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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.

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?

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.