Travel Industry

mobile computing heaven

The race is on.

The Westin St. Francis in San Francisco’s Union Square is among the first hoteliers to sign up with LodgeNet Interactive Corporation to implement its Mobile Internet Devices and integrate them into their own hospitality system.

In English, this means Westin guests can order in-room dining, book a spa appointment, make golf reservations, sign up for their reward program points and even change the in-room temperature and electricity controls through their iPhones and Blackberries. Basically, guests’ smart phones replace the concierge function, which will no doubt trigger a rebuttal from the National Concierge Association. But let’s face it: the name of the game has always been “be relevant or be run over.”

The project is in the pilot stages this summer; LodgeNet says it should roll out more test markets between now and the end of 2009. Anyone who wants to see this technology in action can stop by the company’s booth at HITEC at the Anaheim Convention Center June 23 – 25.

It’s a smart move for anyone who read the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s 2008 study on customer satisfaction. A whopping 82 percent of guests say they care most about their wi-fi services, even over in-room entertainment systems and airline check-in kiosks.

Which could explain why Omni Hotels — the first luxury hotel brand to give guests free wireless access in their rooms — is focusing more on the basics. It signed with BelAir Networks to upgrade its network design to accommodate mobile computing. “With nearly 50 percent of our guests using wi-fi and their bandwidth demands continuing to accelerate, we sought a high-performance network partner” says Richard Tudgay, Omni’s IT veep.

Photography: Westin St. Francis

With the launch of City Tours (http://citytours.googlelabs.com/), Google adds to the list of trip-planning solutions which use some combination of local data, maps, user generated content and social networking tools.

Google City Tours

City Tours is still under Google Labs , and as such, it’s still pretty much in it’s infancy, but it’s already being touted as something with immense possibilities. City Tours points out the attractions and plans out multi-day trips. All you do is name the city and you’re good to go. And if you specify the location of your hotel and the length of your trip, City Tours will map out a complete itinerary for you.

When you type in the city name, you get back a planned 3-day trip, with around 10-12 attractions mapped out per day. The site suggests time to be spent at each location, and walking distances between the mapped attractions. You can modify the number of days, and add new attractions.

It’s pretty basic and simple, and adding new attractions seems to work, so long as you don’t try to add some name or attraction which could have other meanings. But the interesting part is in the possibilities that City Tours offers. It uses Google Maps to figure out the relative positions of the attractions in each itinerary, and line them up so as to create a suggested tour with the minimum overall amount of walking necessary.

So you could, for example, work out a complete trip plan, starting from your hotel, throw in restaurants, attractions, shows, and a complete trip, rather than just the attractions. You could make it work for a multi-day roadtrip across state lines, involving multiple destinations.

And instead of just walking between destinations, if you could plug-in Google Transit to cover the distances between the attractions, that would make it even more closer to reality. You’d get a trip plan with suggested attractions for each day of your stay, and the closest public transport options for traveling from one point to the next. That’s pretty much all you’re looking for in a trip planner.

And there are plenty of sites, like GoPlanit, which already offer something close to this. The difference with Google is the vast scale of it and the user participation - pretty soon, people will have added so many attractions to each place that the system will be bigger and better than what any other trip planning site can offer.

FlyClear, a New York based company which charged annual fees for clear card services to help it’s members get through TSA Airport Security checkpoints faster, ceased operations earlier this week.

Clear Card from FlyClear

Apparently, Clear’s parent company – Verified Identity Pass Inc., was “unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.” The Clear Lanes being operated at 20 airports nationwide, and being used by the over 260,000 people who had signed on with FlyClear, suddenly closed on Monday without any prior intimation.

The service had an annual price tag of $199, and the company says it’s not in a position to offer any refund. And it looks like the company is closed for good, with no plans for any comeback. They haven’t filed for bankruptcy protection, and they’ve wiped all the data from the airport verification kiosks.

FlyClear was founded in 2003 by entrepreuner Steven Brill, and the program took off at Orlando International Airport in 2005. The Clear Lanes at Orlando alone have seen over 1 million passengers pass through. For frequent and elite travelers stressed out by the post-9/11 security measures and extra-long lines at Airport Security checkpoints, Clear provided a much-needed service – A Clear Card with a biometric chip issued after a TSA vetting which whisked you past the bottlenecked checkpoints.

Inspite of the obvious need for such a service – and this is probably one of the main reason for Clear’s demise – fact is that neither the TSA nor the airlines ever fully embraced it, and they weren’t really able to expand the service and make it a commonly available facility at all airports.

And last year in May, a laptop containing information about 33k Clear users and applicants went missing from the Clear office at San Francisco International Airport. The TSA went ballistic and revoked Clear’s Registered Traveler status. 10 days later, the laptop mysteriously turns up in the same spot where it went missing, and prettty soon, things were back to normal.

So what happens to all the data now - The fingerprints, iris images, photos, names, addresses, credit card numbers and other personal information? Clear is promising that all personal data on record will be deleted and members notified in a final email missive from the company.

But they haven’t deleted it all yet, and a statement on their website states that the information provided can only be used by companies for the TSA’s Registered Traveler program. So they could keep it on file until they’re able to ’sell’ the information in accordance with these rules.

And now, with all their assets will be up for grabs and likely to be put on sale, it only makes it harder for the company to make good on it’s promise to keep the data secure.

Either way, Clear is gone, and there’s no fast lane for a quarter of a million people who forked out $199 a year.

You could be in your desired hotel room for less by using a few hacks.

Although hotels use “opaque sites” like Priceline and Hotwire to unload unsold inventory without diluting their brand names, with a little sleuthing customers can often figure out what hotel they’re booking. But as I recently found out, sleuths like me should beware, because if you play the game long enough, once in awhile you’re going to end up in the “wrong” property.

For my blog Frugalista, on Chicago Tribune partner site ChicagoNow, I summed up the techniques I use to figure out what no-name hotels are being offered on Priceline or Hotwire. These techniques are for using when you hope to stay at a specific property but don’t want to pay the publicly available rate:

1) Check the site you’re shopping on and other booking sites to find out how many stars your desired property is listed at. Note whether there are other properties with the same number of stars listed in the city or neighborhood.

2) Check whether the site you’re shopping on offers your desired hotel as a named property. I don’t know if this is a hard and fast rule, but I’ve noticed that if Priceline is offering a property upfront, you’re likely to find the very same place on the “name your own price” section.

3) Check a forum such as BetterBidding or BidonTravel to find out what hotels others have gotten recently by bidding in the same area you’re looking in. Usually you will notice that in a certain star category, everyone has gotten the same property. If this ISN’T the property you want, don’t bid because this is the property you’re likely to end up in!

4) If others are indeed getting your desired property, go ahead and figure out what to bid. This is something you can also learn from BetterBidding; people post the amounts of their winning and losing bids, often revealing the lowest possible price that will “win” the room. If you’re not sure what the lowest possible price is, and you have enough time, bid lower than the lowest price you see others have paid and try bidding again when allowed 24 hours later.

5) If you don’t get winning bid information from other travelers, just try bidding 50-75% less than published rates. BidonTravel’s tip sheet suggests checking rates for the same day of the week you’ll be traveling on.

In the past, I have used these techniques to get into the same hotel as other family members for a wedding and to get in the preferred spot for an urban getaway.

However, the techniques are NOT foolproof. Take this weekend, when my family is heading to a wedding near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I did my research, and felt pretty sure that the Hilton Garden, where the family was staying, was the only 2-1/2 star hotel in Oconomowoc, a small town west of the city. I went on Priceline and bid for 2-1/2 stars, only to be informed after bidding that I had been “upgraded” to a 3-star property across the freeway.

Oh well — maybe after a weekend of wedding activities, we’ll have had enough family togetherness by the time we hit the hotel anyway. And at least I paid less than half of what I would have paid through my desired hotel’s Web site or on the phone.

There was a warning that my scheme was not going to work out: Priceline had marked the 3-star category as the “best value” before I entered my bid. If you’re bidding and see such a mark on a higher star category, I would expect to be upgraded to the category Priceline is pushing, whether you like it or not.

Photo by Oakbrookterracehotels, used via Creative Commons license.

Alaskan cruise scenery

Carnival Cruise Lines’ CEO Micky Arison says earlier word that the company planned to file litigation relatively soon against Alaska’s $50 per passenger head tax was a misunderstanding.

That turns out to be especially unfortunate for our 49th state, because Arison amended his press conference comments on Tuesday to say that the cruise industry will challenge the tax. In other words, Alaskans have an even bigger fight on their hands to keep this particular revenue stream.

Sure, cruise lines have griped about this tax, approved by citizen referendum in 2006, all along. Arison is on record calling it “unconstitutional and, in fact, effectively illegal” in March. It goes hand in hand with his appearances at Alaskan legislative sessions pleading his case.

So far, the cruise industry has been limited to using capitalism to fight back: Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and NCL Corp. have said they can’t absorb the dwindling profit margins from floating in this part of the world, and announced they’re pulling capacity here for 2010. All of them blamed this head tax.

But when the U.S. Supreme Court put the lid on Valdez, Alaska’s tax on large cargo ships back on June 15, citing the Constitution’s “tonnage clause,” the 7-2 ruling opened the door for legal fights on the tourist tax as well. Lobbyist John Binkley with the Alaska Cruise Association wouldn’t be surprised if the challenge ends up being passengers in a class action suit, either. Joe Geldhof, the lawyer who cowrote this tax legislation, told local newspapers he thinks the issue is apples and oranges: the Supreme Court struck down the idea of taxing physical ships, not people.

In 2008, the state coffers collected $46.8 million from the passenger head tax. There’s no estimate on the hit the tourism industry could see from a decrease in ships calling at their ports.

Meanwhile, other prevailing voices inside the travel industry say the entire issue is a smoke and mirrors deflection. The real problem, they contend, is that we simply put too many cabins in that market to start with, creating a supply glut that drives prices — and thus profits — down.

Whatever the answer, average Joes who thought they could never afford to see Alaska are getting that chance this summer, with prices discounted by as much as 80 percent. Certainly I’m the last person on earth to deny companies their need to make a buck, but let’s hope the outcome in this situation allows more Americans the economic means to view this state.

Photography: Noel Zia Lee

Visitor Review allows customers to post videos on company sites.

It’s no secret that travel promoters are trying to make use of social media. High profile examples are the headline-grabbing efforts of a California winery and the government of Queensland, Australia, which offered “dream jobs” for lucky hires who were to post videos, blogs and Tweets about their boss’s pleasant destinations.

As fun as those actions were, everyone who uses social media understands that the best-received social media messages come from other travelers, not employees. That’s why I’m a lot more likely to take the advice of a random stranger whose review is posted on UpTake’s Napa page about what to do in wine country than from whoever Murphy-Goode hires to be their “lifestyle correspondent.” (They’re announcing the winner of the $10,000-a-month “job” July 21.)

This is why I’m intrigued by Visitor Review, a platform created by British company’s Digital Visitor that is up for a travel industry award in its home country. Visitor Review gives companies the technology to post visitor videos on the company Web site, turning satisfied customers into spokespeople to whom customers in the social media age might really listen. Of course, since the Web sites belong to the travel provider or organization, Visitor Review does not replace an unbiased forum like UpTake. The site using Visitor Review is going to want to hand-pick only the most complimentary reviews.

Still, the platform seems like a really useful tool to allow companies to get the word out about their good points in a very compelling format. Customers include the SS Great Britain and VisitBritain.com.

Photo by Jeffisageek, used via Creative Commons license.

Do airlines really want to give bored, angry passengers more ways to express themselves?

Last time I posted about how the government has fretted about security concerns as more airlines prepare to give passengers wireless access in-flight.

As protestors Tweet and Facebook the Tehran unrest around attempted government information barricades, it occurs to me that what airlines really should be worried about is passengers live-Tweeting their in-plane experiences.

What happens the next time passengers are stuck on a tarmac for eight hours, short on fresh water and air, not to mention baby formula and pizza? Wireless access could help make such a situation more bearable by alleviating boredom and helping stuck passengers make arrangements for onward travel once they get off the plane. Even without wireless, passengers with high-end cell phones can already Tweet and Facebook their misery to the public. Add the ability for every laptop-holder on the plane to blog and Tweet it, and a small customer service problem turns into a national, real-time public relations disaster for an airline.

Stories of torture-by-airplane are damaging enough when they’re reported after the fact. CNN’s Anderson Cooper recently Tweeted about a terrible flight experience, complete with a flight attendant who lost her cool in a lightning storm.

Imagine how much more impassioned and attention-getting those Tweets would have been if they’d been live. I can imagine passenger photos and videos making their way onto the content-starved 24-hour news channels, fairly or unfairly making the crew in such situations look really bad. And what if passengers who tend to overreact to a little turbulence start Tweeting that their planes are going down or that the pilot “must be drunk”?

And once the wireless is on, can you imagine the reaction if the crew decides to turn it off in a delay or other unfortunate event to prevent such PR disasters? Tehran-watchers haven’t seen anything compared to the kind of revolt that would foment.

Photo by elisfanclub, used via Creative Commons license.

Someone always has an opinion on anything, and as my mother always told us growing up: It never hurts to be optimistic.

Apparently a lot of travel industry leaders had their ears pressed to the windows and doors of our house, because I’m seeing this attitude in spades as travel figures out how to market itself when things get shaky.

Take Craig Banikowski, currently the global travel management director for Hilton Hotels Corp, who is running unopposed for the National Business Travel Association’s president and CEO spot, and should be named to this position at the August convention. (August seems to be the month of change, as Hilton moves into its new headquarters in McLean, Virginia, then, too.)  His official platform statement isn’t due out until the end of June, but he gave Travel Management a nice preview:

• Tough economic times are an opportunity for travel management expertise to show the industry just how effective this discipline can be. Suppliers tend to work more closely together to smooth out the highs and lows, and thus form a relationship that really kicks butt in better times as well.

• We need to keep up with technology. Banikowski personally loves Twitter. “I do think ListServ is an awesome tool, but we have to keep up with the times. Everything evolves,” he said.

• With mainstream media and the government ganging up on meetings and events. “now is not the time to put your head down and try to stay low under the radar,” Banikowski believes. The spotlight is on, it’s bright, and it’s time to perform.

Meanwhile, Vacation.com president and CEO Steve Tracas told his travel agents and vendors at its annual conference to stay the course, because travel is wired into the human experience and therefore “isn’t going anywhere any time soon.”

And early registration numbers for THETRADESHOW 2009 event in Las Vegas September 13 – 15 (brought to you by ASTA, ACTA, CLIA, ETOA, IGLTA, NACTA, NBTA, NTA, The Travel Institute, U.S. Travel Association and USTOA) are up 20 percent ahead of where they were last year at the “15 weeks to go” mark. Seminar topics include how to use social media as part of a marketing campaign.

But, my mother’s platitudes and pep talks aside, the real question becomes not can the travel industry survive, but will the players follow their own advice to that end? Share your opinion!

When Doug Parker, CEO of US Airways Group, told the National Post in late March that frequent flyer programs have hurt the industry — too many free trips, you know — it barely made a blip on the traval radar.

Frequent flyer programs aren't grounded yet

“The amount of our product we give away is not consistent with generating returns for shareholders and providing stability for employees,” he told reporters. Yet frequent-flyer miles are now a staple of U.S. travel. so airlines can’t retreat, and thus are trying to recoup lost revenue with the checked bags charges. That’s an estimated $500 million in US Airways’ pocket this year.

It’s certainly what most consumers have assumed for the past 18 months; as a travel agent, I’ve seen a marked decline in enthusiasm for racking up frequent flyer miles. A large chunk of Americans simply don’t trust the programs to be around when it’s their time to cash in — consider them the Social Security set up of the travel industry.

However, Rick Ferguson was listening, and as the editorial director of COLLOQUY, the custom magazine that interprets research from the loyalty marketing consultant of the same name, he certainly disagrees.

First, loyalty marketing is a way to use perishable inventory, i.e. empty seats on a scheduled flight. Every unbuckled seat belt lying across a cushion you can use as a floatation device in the case of a water landing represents a missed opportunity to flatter, impress and reward. As Ferguson points out, the only real costs on a balance sheet for filling this seat at the last minute is the extra fuel for the person and his lugggage  which they charged him for — a bag of peanuts nd a Diet Coke.

Second, airline executives have confided to Ferguson that they’ve made more money selling airline miles to partners than they do flying planes. Robert Sahadevan of United Airlines told attendes at the Frequent Travel Marketing Association conference that only 37 percent of the miles issued within its Mileage Plus program are actually used for ticket purchases. The other 43 percent are sold to third parties (credit card partners, hotels, etc.), which makes frequent flyer programs a valuable cash flow soarch approaching $5 billion by some market analysts’ calculators.

That’s a tad more than the luggage fee idea.

“The airline and the loyalty program are conjoined twins, sharing a heart and circulatory system. You might be able to separate them, but the surgery would be risky, and one or both of the twins might not survive,” Ferguson writes in COLLOQUY. “I may not know anything about running an airline, but I do know it’s usually not wise to mess with a good thing.”

Photography: Cliff1066

Paco Saldaña, director of guest services at The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, has been declared as the winner of the Faces of Travel Contest.

Paco Saldana, winner of 'Faces of Travel' contest

The U.S. Travel Association ran the video contest to find someone who could serve as the human face of the travel industry.

Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, said that “Paco is a great representative of the 7.7 million Americans whose jobs depend on travel. As a front-line worker whose family depends on travel, Paco is uniquely capable of addressing the consequences of the downturn in corporate meetings and events and the benefits of increasing travel to and within the United States.”

An expert panel narrowed the submissions to a list of six finalists and more than 16,000 votes were cast online at meetingsmeanbusiness.com. Chosen as the winner by the public, Saldaña receives a $5,000 prize and will serve as an industry spokesperson with media, policymakers and other stakeholders.

Paco Saldaña joined The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island as a server attendant in 1996, a year after emigrating from Mexico City to the United States. He quickly learned English and took on leadership positions at the hotel, earning U.S. citizenship along the way. Saldaña also met his wife, Christina, when she worked as a hostess in a restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island. They have three children now.

“I came to this country in search of the American dream, and as an employee of The Ritz-Carlton, I’ve been given the opportunity to achieve it,” says Saldaña. “But, like the millions of other ladies and gentlemen working in the travel industry, these aspirations will be cut short if we continue to suffer from a downturn in travel.”

The Faces of Travel contest was drummed up back in March by the USTA when the AIG Effect was having a devastating impact on corporate travel and meetings. The aim was to show people – politicians, media and other interested parties – that the travel industry is made up of ordinary people who stand to lose a lot if the industry is not adequately supported.

For more information on the contest and to download Paco’s video and photos, visit www.meetingsmeanbusiness.com/facesoftravel. To find Saldaña on Twitter and follow him throughout his trip to Washington, D.C., visit www.twitter.com/faceoftravel.

To see all of the other hundreds of video entries for the contest, visit www.youtube.com/user/ustravelassoc.