July 1, 2007
 
Survey: Hotel Guests Want The Basics
One highlight of the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) recently was a panel discussion that polled the opinions of everyday travelers representing different demographic groups. Represented were Generation Y/Millenials, pre-Baby Boomers, Baby Boomers and Generation X.
Hotel Interactive reports that the overall group consensus was that out of a scale of one to five, they felt hotels rated about a 3.5 on meeting their in-room technology needs. But when pressed for their expectations and true desires, these panelists were already pretty satisfied.
Basically, when asked if they wanted any type of technology in the room, the panelists agreed it would be a good idea. It was only when asked if they would pay for the bevy of new fangled gizmos, it became evident most touted technologies are not really as important to the masses as they’d have you believe.
What they really craved were many of the basics, a good television featuring channels they regularly watched at home, glowing light switches to make stubbed toes from fumbling around in the dark a thing of the past, and free access to the internet.
 “Wrap the internet fee into the room rate,” said Gen X rep Allison Morris. “There is nothing worse than budgeting for a trip and having to pay more when I get there.”
Lincoln Cornell, a tech savvy member of the pre-Baby Boomer generation, said he is simply looking for an easier way to plug in all the electronics he already has with him. A basic power strip would make him happy; a notion the other panelists agreed on. Morris would simply like two phones in her room, one on the desk and another by the bed.
Cornell frets that as more technology is stuffed into guestrooms it will ostracize older travelers who are not as tech savvy. “With all this high tech you still have elderly people traveling that are not high tech people. And I think you will lose some of those people because they still dial the phone, that’s all. I don’t think they would decide not to stay but they certainly won’t feel comfortable,” said Cornell.
 
Europe's Uniting Airlines
Europe's airline industry is flying into a cloud of potential consolidation that could reshape the region's patchwork of national carriers and put pressure on rivals in the U.S. and Asia says The Wall Street Journal.
A series of deals that could play out in the next few months may even leave the European airline industry built around the region's three biggest carriers -- British Airways PLC, Lufthansa AG and Air France-KLM SA -- people close to the matter say.
Onetime national carriers in the United Kingdom, Germany and France have been scrambling to chart potential deals since Spain's Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España SA put itself up for sale this year. Several other airlines subsequently were put on the block.
The deal possibilities for various European airlines:
The new "Open Skies" treaty between the European Union and the U.S. frees previously restricted trans-Atlantic routes to competition and may fuel deals. Under the pact, if buyers from one EU country acquire an airline in another one, the purchased carrier won't risk losing its routes between the U.S. and EU. Additionally, European carriers can fly to the U.S. out of any European city, not just out of their home markets.
Combinations among European carriers would give them marketing heft and operating efficiencies, making them better positioned to compete in global markets. That could put European airlines even more in competition with U.S. carriers that have expanded their international networks in recent years to escape competition from no-frills rivals in the U.S. domestic market.
 
Restrictions On Foreign Travelers Costly To Florida
Aggressive immigration and visa restrictions enacted since September 11, 2001, have cost Florida more than 16 million international tourists and $14 billion in related spending, according to a study released Thursday.
The loss of tourist dollars is part of $50 billion in spending and investment by foreign visitors and businesses that the state has missed out on since the 2001 attacks spawned a new generation of security initiatives, says the report by Florida TaxWatch, a Tallahassee-based think tank financed by Florida businesses.
According to the Orlando Sentinel tourism executives blame "over-reaching" federal immigration and visa policies and hostile border guards. "There is no reason why we can't have strong security -- and even better security -- and also hospitality as people come into this country," said Bud Nocera, the president of Visit Florida, the state's chief tourism-promotion agency, who joined TaxWatch in presenting the report. "They're not mutually exclusive. And they shouldn't be."
International tourists made up 6.4 million of the nearly 85 million people who traveled to Florida last year, according to Visit Florida statistics. More than 2.1 million international passengers passed through Orlando International Airport in the 12-month period ending in March. They're a lucrative lot. Foreign tourists typically stay twice as long and spend nearly twice as much as domestic travelers vacationing in Florida.
 
Oasis Hotels & Resorts Creates Sens Boutique Hotel Brand
Oasis Hotels & Resorts, which currently operates seven all-inclusive properties in Mexico and four in the Dominican Republic under the Oasis Hotels & Resorts brand and the Grand Oasis Deluxe All-Inclusive Resorts & Spas brand, launched a third brand called Sens (French for "senses").
Oasis's current room inventory totals 4,000 rooms in Mexico and 2,600 in the Dominican Republic. Already in operation is the 58-room Sens Cancun, while the 260-room Sens del Mar by Oasis in Cancun will open in December.
According to Travel Weekly the Sens properties are Zen-like boutique hotels which feature decor and design intended to appeal to the five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch), according to Enrique Klein, vice president of sales and marketing for Trav America, which represents the Oasis brands.
 
Top 10 Dog-Friendly U.S. Resort Areas
DogFriendly.com released its 2007 List of the "Top 10 Dog-Friendly Resort Areas to Visit in the United States," with Portland, ME at the top of the list. "This dog-friendly town has it all. Walking tours, cruises, beaches, parks and islands to visit. A number of off-leash dog parks," says the site.
It determines rankings by the number and quality of dog-friendly accommodations, interesting things to do with dogs, beaches, parks, nearby attractions and outdoor restaurants that allow dogs.
According to TravelMole the other areas include Carmel/ Monterey, CA; Ashville/Blue Ridge, NC; Key West, FL; Charlottesville, VA; Black Hills, SD; Lake Tahoe, CA/NV; Cape May, NJ; Grand Canyon, AZ; and Hocking Hills, OH, which has both "dog-friendly accommodations and dog-friendly parks."
 
Las Vegas Searches For New Tourism Slogan
Las Vegas tourism boosters plan to test a new slogan to complement the wildly successful "What happens here, stays here" campaign says USA Today.
Tourism officials have applied for a trademark on the phrase "Your Vegas is showing," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The phrase has yet to be tested by focus groups and survey respondents. If it fares well it could appear in print ads and on television as early as this fall, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said.
Terry Jicinsky, the authority's senior vice president of marketing, said "Your Vegas" won't replace the famed "What happens here, stays here" slogan.
But the new tag line would instead join a set of Las Vegas slogans aimed at narrow audiences, including "Not business as usual," aimed at meeting planners; "Overtime guaranteed," to promote special events; and "A world of entertainment," for international audiences.
 
Blimp Travel Making A Comeback?
A start-up company is planning to take tourist up in a 250-foot zeppelin over the San Francisco Bay, Napa Valley and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Airship Ventures said it plans to begin passenger flights in a German-made Zeppelin NT airship, to be based at NASA's Moffett Field airstrip about 40 miles south of San Francisco, reports TravelMole. The project will use a massive NT07 airship made by Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik that's a full 10 feet longer than the new Airbus 380.
"You cannot buy a ticket to fly on an airship in the USA," said Alexandra Hall, Airship Venture's chief executive. "This is an opportunity you cannot have right now that we are providing to people."
No prices have been disclosed, but a Web site with merchandise and additional details is supposed to go live this month.
In addition to sightseeing over the scenic Bay area at 500 feet to 1,000 feet above ground level, Mr Hall said, other uses for the vehicle would include surveillance, science, media coverage of sporting events, and advertising.  The NT07 can hold 12 passengers and two pilots.
 
Macao Unveils Plans For Playboy Mansion
Macao Studio City has confirmed plans to open a Playboy-inspired multi-faceted entertainment destination in Macao says Hotel Travel News.
Named Playboy Mansion Macao, the approximate 40,000 square-foot entertainment destination will consist of numerous nightlife and entertainment options, dining, specialty retail elements and a Hugh M. Hefner Villa, which will be a part of the Macao Studio City complex that broke ground earlier this year. It is expected to open late 2009.
 
Senate Commerce Committee Passes “Travel Promotion Act Of 2007”
After months of intensive discussions, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has approved S. 1661, the “Travel Promotion Act of 2007.” This important bipartisan bill, says the Travel Industry Association (TIA), acknowledges the importance of the travel industry to the nation’s economy and recognizes the need to continue moving forward with critical improvements to our visa and entry processes in order to promote and facilitate increased international travel to the United States.
S. 1661 would create the following:
“This program would fill a vital gap in our current strategies to attract more visitors, and it would pay for itself many times over,” said Jay Rasulo, Chairman of the Travel Industry Association and Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “It will also serve a larger national purpose, by helping America win hearts and minds around the world.”
 
Enjoy Your Green Stay
Remember when all a hotel had to do to show its concern for the environment was to ask its guests to reuse their towels, asks The New York Times. Hotels now are rolling out all sorts of green programs, in part because their business guests in particular are demanding it, and in part because the hotels are finding that going green saves money.
“Environmental issues are one of the hottest issues within the travel industry right now,” said Bill Connors, the executive director of the National Business Travel Association. The association is addressing the topic of eco-friendly elements in hotel design and operations for the first time at its annual convention in July.
Mr. Connors’s view is borne out by the rise in hotels registering to be certified under the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, a commercial-building rating system. “I think it’s a really noticeable trend,” said Max Zahniser, a program manager.
There are currently two certified hotels in the United States ­ a Marriott in Maryland and a Hilton in Washington ­ and several more are on the way. “At least three-quarters of the projects that have registered are in the last year or two,” Mr. Zahniser said.
This is good news to Josh Rachlis, an advertising copywriter based in Toronto who travels throughout the United States for up to two weeks at a time. “When I’m at a hotel, I always look to see if they use compact fluorescent bulbs, and I try to use as few towels as possible,” he said. “Ideally, I’d be looking for a green roof, and if a hotel had recycling facilities, that would be great. I’d be more than happy to take my business there.”
Mr. Rachlis is far from alone in seeking out hotels with earth-friendly practices. In a 2005 survey, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants found that 16% of guests choose their properties because of the company’s environmental practices. The chain’s housekeepers use nontoxic cleaning agents, there are in-room recycling bins and the hotels plan to switch all light bulbs to compact fluorescents within the next 12 to 18 months.
 
US, EU Reach Tentative Deal On Sharing Of Airline Passenger Data
U.S. and European Union officials have reached a preliminary agreement that would resolve the long-running dispute over the handling of personal data about EU citizens who fly to the U.S., a spokesman who works for the European Commission said Thursday.
According to the spokesman, the resolution plan was agreed to on Wednesday by Franco Frattini, the European commissioner for justice and home affairs, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. Frattini had said last month that he was confident a deal could be reached.
However, says ComputerWorld, the details of the agreement won't be made public until after a meeting of representatives from all 27 EU countries, scheduled to be held Friday morning, said Friso Roscam Abbing, who is Frattini's spokesman. The members of the EU have to sign off on the deal, he added.
 
UK Serviced Apartment Business "Hugely On The Increase"
The use of serviced apartments by business travelers in the UK is "hugely on the increase," according to
Rebecca Hollants van Loocke, vp operations UK for Ascott International. She said occupancy in its seven London locations were 75% with the bulk, up to 70%, corporate travelers.
"The demand is high all round in London. There are not enough apartments in London to cope with the number of people wanting to stay. We are having to put them in hotels," she said.
She said besides travelers involved in long term projects, training courses and re-location, Ascott's three brands, Ascott, Somerset and Citadines were also attracting business travelers for one night stays, reports BusinessTravelEurope.
"The locations are good and people are beginning to understand the concept, they have latched on to the flexibility it provides. Hotels are also looking at this concept in the UK as well," Ms Hollants van Loocke said.
Staybridge Suites, owned by the InterContinental Hotel Group, are due to open their first properties in the UK in the next year.
 
North Carolina Promotes New Birding Sites Trail As “Nature-Theme Tourism”
Dozens of sites known to birdwatchers as being packed with rare or popular bird species are now linked in a single trail that state officials are promoting as nature-theme tourism. Officials hope the North Carolina Birding Trail will give the state an economic boost says Associated Press.
And they may be on the right track: A 2006 federal study found that 2 million people in North Carolina spent about $700 million on bird-watching activities, said Perry Sumner of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. "The birds have been there," Sumner told The News & Observer newspaper. "It's just letting people know where they are and how to get there."
When completed, the trail will include dozens of places throughout the state where visitors can look for more than 440 species.
 
Hotel Chains Unleash Stylish Brands
Giddy over the hospitality industry's recent strength, and while new hotel construction is still booming, many hoteliers are introducing new brands that could bring a more boutique and upscale feel to corporate meetings and incentives. The chains behind this trend range from household names such as Hyatt, Starwood, and Hilton to new players like LXR Resorts and Lifestyle Hospitality.
In April, reports Sales & Marketing Management, Chicago-based Hyatt came out with the Andaz brand (which means personal style in Hindi), offering a self-described "attentive service that is not pretentious" and a focus on innovative design. "There are boutiques that have very distinctive style, and there are luxury hotels with impeccable service, but one doesn't find the two in [a single] hotel. Andaz will provide both," says Tom O'Toole, chief marketing officer of Hyatt Hotels.
On average, Andaz hotels will feature 200 guest rooms and about 400 square feet of meeting space. Groups won't necessarily be the prime target, but O'Toole says "this type of property will work well for broad audiences, including incentives and corporate board meetings." Hyatt has identified 50 markets for Andaz, mostly major cities such as London and New York.
SBE Hotel Group, a Los Angeles-based company, is turning the Le Meridien at Beverly Hills into its first hotel under a luxury concept called SLS Hotels. SBE has enlisted Starwood to manage the hotel after a complete renovation, as well as all future SLS properties. The SLS brand aims to fill the gap between high-end hotels that offer white-glove service and edgy boutiques that are too hands-off, said Arash Azarbarzin, president of SBE. The company is eyeing gateway cities, such as San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Miami for SLS properties; there is no prototype yet.
Last month, Starwood came out with an ambitious plan to open 18 "aloft" hotels in India; the aloft brand debuted in 2005. In 2006, the Waldorf-Astoria Collection and Le Crillion debuted in the luxury segment, while 2005 marked the premiere of LXR, Alden Hotels, and NYLO Hotels.
 
New York Tourism Opens Offices In Asia
NYC & Company has opened its first office openings in Asia, with outposts in Japan, China and South Korea. The move comes as residents in all three countries have shown increased interest in business and leisure travel abroad says Hotel Travel News.
The new offices will help promote New York and increase tourism from the three countries, which will be critical to achieving New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's goal of welcoming 50 million visitors annually by 2015. The new offices are in Tokyo, Japan; Shanghai, China; and Seoul, South Korea, the political, financial, cultural and educational centers-as well as the largest cities-of their respective countries.
The new offices mark the first time NYC & Company has established a presence in these markets, and is the next step in the organization's plan to build a global network and boost international travel to New York City. The organization now has representative offices serving 19 countries.
 
Study: Internet 2nd Most Essential Medium, But #1 In Coolness
The internet has passed radio to become Americans' second "most essential" medium and swapped places with TV as the "most cool and exciting medium" since the subjects were last studied five years ago, reported Edison Media Research.
According to OnlineMediaDaily Edison's "Internet and Multimedia 2007" study, conducted this past winter with Arbitron, reported that 36% of consumers age 12 and over chose TV as the "most essential" medium in their lives, followed by 33% choosing the Internet, 17% radio, and 10% newspapers.
In 2002, TV was also ranked "most essential" by 39% of respondents, followed by 26% for radio and 20% for the Internet.
Interestingly, the Internet also placed second when this year's respondents were asked to name the "least essential" medium, this time placing behind newspapers. Here, 35% found newspapers "least essential," followed by 24% for the Internet, and 18% for both TV and radio. In 2002, the Internet had topped the "least essential" list, at 33%.
Finally, the Internet and TV swapped places in the category of "most cool and exciting medium," with the Internet getting this designation from 38% of respondents in 2007 versus 25% in 2002, and TV from 35%, down from 48% just five years ago.
 
Number Of Indians Holidaying Abroad Set To Double
New Travel and Tourism data just published by Euromonitor International predicts that the number of tourists travelling from India will more than double by 2011. Leading tour operators, such as Kuoni Travel and Thomas Cook are preparing to take advantage of this boom in the Indian travel market, as the total number of outbound travelers is set to reach 16.3 million in 2011 alone, says ehotelier.
This dramatic rise in the number Indians travelling abroad, 132% over 2006 to 2011 according to Euromonitor International's latest research, is being driven by rising disposable incomes, more affordable holiday options and the growth of low cost carriers, enabling more Indians to travel abroad.
The growing strength of low cost carriers in India is one of the key factors boosting the Indian outbound travel market. Clement Wong, Travel and Tourism Account Manager comments, "Indian tourists now have more choice and options for travel outside the country, thanks to the continued growth in low cost carriers. At times, it is even for cheaper to travel to other countries in South East Asia than to other regions within India".
Air Deccan, the first low cost carrier to operate in India, is currently the most prominent in the market. However, SpiceJet and Go Air have also joined the scene and the number of players looks set to rise.
 
Airline Industry Swings To Profit In 1Q
Major U.S. airlines were profitable during the first three months of the year for the first time since 2000, reporting their fourth straight consecutive quarterly profit, a government report said Monday.
The 21 carriers surveyed by the government reported a total profit of $817 million after posting first-quarter losses for six straight years, the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said.
According to The Boston Globe the group consists of the seven largest network, low-cost and regional carriers based on operating revenue. Together, the airlines reported an operating profit margin -- a measure of profit as a percentage of revenue from ongoing business operations -- of 2.7% in the first quarter.
Among traditional network carriers that use a hub-and-spoke system, the most profitable was Northwest Airlines Corp., followed by US Airways Group Inc., AMR Corp's American Airlines and Continental Airlines Inc.
The two most profitable low-cost carriers were Spirit Airlines Inc. and America West Airlines. Though America West acquired US Airways in 2005 and took that company's name., it still files its reports separately from US Airways and is due to combine reports later this year.
The two other profitable low-cost carriers were Southwest Airlines Co. and AirTran Holdings Inc.
Posting losses were low-cost carriers Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc., JetBlue Airways Corp., and ATA Airlines.
 
Survey: Americans And French Cheat Most On Travel-Expense Claims, Germans #3
Nearly one in five employees has cheated their employers through their expense claims according to a new survey released today by KDS, a European travel and expense management company. The company’s online survey of almost 400 business travelers conducted in May and June reveals that the Americans and French are most inclined to fiddle their expenses, followed by the Germans and then the British.
The KDS survey revealed that 21.4% of American and 20.6% of French respondents had cheated on expense claims, compared with 16.1% of Germans and 13% of British respondents. The majority of people who confessed to having inflated their expenses felt that the amounts involved were insignificant at less than €5. However, around 11% of UK based respondents and nearly 20% of French respondents who admitted to cheating had falsified their expenses by €50 or more.
The expense item perceived by American and British travelers as most open to abuse was taxi charges, whilst in France and Germany claims for business mileage were seen as the most vulnerable.
In contrast, however, 60% of those surveyed said that they had not claimed legitimate expenses in the past, mainly due to lost receipts or because they had simply forgotten that they had incurred expenses in the first place.
 
As Competition Rebounds, Southwest Faces Squeeze
For years, Southwest Airlines managed to fly above the industry's storm clouds, trouncing rivals with a hard-to-match formula of low costs and low fares. Now it's facing a painful role reversal says The Wall Street Journal.
Its revenue growth has slowed, its costs are mounting, and its resurgent rivals have torn key pages out of its playbook. The shifting landscape has Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly contemplating such major changes as offering assigned seating and international flights for the first time, and curtailing the company's rapid growth.
"The threat to our future is real," Mr. Kelly wrote in a four-page memo to his managers last month. "Now is the time to lead."
 
E-Mail Marketing: Make An Offer They Won't Refuse
Take action. Isn't that what you want your readers to do when they receive and read your e-mails? You may want them to buy a product, pay for a service, come to a special event or volunteer for your organization. Whatever your goal may be, you're looking for a "direct response" from them.
When you e-mail the people on your list, you engage in some level of "direct response" marketing ­ marketing that requests an action from the recipient. One element of good direct marketing is an offer that engages the reader (or watcher, or listener) to take action.
Why is the offer so important? The 40/40/20 rule of direct response marketing says that the success of a campaign (in this case, an e-mail communication) is based 40% on targeting the right audience, 40% on the offer you make, and 20% on your creative execution (including copywriting and design).
Read the full article in Entrepreneur for a summary of the different types of offers and the common characteristics of all great ones.
 
Virgin To Help Fliers, Private Jet Charters Connect
For those who can't abide flying with the masses, chartering a private jet may be getting a bit easier, though not necessarily cheaper, reports USA Today. Billionaire Briton Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways, is about to dip his toe into the tantalizing but murky waters of the private jet charter business.
Compared with the commercial airline industry, the private jet charter business is small ­ about $8 billion a year in sales ­ but it's growing fast, both in hours flown and revenue.
Virgin Charter, a new Virgin-financed website scheduled to launch this fall, plans to use Internet technology to provide prospective buyers with immediate price quotes for the trip destination, day and time requested. Buyers will also get details about the specific aircraft; pilots and operator; safety audits; and quality ratings from previous customers.
Passengers or travel agents will be able to use Virgincharter.com to book domestic or international trips online with any one of a variety of charter operators using a credit card or wire transfer. Virgin will collect from the seller a commission on each trip sold. Virgin Charter CEO Scott Duffy compares his travel site to financial website LendingTree, where competing lenders provide online interest rate quotes to prospective borrowers.
Virgin Charter will not be the first charter jet website to link buyers and sellers. But Virgin promises to be the most comprehensive charter jet marketplace and, with the Virgin brand, is likely be the most recognizable.
 
U.S. To Increase Scans Of Fingerprints At Borders
Visitors from European nations traveling with visas or visa-free to the U.S. will soon have to give 10 digital fingerprints when entering the U.S., a senior U.S. Homeland Security official said.
Border checks could also soon include other biometric data, such as facial and eye-retina scans, as the U.S. upgrades security at its ports, airports and border crossings, said P.T. Wright, the operations director for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's US-VISIT Program.
All people from European nations and others participating in the U.S. Visa-Waiver program would have to give additional prints, as would people traveling from nations where visas are needed, says The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Wright, who was in Brussels to explain the new system to European Union officials, said yesterday a pilot project at 10 major U.S. airports would be launched in late 2007, expanding the current program that calls for taking prints of two fingers and facial photographs of visitors to the U.S.
 
Cashing In On The Fast-Emerging Global Youth Culture
Flying blind is the unavoidable consequence of coming to terms with today's most important demographic group: the tens of millions of digital elite who are in the vanguard of a fast-emerging global youth culture.
Because of smartphones, blogs, instant messaging, Flickr, MySpace, Skype, YouTube, digg, and de.lic.ious, says BusinessWeek, young people scattered all over are instantly aware of what's happening to others like them everywhere else. This highly influential group, many of whom are also well-heeled, is sharing ideas and information across borders and driving demand for consumer electronics, entertainment, autos, food, and fashion.
Think of it as a virtual melting pot. As the population of the young and Web-savvy grows into the hundreds of millions, the pot is going to boil. "This kind of globalization is happening. It's still a young phenomenon, but it's growing fast, and it's going to take a lot of companies by surprise," says Soumitra Dutta, a professor at graduate management school INSEAD in France.
We're now at the busy crossroads where globalization meets Web 2.0. This presents both a challenge to the old ways of doing business and an opportunity to gain tremendous leverage via the right goods and services. To thrive in this era, companies will have to figure out how to engage young people from all over the world when they conceive of products and services. Businesses need their help in turning concepts into finished products and, especially, in marketing them. Another angle: Companies can follow the trail of blogs and social networking sites to find and recruit young employees all over the world.
 
Survey: Web Bookers Trust Fellow Travelers
According to TravelMole about a third of American travelers who research trips via the web read reviews written by fellow travelers, according to Forrester Research. Other internet booking findings:
In response, a slew of travel sites are introducing or expanding consumer reviews and exchanges, from online agencies such as Priceline.com (which recently added Zagat hotel ratings to its own customer reviews) to the Florida tourism office's VisitFlorida.com, which plans to launch tourist-generated blogs and videos this fall, says eMarketer.
Even Andrew Harper, whose opinionated Hideaway Report newsletter caters to wealthy, discerning travelers, is considering posting subscriber reviews on his website later this year
 
Hard Rock Sets Growth Plan At 50 Hotels Worldwide
Hard Rock Hotels wants to at least quadruple its current portfolio says Hotel & Motel Management. The iconic brand synonymous with its "Love all. Serve all." motto plans to aggressively develop its lodging concept outside of the United States after the success of its first handful of properties, said Trevor Horwell, chief hotels officer for Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos.
"We have a platform that is strong in the sense that the prototypes we have developed have each been successful in their own rights," said Horwell, whose career includes 15 years with Hyatt International. "It allows us to focus on growing internationally, and we have put resources in place to do that."
Hard Rock's roster comprises 10 hotels open or under construction (including two open internationally), and Horwell said within 10 years the company wants to have up to 50 hotels open around the world. It is looking at Japan, the Middle East, Australia, Europe and India as its dominant breeding grounds.
 
Study: Business Travelers Increasingly Taking The Family Along
Business travelers are increasingly taking family members with them says TravelMole. In fact, business travelers added family on 14% of the 435 million business trips they made last year, according to the most recent data of travel research company D.K. Shifflet & Associates, of McLean, Va. That's up from 11% in 2000.
Hotels are adjusting their marketing to capture the increase. Last month, for example, Marriott International said it was establishing a new resort brand, Nickelodeon by Marriott. That facility will target business travelers heading to meetings and conferences with their families.
"More and more, younger boomers and Gen Xers today are looking for ways to easily mix business with leisure and family fun," said Chairman Bill Marriott.
About 61% of business travelers who traveled last year by plane with family members were highly satisfied with their trips, according to Shifflet's survey of 85,000 households.
About 55% who didn't travel with family were highly satisfied.
 
Podcast Listeners Still Like Radio
Nearly 20 million US consumers will download and listen to podcasts at least once a week by 2010, according to interviews with Bridge Ratings' "Podcast Panel." The firm interviewed general podcast users ages 15 to 64 in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Dallas, Atlanta and Washington, DC.
Based on extrapolations from the interviews, a projected seven million Americans download and listen to podcasts every week, with an additional 21.4 million listening to a minimum of four podcasts every month. Bridge said that terrestrial radio marketing, branding and promotion of podcasts were directly linked to the growth.
eMarketer's own projections put the US podcasting audience at 18 million regular subscribers in 2011, with a total potential audience of 55 million. In that year, US advertisers will spend $400 million on podcast advertising.
The Bridge study also found that news and talk podcast listening enhanced radio listening. A statistically significant number of podcast listeners said they had started listening more to radio broadcasts as a result of listening to the podcasts produced by that station.
Just over half of respondents said that listening to podcasts affected their radio listening.
 
            Gone In 30 Seconds ­- Traditional TV Spot Headed Toward Extinction?
As they have for more than half a century, thousands of advertising executives, art directors, writers and moviemakers converge tomorrow in Cannes, France, for the industry's annual Oscars week -- the Lions festival, which honors the year's best ads. The superstars of the show are the 30-second TV commercials submitted by ad agencies.
But as the creative types gather to honor one another, says the The Washington Post, the 30-second TV spot is imperiled as never before. Its competition: A dizzying array of digital and Internet options, many of which produce instant results and valuable consumer data, something that TV ads cannot.
Once upon a time, ad firms dreamed up campaigns on sketchbooks and typewriters, and bought television network time in 30-second chunks. Now, if agencies do not know how to use Internet search algorithms and data analysis, how to build turnkey e-commerce sites with Flash video, how to shoot viral video and plant the results on YouTube, they are increasingly useless to clients.
The pop-culture idea of a Madison Avenue adman -- "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" or Darrin Stephens from "Bewitched" -- is becoming a fading afterimage in today's ad industry. "My Darrin Stephens is a piece of software," said Benjamin Palmer, president of the Barbarian Group, which has produced more than 300 Web sites for clients but not one 30-second spot for television.
Still, the world's major advertising firms are not yet hemorrhaging dollars or clients. Of the world's four major advertising holding companies, massive conglomerates that own dozens of ad agencies much like separate record labels in a big music company, only Interpublic Group lost money in 2006.
            But parts are starting to fall off of the decades-old industry machine. Consumers are spending more time online and less watching network television. When they do watch, more viewers have the ability to use TiVo to bypass ads. Consumers demand more from their advertising -- they want product information, consumer reviews and purchase options, not just a glib message pitched by a celebrity. And they want information tailored for them, not a mass audience.
 
Le Meridien Hotels Want To Be Le Chic Choice
Eva Ziegler became the senior vice president of Starwood Hotel’s recently acquired Le Méridien line in March 2006, marking her first appointment in the hospitality industry. But much like her previous work as Director of Le Rendez-Vouz Toyota, where she successfully launched their European Brand Experience Center on Paris’s Champs-Elysées, her ambitions for the Le Méridien brand are already exceeding expectations reports BrandWeek.
Started in 1972 by Air France and sold in the mid ’90s to various small owners, Starwood purchased the line in November 2005. The hotel giant, with Ziegler at the forefront, is now transforming Le Méridien from merely functional hotels to a brand representing a lifestyle of modernism and sophistication.
After a decade of unsteady ownership and lack of clear brand identity in the marketplace, Ziegler hopes to position Le Méridien through the notion of “Chic, cultured, discovery,” targeting the “creative guest,” while capitalizing on its European heritage.
 
Travel Restrictions "Having A Huge Impact On Trade Shows"
Whatever inconveniences I've endured when getting on a plane pale in comparison to the inconveniences that foreign business executives, students, workers and tourists encounter when coming to this country. Since 9/11, foreign travel to the United States has decreased 17% as the security procedures for entering the country have tightened. That means fewer tourist dollars coming into places like San Diego and more hardships for U.S. companies that have foreign customers, partners or employees.
“Our new travel restrictions have made it much more costly, time-consuming, complex and unpredictable for business visitors to obtain visas to come to the U.S.,” says Bella Heule, who heads San Diego's World Trade Center. Heule says that most of the members of the center's board, which include such internationally focused companies as Qualcomm, Quantum Design and WD-40, are experiencing problems in arranging training sessions or meetings with foreign employees or potential business partners.
“And this is having a huge impact on trade shows,” she says. “Some trade show organizers and producers are considering moving their shows abroad, because it has become such a chore for people to obtain visas to attend or exhibit in U.S. trade shows. And that means less opportunities for U.S. companies to show their products and services.”
Part of the decline in travel comes from a post-9/11 requirement that all visa applicants have an in-depth, personal interview with a U.S. consular official says Public Diplomacy Watch. In such regions as Eastern Europe, South America, Africa and most of Asia, travelers have to wait for weeks or months to obtain visas when it previously took as little as two or three days. The visa process can take up to two months in Venezuela or the Dominican Republic, three months in Brazil and six months in India, according to State Department figures.
 
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