for LDS members and will be a network of people to meet, cities to visit and homes to stay in for low-cost travel.
The organizers of LDS Travel Network, Shara-Dee Seiter and her son, Bret Seiter are modeling this network from another travel network exclusively for educators. They thought a network for members of the church would be safe, inexpensive and a great way to meet new people.
“We did full market research and found people will be drawn to this for one of two reasons — if they are on a tight budget and it is a fun way to travel,” Bret said. “It would be nice to have people tell you about the places you are visiting and socialize … with members of the church.”
The network is set up so that a person can join for an annual fee of $20. Once they join, they can travel to anywhere in the world and stay in another member’s home, Shara-Dee said.
If they want a private guest room with private bath it is $12, Bret said. “If they want a semi-private, a hide-a-bed, or something not completely private, but you are off in your own little corner, it is $10. The bare bones would be to sleep on the floor (with a foam or air mattress) for $8.”
Children can also be involved in the vacations and special travel costs. Shara-Dee said, “It is three dollars for children when they sleep on the floor.”
All prices include a continental breakfast provided by the host. “It (the continental breakfast) is not meant to compete with a commercial bed and breakfast. It is for convenience … cereal and fruit or something.”
“It’s great for family vacations, weekend getaways, genealogy research trips, temple excursions, business travel, affordable international travel and college students,” Shara-Dee said.
Shara-Dee and Bret envision this like a bed and breakfast system, without the expensive prices.
“You make the reservation with the network. You pay the network and then we would send you a map of how to get to the family’s house with information about the family. You would call one week ahead to tell the family you are coming.”
There is an annual fee to join the network. Because this is the first year, there is a special charter fee of $20. Next year and following years it will be $25.
To join, the Seiters can be reached at 1-888-LDS-HOST or faxed at 1-602-820-0463. The website can be seen at www.ldstravel.com.
Travel credit is given for certain things in the program that would cover the annual fee or cover travel costs. If you are a host and rent a private bedroom in your home for someone, you would receive $4 credit. For a semi-private, it is $3 credit and for the “bare bones” accommodations, it is $2.
“When we’re working with LDS families, we are working with a lot of children,” Shara-Dee said. Two dollars travel credit is given to hosts for all children staying in their home.
The Seiters said another way to get travel credit is through referrals.
“We hope every new member will give us the names of 8-12 LDS friends and family they think will be interested. We will send out an information packet. The referring member receives $5 credit for each referral who joins — $10 if its in a state or country we don’t have a member in yet. This credit can be used for the annual fee and/or travel anywhere in the world.”
As far as verification that people are members of the church, there is no sure way of knowing, Shara-Dee said. They sign their name that they are LDS and include their ward and stake.
“We don’t have any way to check that (people are LDS), but we figure if they say 98th Stake that would probably put up a red flag and we would call and check that.”
As far as problems with theft, dirty rooms and inadequate meals, Bret said they were not too concerned.
“This is kind-of modeled after another network. We called them and asked them a lot about their network. They had one or two complaints in 15 years about the quality of the accommodations. There have apparently not been any problems with the guests or people.”
Bret said that this network should work similarly, especially with members of the church. However, if there are complaints, they will be taken off the network and refunded their money, Bret said.
When traveling to foreign countries, language could become a barrier, but Bret said he is not worried because most people can get by with a few words.
“That is going to be a little bit of a challenge. I think we will get mostly English-speakers, but we won’t exclude non-English speakers. I think it will be more of a challenge for us than the travelers. You can get by with a few spoken words. We have looked at some software to help.”
For the future of LDS Travel Network, a home exchange and a home rental coordination will be offered to senior couples leaving on missions or families wanting to leave for a month on vacation.
