Travel Weekly Blog

The point of blogs: A reply to our own columnist...

2009-11-05T17:23:03Z

I don't flatter myself that readers pore over our Thursday email alerts in search of contradictions.

But if you were so minded, you would have spotted this today:

On the left, our travel agent columnist decrying blogging; on the right, five posts from Travel Weekly bloggers.

A contributing columnist and a web editor are not obliged to agree, of course. And we don't.

While I don't know the family Maureen is writing about, it strikes me that you could take the same scenario and give it a positive reading. Like so:

A couple go on a road trip. Travel excites them so much that they want to document it. They write and post photos, which allows the family and friends left behind to feel closer to them. This seems to work, because their parents knew what they're up to, share their enthusiasm and want to pass it on. A bit annoying, but heigh-ho - we all know what Proud Parents are like.

For me, the main misapprehension in Maureen's piece is that bloggers expect everyone to read their every word. I don't know a single one that does (and I know a lot).

Did any TW Blog readers see the column? Thoughts?

WTM Steps: A pedometer contest for the Twitterati

2009-11-04T16:43:35Z

There'll be loads of online travel types at World Travel Market, and everyone ends up walking a ridiculous distance. So I'm suggesting an informal contest.

Get yourself a pedometer - there may still be time to nab one of the Just A Drop charity ones - and keep track of how far you've walked.

Then tweet it with the hashtag #wtmsteps.

Post daily stats if you want - some folks are only there for one day
Post a final total on Friday

I'm fully expecting to lose, since I'll be in Travel Weekly's goldfish-bowl press room (UKI2155) most of the time...

Oh - the winner gets the admiration of their peers and stronger calf muscles.

Heathrow on Twitter: a great start, but will it scale?

2009-10-23T10:38:29Z

Ok - Heathrow is some 24 hours in to Twitter, and already there's a strong interaction to flag up:

@seany85 said that Terminal 3 stinks:

@heathrowairport replied that the facilities team were on the case:

@seany85 responded with more details, and mentioned a job interview.

@heathrowairport promised to pass on his comments and wished him luck.

Which shows that:

Heathrow is using search to monitor mentions (the first message wasn't an @)
It is replying (sounds simple, doesn't always happen)
It is replying with details of action - not just platitudes

It seems to have missed the difference between 'real' replies and just writing @[username] - meaning it's harder to track back on conversations.

That could be an issue with HootSuite, which appears to be the client Heathrow is using - I have no experience of it. Anyone?

Otherwise, an impressive start. The problem will be volume. As Heathrow - which has a claim to be the busiest airport in the world - starts to gain traction and its follower roster swells, it may find it hard to be this attentive to everyone...

Tourism Concern: Badges, hashtags and supporters online

2009-10-19T10:49:01Z

Last updated 11am October 23

Tourism Concern has managed to raise around £17,500 after launching a bid for donations last week.

Those of us with a web presence can help spread the word. Here's a list of supporters online (work in progress), plus tips on trumpeting your support Twitter- or blog-wise.

Supporters

Drop me an email, @ or DM me if you want in on the list.

Graham Robertson | Project: Wander | @grayum_ian
Karen Simmonds | Travel Matters | @karensimmonds
Debbie Hindle | BGB | @bgbcomms
Me | (@twblog)

Are there badges?

Not as such. Tourism Concern doesn't provide badges for members, but is happy for its logo (jpg, 17k) to be used under the circumstances below.

Link it to their website
Use the wording '[Site] supports/is a supporter of...'

Here's a version on Project: Wander:

...a hashtag?

If you're on Twitter, let other Tourism Concern supporters know what you're up to using the tag #savetourismconcern.

Trivia: Why Namibia tourism affects the study of our brains

2009-10-15T22:14:27Z

Out in Namibia, tourism is among the factors influencing changes to the language of the Himba people, particularly their unusually low number of colour terms (they have five, while most major languages have 11).

The unlikely victim is psychology. Psychologists have done comparative studies of how Himba and non-Himba infants develop an understanding of colour, and drawn conclusions about how much language influences the way human beings think. As the differences are eroded, the scope for research diminishes.

Not something that belongs on the top of the industry's agenda, obviously, but an interesting nugget. I'm indebted to my girlfriend for it - she's off to Namibia do a study on the Himba in November.

When synergy attacks: Ambi Pur meets National Geographic

2009-10-13T22:42:03Z

Weirdest travel-related tie-in of the year? Ambi Pur has tied up with National Geographic to release a range of air fresheners 'inspired by the world'.

They are, since you ask,

Japan Tatami, inspired by the fresh soothing aroma that comes from authentic Japanese Tatami mats, and Nevada Desert Flower, inspired by a rare flower that only has a chance to blossom after heavy winter rain in the Nevada Desert.

These are unlikely to put in an appearance at Midgley Mansions. Maybe one for kookier travel agencies? Do let me know if you decide to hit clients with a whiff of Tatami mat.

PS: Smell was a component of the 'holiday holodeck' once floated by then TUI new media director (now travelsupermarket.com boss) Graham Donoghue... so it could be Ambi Pur and NG are just waaay ahead of the curve on this one. Or, um, not.

Are TW and its readers still 'predictable' over Ryanair?

2009-10-13T09:00:05Z

Twitter hosted some inevitable chatter about the Panorama show on Ryanair.

Former Travolution editor Kevin May, never terribly sympathetic to the traditional bad blood between travel agents and Ryanair, tweeted:

utterly predictable responses from press and readers every time ryanair mentioned

Justified? On this occasion, I don't think so - we ran a straight-up-and-down story on the spat between Ryanair and the BBC, and TTG did the same. Theirs generated (at time of writing) only three comments, two of them pro-Ryanair.

But yes, in the past we've probably been too ready to stir up the antipathy we know many agents feel/felt.

For the record, my impression was that our readers had figured out Ryanair's game plan and were tired of the airline getting undue prominence in the media - I can well remember the fatigue and cynicism that greeted the 'pay to pee' story.

The punchline? As a result, I placed the Ryanair/BBC story at the bottom of yesterday's email news alert... only to find it became comfortably the most-read article.

Olympic Games spur hotel growth... BRIC by BRIC

2009-10-12T22:51:39Z

The Times business section has a small story about the London Olympic Games spurring hotel development*:

The British Hospitality Association's trends and developments report says that 40k rooms are due on stream by 2015 ... the Olympics are 'an incentive to complete projects'

Indeed they are. And next time, they'll be in a BRIC economy for the second time out of three (Beijing, China in 2008; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016).

* Page is a news round-up, so scroll down a bit to find the story.

Now factor this in: oil production could peak by 2020

2009-10-08T09:30:11Z

There's much talk of sustainability as ABTA holds its Travel Convention, and the big piece of news on that front is the next stage of Forum for the Future's Tourism 2023 project.

The sustainability charity has unveiled four possible futures for the travel industry should it fail to take action. There's also a 60-odd-page report to digest (pdf, 7MB).

So while you're mulling over its projections add this to the mix: global oil production could peak in the next 10 years, according to the UK Energy Research centre.

Ach, plenty of time...

Bad is stronger than good. So should you do CRM differently?

2009-10-06T07:00:44Z

Former TW web editor Martin Couzins, now working in the HR market, tweeted this list of 'flawed assumptions' about management from a Stanford Engineering School professor.

One in particular caught my eye:

Assumption: HR should focus on finding, hiring, and developing the very best people
Reality: Bad is stronger than good - about 5 times stronger -- so screening-out, reforming, expelling the very worst people is more crucial to collective performance.

'Bad Is Stronger Than Good' comes from broad 2001 research which identifies the same pattern - bad events or impressions are more intense and/or durable - in a wide variety of scenarios.

So this has HR implications, but what does it mean externally, i.e. for customer relations?

Alex Bainbridge recently wrote about the difficulty of achieving Zappos-level customer service in travel, saying:

The odd thing with 'super-amazing service' is that if you only give 5% of your service experiences at that level (and all other service is at average level) you will still create such positive word of mouth than you don't need to over deliver on every occasion

BISTG suggests a flipside to that - that brands may derive greater long-term benefit from avoiding or neutralising high-profile negative stories than from relying on a small number of exceptionally positive ones to go viral.

The problem with that, of course, is that you have to see the negative stories coming, which is somewhat harder than promoting positive stories after the event...

A killer app for travel agents - as long as they have an £8k Surface

2009-10-05T16:02:21Z

Here's a video demo of a new piece of software from Amadeus leisure tech unit TravelTainment.

It uses Google Earth to create an interactive touch-screen globe for use in travel agencies, and will, according to marketing trade mag Revolution, herald 'the death of brochures'.

This is unlikely to happen anytime soon, however, since it runs on a Microsoft Surface. One of those will set you back about £8,000.

TravelTainment plans 'to roll out the app to the travel industry in the coming months', and yes, I'd love to walk into an agency and be able to play with one of these. (Our Mystery Shopper might even start rewarding long waits rather than penalising them).

For now, it seems unlikely to go further than a neat proof-of-concept that will generate some buzz about the 18-month-old TravelTainment.

But if that sounds a little negative, do bear in mind what five years can do to the price of hardware these days...

Remind you of anything?

2009-10-05T14:30:00Z

Spotted this Dixons.co.uk poster at Tottenham Court Road underground station.

Get off at Knightsbridge, visit the discerning shopper's fave department store, ascend the exotic staircase and let Piers in the pinstripe suit demonstrate the magic of the latest high-definition flatscreen - then go to Dixons.co.uk and buy it

I wonder if Piers is considering a service fee on fully-integrated home cinema quotes...

Travel links from the weekend papers | Oct 5

2009-10-05T12:48:47Z

Life's no longer a beach for holidaymakers [Times]
'Alert independent travellers' are aiding adventure travel and voluntourism growth

Bumper year for British seaside holidays [Telegraph]
Traditional resorts have topped the list of domestic holiday destinations, according to figures from Travelsupermarket.com

Brits refuse to fly less to reduce carbon footprint [Guardian]
Fewer than one in five people are trying to reduce the number of flights they take for environmental reasons, warns a new study

Fears over 'cowboy' thrill firms in NZ [Times]
The country's Prime Minister is promising action after 10 deaths in 18 months

Transatlantic flights disrupted [Various sources]
Get the latest on the weekend's delays from Google News

'Pop-up shop' concept coming to Glasgow Airport

2009-10-05T09:42:35Z

I'll keep this short and sweet: the US fad for temporary or 'rolling' retail stores, generally something I associate with trendy city neighbourhoods rather than UK departure lounges, will hit Glasgow Airport this winter (via Springwise).

Planeshop will change hands every few months, bringing in new signage, stock etc etc.

No brands have been announced yet, which makes forecasting a bit difficult.

But there's a reason the pop-up concept is common in cities. It works best - creates most magic, a creative agency would probably say - when you pass the unit regularly enough for the change to register.

That will go for business travellers rather than once-or-twice-a-year leisure passengers, who may see Planeshop as, well, a plain old shop.

Nice to see something a bit different airside though...

Maths corner: How much weight will All Nippon Airways' pee plan save?

2009-10-02T13:33:45Z

All Nippon Airways is asking passengers to use the toilet before flying, in an every-little-helps attempt to cut its carbon emissions.

I did some rudimentary maths, which is the only kind I know, based on the following:

Average adult bladder holds 400-600ml (so say 500ml)
A litre of water weighs 1kg, so full bladder weight is around 500g
Assume everyone arrives with a half-full bladder, so around 250g

Basing it on an ANA Boeing 777-300, which carries 514 passengers, ANA's weight saving is...

128.5kg, or...
The weight of 1.6 adult males (at 80kg each)

Like I say, every little helps. Apparently this will scale up to a five-tonne reduction in emissions every month (across the fleet).

Potential passengers will be relieved to hear that the pre-flight pee is not enforced, merely suggested by staff at the gate.

Perhaps O'Leary's pay toilet idea is actually a brilliant piece of behavioural engineering...