Hotel Porn

One way for accommodation providers to ride out recessionary times is to offer added value opportunities to guests like breakfasts, mini bar items AND porn. 

We say good on Labour MP Shane Jones for assisting the economic fortunes of the accommodation industry by "single-handedly" availing himself of hotel extras.

Air New Zealand** Best Blog Awards Announced

Air New Zealand** Best Blog Award

Media Statement

Thursday 10 June 2010 

EMBARGOED UNTIL 14:00hrs NZT

CACTUS KATE WINS INAUGURAL AIR NEW ZEALAND** BEST BLOG AWARDS

Cactus Kate (http://asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com) has won the New Zealand Bloggers’ Union’s inaugural Air New Zealand** Best Blog Award.

The Dim Post (http://dimpost.wordpress.com) was runner up and No Right Turn (http://norightturn.blogspot.com) and Whaleoil (http://whaleoil.gotcha.co.nz) were awarded joint third place.

Blogs to be shortlisted by at least one judge were: Hot Topic (http://hot-topic.co.nz); In A Strange Land (http://inastrangeland.wordpress.com); Kiwianarama (http://www.kiwianarama.co.nz); Liberation (http://liberation.typepad.com); and Not PC (http://pc.blogspot.com).

The union launched the awards after another media awards competition, sponsored by a foreign budget airline that uses decrepit Boeing 767s for its Trans-Tasman services and doesn’t even have proper lie-flat beds in Business Class, failed to follow its own criteria in selecting its short list.

More than 30 entries were received by the deadline while all other top 20 blogs in New Zealand, as measured on the authoritative Tumeke! blog ranking index (http://www.nzblogosphere.blogspot.com), were given wild card entries.

The judging panel consisted of:

Martyn “Bomber” Bradbury, co-author of Tumeke! and a moderate-left media commentator and presenter; 
Regan Cunliffe, founder of Throng Media, a global network of television community websites and ffunnell, an advertising network for independent publishers; 
Matthew Hooton, managing director of Auckland lobbying firm Exceltium, and a moderate-right political commentator and columnist; 
Tim Selwyn, co-author of Tumeke! and creator of the Tumeke! blog ranking index, and a former political prisoner under the regime of New Zealand’s deposed leader Helen Clark; and 
Ricardo Simich, director of marketing and communications company One Agency and a prominent Auckland socialite.

As far as possible, the judges set aside their personal political views and interests and sought to reach their decisions by consensus.

In awarding the Supreme Award to Cactus Kate, the judges described the blog as: “Intelligent, persuasive and influential, with the sort of investigative journalism Metro should be publishing. This is a blog which has contributed to changes in the administration of some of New Zealand’s most important regulatory bodies, as well as providing a healthy degree of humour.”

In awarding the Runner Up Award to Dim Post, the judges described the blog as: “Genuinely world-class political satire on matters both weighty and absurd, delivered almost every day. While clearly demonstrating a centre-left perspective, the writer also has the ability to surprise with unpredictable ideas.”

The judges said they struggled most with the choice between No Right Turn and Whaleoil for third place.

Commenting on Whaleoil, the judges said: “While the writer’s vitriol can be distasteful and his spelling and grammar sometimes leaves much to be desired, Whaleoil is the ultimate right wing blogger, delivering scorching critiques of current issues every day, and undoubtedly influencing real political events.”

Commenting on No Right Turn, the judges said: “While there is some doubt about the degree to which the blog has influenced real events and the lack of a comments option could be seen as against the spirit of blogging, No Right Turn provides extremely well researched and well-written contributions – with a decent dose of hard-left anger – on a very wide range of political, social, constitutional and human rights issues.”

The judges recommended that Whaleoil consider investing in a more advanced spell and grammar check program and that No Right Turn consider opening up his site to community discussion.

The judges said it was noteworthy they had decided to offer no award or commendation to the Tumeke! index’s highest rating blog, Kiwiblog ( www.kiwiblog.co.nz) nor to two other high-ranking blogs, The Standard ( www.thestandard.org.nz) and Red Alert (http://blog.labour.org.nz)

The judges said: “Kiwiblog has regrettably become tame following the change of government in 2008 while The Standard and Red Alert can also be seen more as propaganda tools for political parties. They continue to have value in terms of offering insight into thinking in parliament and in the union movement but, to be considered for high recognition in future, Kiwiblog needs to again find its more independent voice while The Standard and Red Alert need to learn to surprise and challenge rather than merely offer predictable opinions.”

The judges and organisers thanked all those who participated in the awards and look forward to expanding the Air New Zealand** Best Blog Awards in 2011.

Full commentary from the judges on all the nominees will be posted at http://airnewzealandbestblogaward.blogspot.com and on tumeke.blogspot.com

** Yeah, yeah, Air New Zealand is not really sponsoring the award but the judges would like to honour it anyway having found that its Business Class is so much better than Qantas even in First Class. That’s except for Tim and Bomber, but even they can report that Air New Zealand’s Economy Class is much better than Qantas’s Economy Class too (but that’s kinda irrelevant – who cares what happens down the back of the plane anyway?)

END

Fossick.com

We note that there is a local website that has been active for some time and would appear to be upping the ante after an initial soft-launch. 

Fossick.com is a new guest feedback platform that wants to be the Australasian version of Tripadvisor.

As we will note in a future post, the space for website platforms that offer guest reviews is about to get even more crowded.

Giving fossick.com a test drive, we like the clean intuitive layout. It will be interesting to follow if fossick.com can win the hearts and minds of the travelling public that are more than willing to share their experiences online.

Fossick founder, Genevieve Atkinson has sent us the following press release that makes interesting reading:

Yes, Trip Advisor has a rival in our local market.

Fossick.com is a new site pitched solely at New Zealanders and Australians that recognizes that it's the opinion of someone local that really counts for us rather than a German backpacker or an American tourist. Fossick's free search-able database enables users to share their experiences as locals traveling in their own country or across the ditch. Helping new customers filter through options of what like-minded travelers also loved. Fossick has pre-listed much of NZ accommodation and providers simply have to claim their listing or add one, then spend 10 minutes adding further details. Content is driven by guest reviews and content inputted by the hotels/motels themselves and unlike Tripadvisor these business listings are free.

For moteliers or hoteliers keen to receive reviews from all customers, especially happy ones, Fossick offers help. An email service is available from Fossick, which complements provider's own options. This should guarantee the reviews keep coming in good numbers, and that matters on this site, because it’s the reviews that will determine where providers feature on the hit list. On some sites, you can buy your position - on Fossick, it's purely down to the number and quality of the reviews. Fossick aims to be the most trusted site in Australia and New Zealand - working with all accommodation providers to get reviews from verified guests.

So what happens when there is a negative review? Accommodation owners often turn red at the sound of publicly available negative comments but research says managed well, this could be their greatest sales asset. Despite the industry worries, customers are crying out for independent non-sales or marketing influenced opinions. Recent Australian Nielsen research backs this up, showing 86% of Australian web users are looking to their fellow internet users for opinions and information about products, services and brands. They are particularly looking for reviews by people like them - oldies, those with children, those who want to be near to the attractions - not a generic catch all. Tripadvisor research reports that a hotel's response to a negative review changes 59% of customer’s perceptions about the hotel. It’s not that customers expect it should be perfect; it’s more important how you respond when it’s not.

Fossick.com is totally independent, unbiased, fair and free. "We see our role as a neutral space between customers and accommodation owners helping to marry up needs with options. We don't directly sell accommodation, instead referring customers to your own or other OTA sites. (Referral fees apply, although your website link is there for free).”

Every-time we go on holiday or book someone we acquire that little bit more knowledge and word of mouth marketing (social media) simply enables us to share that in a larger format to help other like mind locals (and eventually ourselves) to utilize that knowledge to get the best bang for our buck" says Fossick founder Genevieve Atkinson.

Besides customer reviews, the Fossick focus is on niche information not covered by traditional sites... like where's the nearest coffee shop or children 's playground, enabling accommodation providers to present quite different information to potential customers with filters for types, price and a whole host of smaller details. Like Tripadvisor there will be some winners and losers, but with motels, which form the bulk of NZ accommodation wanting to find themselves on an even keel with larger chains with bigger marketing budgets , Fossick can really help out. Fossick will naturally reward those places big or small who really go that extra mile with increased business and higher margins.

So go and claim or add your business today on Fossick.com. 

Emissions Trading Scam

Before the impact of the rise of GST on 1 October, Tourism businesses will will first bracing themselves for the cold reality of the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) to be introduced on 1 July. 

Imposing an ETS based on inconclusive science that will raise electricity, petrol prices and force producers to account for greenhouse gas emissions at a time of economic volatility is madness.

Further redistribution of earnings taken away from the productive to prop up the unproductive will restrict economic recovery and ironically will achieve nothing for the environment.

So will the pain of the ETS be worthwhile? Will this window dressing piece of legislation save us from ourselves and force social and economic change that will "save the planet?"

There has been a few emails doing the rounds lately to coincide with NZ's pending ETS. We like the following that has obviously originated in America and has a unique perspective:

Should our Government even be bothering about Emissions Trading anymore???

For all of you out there in America and across the globe who have fought so hard to tackle the hideous enemy of our planet, namely carbon emissions, that bogus god you worship named "Climate Change" or "Global Warming", there is some really bad news that will be very painful for you to process. But it is my duty to pass it on to you anyway.

Are you sitting down?

Okay, here's the bombshell. The current volcanic eruption going on in Iceland, since it first started spewing volcanic ash some time ago, has, to this point, NEGATED EVERY SINGLE EFFORT you have made in the past five years to control CO2 emissions on our planet. Not only that, this single act of God has added emissions to the earth estimated to be 42 times more than can be corrected by the extreme human regulations proposed for annual reductions.

I know, I know.... (have a group hug)...it's very disheartening to realize that all of the carbon emission savings you have accomplished while suffering the inconvenience and expense of driving your Prius hybrids, buying fabric grocery bags, sitting up til midnight to finish your kid's "The Green Revolution" science project, throwing out all of your non-green cleaning supplies, using only two squares of toilet paper, putting a brick in your toilet tank reservoir, selling your SUV and speedboat, going on vacation to a city park instead of Yosemite, nearly getting hit every day on your bicycle, replacing all of your $1 light bulbs with $10 light bulbs ....well, all of those things you have done have all gone down the tube in just the past weeks.

The volcanic ash emitted into the Earth's atmosphere in the past weeks has totally erased every single effort you have made to reduce the evil beast, carbon. And, those hundreds of thousands of American jobs you helped move to Asia with expensive emissions demands on businesses.. . you know, the ones that are creating even more emissions than when they were creating American jobs, well that must seem really worthwhile now.

I'm so sorry. And I do wish that there was some kind of a silver lining to this volcanic ash cloud but the fact of the matter is that the brush fire season across the western U.S.A. will start in about two months and those fires will negate your efforts to reduce carbon emissions in our world for the next two years.

So, grab a Coke, give the world a hug, and have a nice day!

Air New Zealand Best Blog Awards

There has been a few disparaging comments in the blogosphere about the the Best Blog category for the 2010 Qantas Media Awards. Hardcore bloggers are turning up their noses at the awards en masse. The three Best Blog category finalists consist of two lifestyle blogs written by professional journos and a blog that features weekly posts about techno gadgets.

Is this just sour grapes? Well no, we think they have a point.

So, what blogs should have been nominated?

There seems to be agreement that finalists should have been given some credence for their readership popularity and this would have largely eliminated blogs written by MSM hacks. After all, blogs by their nature should not be formulated extensions of the MSM, but rather independent, edgy and blatantly politically one-eyed without apology or censor.

It would also appear that the three "Best Blog" finalists did not strictly fit the Qantas Media Awards' own worthy criteria of "primarily dedicated to reporting news or views on news."

Not content with merely whinging, a group of leading bloggers have created their own best blog award to restore natural order in the blogging world. By using a little bit of creative license and brash tongue in cheek humour they have stood toe-to-toe with the Qantas Media Awards by trading-off on our government sponsored airline's name and have created:

The Air New Zealand Best Blog Award 

We like the concept! 

Air New Zealand must like it too, as they haven't set their lawyers on to the cheeky creators of the alternative blog award ;-)

We suggest that you visit the The Air New Zealand Best Blog Award to view the 32 entries - some of them you may wish to add to your regular reading list. 

Queen's Birthday?

Queen's Birthday Weekend is upon us!

In talking to a few accommodation providers around the country, a common theme is that forward bookings seem to be somewhat soft.

So it's a perfect opportunity for punters to celebrate the monarch's milestone by indulging themselves with a road trip to explore a whole different world within 2-3 hours drive from their front doorstep.

We naturally suggest that they book into a motel for the weekend (there's plenty to choose from!) and spend some of those anticipated savings from the tax-cuts...

Hotel Fail

We love reading about customer complaints and customer relation fails in the accommodation industry.

The following slideshow is one of our favorites that is an actual complaint sent to the general manager of a hotel after two company directors received less than satisfactory service. This is brilliantly done!

Slideshow not working? Click HERE

There's Nothing Like 100% Pure?

I guess as Kiwis we can feel somewhat proud of Tourism New Zealand's enduring destination marketing campaign, 100% Pure - as long as you ignore the funding issues, the questionable ROI and the fact that the 100% Pure slogan has been undermined by rabid environmentalists...

At least we can appreciate the stirring and emotive marketing collateral that the campaign has produced.

It is unclear how many overseas tourists have been spurred into travelling to our shores after watching a Tourism New Zealand 100% Pure commercial, however this qualification seems to pale into insignificance when discussing publicly funded generic tourism campaigns. 

The campaign has taken on a mystical life of its own within the NZ tourism industry and is therefore regarded as a success. Kiwis feel sentimental about the 100% Pure branding and the campaign is revered by the marketing fraternity.

So Kiwis can rightfully feel smug while watching the train wreck that is Tourism Australia’s destination marketing efforts with the latest campaign using the line “There’s Nothing Like Australia”.

As part of the campaign, Tourism Australia’s new television commercial has been released and on first impression it looks like an unimaginative cringe-worthy, daggy sing-a-long that has been cobbled together by a committee from a by-gone era. When I first saw it, I honestly thought someone was taking the p*ss.

It is interesting to see the savaging being dished out by many Australians via the Mumberella website. 

The Tourism Industry Blog invites the Kiwi tourism community an opportunity to make comment and critique the ad.

We suggest that you first check-it out for yourself:


In comparison, we reckon that the following Tasmania tourism destination ad is much better ;-)

Motella Top-20

We note that the eagerly anticipated monthly Halfdone New Zealand Blog stats have been recently published.

Due to a mysterious glitch in the algorithms of the interweb, the Motella Blog has been elevated into the top 20 blogs in New Zealand.

We sincerely thank the 3 folk that tirelessly read our blog and suggest that you checkout a few other blogs in the current top 20:

1 Kiwiblog

2 The Standard 2.02

3 Gotcha!

4 No Minister

5 MandM

6 New Zealand Conservative

7 Keeping Stock

8 The Dim-Post

9 Say Hello to my Little Friend

10 Cactus Kate

11 No Right Turn

12 Open Parachute

13 Not PC

14 frogblog

15 Something should go here, maybe later

16 Homepaddock

17 Motella – News views and Politics of NZ’s Motel Industry

18 Crusader Rabbit

19 roarprawn

20 TUMEKE!

Motel housekeeping by iPhone

Got a messy guest room that requires some special attention? No problem - Moteliers can now reach for their iPhone to assist with the clean-up.

We recently had the privilege of visiting the offices of Stimulus to bench-test a new app that they have released today. This application is suitable for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad and we are sure that it will prove to be a hit with moteliers.

The Complete Stain Removal app will provide a solution for those pesky stains left behind by accident prone guests. 

"A complete guide to stain removal at your finger tips. Over one hundred and twenty stain removal solutions. The must-have stain removal fact guide."

 Sounds Great!

We suggest that you head over to check it out HERE. (You must download iTunes first).