MIAMI — Holiday tours for swingers — where couples sleep with other vacationers with each other’s consent — has become a mainstay of the travel industry over the past several decades.
José and Claudia Aguirre are Mexicans living in Miami and have been in the swinging business, in more ways than one, for nearly 20 years. Their travel agency, Luxury Lifestyle Vacations, specializes in this niche, organizing holidays for adult couples in varied settings, from country houses to super-modern hotels, exotic landscapes and iconic cities.
Travel can be on a cruise or by flying directly to the venue. With their customers they have visited places as diverse as Rome, Barcelona, Vietnam, Cancún, Alaska or Rio. Initially, it was not unusual for hotels to refuse admission to such groups, but times have changed, and more and more hotel brands now seek out the tour groups organized by José, 60, and Claudia, 55.
The couple opened their agency as a matter of necessity. Their earlier business, a corporate events firm, ceased to be profitable after the September 11 attacks, as people stopped organizing and attending big work meetings. They had to pivot.
“We began in this little world” after 9/11, said José, recalling that he had already gifted his wife a membership card for a swingers’ club in Miami. Once familiar with this community, they made it a business opportunity.
They began with an event in Cancún for a small number of attendees. Their trips soon multiplied and have turned them into a leading firm in luxury swinger tourism.
Range of prices and destinations
People come “for sex and out of curiosity, but they come back for the friendships,” José told Clarín.
Most of his customers are from the United States and Canada, though he also has Argentinian, Colombian, Venezuelan, Brazilian, Mexican and European clients. His agency sells luxury alongside swinging, he says, “whether it’s a five-star hotel or a cruise, there’s always good service, good food, good attention and excellent entertainment.”
Currently his agency offers closed cruises or hotel experiences where a venue is hired only for Luxury Lifestyle Vacations clients.
People come with us to have fun.
The idea is for his customers to go out, visit and enjoy a city destination by day, while at night the Aguirres are in charge of entertainment, with theme nights, DJs, contests, games and even seminars on sexuality. José says swinging is still a taboo, and “when people hear the word they think they arrive, take off their clothes and start doing things everywhere. But no, this is an orderly disorder. Everything has its place.”
Customers vary according to the product and prices: the cheapest trips cost around ,000, and will attract a younger crowd aged 30 years upwards. Costlier packages (for up to ,000) attract a 40-60 year-old age group.
Isolated beaches
The firm is planning an Argentine cruise in 2025, due to stop off at Buenos Aires, Ushuaia and the Antarctic. The last one here was in 2015.
José says the agency only picks five-star hotels with “privacy and discretion, so everyone feels safe and nobody is exposed to anything.” Isolated beaches were also sought out, he said, without crowds or visibility.
“The difference between regular trips and us is that people come with us to have fun, nobody complains and they’re really grateful,” he said. “They’re always pleasantly surprised and want more.”
The Aguirres have customers who have traveled so often with them as to make every new trip a reunion with old friends. “They see their friends in different parts of the world and whether they have sex or not, they have a great time.”
