Labour Weekend travel bookers more ‘impulsive’ - Ezibed

From our observations, accommodation providers seem to be generally positive about forward bookings for Labour Weekend. 

For many Kiwis, this long weekend is the first opportunity to shake off the Winter blues and take their first lesisure break away for the season. Our friends at Ezibed.com have distributed the following press release today:

20 October 2009
Press Release: Ezibed.com

Last minute accommodation website Ezibed.com has described domestic Labour Weekend travel bookers as more ‘impulsive’ than previous years, as holiday makers choose to wait before deciding whether to travel this upcoming long weekend.

The New Zealand owned online accommodation booking company has analyzed it’s booking patterns over the past 3 years and compared these to bookings made so far for this year, and the results indicate that domestic travelers are waiting until closer to the weekend before deciding on whether to travel or not.

Factors the company believes is contributing to travelers leaving their purchase decisions to the very last minute include waiting for a more detailed weather forecast and waiting to obtain the best deals often associated with booking at the last minute.

Gareth Pearce, Managing Director of Ezibed.com says that consumers can receive great deals on accommodation at the moment, even through the holiday periods. People are becoming increasingly aware that the longer they leave it, the better the deal that they could receive.

“Because of our current recessionary period it has become increasingly obvious that travelers are not making travel arrangements until they really have to.”

“Customers can get great deals if they put off booking their travel until the last minute but they also run the risk of the accommodation property selling out or putting their rates up as the date gets closer, especially in tourist hotspots. Accommodation deals listed on Ezibed.com are managed by the individual properties and rates vary based on occupancy levels. Rates also vary from region to region.”

Pre-Labour Weekend bookings are set to surpass last year says the company.

“Bookings for the holiday weekend are only 14% down on total bookings for the weekend last year. With 4 days to go and with the weather forecast predicted to be fine we are anticipating an influx of bookings over the coming days”, says Mr Pearce.

Cougar Barbie

In our post Calling all Cougars! we explored the Cougar phenomenon and the opportunity to cash in on this market by offering niche accommodation packages.

We see that our friends at Gotcha have also got an angle on Cougars. (Yeah we admit this is a wee bit off topic - but it's my blog!)


EMBED-Cougar Barbie - 50th Anniversary - Watch more free videos

Wotif.com team up with Tourism NZ

Wotif.com has teamed up with Tourism New Zealand again to promote New Zealand accommodation deals to the Australian market. This time Wotif.com are inviting accommodation suppliers to participate by offering sub-$99 deals.

The "Wotif Under $99" promotion will be active between 30th October to 8th November 2009. This promotion follows on from this year's "Wotif.com 5-Day Sale" in June and the "7-day Ridiculous Rates Sale" in August that promoted deals that were at least 50% off the rack rate.
 
Wotif.com used supporting radio advertising on major Australian radio stations for their last promotion, however there doesn't appear to be any budget allocated to MSM this time around. 

Promotional support will be by Wotif newsletters sent to its vast database of clients, website buttons on the Wotif.com website, press releases and use of social media such as Twitter.

Like the Wotif 5-Day Sale promotion, Tourism New Zealand will be assisting with promotion and links on www.newzealand.com.

This is an interesting scenario with Tourism New Zealand on one hand elevating New Zealand accommodation that has been "Quality Assured" by Qualmark NZ Ltd and on the other hand assisting an Australian Online Travel Agent promote "unlicensed" accommodation at knock down prices. Does this worry us? Not at all. We just think there is a certain amusing irony.

Many motels that traditionally operate with a narrow band between their rack and sell rates found that they were unable to take part in Wotif's 50% reduction promotions. The latest sub-$99 promotion may be in response to this and could encourage more motels to participate.  

We would have hoped that the accommodation industry was well past offering tariff below $100.00. It will be interesting to analyse the up-take from accommodation providers to gauge the desperation levels of the industry. A net rate of $77.88 after deducting wotif's agent fee and gst from a $99.00 tariff is not a viable proposition for any accommodation provider. 

It could be argued that Wotif's successive promotions are assisting to normalise expectations of deep discounting in the accommodation industry, however the fault is with the accommodation provider that seems to be more than willing to participate.

Shouldn't we consider quality and adding value before sending tariff through the floor?

Calling all Cougars!

Isn't it funny how you can come across the same subject matter time and time again for no particular reason. For the last week every newspaper, magazine, TV program and conversation I have had seems to touch on the phenomenon of..... The Cougar. And not the furry members of the cat family.

According to Wikipedia, a Cougar is a "woman over 40 who sexually pursues younger men, typically more than eight years her junior".

I  remarked to my wife recently that I have now reached an age where a Cougar on the prowl would have long lost interest in someone of my advanced years. Yet another one of life's opportunities has now been sadly snuffed out. Unexpectedly, my wife has no sympathy with my new predicament and caused me greater angst with the revelation that she is now of an age to qualify as a Cougar;-) Hey, that's not funny!

We note with interest that some accommodation providers are shamelessly making the most of this new market demographic.

We see that as an example of inovative niche marketing,  Hotel Diva in San Francisco have introduced the Cougars With Personality Package. OK, it's shamelessly titillating and tacky, but that's what we like about it.

So what does the package include?

• A one-night stay (The Cougar's den)
• Two Hanky-Panky animal-print thongs (Cub bait)
• Two Lemon Drop cocktails (Cougar courage)
  
• Two $25 Gift Certificates for the Epi Center MedSpa (Yes, they do Botox!)
• Professional bra fittings at Nordstrom (Hold 'em high)
• “A list of San Francisco’s hottest Cougar bars” (We assume this is where young dudes hang out)

Judging by the package on offer, I guess Cougars hunt in pairs?

...So, this got us thinking. What sort of accommodation packages could be assembled to target other demographic niche markets?:

• Boy toy or toy boy A much younger boyfriend or husband of an older woman.
  

• Chickenhawke An older gay man who sexually pursues younger males.

• Cradle robber or cradle snatcher A man (primarily, but could refer to a woman) involved with a much younger individual.

• Cub The younger male who is supposedly going out with a "Cougar".

• Gold digger Someone who develops a relationship with a much older partner for primarily financial reasons, especially to inherit the partner's wealth upon death (which is expected to come soon).

• Jailbait A sexually attractive person (primarily female but could refer to a male) who is below the legal age of consent.

• Lolita A sexually precocious girl who is the object of desire of a significantly older man.
  

• May-December romance A relationship in which the age differential between the two adults is wide enough to risk social disapproval.
  

• Manther The male version of a cougar.
  

• MILF An acronym of "Mother [or 'Mom'] I'd Like to F*ck", widely-used idiom that was popularised in the 1999 film American Pie).

• Puma A woman in her thirties who dates a younger man (i.e., 20-somethings), often considered to be "cougars-in-training". It also means Cougars whose age disparity is less than 8 years.

• Silver fox An attractive older male who is pursued by (generally much) younger women.

• Sugar baby The person provided for by a sugar daddy/mommy.

• Sugar daddy/mama/mommy A rich, usually older person who offers money or gifts to a less rich, usually younger person in return for companionship or sexual favors.
  

• Troll A man, often a less-attractive older one, who cruises for sex.

Please feel free to go wild with your accommodation package ideas and make sure you tell us about it.

Is this the worst hotel in the world?

We see that the iconic Hans Brinker Budget Hotel is featured in today's Sunday Herald.

The hotel's extreme honesty publicity campaign has created some classic marketing material and has made this establishment world revered. It takes a special accommodation provider to advertise its point of difference as being; "The worst hotel in the world".

In our quest to inspire others, we featured this property HERE by suggesting that fellow moteliers emulate the Hans Brinkler and ...offer less! The video is very good.

We also suggested in our post HERE that fellow moteliers emulate Hans Brinkler and get into the "environmental responsibility" caper to satisfy the throngs of environmentally conscious guests, wringing their hands and craving to save the planet during their stay. The video is compulsory watching from a hotel "that is leading the the world in it's eco-commitment".

In an environment where the accommodation industry can some times take itself a little too seriously, we like Hans Brinkler's style and injection of humor.

For further inspiration, some of their more memorable advertising is reproduced below:

In marketing, never forget to state the obvious

 

With accommodation, we are selling an "experience" - Looks like he has had a memorable stay

Cleaning standards are consistently the number one consideration with guests

 

We like the Accidentally Eco-Friendly byline. By offering guests less you can save the planet!

 

 The obligatory vinyl mattress - Ewww!

 

 Ah, that classic accommodation icon - the pubic hair in the shower waste

Jasons leading from the front

We note that Jasons Travel Media are creating a good profile in the MSM with several media releases hitting the mark.

One recent example was a Jasons survey HERE that quizzed Kiwis on their holiday planning habits has sparked media interest and a wider story on forward accommodation choices/bookings.

It's good to see Jasons CE, Matthew Mayne feature in the company's press releases.

We like Jason's recent bold appointment of CE, Matthew Mayne. He fills in some big shoes left behind by original Jasons founder, John Sandford and former CE, Stephen Joyce that left the position to pursue his high profile political career.

If the ghost of past CE's is not daunting enough, Mayne will need to manage a print distribution company moving into a digital era. He will be balancing the wants, needs and perceptions of shareholders, a charismatic board, the traveling public and a diverse range of advertisers dominated by Ma and Pa moteliers. Multitasking and cat herding skills will need to be honed.

We all know that moteliers can be a high maintenance and difficult audience. Often a motel business is the operator's first business venture and a lot of time is spent grasping the concept of running a small business. The value of Jasons offer can be sometimes difficult to understand by the flow of motel operators that move through the industry. The psychology of a motelier is wired a little differently to other business operators in other sectors. Business decisions are often based on "what others are doing" emotion and perception. Mayne will need to tap into this audience by maintaining a positive profile and understanding what makes them tick.

Now that Mayne has had time to warm the chair and learn the ropes, we look forward to seeing some of his personality emerge in Jasons future communications.

After meeting with Matthew Mayne recently, we were impressed with his steely determination and knowledge of the motel sector. We think he has the right stuff to lead Jasons into a new era and will be following his progress with interest.

Holiday auction for tsunami aid

A positive news story today about moteliers raising funds by a TradeMe auction for victims of the tsunami in Samoa.

What a fantastic initiative that has attracted worthy MSM coverage and positive publicity. The offer assembled on TradeMe looks pretty good to us too - To view the auction:  Click HERE.

By WILL HINE in Queenstown 
The Southland Times  
14 October 2009

A Queenstown motelier is hoping for a wave of support as she raises money for the victims of the tsunami that devastated Samoa last month.

Queenstown Motel Apartments owner Dianne Smith is offering on Trade Me a three-day holiday in Queenstown, with all proceeds going to the New Zealand Red Cross tsunami emergency appeal.

Mrs Smith said her daughter Vanessa was friends with Highlander and Samoan rugby player Romi Ropati, who had lost family and friends in the tsunami.

"That got me going because I knew he worked hard for his family in the islands.

"I've met him a couple of times and he's a lovely, lovely man."

The tragedy also hit close to home with the Motel Association of New Zealand – of which her husband Peter Smith is national president – losing a member in the tsunami.

Queenstown businesses Real Journeys, Skippers Canyon Jet, Nomad Safaris, Prime Restaurant and HMS Britannia Restaurant have all contributed products and vouchers to Mrs Smith's auction, taking the value of the package to $2132.

The winning bidder would be able to take the holiday within the next 12 months, subject to availability.
The auction closes on Monday.

Source: Click HERE

Time To Man-up

The countdown has begun.

The month of Movember is almost upon us. Get ready to celebrate being a man!

Motel Fail

Er...just the continental for me thanks

 

Who would be brave enough to ask...why? Go to their website HERE

 First rule in advertising - say what you are?

 

Wouldn't it be great to send a postcard to the folks back home from the Hotel Ass

 

 Ever stayed in a sh*t accommodation establishment before?

 

 Apparently the owner's ego is even bigger

What were they thinking?!?

Ooops! - unfortunate product placement

Traveller Expectations Not Met

In order to create some brand awareness and showcase their Jasons Business Traveller New Zealand Accommodation Directory, Jasons Travel Media recently released the results of two surveys that they conducted.

The findings highlighted the gap between what business travellers want in accommodation, and what advertisers are delivering.

Accommodation operators’ that  advertise in Jasons Business Traveller were asked to rank key factors in what they perceive business customers want when choosing accommodation and this resulted in the following results in order of importance:

1. A comfortable bed
2. Location
3. Car parking
4. Free Internet and newspapers

Business travellers were also quizzed to rank the key factors they were looking for when choosing accommodation and this resulted in the following results in order of importance:

1. location, location, location! 
2. A comfortable bed
3. Free Internet and newspapers
4. A place to eat on site

For business travellers, location was by far the most important with 81% ranking this their number one consideration. The main difference between the perception of accommodation operators and the needs of business travellers was the importance of having food available on site.

Although not quite making the top four, security was a consideration for 25% of business travellers, particularly among female respondents. Car parking seemed to be either not required or taken for granted.

Interestingly, price, quality ratings and environmental concerns didn't even make the radar.

For Jasons Travel Media's press release, click: HERE