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It is no secret that air lines, in an effort to keep the cost of flights low, began adding a-la-carte fees to previously free services. Want to bring luggage to your destination? That’s an extra $25.00. Want a seat someone larger than midget stature can fit in? Well, that could be an extra $100.00 each way – depending on your distance. Want something to eat or drink on your flight? That is an extra $6.00 for the beer and who knows how much they will price-gauge you for the bag of chips or sub-par sandwich. There is almost no service most of the regional air lines won’t give you for an additional price including a day in their red-carpet lounge. While this has become common practice for air lines, it appears that hotels are trying to jump on this a-la-carte fee bandwagon. Does this mean it is good for business, probably not!

According to the Wall Street Journal, there have been reports of hotels adding surcharges for safes in room, minibar restocking fees, baggage holding fees for guests leaving luggage with bell staff after checking out, and a “tray charge” on room-service bills on top of a service charge and an automatic gratuity. Facility use? Shouldn’t the pool and the fitness center be included in the price of the hotel room? Imagine showing up to a hotel to find out the room rate you negotiated does not include the safe in the room, or the TV they provided, and they are charging you $5.00 a day for toilet access. Even worse, you don’t find most of this out until check out.

The main reason this is a bad idea for hotels is because adding a-la-carte fees for services people may not want, or use, to begin with is a sure-fire way to lose customers. The airlines have a completely different business model that allows them to charge additional fees based on right-of-use. If you don’t want luggage handlers, who could possible lose your luggage, food or drinks on the plane or don’t mind sitting in a seat with less leg-room you have every right to opt-out of these services. However, providing you a service or amenity and then later coming to you with a hefty bill for it is certainly no way to win repeat business – particularly in a recession and especially when charging for services or amenities that guests may not have even taken advantage of.
 
I think businesses of all-types should be up front about costs. Don’t get me in the door by offering me a room at one price and then add a plethora of fees for things regardless if I use them or not. If I want to add in a massage, that’s fine, but don’t charge me $5.00 at check-out because the hotel decided to install safes, mini-fridges or TV’s in all the rooms. What do you think about hotels adding on hidden fees to their offered room rate?

What is couch surfing? No, it is not spending your vacation hopping from one friends house to the next to watch the new Gossip Girl or daily hot show on Primetime TV. According to their Web Site, “it’s a worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit” with 1,473,790 members.

Basically, you make connections with people online and they invite you to stay ‘on their couch’ (proverbial or literal) when you are traveling. The site is full of testimonials and the ‘CouchStories’ are both heartwarming and full of amazing couch surfing experiences. To date surfers have claimed 2,742,009 positive couch surfing experiences.

While it might be awkward to stay with someone you meet over the internet, think how cool it could be. Not only do you get to stay somewhere for virtually free – although I am sure it would  probably be proper etiquette to buy your host a dinner or at least a few drinks – you get the unabashed guidance of a local who’s willing, and free spirited enough, to let a complete stranger stay in their home free of charge. What more could you ask for?

I don’t know about you, but it makes me want to make a connection, buy a plane ticket and surf a couch!

The seventh annual Fall Travel Trends Survey conducted by Travel Leaders was released this week. The survey was conducted with information from 452 Travel leaders agents, managers and owners from August 4-28.

So what are the favorite destinations for fall? Las Vegas and Caribbean cruising – again. They are continuously ranked number one in the survey and this year is no different. They are warm (something us northern dwellers look for in fall vacations), fairly easy to get to, provide a myriad of things to do for people from every walk of life, and have a seemingly endless supply of rooms that are discounted this year like you would never believe. New York knocked the revolving Hawaiian destinations off their #3 spot as travelers look to take advantage of the Big Apple’s rock bottom prices, which are certainly not going to be around forever.

Other good news to come from the survey is that many more Travel Leaders are more optimistic about their business then they were last year and there is even speculation from Piper Jaffray at Citibank the travel industry may have already bottomed out. Nearly 60% of Travel Leader respondents were optimistic about their business in the upcoming year. Maybe because, according to Christopher Elliott, 2010 is supposed to be the year of travel deals .

What are leisure travelers doing to take full advantage of the good deals? According to the survey they are staying at all-inclusives (69.9 percent), using frequent-flyer miles (64.1 percent), being flexible with dates (62 percent), booking only if there is a promotion/deal (54.9 percent), shortening trips or vacations (traveling fewer days) (51.5 percent). With all the fun things to do and see out there and the amazing prices things are being offered at, it’s worth shopping around, and then taking advantage, of the best deals.

Natural disasters are bound to occur. Some are less of a surprise, like hurricanes or droughts, while others, like tornados, tsunamis or earthquakes can happen at any given moment without much notice.

The last year few years have seen devastating natural disasters all over the world. This month Los Angeles  has seen the largest wildfire on record, Kenya  is currently experiencing a serious drought, Taiwan  had a devastating  flash flood in August as a result of typhoon Morakot, Sichuan province in China   had one of the deadliest earthquakes since 1976, Hurricane Katrina all but destroyed New Orleans, and of course, the infamous tsunami that hit Asia  Boxing day 2004 killing hundreds of thousands of people – and that’s just naming a few.

As a traveler, there are things you can do to safeguard yourself should you find yourself stuck in the midst of a natural disaster.

1. Make sure you purchase travelers insurance . For such a nominal fee, there are a plethora of reasons this may come in handy. You shouldn’t leave home without it.

 
2. Register your travels with the State Department before you leave the country. This will make things much easier in the event of an emergency. Should something happen, they will be looking for you. Plus, if you lose your passport, you can get it replaced much quicker if you have registered.

 
3. Let people at home know your itinerary so they don’t have to guess where you may or may not be. I was in Thailand during the Tsunami and the last mass email I sent back home was from Bangkok the day or two before Christmas saying “heading to Phuket, can’t wait to spend the holidays on the beach”. Little did they know I hopped a plane to Malaysia hours before the Tsunami hit. My parents phone was ringing off the hook most of the day.

 
4. Be prepared. While many disasters can happen without warning, be aware of a regions hurricane, tornado, typhoon, wildfire or other natural disaster seasons.

While we as travelers can take precautions, much of the responsibility lies with destinations as well. For example, a well outlined communications plan, including which areas are open for business and which are not, is essential during a crisis. Offering travelers incentives during tumultuous times can’t hurt either, provided it is still safe for them to do so. Money back if it rains, Flu Free Guarantees, or free travelers insurance could show your destinations commitment to ensuring a vacationers tourist dollars are well spent.

For those of you who are following the travel deals out there, Hawaii has consistently been on the top of most of the best vacation deals for 2009 list. While the Islands might not have contracted the H1N1 virus, the economic downturn has turned the once favorable vacation destination into a luxury most people feel they just can not afford. In addition to cheap rooms, hotels and resorts are throwing in all kinds of property perks in an effort to get more of your tourist dollars.

In an effort to increase travel to the Islands, Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau is rolling out a new multi-million dollar marketing campaign. With their 71 million dollar annual budget, the Visitors and Convention Bureau will be implementing several new initiatives, including expanding their marketing efforts to focus more on China and South Korea. While they have not changed their target demographic, the “active visitor who enjoys golfing, cultural experiences, dining out and spa treatments”, they are definitely expanding their outreach to them.

In an effort to capture these new, active travelers, Hawaii has launched a revamped Website and has come up with creative incentives for China, including a Hawaii themed credit card whose users will receive perks when they travel to the Islands. Additionally, they are attempting to gain a larger share of the clean energy market by luring meeting, conventions and trade shows.

Hawaii’s new marketing campaign can be an important lesson to marketers who have to get creative in recessionary times. Rather than changing their target demographic, they are expanding the markets they are looking for their demographic, focusing on countries that are within a geographic proximity and may have more expendable income. They are using components of social media, including the enlistment of eight bloggers to share their fabulous experiences of Hawaii. They are capitalizing on the green movement, hoping to become known as the sustainable meeting location and, most importantly,  they are spending money to do so – something many cities/states/countries have been hesitant to do. After all, you have to have money to make money, which means you also have to spend it to make it.

Technology sure is amazing. Every day there seems to be another technological wonder, or app, devised to make our lives just a little bit better.

 A new travel tool, FlightCaster, launched last week. This little gem of technology evaluates the probability of your flight being delayed. According to their Website, “FlightCaster takes data from multiple sources - some historical, some real-time - and crunches them in a database with a patent-pending algorithm and process. We use 10-years of flight data along with current and near-term forecasted conditions to establish likely delay factors and assess the impact they will have on your flight. Our results are based on predicted arrival delays - when you will pull into your arrival gate.” Interesting.

 A well seasoned traveler will sign-up for alerts directly through the airline they are flying. However, the last three times I have flown my plane was listed as on-time. I even received a few text alerts from the airline to confirm this. It never fails though, particularly on the way to O’hare, half-way in route to the airport I receive a text message that my flight, would in fact, be delayed. Had I been able to use FlightCaster, I might have had a little more insight into whether or not my flight was going to be delayed.

I wonder if it really would have made a difference? If the airline claims the flight is on-time am I going to risk missing my flight because FlightCaster says it is going to in fact be late? Would you?

In today’s economy hotels and resorts have to come up with clever ways to get your attention and differentiate themselves from the competition. That is just what the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Francisco is trying to do. Traditionally a luxury resort with three beautiful pools, an upscale spa, and a golf course where an overnight stay can easily run you over $200.00 a night, The San Bernardo is offering it all to you for $19.00 a night.

In a brilliant, or not-so-brilliant, marketing move, the Rancho Bernardo has just introduced a ‘Survivor Package’ where customers can whittle their room amenities down to nothing. For the deepest discount, $19.00 a night, you not only forgo breakfast but air conditioning, power, TV, pillows, sheets and a bed - all the luxuries of staying in a hotel. The staff will kindly pitch a tent for you in the middle of your dark, bed-less, towel-less, air-conditioning-less room.

While I like the idea of a-la-carting hotel amenities, do you think this goes too far or is this a brilliant way to differentiate themselves from their competition?

The New York Times had an interesting article today about Ryanair’s innovative way to save money – charging customers to use the on-board restrooms.

This is not the first out-of-the-box idea to come from Ryanair. In addition to coming up with ‘new ideas’ their CEO, Michael O’leary, is also known for making insensitive and aggressive public statements that would make many brand managers cringe. He has come up with several cost saving, some say crazy, ideas in the last year. In addition to removing restrooms and making them pay-per-use, O’Leary has suggested making a sizeable portion of the plane available for stand-up ‘seating’ to save space. Another idea O’leary has considered is making passengers responsible for hauling their own ‘checked luggage’ to the plane. I think I like this one though as it would ensure that you never have a bag misplaced on the wrong flight.

What makes Ryanair a successful airline in recessionary times? That’s an easy one - Ryanair has been successful because they have some of the cheapest flights around. They might not have a customer service department, a complaint department or much compassion, but  I lived in Europe for three years and bought several roundtrip tickets on Ryanair for less than €30 or €40 – you can’t beat that. They might not fly into every major city or airport in Europe, but for .99€  each way plus taxes it can definitely be worth it.

What makes O’leary the most successful businessman in Ireland despite his crass humor and outrageous public statements on behalf of his company’s brand? And how have they not fired him for this press conference?

It all comes down to Ryanairs brand promise. Ryanair does not promise to be the cleanest airline in Europe, they don’t claim to have comfortable seats, they do not claim to have the nicest flight attendants, the best food or even a customer service department - seriously, there is no customer service department.  However, what they do promise are insanely cheap flights with a pretty decent on-time record, few canceled flights and very few lost bags – period.  As a customer, anything you receive above and beyond this should be considered a luxury. Maybe you should even consider sending a thank-you note afterwards.

Ryanair is a good example of how a brand, which according to The Economist, “has become a byword for appalling customer service, misleading advertising claims and jeering rudeness towards anyone or anything that gets in its way” can still maintain a loyal customer base by managing the expectations of their customers and their brand. They do not pretend to promise much and for that they can be successful at offering very little.

What does your brand promise and are you living up to that promise?

As we all know, 2009 has been a hard year for almost everyone. There are very few corners of the globe that have not been effected by the crisis. The economic downturn has left many countries in or on the verge of recessions/depressions. To compound these matters, the threat of H1N1 (aka swine flu) is leaving some countries worse off than others.

 
Take Mexico for example. They were at the epicenter of the outbreak and the fall-out has been devastating to their economy. Mexico’s claim that the H1N1 virus emanated from Asia  seems to have fallen on deaf ears as Mexico’s economy, which relies heavily on tourist dollars, has been suffering since the outbreak of the H1N1 virus. As a result, vacations to Mexico are cheaper than they have been in years. Forbes  is reporting that Travel-Ticker is offering over 20 Mexican vacations up to70% off.

Since amazing travel deals alone are not luring the tourists in, Mexico is using social media to entice travelers back to Mexico with its “Believe It” campaign. Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History has signed an agreement with Google Mexico to promote archeological and historical sites. This is not a bad idea because according to Trip Advisors 2009 travel trends, 87% of travelers will visit a historical site on vacation. In addition to partnering with Google to showcase the plethora of historical gems in Mexico, they have started a channel on Youtube.com to further showcase their historical landmarks They will also be launching advertising campaigns in 12 major U.S. markets and six in Canada.

There are many communication lessons that can be learned from Mexico’s H1N1 fiasco. Had they handled their communications better from the beginning (apparently blaming Asia did not work) they might have avoided the swine flu’s name metamorphosis into the ‘Mexican flu’ .  Waiting four months to tell the world Mexico is a a safe place to travel might not have been the best idea. We encourage our clients to have crisis plans in place for just these reasons. However, their use of social media to launch a recovery campaign shows how serious they are about revitalizing their image as a safe place with amazing beaches and fabulous historical sites. “Mexico and its tourism sector have proven yet again that we are resilient to crisis,” says Oscar Fitch, CEO of the Mexico Tourism Board. “Not only are we back up and running and receiving tourists every day, but we are showing the world that this administration represents responsibility.”

International travel, according to the June 2009 edition of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, has declined by 8 percent in the first quarter of 2009. This is not good news, especially compared to the first quarter of 2008 when there was a 5 percent increase in international travel. While the pace of decline is expected to ease throughout the rest of 2009, the combination between the recent rise in gas prices and the decline in the number of business class fares purchased is bumping up the cost of leisure travel in a time when many people are already wary about taking a vacation.

Looking at a few of the key highlights, this years trend is apparent; cheaper, developing and newly developing countries are faring much better than their more expensive industrialized counterparts. Africa (+3) and South America (+.2) are the only continents to see an increase in travel so far this year. Travel to North America is down 5 percent from last year, due mostly to the slowdown in the USA as both a source of international travelers and a popular 2008 travel destination. The economic downturn and the rising dollar has made traveling to the States more expensive than it has been in previous years which is not an easy sell in the middle of a recession.

Not surprising, one of the largest declines was seen in Europe (-10%), where most countries have been in or on the verge of a recession since 2008. It appears that Europeans are traveling less within the continent and when they do they are trading more expensive places like the Amalfi Coast in Italy, Ibiza in Spain or the Greek Islands for more affordable beaches along the Mediterranean’s African Coast, as are many other travelers.

The most surprising statistics from this years report was the decline in travel to the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Areas of the world which saw the highest level of growth in 2008 are now experiencing the largest decline this year (-18 percent for the Middle East and -6 percent for Asia Pacific). While Dubai’s economic woes have been well documented this year an 18 percent decline in tourism is huge.

Attracting tourism dollars (or pesos, pesetas, euros, francs, yen, rupees, etc.) is a great way to create and sustain local jobs and many countries economies rely heavily on travel and tourism dollars. While the UNWTO predicts that the decrease in international travel will increase slightly by the end of the year, boosting your country’s visibility through an integrated public relations campaign could be a great way to make your destination top of mind for those willing and able to travel this year and for attracting foreign investment in these precarious economic times.