Fall travel surveys show a marked disconnect between the Labor Day holiday weekend and the rest of the fall travel season’s numbers. Compared to last year, anticipated Labor Day figures are down while expected fall travel is much more upbeat.

Klamath Lake - Fall travel

According to the AAA, 31.5 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the Labor Day holiday weekend. This is a 2.4 percent decrease from 2010, and that’s without factoring in the impact of Hurricane Irene.

Travel providers in the Northeast are reporting significant cancellations for Labor Day from those affected and still dealing with flooding and cleanups in Irene’s wake.

According to a TripAdvisor survey published before Irene hit the East Coast, 28 percent of travelers intend to travel for Labor Day weekend this year, same as last year.

Sixty percent of those traveling expect to drive, and 34 percent plan to fly. Twenty-six percent will take outdoor trips, 24 percent will take city escapes and another 24 percent will take beach trips.

“AAA is projecting a decrease in the number of Labor Day travelers as some Americans react to recent economic uncertainty and increasing air fares,” said Glen MacDonell, director, AAA Travel Services. “While automobile travel is expected to increase slightly, if recent declines in gasoline prices continue through Labor Day, we could see an increase in last-minute holiday weekend travel.”

The fall travel numbers are a lot more optimistic. According to the annual Travel Leaders fall travel trends survey, 55.3 percent of its 443 agents responded that fall bookings are higher compared to last year’s.

When asked for a personal outlook on business for the remainder of 2011, an overwhelming 71.1 percent of respondents say that they were optimistic, while 20.5 percent are neutral about it.

Roger E. Block, president of Travel Leaders Franchise Group, said, “We are encouraged that Americans—whether for business or leisure—are continuing to travel, and more frequently than a year ago despite the uncertainty we’ve seen recently in our country’s economic indicators.”

The TripAdvisor survey similarly shows a lot of pent-up optimism for fall travel, with 86 percent of travelers planning leisure trips this fall, compared to 74 percent that say they traveled for fun last autumn.

Thirty-seven percent of travelers in the TripAdvisor survey say they intend to spend more than they did last fall on leisure trips, while 46 percent plan to spend about the same amount. Nearly half (48 percent) feel the fall is the most economical season to travel.

The top fall destinations in the TripAdvisor survey are New York City, Las Vegas, Orlando, Chicago and San Francisco. Travel Leaders agents indicate their most booked fall destinations are Las Vegas, Orlando, Honolulu, New York City and Kahului (Maui), Hawaii.

Photo – Walter Siegmund

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Every company about to go public has to endure a fair amount of scrutiny, and there are always a few pre-IPO jitters. But what’s happening with Groupon is unprecedented, and the hits just keep coming.

Groupon

Back in June, when it was still the fastest growing company with a 2,241 percent growth in 2010, Groupon pocketed $950 million from private investors and filed for a $750 million public offering.

Given the company’s size ($713.4 million in 2010 revenue) and market reach (115 million subscribers as of Q2 2011; launched in 34 new countries and 500 new markets in 2010), that is impressive.

But then the hits started coming in, including accusations of creative accounting, a growth slowdown, lack of cash on hand, a privacy inquiry from lawmakers, a false ad lawsuit, a whole bunch of fired employees in its China partnership, and lastly—a wobbly valuation that swung wildly from $15 billion to $25 billion, then $30 billion and back down to $16 billion.

Most companies would be unable to respond adequately to such a barrage of serious accusations and negative publicity. But it is even more difficult for Groupon given that SEC regulations make it hard for companies that have just filed for an IPO to disclose new information to the media that is not disclosed in its filing.

This basically means that anytime Groupon feels like it has to refute an allegation, it would have to go back to the SEC with an amended filing. This is why the company has been mostly quiet while the media has had a field day with all the “Groupon is in trouble” stories.

Groupon did make a few quick changes, such as bringing in executives from its German acquisition Citydeal to manage sales. Citydeal was previously used by Groupon to kick off its international operations.

Now, Groupon CEO and co-founder Andrew Mason has had enough and penned a long memo to employees wherein he tackles the allegations head-on. There’s a lot to digest in the letter, but as far as the Groupon IPO and the travel industry are concerned, the following excerpts should be enough.

“For now we must patiently and silently endure a bit more public criticism as we prepare to birth this IPO baby — a breed for which there are no epidurals. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that we’re almost on the other side, and the negativity leaves us well-positioned to exceed expectations with an IPO baby that, having seen the ultrasound, I can promise you is not one of those uglies.”

And this: “Groupon Getaways will do $10M in its first calendar month — which you might think is awesome, but we’re actually disappointed with those results because we know how much better we’ll be doing soon.”

Once it gets past the IPO, things will indeed be a lot easier for Groupon. Given the performance of the Groupon Getaways partnership with Expedia, Groupon now has a firm foothold in the travel industry, regardless of its overall growth slowdown and other problems.

Photo - wovox

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Feature 1: Travel search is about ready to take the next leap, courtesy of next-generation search engines like Hopper and Ness, and new products like the Google Hotel Finder.

Ness search app

Ness Computing announced a $5 million series A funding round back in July, and now it’s ready to launch its app, starting with restaurants.

Ness is a personal search-engine app that provides users with content from trusted friends and results tailored to each individual person’s preferences.

The app intelligently adapts to a user’s tastes over time. Its so-called “Likeness Engine” uses collaborative filtering, social graph data mining and natural language processing.

“Existing search engines don’t have a sense of who you are; they just know what’s available,” said Corey Reese, CEO and co-founder of Ness Computing. “Ness is a better way to discover new restaurants on the go, because its results are specifically tailored to you. The future of search lies in anticipating the wants of the consumer and delivering intelligent, personally relevant results.”

Ness launches personal search engine, starting with restaurants – Likeness.com (pr)
Hopper raises $8 million to reinvent travel search - Hopper.travel (pr)
Google Hotel Finder clients pleased with results - HNN
Hacker Fares: A new way to find deals on flights - Kayak

Feature 2: The long awaited sale of ancillary products by air carriers using an electronic miscellaneous document (EMD) kicked off with a sale by ARC on behalf of American Airlines. This initial EMD transaction was for a “preferred seat” on Flight 523 from Dallas/Fort Worth to El Paso, Texas, and placed via American’s direct connect technology provider, Farelogix.

EMDs allow agency customers a one-stop shopping window where they can pay for items like extra baggage and premium seats at the same time their tickets are purchased.

ARC processes first travel agent EMD transaction - ARC Corp
Frontier Airlines parent CEO eyes new online-ticket sales strategies – Denver Business Journal
AmEx to launch new online travel booking platform – AmericanExpress.com

Here’s the rest of the week’s interesting news:

Global business travel spending to rise 9.2 percent in 2011 - GBTA
GBTA acquires Project ICARUS to create global sustainability program - GBTA
IHG announces Innovation Hotel version 2.0 sustainable hotel design website – IHG

JWT named Agency of Record for America’s first global marketing campaign - CTP
U.S. Travel discusses impact of 9/11 – USTA

The psychology of travel – Chicago Tribune
Sabre Travel Network says business travel is personal - Sabre Holdings

Orbitz launches 50 Faves Facebook game - Facebook
RCI launches “share your vacation” app for Facebook - Wyndham Worldwide
Marriott launches mobile app for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android devices - Marriott

Virtual concierges streamline hotel experiences - UpTake
Paris airport tests virtual ‘hologram’ boarding agents – Yahoo! News

East Coast earthquake traveled slower than tweets – Philly Biz Journal
Free Travel Guard travel assistance for Hurricane Irene - UpTake

Interview: TSA Administrator John Pistole – BTN
Interview: HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples - MarketWatch
Benchmark plops down $7.6 million to make CouchSurfing a for-profit – VentureBeat

Photo – Ness Computing

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The first major hurricane of the 2011 season, Irene, has already been pummeling its way through the Caribbean and is now headed for the East Coast of the United States. If it stays on course, it will be the first hurricane to hit New York City and the Northeast since Hurricane Bob in 1991, and the first hurricane to hit the country since 2008.

To assist those who might get caught in the storm, Travel Guard North America has announced that it will provide free emergency travel and medical assistance to all U.S. and Canadian travelers impacted by Hurricane Irene, even those who had not purchased travel insurance policies. Services include flight rebooking, hotel booking, emergency cash coordination and message relay, as well as emergency medical assistance including referrals, and access to air ambulance and medical providers.

Travelers and their families seeking Travel Guard’s assistance services can reach the company directly by calling (866) 644-6811. Free assistance will continue to be offered so long as the storm is still classified as a hurricane, said a company spokesperson. The company also offered free services to all travelers last year during Hurricane Earl.

Typically, for hurricane-related losses to be covered, travel insurance must be purchased before a hurricane is named, said Carol Mueller, vice president, Travel Guard. Once a warning is issued, however, losses resulting from a named hurricane on, before or fewer than 14 days after the effective date of coverage are excluded.

Though Hurricane Irene is the first Atlantic hurricane of the season, it may not be the last. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) hurricane outlook for 2011 indicates an above-normal Atlantic season, which runs through November 30.

“We’ve had a few calm hurricane seasons, which can lead to complacency when it comes to travel planning,” said Mueller. “Hurricane Irene is a good reminder that major travel disruptions can arise quickly during hurricanes and other severe weather situations, so it’s important to be prepared. A travel insurance plan is one of the best ways for travelers to maintain confidence about their travel plans.”

Travelers also should keep in mind that even if their final destination is not affected by a hurricane, they may still experience trip disruptions due to hurricane-related airline delays and cancellations.

For more information about Travel Guard, visit www.travelguard.com or call (800) 826-1300.

Photo: Satellite image from NASA/U.S. Government

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