This evening we celebrate Human Achievement Hour from 8.30pm for one-hour. Once again this has coincidentally clashed with this year's masterbatery Earth Hour.
Human Achievement Hour celebrates man's ability to think, reason and change his environment to suit his needs.
Now is the best time to be alive and 2011 was another year of human endeavour that gave us mind reading computers! The invisibility cloak! The Humingbird drone! And much more...Check out the 2011 biggest (and coolest) breakthroughs in science, technology and the arts according to Time Magazine.
Celebrating Human Achievement Hour will mean turning all available lights *ON* and ridiculing those blow-hard, hypercritical eco-show-offs that allow silly bint "celebrities" to think for them.
We will be taking particular note at the irony of business owners that will be sitting in delusional darkness while grandstanding hypercritical social responsibility....for one hour.
A quote from the Ayn Rand Institute capitulates the silliness and irony of Earth Hour for us:
"Participants spend an enjoyable sixty minutes in the dark, safe in the knowledge that the life-saving benefits of industrial civilization are just a light switch away... Forget one measly hour with just the lights off. How about Earth Month... Try spending a month shivering in the dark without heating, electricity, refrigeration; without power plants or generators; without any of the labor-saving, time-saving, and therefore life-saving products that industrial energy makes possible."
Interesting times ahead for the Tourism Industry Association of NZ (TIA).
After the announcement that the NZ Hotel Council will be folded into the TIA from 1 April, we are pleased to learn that Martin Snedden will be taking over as the Chief Executive of the TIA.
Snedden with his sporting, legal and past positions heading NZ Cricket and the Rugby World Cup has proven to be media savvy and very capable to give good sound-bites when required. Snedden has the potential to give a whole lot more profile and change the voice of an expanded TIA.
It will be interesting to see how future advocacy issues (particularly for the accommodation sector) will be progressed and if other trade associations in the tourism sector will be able to offer comparable services to their members.
"RWC chief to head Tourism Industry Assn
30 March 2012
Rugby World Cup 2011 chief Martin Snedden has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of the Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA), Chairman Norm Thompson has announced.
“We are delighted to attract someone of Martin’s calibre and experience to lead the organisation representing one of New Zealand’s biggest export industries. He demonstrated superb leadership skills to stage an extremely successful RWC 2011 and we look forward to him bringing those skills to TIA,” Mr Thompson says.
According to Mr Thompson, Mr Snedden realised the extent and importance of the tourism industry to New Zealand’s economy through his involvement in RWC 2011. Throughout the build-up to the tournament, he worked closely with airlines, hotels and other tourism sectors to ensure New Zealand was ready to host the largest event ever held here.
“He’s very keen to become more deeply involved in the industry, which delivers $9.7 billion in foreign exchange to our economy every year,” he says.
“Coming on top of our announcement earlier this week of the decision to integrate TIA and the New Zealand Hotel Council, we believe Martin’s appointment will further strengthen tourism industry representation at the national level, and help TIA achieve even better outcomes for its members.”
Mr Snedden says his goal in accepting his new role is to increase the visibility of tourism as a key economic driver to New Zealand’s economy.
“This is an industry that adds $63 million to the economy every day of the year. It supports one in every 10 jobs and delivers close to 9% of our GDP. The industry is a critical part of New Zealand’s economy and we can do much more to grow it,” he says.
“I’m committed to New Zealand and I’m proud of what it has to offer, both to our international visitors and to New Zealanders travelling in their own country.”
As the leading advocate for the private sector, TIA will be active in helping grow the industry, which creates jobs and supports businesses in every region of New Zealand, he says.
Mr Snedden will take up his new role in early June. TIA Board member Grant Lilly will act as interim Chief Executive until then."
Source: Click HERE
So who's participating in Earth Hour this Saturday?
A quick troll around the internet would indicate that this year's event is going to be fairly low-key. Businesses willing to grandstand their social commitment to saving the planet appear to be thin on the ground with only the odd restaurant and hotel advertising the default promotional option of candle-lit dining.
The Tauranga City Council seem to be the only local authority generously willing to invest ratepayers funds into supporting Earth Hour and are ironically using the Rena Disaster as qualification - I wonder how this will go down as a tourism promotion?
With Fairfax as a founding partner of Earth Hour and their enthusiasm to chase triple-bottom line objectives, you can be sure that media outlets will be cutting and pasting supportive gushing reports on environmental evangelism over the weekend.
Earth Hour is also a fantastic platform for blow-hard, hypercritical eco-show-off "celebrities" to spout eco-slogans in an attempt to raise their fading profiles.
I just feel sorry for the hapless guests in New Zealand that will be checking-in to an accommodation chain that are promoting the following added-guest-benefits during Earth Hour.
It makes you wonder if these quirky and cool conditions are more permanent for hotels in North Korea?
Between stints of tweeting and whinging about NZ's capped internet plans, I see that Stephen Fry has hurled his bulky frame off a bridge in Queenstown.
Before his trip out to New Zealand, Britain's national treasure, Stephen Fry took a leading role in a domestic tourism campaign urging fellow countryman to stay at home.
Great to see that Stephen Fry's leap of faith from Kawarau Bridge is promoting a New Zealand iconic tourism attraction as the following video positively trends to UK audiences on YouTube:
Being a 40-something wanna-be geek, I love technology. However, sometimes when we use digital tools that gives instant gratification, we sometimes forget basic etiquette and common courtesy.
Case-in-point, I received the following text from one of my employees this afternoon:
After going through a training period and getting this particular staff member up to speed, it looks like I'll be short staffed until I find a suitable replacement - a time consuming, expensive and excruciating process!
I backspaced my initial text response and decided to play the default "good-guy."
What should I have responded with?
An interesting video below is worth a look as it graphically illustrates the journey an average guest takes before deciding where to stay.
Today's consumers that are bombarded with digital noise and living a fast-paced, time-poor lifestyle seem to have a lot of time up their sleeves when it comes to pondering about which hotel or motel they should book.
Hat tip: Wihphotel.com
Here's a recipe for disaster and a titillating tale worthy of a reality TV show.
A millionaire father purchases a motel in Warrnambool, Victoria Australia for his son and daughter aged 25 and 27 to cut their teeth on.
The generous dad paid $AUD 755,000 for the Best Western All Seasons Motor Inn and things soon started to unravel with incompetent management that lead to corruption.
An online review gives some inkling of the chaos that ensued after the siblings took over:
"Absolutely DISGUSTING!!!
If you have stayed here before and liked it, be WARNED that the ownership has changed hands since MAY '11.
With mould ridden bathrooms and rooms I wasn't at all surprised they were offering cheap rooms only to find that when we were checking out, the management tried to charge us exactly TWICE what we were supposed to pay. When i refused, stating that the price quoted was half what he was trying to charge me, he adamantly said i couldn't leave without paying the amount. Inspite of paying a much higher amount than quoted, his "Thanks for staying with us" was replaced by "DONT COME BACK AGAIN" (What makes him think i will anyway??)
CHEATS!!!"
The motel business was eventually sold in a fire-sale for $AUD 180,000.
The father is no longer on speaking terms with his siblings, his son and daughter have received suspended jail sentences for a range of fraud-related offences and the daughter is at risk of being deported back to Pakistan.
Not surprisingly, the Best Western chain have severed ties with the motel.
Source: Click HERE
Accommodation providers know how important it is to present bookable online inventory. Online commerce is not an exact science, however there are many commonly accepted rules.
The booking process should appear to be integrated into the accommodation provider's website. While browsing the accommodation provider's main website, customers do not like being whisked away to an unexpected 3rd party booking provider and this necessary transition should be as seamless as possible. As the customer moves through a buying decision, clicks should be kept to a minimum and the process should be simple and intuitive.
The room options presented should be room types (not an exhaustive list of all rooms by unit number), descriptions should be succinct and photos must be of the highest quality.
Before they share personal information including credit card details, the customer need to be reassured that they are dealing with a business that they can trust, has credibility and will protect their privacy. The accommodation provider's main website should have several points that build this trust and the booking process should allow the customer to easily access clearly defined terms and conditions.
The booking widget (along with the accommodation provider's main website) must now be mobile enabled. Mobile channel bookings have increased four-fold between 2008 and 2010 and Google have predicted that mobile will overtake PCs as the most common web-access device by 2013. While apps have their place, the must-have accessory for online commerce is a mobile website that uses a mobile enabled booking widget.
So how do we make it easier for the consumer to connect? Maybe we can learn something from Red Tomato Pizza in Dubi that have stripped down the online buying process by enabling their customers to order pizza with a single tap of their digit.
"Called the VIP Fridge Magnet, the pizza box-shaped magnet is connected to Red Tomato Pizza in Dubai. The magnet is preset to order a pizza online and is connected to the Internet via the Bluetooth connection on a smartphone. Red Tomato Pizza then sends a confirmation text and delivers the pizza soon after. You can also update your pizza selection online at any time."
Very cool:
So how does this work?
I still get a thrill by selling rooms. I even get a shot of adrenalin by cross-selling added-value items to guests staying at our motel. The good-old motel breakfast can be a lucrative sell that is often appreciated by guests. There are other items that we sell more passively, such as wine, charge-back meals and purchases from our vending machine that give our motel tariff a power-boost.
I've been thinking lately about other complementary items I could flog-off add value to my guests' stay. Naturally I instantly turned to the great oracle that is Google for some inspiration. A quick search revealed all sorts of different products for consideration and as usual I soon found myself lurking around the dark corners of the internet...
The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas seems to understand about adding-value to their guests' stay by giving them what they want. They have added a "Get Love" menu in all their guest rooms and sell a range of erotic adult themed items.
Hard Rock guests that wish to spend a night confined to their room can order handy items from room service such as a peek-a-boo bra for $48, a skimpy French-maid-style outfit - $98, a blindfold - $30 and rabbit-fur handcuffs - $36.
So the obvious questions is: What's the best selling item? Not surprisingly, it's the "Turn Me On Vibrating Panties" for a mere $146.
Adult accessories is not a conversation I wish to enter into while eyeballing my guests, so this is definitely a no-go area for me. However with New Zealand's hotel and motel tariff languishing near the bottom in a recent comparison of 22-countries, maybe this could be a goer for other accommodation providers needing to increase sales income?
Is this a scene that we'll be regularly seeing in Kiwi hotels and motels anytime soon?
I've noticed that Online Travel Agencies (especially based in the Northern Hemisphere) seem to be following the trend of promoting the generous cancellation terms of accommodation providers on their booking sites. Bringing this feature to the forefront of promotion encourages a segment of the public who are naturally cautious, to book now, safe in the knowledge that they are able to cancel without penalty at a later stage.
While this may extract more overall bookings, promoting to the public the ability to book accommodation on a whim can create headaches for accommodation providers. By making an accommodation booking with many OTAs, the public can lock-in rooms on a mere chance that they may travel and then cancel last minute. This type of scenario seems to becoming more common and the accommodation provider needs to balance the opportunity of attracting more business with the hassle and opportunity-cost of holding flip-flop reservations.
One reason a customer may wish to book now and cancel closer to the time, can be tariff related. I see that this week a subsidiary of TripAdvisor has launched a new booking site Tingo.com that may appease those consumers that fear missing out on a better deal if they commit too early.
So what's the spin? It's a simple premise that Tingo.com allows a person book accommodation and then receive an automatic refund if the same accommodation provider drops tariff before the cancellation date (ie commonly 24-48 hours before the arrival date). In a dynamic tariff environment, the consumer could be onto a winner.
I see that Tingo.com source inventory from Expedia, so Kiwi accommodation has been available to be booked via Tingo.com from their launch last Wednesday.
I see that media sources (more than likely cut-and-pasted from Tingo.com's press releases) are calling this site a major game change for consumers that could “potentially corner the travel/hotel booking market”.
I guess with the TripAdvisor relationship, Tingo.com will give it a good crack.
