It’s almost time for the EyeforTravel Travel Distribution Summit North America 2010 (Oct 13-14 at the Westin Michigan Ave in Chicago). This is the last of a four part series of posts highlighting the four separate conferences that make up the TDS summit, as outlined below.

EyeforTravel TDS Revenue Management

1. Online Sales & Distribution
2. Revenue Management
3. Mobile Technology & Travel
4. Social Media Strategies

A full introduction to the summit is included in part 1.  The travel industry has seen extraordinary changes in the past 12 months as the US climbs back up and out of the recession, and we’re not done yet.

Those who offered deep discounts during the recession aren’t sure which way to go now – Is there going to be an upswing, and if so, how to reverse the pendulum and own the upswing? Airlines are raking in big bucks by not adding capacity and piling on ancillary fees. What about packaging and ancillary revenue for hotels, resorts and cruise companies?  The market has shrunk, and there’s not enough room for all the old players now. Are there any new revenue management options for a joint corporation venture?

Experts at the Revenue Management summit spread over both days will be discussing all these and other RM issues. A few highlights from the agenda:-

Forecasts & Predictions: The TDS RM agenda begins with some tea leaf peeping on Day 1 as Chinmai Sharma, VP Revenue Management, Wyndham Worldwide Hotels and Resorts and Greg Cross, SVP of Revenue Management, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts tell us what to expect for the future in the Revenue Management field.

Among the questions that will be answered in the opening session – Is talk of recovery premature for the North American Travel industry? How are oil and fuel prices affecting cruise companies and airlines?

Best Practice Discounting to Sustain Rate Integrity: Questions that will be asked and answered during this session, which is one of the most important sessions among all 4 conferences, include – What are the proposed discounting best practices for 2010 and onwards? When is the best time to discount? How do you own the upswing and fix the mess made by too much discounting?

Attendees will learn how to stall demand for discounting and revert price stability, how to re-shift revenue reliance from third party sites to your direct site to capture a higher percentage of direct net revenue, and most importantly – how best to avoid discounting in the first place.

Speakers for this session include:-

Questions that will be answered include the prickly issue of integrating codeshare and mapping from two different RM and Distribution systems, and new revenue management options for the joint corporation venture.

Speakers for this session include:-

Melissa Skluzacek, Director – Pricing & Revenue Management, Midwest Airlines

Brad Hauert, Manager, Forecasting & Operations Research, Frontier Airlines

Capitalize on Packaging and Ancillary Revenues: Doug Hesley, Corporate Director of Revenue Management, Norwegian Cruise Lines, will be speaking about packaging/bundling your product, upcoming legislations for ancillary revenues, and how not to let the push for ancillary revenues damage your brand.

This session will also shed some light on the real numbers and statistics for ancillary revenues, and will try to answer which way this trend is heading.

See the full Revenue Management agenda of EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit North America.

The Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism has launched a new ad campaign that bills itself as an alternative desert destination to Las Vegas. The controversial part is that the campaign and each ad is explicitly titled “Palm Springs vs. Las Vegas.”

Each ad explicitly disses Las Vegas for being too urban and ugly, with traffic, fake Eiffel towers and giant neon cowboys that leave little chance to enjoy the natural landscape.

One ad has the tagline “Getting high means something completely different to us” along with a picture of the Palm Springs Aerial tramway climbing up against the backdrop of Mt. San Jacinto.

Palm Spings vs Las Vegas

Another ad says that “It’s a wonderful place to wash the rest of the world off.” The picture shows a guest enjoying a spa treatment in a natural mineral pool, followed by text that says “Oh, it can be a dirty, dirty world out there, can’t it? Fortunately, there’s a terrific place to wash it all off. (As opposed to drinking yourself into a stupor with a three-foot plastic souvenir cup.)”

Other ads have taglines like “Vacation in sweet desert air. As opposed to bus and taxi exhaust” and “We don’t blow up our 50-year old architecture.”

The concept is that Palm Springs hopes to let people know that it is a mini-Vegas without the hassles and crowds. It’s an odd way to do it, to be sure, and Vegas might not take too kindly to being dissed like this. But Mary Jo Ginther, Director of Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism, explains that the ad concept is to highlight the reason why travelers visit both Las Vegas and Palm Springs…year-round sunshine, easy accessibility and a festive atmosphere.

Ginther adds that “But, as we all know, Palm Springs has a more relaxed pace. It is a shorter drive, no traffic, no long check-in lines, and plus, you can be lounging by the pool hours earlier… It’s just a different experience here… We love Vegas, and know that visitors will come to love Palm Springs as much, or even more.”

Palm Springs logo

To go along with the ad campaign, Palm Springs also unveiled a new logo and tagline – “Like no place else” and they intend to hammer this anti-Vegas theme all year long with a $600,000 ad spend on the campaign. The campaign was created by Andrew Wilkin LLC, San Bernardino.

There’s a long history of destinations coming up with ad campaigns that have tried to take the moral high ground against Sin City’s brand and iconic tagline ”What Happens here, Stays here.” The most recent example is New York’s Get More NYC campaign.

The EyeforTravel Travel Distribution Summit North America 2010 kicks off Oct 13-14, 2010 at The Westin Michigan Avenue in Chicago. An introduction to the summit can be found in Part 1 of this 4-part series on TDS North America 2010.

EyeforTravel - TDS - Mobile Tech & Travel

There will be four separate conferences, as outlined below.

Following the Sept 8 start of the $10 ESTA fee for visitors from visa waiver countries, US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has announced the Corporation for Travel Promotion’s initial board of 11 directors.

Board of Directors - Corp. for Travel Promotion

Listed below are the Corporation for Travel Promotion’s initial board of directors, appointed by US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke:-

Caroline Beteta, President and CEO, California Travel & Tourism Commission

Stephen Cloobeck, Chairman and CEO, Diamond Resorts International

George Fertitta, CEO, NYC & Company

Daniel Halpern, President and CEO, Jackmont Hospitality, Inc.

Tom Klein, President, Sabre Holdings

David Lim, Chief Marketing Officer, Amtrak

Mark Schwab, Senior Vice President-Alliances, International and Regulatory Affairs

Diane Shober, Tourism Director, State of Wyoming

Al Weiss, President, Worldwide Operations, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts

Roy Yamaguchi, Owner and Founder, Roy’s Restaurant

Lynda S. Zengerle, Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP

The CTTC’s Caroline Beteta, one of the directors appointed to the new board, said in a statement that “Now that our industry finally has the resources and federal backing to better compete in the global marketplace, it is critical that the new Corporation for Travel Promotion and its board maintain this historic momentum and continue growing the country’s $704 billion travel industry, which supports 8.2 million American jobs, generates tax revenues and promotes cross-cultural understanding and peace.”

Both the ESTA fee and the non-profit Corporation for Travel Promotion were authorized as part of the Travel Promotion Act signed into law by the President in March 2010.

The $10 ESTA fee (plus an administrative fee of $4) will be used to match private sector contributions to fund a $200 million annual marketing program to promote and facilitate international tourism to the United States.

The private sector fundraising is a key component because the Corporation gets matching funds from the federal govt equivalent to whatever they raise from the private sector, upto a maximum of $100 million.

As per projections in an Oxford Economics report, the travel promotion efforts could generate $4 billion in new international consumer spending in the United States annually.

The Corporation’s plan of action is to hire an executive director, develop a global marketing strategy and begin a private sector fundraising effort with a maximum annual target of $100 million, including in kind contributions to facilitate the activities of the Corporation.

Related posts:-
Nuts & Bolts of the Travel Promotion Act
Commerce Secretary Meets with Tourism Advisory Board in New Orleans
$14 ESTA Fee Takes Effect Sept 8