Grandparents paying for family vacations

— -- Grandparents are picking up the tab more during these tough economic times, treating the whole family to a vacation or just flying the grandkids in for a visit, some hotels and travel agents say.

More than ever, the Best Western Plus North Shore Inn in Portland, Texas, says it's seeing three generations of a family check in, with the grandparents usually footing the bill.

The Best Western Plus Longbranch hotel in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has also seen an increasing number of weekend visits by people with grandchildren in tow.

Travel professionals say the trend largely results from the turbulent economy.

Some grandparents want to treat family members to vacations they may otherwise struggle to afford, or they simply want to spend more time with loved ones in the midst of so much uncertainty.

In the past four years, Ginger Mittelstaedt, owner of the Free Spirit Travel agency in Portage, Wis., has been booking a growing number of multi-generational excursions on cruises or at all-inclusive resorts. "The grandparents are taking the whole family," she says.

Stéphane Trycionka, director of North America sales for the Oetker Collection of luxury hotels, has seen more grandparents traveling with, and paying for, their offspring and grandkids. "In times of economic and geopolitical tensions, people seem to want to enjoy being together with their family and friends 'before (it's) too late,' " he says.

Colby Reeves, a construction company executive who lives part of the year in Myrtle Beach, S.C., is flying in his 17-year-old granddaughter, Bailey, for a visit over her upcoming spring break.

"Everything costs more, and it's not that they couldn't or wouldn't (pay), but I'm able to help out, and I do," says Reeves, who often uses his frequent-flier miles to treat his family. "I think there would be less traveling if I weren't using my mileage to help them out."

David Campbell says he's often paid for his two daughters and granddaughter to travel from New York to visit him and his wife, Toni, in Yorktown, Va.

In December, he took the entire family to see his 94-year-old grandmother, Connie, in Fort Lauderdale.

He says he's mostly motivated by a desire to make his children's lives a little easier.

"It's getting to a point I'd like them to enjoy life," says Campbell, a regional sales manager. "And if they're going to enjoy it, they might as well enjoy it with me."