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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?

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.

How many times have you arrived at your hotel to find that you didn’t need to squeeze all those bathroom essentials into your luggage after all as everything that you need is already provided by your hotel.  Or, have you relied on your hotel to provide a good selection of grooming products only to find that something significant is not supplied?

With the rise of cheap flights and the need to keep costs down by just taking carry-on luggage, many of us spend a long time considering which bathroom items we will take to fit within the 10 x 100ml fluid allowance.

What if you knew exactly what you were going to find in your hotel bathroom before you left home?  Problem is, you never can predict what you are going to find; there simply seems to be no logic.  Sometimes the most desirable four star hotel in Italy might not provide body lotion or hair conditioner, whereas a bargain 40 Euros a night Spanish hotel might provide enough items to make you not want to leave your hotel bathroom at all.

What if there was a website which held exactly this kind of information?  Content could be posted by both consumers and hoteliers stating what to expect when you visit.  Comments can be made on the standard of toiletries (Ritz Carlton, Santiago Chile – more top quality Bulgari toiletries than you can imagine) and how often they are replenished (Hotel Scribe, Paris - three times a day). 

This site would be great for hoteliers; they could see how they fare against their competitors and guests would be happier as they’ve enabled them to be more clued up about the facilities before travel.

Maybe this site already exists.  If it does please do let me know!  If not, perhaps I’ve found something to do with my evenings.

Fascinating (in a nerve wracking way) article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal about the challenges of getting checked luggage to its intended destination, on time.

No big insights here … just that you might want to say a prayer every time you hand over your bags (and another one when you retrieve them at baggage claim).

Full article here.

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?

What’s with these new restaurants and hotels opening up in old airplanes? During a time when customer frustrations with air travel are at an all time high, people still seem willing to put down good money to sleep in a grounded aircraft or eat on a fake plane. Daring “air”trepreneurs are opening up dining and lodging outposts and customers are following.

In Amsterdam, a 5-star hotel opens next week in a 1960s Soviet aircraft parked at Teuge Aiport, complete with whirlpool, infrared sauna and three flat-screen TVs. One night stay at Hotel Honecker can cost $500, but that includes breakfast for two . Check it out at ABC-TV.com.

Around the world in Taipei, restaurant A380 is located in a commercial building but looks like the interior of an Airbus plane.  Some of the waitresses are even former flight attendants. If your table is in the first-class cabin you can push the flight attendant button to summon the waitress. Read about it in this month’s issue of Conde Nast Traveler.

Time to board!

The current economic downturn has affected millions of people all over the world. Very few industries have managed to trudge through this economic downturn unscathed and, sadly, the travel industry is no exception – it is faring worse than many other industries. Airlines are cutting flights, destinations and prices just to stay afloat. Hotel expansions are on hold and growth of new and current brands have been sizably downscaled. A perfect example is NYLO hotels, which unveiled a XP Hotels, a loft style brand, in 2005 with the ambition of having 50 properties open by 2010. However, to date, only two locations in Texas have actually opened – Plano and Warwick – with another planned opening in Irving next month. Lack of commercial lending and a deteriorating travel market, especially in the luxury category, are taking a heavy toll on the hotel industry.

On the bright side, all this doom and gloom translates in to great savings for travel consumers. Flights, hotels and attractions are the most affordable they have been in years and, compared to last summer, when gas prices hovered close to $5.00 a gallon, car travel is again reasonable. Hotels are giving away free nights and free food to entice customers to their brands. Summer flights are much more reasonable and internationally, the dollar is way up, making foreign destinations, which became so expensive over the last few years due to the sinking dollar, once again affordable. Disney is offering amazing package deals  – even Amsterdam is even giving away free hotel nights.

Now is definitely the time to scratch that travel itch and take advantage of the amazing travel deals to be had!