Travel Industry

On Sept 23, during the UN General Assembly, major players in the travel and tourism sector came together with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and World Bank President Robert Zoellick, to announce MASSIVEGOOD - an innovative travel-related fundraising initiative that will help finance health care for the world’s poor.

The program – managed by The Millennium Foundation for Innovative Finance for Health – will allow travelers to give a small $2 voluntary ‘micro-contribution’ every time they purchase travel services.

The contributions will go towards fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in developing countries, chanelled through a WHO-hosted organization, UNITAID.

The technology solution for MASSIVEGOOD was developed by Amadeus and can be integrated into all GDS systems and embedded in the regular booking system for airline tickets and other travel reservations. As a result, MASSIVEGOOD will make it easy for everyone who travels to make their micro-contributions through a simple click each time they book their reservation, whether online or through an agent.

Signatories include the World Travel & Tourism Council; Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport; Opodo, Orbitz and Travelocity; American Express Business Travel and Carlson Wagonlit Travel; Voyageurs du Monde; Mondial Assistance, and the Global Business Coalition on HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

MASSIVEGOOD is on track for launch in early 2010 in USA, UK, Spain, Germany and Austria, and has the potential to raise up to $1 billion in additional funding for global health during its first four years of operation.

For more information, visit www.massivegood.org/ and www.millennium-foundation.org/

Oklahoma has launched seven pilot programs as part of ECO (Encouraging Conservation in Oklahoma) - a sustainable travel initiative. 

Science Museum, Oklahoma

The seven pilot programs include the Colcord Hotel, Oklahoma City; Keystone State Park, Sand Springs; Maple Place Bed and Breakfast, Enid; Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, Oklahoma City; Oklahoma Tourism Information Center, Blackwell; Polo Grill, Tulsa; and Science Museum Oklahoma, Oklahoma City.

Interesting part is that ECO will also identify sustainable travel options such as lodging, restaurants and attractions so that tourists seeking green travel will have easy access to this information.

This taps right into filling one of the biggest holes in the sustainable travel sector. A recent US Travel Assoc. survey found that less than one-third (29%) say it is easy to find out about environmental policies and initiatives of travel service suppliers.

In the same survey, 51% of consumers said they will continue to patronize “green” travel service suppliers regardless of an economic downturn. In fact, nearly half (48%) of travelers say that continuing to support environmentally-responsible travel service suppliers is a necessity, even in an economic downturn.

What this means is that while travelers understand the importance of sustainable travel, many travel companies haven’t yet got the message.

If other states were to follow the examples set by states like Virginia (Virginia Green) and Oklahoma (ECO), and provide eco travel tips and a comprehensive listing of statewide certified green travel companies, environmentally conscious consumers would have more options to choose from.

ECO is a partnership between the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, and offers education, certification and marketing support for businesses who want to go green. 

They have also teamed up with Clean the World and The International Ecotourism Society. Shawn Seipler, executive director of Clean the World, said that ECO and members of the Oklahoma tourism industry will be working with Clean the World to collect ‘gently-used’ hotel soaps and shampoos which will be recycled and shipped to Third World countries to prevent illnesses and help save lives.

And two out of the seven pilot program properties are operated directly by Oklahoma Tourism, so it’s not just talk – they’re taking the trouble to show other travel companies in Oklahoma how to do it.

More details about ECO, visit the Oklahoma Tourism site’s ECO page – www.travelok.com/eco/

Photo by Wesley Fryer

Philip Bowman, chief executive of Smiths Group in London, has begun publicly complaining about the long security lines at European airports he frequents. In a speech in Brussels last week, he told his audience, “Sometimes I wonder whether the same energy and elan is always applied to relieving restrictions as is usually shown – for very good and understandable reasons – in imposing them.”

no liquids or gels

OK, so one of the divisions in his company designs and manufactures equipment to detect and identify explosives, weapons and contraband. And it just so happens the Department of Homeland Security is one of its major U.S. stakeholders. And he made headlines in the U.K. last year when he negotiated “first class where available” perks into his contract, a $10,000 pound car allowance and $336,000 pound pension every year in addition to his salary and bonuses.

Still, as self-serving as it may seem to advocate more countries adopt scanning technology at the airports, folks passing through Helena Regional Airport in Montana likely agree.

Late last week, it rolled out a CT-80 baggage screening machine by Reveal Imaging Technologies Inc. — equipment that can screen 225 bags per hour in an airport that typically serves just 350 passengers a day. The CT-80 works like an MRI machine does for medical purposes, scanning bags for explosives and other no-nos.

“Now, we’re light years ahead of most Montana airports,” said Philip Stuczynski, the Transportation Security Administration’s screening manager at Helena. No, Mr. Stuczynski, apparently you are ahead of the many world airports Philip Bowman frequents.

Photography: Fabio Mascarenhas (Flickr)

Kevin Luke May is the co-founder, editor and brains behind Tnooz (www.tnooz.com/), which launched in September 2009. A journalist for 16 years, Kevin May was the editor for Travolution prior to founding his own startup in Tnooz.

Kevin May, Editor - Tnooz

Tnooz

Published below is a Q&A with Kevin May, which reveals a fair bit about how and why Tnooz was launched, what makes it tick, and where it is heading to.

Question:  How did Tnooz come about? I mean, was it something which you had been thinking about and you felt it was the right time now, or was it triggered by a meeting with someone, or some event?
Kevin May: The Tnooz team decided that there was a hole in the B2B travel media marketplace for a global brand which is focused on travel technology, online distribution, digital markeing, social media and related disciplines. The web allows us to create that kind of media product in a far more exciting way than was possible in the days of print-based media.

Question: From the looks of it, you’re aggregating contributors from the across the world to offer both local and global perspectives. You think this will help attract a more global audience, instead of being limited to a specific region? Anything else you had in mind when you came up this concept?
Kevin May: I feel strongly that the aggregation of B2B travel media content is starting to dilute the overall value and message of the source content. Tnooz has taken a different approach, creating a roster of writers (we call them nodes) around the world who write new content for us, rather than Tnooz aggregating a raft of blogs and news sources.

Question: The PhocusWright Connection – Is it an official partnership? Other than the presence of Gene Quinn and Philip Wolf, what kind of role – if any – did PhocusWright have in the startup? Any plans for content sharing or other arrangements with PhocusWright?
Kevin May: We are an independent media company, seeking to have strategic partners with organisations around the world. We have to be research-neutral, sector-neutral and maintain our position as an analytical, edgy, accurate and valuable provider of news and commentary. We will write about PhoCusWright in the same objective way as any other research company, despite the connections, and also work with them and others to ensure we have relevant and useful content.

Question: Is Tnooz going to be more of a media publication or a platform for bloggers? I mean, do you have any editorial guidelines, oversight,etc. for what gets published?
Kevin May: Tnooz is a media business which has high quality articles at its core. We have a mixture of professional journalists and a range of industry bloggers and other experts in the sector. And, for me, there is no distinction between them all. They all produce unique content for Tnooz and in turn reach a wider and global audience.

Question: Related question – You studied criminology, became a member of the media at the Police Gazette, moved to the web at Media Week and towards the Travel Industry at Travolution. With Tnooz, you now move further down the road into Travel Tech, but still in media. Is Tnooz a career move, are you moving towards something you love doing, or do you just enjoy being on the move, so to speak?
Kevin May: I am journalist of 16 years and love what I do. Co-founding Tnooz with Gene Quinn and Fred Lalonde is a career move of sorts away from the structure and culture of a traditional media company to a start-up. But I still enjoy getting my hands dirty by reporting, analysing and editing, and coordinating teams of great writers.

Question: I read a quote from you, which says “remember your core readership and keep an eye on the competition.” Can you expand on that, as relates to Tnooz? What kind of reader profile are we looking at here? And who do you consider as your main competition?
Kevin May: It’s simple: sit still and you’ll be yesterday’s news in next to no time. Modern media requires agility in technology and the ability to test ideas which enthuse your own audience as well as attract new readers. We are targeting anyone who works in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry with an interest or responsibility for technology, marketing, media and distribution.

Question: In another recent interview, you mention that Tnooz is ‘developing a number of information services which have never been provided before on a global scale.’ Is the TJobs section one of these services? What other services do you offer, or plan to offer?
Kevin May: You will find out in the coming weeks and months. We don’t give away our trade secrets beforehand!

Question: Your launch was great – built up anticipation and doled out information in dribbles. What kind of marketing strategy does Tnooz have in mind, going forward?
Kevin May: We coined the phrase non-marketing marketing early on. This simply meant that we seeded a few key places with information (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) and let the community take over. The buzz ahead of the site’s soft-launch was fantastic and we couldn’t have asked for a better response. We have a number of initiatives in the pipeline, but the best method of growing a media brand is by constantly producing unique and engaging content.

Question: Again, related question – I understand there is no Venture Capital involved. Will that be true going forward, or are you open to investment, if it helps you achieve your growth targets?
Kevin May: We keep our business strategy to ourselves and will do our corporate work behind the scenes, like most companies.

Question: Anything else you’d like to add about Tnooz?
Kevin May: Keep watching, it’s going to be a fascinating ride.

On Monday, September 21, 1009, Travel Insights 100 officially launched, it is officially described as a partnership between UpTake, Sentias and BootsnAll Travel Network. But it is more than that, it is really a partnership of 100 members interested in learning about and informing others about all aspects of travel.

Travel Insights 100 members are experts from across the travel industry and around the world. Each member volunteered to share their knowledge and experience with the group and provide valuable and insightful feedback to benefit the travel community.

Each member also agreed to respond to surveys designed to gather their opinions on travel-industry related subjects covering social media, topical news stories and trends.The first survey asked the  members about their use of Twitter, their predictions, and how a consumer could use it for travel.

Here is a recap of the coverage on the survey results. It was covered by the Travel Insight members and other leading publications in the travel sphere:

Check out "This Just In" for a summary of the predictions

Sean O’Neill of This Just In, Budget Travel–recapped the member’ predictions on Twitter’s future in 140 characters or less. My favorite was #6, “At some point they’re going to want money from someone.”  Don’t we all.

A Traveler's Library delivered an insightful post summarizing results

Vera Marie Badertscher at A Traveler’s Library delved into the data to see how traveler’s used twitter. It was not too surprising to find that 97% of the respondents are on twitter, and 56% checked Twitter more than four times a day. As she said, ” it is safe to say that this is a very social-networking-kind-of-group.”

PhocusWright offered guidance throughout the launch process

Joe Buhler, at PhocusWright, declared the survey, “contains some revealing statistics and comments about this hot micro-blogging tool many can no longer imagine doing business without.” Thanks, Joe.

We also want to thank the team at PhocusWright for their support, encouragement and advice  throughout the launch of this project. Based on the service we received, other firms should call PhocusWright immediately for all their research needs.  The PhocusWright team is simply incredible.

Gadling

Scott Carmichael at Gadling, commented that “Travel Insights 100 reveals the importance of Twitter in the Travel World” and showcased the slideshare of  the results. He also declared the group, “a real who’s who in the travel industry.  (Yes, he is a member.) But I agree, it can grow to be a powerful voice.  I also want to thank Willy Volk of Gadling for his help. Their involvement began as a business call about another subject and evolved into seven of the Gadling members joining.

Hotel I Tour

Claude Benard, a respected consultant to the hotel and tourism industry discussed the survey results on his acclaimed blog, HotelITour, and  gave a review of the entire program.

Hotelmarketing.com

HotelMarketing.com, the online source for online travel and hospitality news showcased the survey results by summarizing the travel bloggers take on  Twitter.

BootsnAll Travel Network

Sean Keener of BootsnAll, titled his post, “How Does Twitter Fit Into Your Backpack?“  As he said, “the most interesting answers were how businesses and people can use Twitter effectively and how it can be used for travel planning.

Examiner discusses social media & travel

Sarah Brown at the Examiner summarized the All About Twitter survey results and selected her favorite insight from the survey results, “Don’t be boring.” She also posted  a helpful  list of the Hot Hotels on Twitter in the same article.  Check it out if you are interested in hotels that use Twitter effectively.

If you want to learn more about Travel Insights 100 or the survey, here are more helpful links with all the details:

1.  Travel Insights 100 site for a list of members, twitter accounts, blog posts and research: http://www.uptake.com/travelinsights100

2. Social media release for a fact check or two: http://www.uptake.com/travelinsights100/travel-insights-100-survey-reveals-how-twitter-is-being-used-by-the-travel-industry/

3. Slideshare summary for a quick PowerPoint summary: http://www.uptake.com/travelinsights100/research/

4. Original research, if you really love data: http://www.zoomerang.com/Shared/SharedResultsPasswordPage.aspx?ID=L23YVNZ7J745

5.  To follow Travel Insights 100 on Twitter with one click: http://tweepml.org/?t=168

6. The Travel Insight 100 Twitter account is: @ti100

We hope to see you and the rest of the travel world on Twitter.

Hyatt responds to outcry

The Hyatt responds to the public outcry,  just announced they will offer positions to their recently fired staff.

“BOSTON (September 25, 2009) – All housekeepers affected by August staff reductions at the three Hyatt hotels in Boston will be offered new full-time positions in the Boston market. The jobs, which will be provided by an affiliate of United Service Companies, will match the employees’ previous Hyatt rate of pay through the end of 2010. The Boston Hyatt hotels will extend healthcare coverage through March 31, 2010 for the employees who choose to accept positions with United Service Companies, after which they will have the option to obtain health care benefits through their new employer.

“We are committed to supporting all of our associates, especially when they are negatively affected by business decisions made necessary by the most difficult economic environment in decades,” said Phil Stamm, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Boston and chair of a local Hyatt management task force formed to assist the displaced workers. “Every housekeeping employee who wants a job will have one. That’s our promise.”

Affected employees who wish to pursue a different employment path are being offered career services and training opportunities through a partnership Hyatt has formed with Manpower and Right Management. Employees opting to participate in the career services and retraining program will receive financial support equal to their Hyatt rate of pay through March 2010 or until they secure permanent jobs, whichever comes first.  “We’re pleased to be able to support our employees with retraining and job search assistance provided by a highly respected employment and placement firm,” said Stamm.

“We are meeting with these individuals to fully explain their options, answer their questions and ease the transition,” said Michael Hickey, general manager of Hyatt Regency Cambridge, also a member of the task force. “The task force we set up accomplished what we set out to do.  We believe the creative solutions we’re offering are responsive to the concerns expressed throughout our community, and are consistent with Hyatt’s core values as well as our responsibility to manage our properties prudently in this very difficult economy.”

“We sincerely hope these efforts demonstrate the respect we have for our associates and renew the community’s faith in Hyatt. Contrary to the way our actions have been characterized by many, we did attempt to implement this staffing change in a respectful manner and many of the assertions that have been made are false. We do, however, recognize and regret that we did not handle all parts of the transition in a way that reflects our organization’s values, ” said Stamm.”

This is a very generous offer from Hyatt. The fired housekeepers are well advised to accept the new jobs. Also, the governor and other organizations who raised the outcry against the Hyatt no longer have  reason to create more issues, instead they should publicly thank the Hyatt for their quick response.

At the end of the day, the Hyatt did the right thing. This episode will be old news within another 3-4 days.

Related Releases & Posts

You’ll find Hyatt’s statements here – http://www.hyattpressroom.com/SearchPRResponse.asp

And this is Governor’s letter to Hyatt CEO – http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/hyatt.pdf

UpTake’s related posts:

• Massachusetts State Workers to Boycott Hyatt
  
• Boston Up In Arms Over Hyatt Housekeeping Firings

Google has enhanced the functionality of Google Maps with an exciting new tool – Place Pages for Google Maps. Each Place Page has all the relevant information – photos, videos, reviews, related websites, popular attractions, maps, directions, etc. – listed on one single page.

Place Pages for Google Maps - Snapshot

And the thing that makes it so awesome is that there is a literally a Place Page for every place in the world. You can find all the information you want about businesses, points of interest, transit stations, neighborhoods, landmarks and cities all over the world.

You do a search on Google Maps, and if you click on “more info” in search results, or on ”more info” in the mini-bubble, it takes you to the Place Page. The photos are powered by Panoramio, videos by youtube.

A search for Katz’s Deli in New York resulted in a page where the overview included all the usual stuff such as a menu, pricing, dining style, maps and location.

And then you have separate sections for photos & videos; user reviews from TripAdvisor, Citysearch and other sources; web pages devoted to the place; and user content such as wikipedia pages and flickr photo sets.

Place Pages for Google Maps - Snapshot

The overall impression, once you check out one of these pages, is that you don’t really need to go anywhere else. Everything you need to know about ‘the’ place is aggregated right there – on that one page.

If you’re a business owner, you can add or update your business details through Google’s Local Business Center.

As of now, cities and most businesses have their own URL under google.com/places. For example, New York is google.com/places/us/new-york/new-york-city. And San Francisco is google.com/places/us/california/san-francisco-city.

Question is, are these Place Pages going to compete in web search results? They’re not completely kept out of search results - a few queries, closely tied to the page titles, did return these pages. But as of now, the use of Place Pages looks to be limited for use with Google Maps.

Even so, given the massive reach and visitor base for Google Maps, its a virtual guarantee that Place Pages will very quickly become a go-to source for checking out restaurants and other consumer-oriented businesses where reviews matter a great deal.

$5 joy

What’s the magic number?

When it comes to attracting folks to restaurants, that would be $5. According to the Nation’s Restaurant News, both quick-service and fast-casual categories have led the way during the recession by offering meal combos at a $5 price. (Can you sing it with me now: “Five dollar, five dollar, five dollar foot looooongs.” Thanks, Subway.)

Now even more upscale dining options are jumping on this price point. Take, for instance, Asia de Cuba in Los Angeles, which spent the summer serving up crab croquettes, tuna tataki or lobster pot stickers at lunch for $5. They even threw in $5 mojitos. 

“We have never been as aggressive with pricing as we are now,” Patric Yumul, vice president of operations for the company that owns Stonehill Tavern (yes, they are serving $5 Maine lobster roll sliders or BBQ Berkshire port belly at the St. Regis Resort in Dana Point, California, of all places) told the newspaper. He’s not alone — the article lists the Four Seasons restaurant in Washington D.C. among other dinner deals for a Lincoln bill.

The return on investment has been all over the map. Some restaurant managers in this category say that patrons are spending more than merely $5 at their tables (although still not the $35 – $40 per check they used to get), thanks to upselling techniques. Others haven’t picked up any steam from their $5 lunch deals.

Wolfing down the deals

Among the chain restaurants around the country revamping to meet the $5 price point:

TGI Friday’s, which sold a steak sandwich previously priced at $11.45, among other salad and soup combinations. The current deal: $5 Jack Daniel’s burger or chicken sandwiches and fries OR $5 off any other Jack Daniel’s grill item.

Steak n Shake, which came up with the clever 4 Under $4 slogan for its specially priced sandwich and fries combo.

Gold Star Chili will gladly sell you a coney meal for $5.

Boston Market rolled out its $5 in the middle of the menu in August 2008.

Shoney’s $5 breakfast bar brings out the bargain hunters first thing in the morning.

Meanwhile, Buffalo Wings and Rings has held out, using its sports connection to keep prices at their normal levels. After all, $8 to $12 is still a cheap way to watch your favorite football team when you can’t snag a ticket. 

The National Restaurant Association has labeled 2009 the most challenging year for food operations in decades. “We called it the $5 phenomenon,” says Maria Caranfa, director of Mintel Menu Insights, a market research firm in Chicago. “Now, that’s an understatement. Value has been a huge touchpoint with consumers this year.”

Photography: Julie Sturgeon

It was on Aug 29, 2005, that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and blew away most everything – including the city’s tourism industry. The intervening four years have been harsh but it now looks like the Big Easy is getting over the Katrina hangover, and the tourism facilities and numbers are inching towards crossing pre-katrina levels.

The Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans

Before Katrina, New Orleans had 130 hotels and 809 restaurants. Today, there are 119 hotels and 1,031 restaurants. Last year, 7.6m people visited New Orleans. Before Katrina, the annual average was 8.5m visitors. And most important, there were 18,000 FEMA trailers in Jefferson Parish 3 years ago. Now there are 10.

And there are strong symbolic signs of a revival. For starters, the iconic Roosevelt Hotel reopened earlier in the summer after a $145m renovation. They’re holding a grand opening party during the weekend of October 23-25 and it’s meant not just as relaunch for the hotel, but for all of New Orleans.

Secondly, there finally looks to be a solution to the mess that is the Six Flags Theme Park - wrecked by Katrina, shuttered and abondoned by a bankrupt theme park operator who won’t let anyone else take it over.

On Sept 18, the City of New Orleans finally moved to terminate it’s lease  agreement with Six Flags Inc. The agreement is to be presented to the bankruptcy court in Delaware on Oct 8.  If approved, Six Flags will pay the City $3m in cash and 25% of all Katrina related insurance payments due to the park.

And the agreement also leads to an automatic dismissal of all litigation between New Orleans and Six Flags related to the park, which clears the way for it’s reopening under new management.

And lastly, New Orleans is moving to fill a unique niche in the Meetings and events sector. After the AIG effect hit corporate America, fun destinations like Vegas and Orlando have largely been left off the table, and the alternatives have been low-profile destinations like Detroit.

New Orleans, on the other hand, has no such limitations. Even though it is a prominent leisure destination, corporate meetings or events held in the Big Easy will be shielded from criticism as the money spent will be considered a contribution towards rebuilding New Orleans.

That is one of the reasons that the 12 Marriott hotels in New Orleans have launched a new promo aimed at meeting planners.  Submit an online RFP for a qualifying Value Date meeting at one or more of the participating New Orleans Marriott Hotels and you will be entered to win a hybrid car, including insurance and maintenance, for one year.

Visit the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau here – www.neworleanscvb.com/

Photo by infrogmation.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has decided to ask State workers to boycott the Hyatt unless Hyatt rehires the fired housekeepers at their three Boston hotels – the Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and Hyatt Harborside Hotel.

In a letter to Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian, Gov. Patrick said that he was disappointed by Hyatt’s unwillingness to reconsider their firing of  housekeepers from their three hotels in Boston and replacing them with workers from an outsourcing firm, and that he understood how difficult it is to manage under the current economic situation, but unless Hyatt reconsiders, he will direct all state workers to stay away from Hyatt.

Here’s an excerpt from the letter sent by Gov. Patrick to Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian on Sept 22, 2009:

“Again, I ask Hyatt to reconsider the decision to replace these workers. Barring that, I will direct all state employees not to use Hyatt when traveling or for other purposes for the foreseeable future. This is not how I like to operate. But the treatment of these workers apprears to be so substandard that it leaves me no choice.”

Background information here. I think its safe to say that the fired employees will have their jobs back at most by next week, but probably this week itself.

Update 1: Sept 23, 2009 – Statement from Phil Stamm, General Manager of Hyatt Regency Boston, in response to Gov. Patrick’s proposed Hyatt boycott – “We do not understand why the Governor is putting more Massachusetts jobs at risk instead of working with us to find jobs for employees affected by the realities of these unprecedented economic challenges.”

I don’t think Hyatt realizes just how deep this hole is. This is a no-win situation, and digging in and sticking to their ground is just going to get them in even more trouble. If the official and/or labor boycott spreads beyond Massachusetts, no amount of backtracking is going to help them afterwards.