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I love free things, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Last week, I saw a free theater performance in Chicago, got a certificate for a free haircut from the salon in our building, ate two free muffins from a local restaurant and a got a free burrito from Chipotle. Free is very satisfying – it makes you feel like you won something – even if it’s something small.

In the travel industry, now is probably the best time ever for incentives encouraging people to travel…discounts are almost necessary these days to get business, and free things are everywhere you look. The travel industry is doing everything it can right now to get people to spend money, and one of the most prominent ways is FREE STUFF.

Hotels across the country (and across the world!) are throwing in extras like free breakfasts, free nights, free side trips to area attractions and more. For example, the Joie de Vivre hotels in California are offering a third night free, hotels in Vegas are offering extras like passes to shows and VIP admission and the Rosewood Mayakobá in Playa Del Carmen even offers a free shot of tequila along with a free night.

There is a method to this madness, though. Extra days spent at the hotel not only mean travelers are more likely to book their vacation today, but also ensure more money spent at the hotel restaurant and local attractions, thereby benefiting the entire community.

Extras like free drinks at the hotel bar and free valet parking can upgrade a normal vacation to something a little more special – at no cost, and make travelers feel like they got something for nothing.

Does the “free” tactic work for you? And would it provide that extra incentive to make you book a vacation today, if you were hesitating…? In an industry of bargains, how do travel providers stand out above the rest of the deals?

In light of the fact that travel trends seem to revolve solely around the recession these days, I wanted to explore a new travel theme appearing in the news quite often – bus tours. Bus tours are popping up with new deals every day and new companies such as Boltbus and Megabus are competing with more established companies like Greyhound and Trailways. Prices are usually one way and recent deals from these companies include $5 trips, $2 trips and $1 trips! Also, sites like BusJunction now exist to help travelers find the best deal with a reputable company.

As travelers are looking to save money and more often choosing locations closer to home, buses seem to be a more relevant option. But one question remains in my mind…Why take a bus instead of driving? Since I’ve never gone on a bus tour and haven’t been on anything other than a city bus since high school, I created a list below of what I think the pros and cons of bus travel would be:

Pros:

• You can sit back and relax instead of having to navigate and keep your eyes on the road…read a book or take a nap. This is a big pro.
• It doesn’t matter how much gas costs per gallon…because you’re not paying.
• Less hassle and less security than an airport
• Wi-fi! – Much more likely that your bus will have wi-fi than your plane.

Cons:

• One of the great things about road trips is stopping wherever you want, and I’m guessing this isn’t an option on a bus tour. What if you see the world’s largest ball of twine and want to stop and take a picture?
• A bus isn’t as glamorous or fast as a plane. I would say they’re probably only relevant for trips that are three hours or less

Has anyone gone on a bus tour, instead of driving on a road trip or flying somewhere? What are your opinions?

 With the summer travel season quickly coming to an end, I’m leaving this weekend for my second camping trip of the summer. The constant news this summer about “staycations” (one of the very worst combination words ever) and how the recession is affecting travel made me curious if camping was included in the budget-friendly vacation trends of the summer. It seems like the obvious fit – there are campgrounds within a 50-mile radius of nearly everywhere – and camping is an extremely affordable method of travel. If you have a tent, a blanket and a cooler to store your hot dogs and beer, you’re basically set. You can even camp in the back of a truck, or under a tarp! With a flashlight to find the bathroom in the night and some bug spray, you’re completely packed. And what better way to relax than set yourself down in a woods, with nothing to do besides hike or read a book, listening to the sound of the crickets?

So, was camping a trend this summer? Yes, but not as big as one might think. Most budget-friendly vacation guides promote cheap flights and hotels to travelers instead of the great outdoors. Of course, there are tons of articles about the Obamas visiting the Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, but I’m willing to bet they were sleeping in the best lodges there. There were special promotions at some of the national parks for reduced entry fees and even a free weekend, but nothing specifically related to camping. But most surprising, an article in last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal about a new micro trend – “glamping.” (This is a word that makes staycation look almost poetic. Glamping?)

That’s right, glamorous camping… Defined as an “updated and upscale” visit to the outdoors, glampers may go places like “wilderness resorts,” equip their $100,000 RVs with satellite dishes, flat panel TVs, waterbeds and a traveling chef to make their outdoor experience more comfortable. To me, this sounds like a good way to make camping a lot more difficult and ruin the simplicity of this American pastime.

If the economy continues to be poor through next summer, promoting camping seems like the obvious way to bring tourist dollars back into a state. Instead of marketing cheap flights and cheap hotels, why not bring back a more basic form of travel? Call it what you will, camping has been around for ages, and now seems like a great time to celebrate it.

If money is tight, do you still prefer a resort, or would you consider camping a fun, low-cost, back-to-basics trip? Let me know – I’ll be in the woods, making s’mores.

Can you name the original Seven Wonders of the World? How about the Seven Wonders of the Natural World? There are many versions of this list (USA TODAY even has their own version!), but to put a new spin on it, a Swiss filmmaker and entrepreneur named Bernard Weber started the New 7 Wonders campaign “with the aim of promoting cultural diversity and preserving natural sites.”

From a marketing perspective, this seems like a great way to place these natural destinations in the news. And, if it’s not a place that is regularly included in travel articles, an interesting way to get consumers involved with the location and make it relevant.

Currently there are 28 finalists for the “New 7 Wonders of the Natural World”, chosen by a panel of experts, and voting is now open to the public! Click here to choose your favorites.

So, what’s it gonna be? The Maldives or the Mud Volcanoes?

Mud Volcanoes

In the last few weeks, two new online travel sites have been hot topics in the news – Google City Tours and Bing Travel, from Microsoft. Although the sites have different uses, both are designed to help travelers plan vacations easily.

Google City Tours is a service designed to create entire trips for travelers, identifying points of interest in the desired city and planning out an itinerary for a multi-day vacation. A different approach to online travel, Bing is a travel aggregate site, similar to Kayak or Orbitz. The site allows users to search for airfare deals or sort hotel results by popularity, star rating or distance from a certain location.

From a marketing perspective, I like Bing’s easy-to-use interface and multiple options for finding the best deal – a factor that always plays into my vacations – but didn’t think it was very visually pleasing. I searched the “Low Fares” tab for a flight to London, since I’ve always wanted to go there, and especially liked the graph that appears detailing when flights will be least expensive. I still haven’t been able to test Google City Tours, as it freezes my entire computer as soon as launch the site (It is a beta site, but still…)

With more and more travelers using the internet to book their vacations, sites like these will continue to appear, promising the best deals or most comprehensive search engines. Now if only I could find someone to pay for that vacation to London…

What’s your preferred travel search engine?

What do you think of when you hear the word “travel”? In a very informal office poll here in Chicago, six out of six people immediately thought of airplanes or cars when they heard the word. Webster’s Dictionary defines travel as “a; to journey through or over, b: to follow a course or path…,” so really, travel can include anything from a hike through the woods to a hot air balloon ride to the next town.

In today’s economy, people are thinking on a smaller scale, trading in long-distance vacations and looking for cheap alternatives to flying. The staycation trend may be getting stale, but a recent Intelligent Travel post says Americans bought more bikes than cars in the first quarter of 2009.

Another trendy method getting lots of news coverage recently is train travel, even being called “the new luxury.” It tends to be less expensive (depending on the destination) than air travel, and according to Amtrak’s Web site, is also energy efficient. If you’re still set on flying to your next destination, more cities are adding train service from the airport to downtown for those who would rather not drive a rental car through rush hour traffic.

Personally, I’m in favor of branching out and exploring new and different transportation methods instead of relying on the usual suspects. Trains and bikes may not be feasible options for business travel, but for those who have more time, there are other options. Trains are much less likely to be delayed than planes, and you’ll get a better eye-level view of the scenery on the way. And if you’re going for a day trip to the next town? Avoid traffic! Ride a bike…

With the wide variety of clients at Ogilvy, my colleagues and I travel to a wide variety of trade shows throughout the year, including the International Consumer Electronics Show, New York Times Travel Show, the American International Toy Fair and many, many more.

Over the past six months, we’ve noticed the same trend – fewer exhibitors and journalists are traveling to these shows. Journalists are either choosing to stay home or being told they’ll stay home by publications cutting costs. With online press kits and phone interviews, these reporters feel they can still get the same information over the phone. Others are spending one day at a show when they would normally spend two or three, as time is more valuable and travel budgets are tight.

Beyond that, exhibitors are showcasing modest product offerings and making sure to offer affordable options for businesses and consumers, as referenced in a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution article about the 2009 Kitchen & Bath Industry Show. Some manufacturers are staying home altogether, choosing to reallocate the money they would depend on booth rental to extra advertising or other marketing initiatives during tough times.

The question is whether a phone call is as valuable as meeting with clients and media if you are a manufacturer or vice versa for media face-to-face on the show floor. New technology is making things like virtual tradeshows possible and nearly any information can be emailed or put on an online press kit.

Is this a trend that will turn back around after the recession recedes? If so, will we be able to replace the value of meeting with a potential client/customer in person?

Trade shows involve many long hours and sore feet, but they are invaluable for face-to-face time with media and clients. Allowing journalists to get a first-hand look at products or hear first-hand about a destination is key to their understanding. And, for client relations, meeting in person is always helpful to sustain solid relationships beyond emails and weekly calls.

So bring on the comfortable shoes and the coffee – I’ll be at a hotel technology conference in Anaheim in three weeks!