Beaches Resorts were featured on Condé Nast Traveler’s Bright Ideas in Travel 2025. Read the full list of winners here.
If I had to choose one word to describe the sort of family getaway I look for as the parent of two teens, it would be easy. Plenty of things in life are hard; a vacation shouldn’t be. When you can only travel with your family once or twice a year, you want everyone to be able to enjoy it. For everyone to enjoy it, their needs have to be met.
My younger daughter, who is 15 and autistic, is one of the sweetest, happiest kids I know. She sometimes has a hard time with long travel days, and sudden shifts in her routine can distress her. She requires constant support to safely navigate crowded or unfamiliar spaces. If the rest of us appreciate consistency and structure, for her, these are necessities.
On vacation, we often gravitate toward the familiar, calm, and controllable: lakeside cabins, oceanfront cottages, homes tucked away in the mountains, usually within a day’s drive. We all love our quiet getaways. But sometimes I long to venture farther. Our eldest is 18, and when you have a child about to leave home, you can’t help but feel keenly aware of the days slipping away—on the running list of things I hope we can do before she goes to college, “more travel” is near the top. When I learned that Beaches properties are Advanced Certified Autism Centers, with programs intended to create a smoother and more accessible resort experience for autistic guests and their families, I was eager to learn what kind of support would be available to us at the Turks and Caicos resort—and what impact it might have on our stay.
I discovered that the conversation about your family’s specific needs can begin well before arrival. An optional pre-visit questionnaire gathers information (e.g.: How does your autistic family member communicate? What are their favorite activities? What are their triggers? What kind of swimmer are they—from level 1, “a land mammal,” to level 10, “a fish”?), which resort staff can then use to make recommendations and help you plan for your stay. Before we traveled, Beaches representatives reserved an oceanview suite for us in the new Treasure Beach Village—one of the calmest areas of the resort, which opened on March 1—and arranged for private airport transfers so that we could avoid longer wait times and noisier bus rides. They also shared information about the resort’s inclusive day camps and 1:1 “Beaches Buddy” service.
