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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?

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?

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.

Most of my work in communications involves policy advocacy for global health and  development issues. Last week, I served on a panel at the Corporate Council on Africa’s bi-annual conference in Washington. The subject of the session was how to reposition Africa as a tourist destination.

At first glance, tourism and development  might seem to have little in common. But nothing could be further from the truth. For many African countries, tourism provides a major source of foreign exchange and foreign direct investment, and it is a major money earner in the “formal sector” (i.e., the sector of the economy that provides wage employment, is “on the books,” and generates tax revenues that can fund development).

The challenge is that Africa currently earns very little from tourism relative to other world regions.  (Go to the web sites of the UN’s World Tourism Organization and the World Travel & Tourism Council for more information.) While some African countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa enjoy significant proceeds from tourism, the scale of their revenues just doesn’t compare to destinations in Europe, Asia, Australia, and Latin America.

How can African countries turn this around? I think the solution requires a mixture of tried-and-true approaches to destination marketing, as well as a  disciplined approach to: (1) recruiting a broader array of brand ambassadors, and (2) getting the bulk of African news off the front page. (More on that second, seemingly counterintuitive, point below.)

The tried-and-true approach includes a combination of proactive marketing and reactive crisis communications.  This means that African national tourism boards still need to invest in marketing their countries via multiple media channels, trade shows, and events, but they also need to develop effective crisis communications plans that empower brand managers to respond to crises when they arise and take steps to reassure the public and the tourism industry.

In regard to recruiting a broader array of brand ambassadors, I believe that there are four key markets to engage.  First, there are high-net-worth Americans, Europeans, and Asians who are looking for the vacation of a lifetime.  The African tourism sector can target this group with vacation packages that highlight the five-star quality of many African vacations and the unique qualities of a holiday in the Serengeti, or Kruger, or by the boiling waters of Victoria Falls.

Second, African tourism boards can target what I will call - for lack of a better expression - the “backpacker set.”  These are the twenty-something experiential tourists, the returned Peace Corps Volunteers, the American and European university students who pick Ghana or South Africa for their semester abroad, and medical and nursing students who want to practice their professions in communities that need access to primary health care.

If we can target this set when they are young - using the social media channels that are their most credible source of information - we can convert them to the cause and create lifetime brand ambassadors.  This younger set can also sing the praises of destinations that are stilll off the beaten track for high-net-worth tourists - like the beautiful hillsides overlooking the Zambezi inland delta in Mongu, Zambia or the rugged shores of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.

A third critical target audience are African Americans who are seeking to reconnect to their heritage.  The west African tourist industry in particular can benefit by working with African American destination marketers to create tourism packages that highlight 500 years of cultural connection between west Africa and the Americas.

A fourth target audience is the sizable population of first- and second-generation African immigrants to America who maintain strong connections to their countries of origin and can broaden the conversation about Africa beyond landmarks, flora, and fauna to contemporary conversations about music, food, fabrics, and art.

This brings me to my counterintutive observation.  People who think about Africa’s image in the world often say that Africa never makes front page news unless the story relates to war, disease, hunger, or hardship.  While this statement oversimplifies matters (and is a definite reflection of the specific tone and focus of media coverage in the U.S., UK, and Germany), it also bears real elements of truth.

I believe that we need to change the image of Africa by investing in a rebranding process that features more stories - stories that appear in the Food Section, the Business Section, the Style Section, and, yes, the Travel Page.  We need to start telling new stories - based on credible facts - about Africa’s economic growth over the past decade, about Africa’s unrivalled biodiversity, about Africa’s potential leadership in the production of organic foods and materials, about Africa’s diverse cuisine and innovative music scenes (in Mali, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya).

Telling new and surprising stories is key to repositioning Africa as something other than front-page tragedy.  Front pages are normally reserved for crises, wherever they happen, and it’s time to get the bulk of African news off the front page.

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.

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.”