Beach Front Club

Although the Travel Reader Blog mainly concerns itself with excerpting great travel stories from across the web, when a good travel tip comes my way I like to share. Here’s a great website that can help you planning your summer beach adventures, whether you plan to stay close to home or go abroad.

Sand Trap
Tranquil turquoise oceans, smooth sandy beaches and three lanes of traffic between you and the best suntan you’ve ever had. If traffic, another building, or anything else that is distinctly not a beach has stood between you and the ocean surf, you’re not alone.

Many a seasoned traveler, as well as many more newbies, have fallen prey to the manipulations and false advertisements of hotels,

resorts, bungalows and hostels promising “ocean front” views and “direct beach access”. That’s the problem, most hotels are careful with their wording and most pictures are misleading. So, what’s a traveler to do? How to avoid potential vacation sinking situations and score the perfect location? Don’t worry, Beach Front Club is here to help.
The Beach Front Club, founded in 2008 by photographer John Everingham and hotelier Chris Ryan is dedicated to making sure these sorts of disappointing vacation experiences don’t happen. Their full service website, which includes over 7,000 listings complied over two years, allows the browser to search out a location, a beach and hotel and guarantees that it is in fact on the beach.

Truly Beachfront?
The Beachfront Club shows you exactly where the hotel is located, not just by placing a dot on a map (which can leave a lot of wiggle room when it comes to defining “beachfront”) and instead shows the full perimeters of the property on both a road map and with Google Earth satellite images.

New to the web but not new to the industry The Beachfront Club’s founders have had years of experience to guide them and it shows. Its individual listings are comprehensive with beautiful color photos, Google Earth web shots, pricing guides and direct booking.  There are even descriptions of the beaches to describe its setting; kid friendly, romantic, natural beauty, secluded, you name it and you can find it on thebeachfrontclub.com. From Costa Rica to Bali and everything in between, including obscure beach going destinations (like Albania).

For all those still wondering the million-dollar question “ is it really on the beach?”  We can say “ yes”, all the properties we investigated, in the Caribbean, US and Spain, were truly beachfront. Even the most cautious can rest easy now, though there is never any guarantee of sunshine!

Going Thai

The Beachfront Club is launched from Thailand and so the real gems of the site are their South East Asian listings. Thailand and Bali specifically have over a thousand options and browsing through them alone is almost like going on a vacation.   Whether you’re looking to spend some quite time relaxing or partying the night away, from remote islands to major resorts “ Thailand has so much variety for beach holidays” founder John E. says.

Beach Buddy

The Beachfront Club is seeking to expand their offerings to restaurants and water sport activities, like diving sites.  It is undeniably a handy web travel tool to have in your kit. Perhaps best of all The Beach Front Club is available to travelers of any

budget. “ We are exclusive by geography only” says John “ We serve the entire spectrum, there’s something for everyone”.

You can check it out for yourself here.