July 2009 Archives

It is hard not to smile at the Ofcom report on broadband speeds that concludes customers on average receive a service half the rate they believe they signed up for. I'm surprised to hear it is as high as that. The trick is . . .

Coop Travel is the latest to unveil its vision of the future with its two concept stores.

The seamless joining together of shops, call-centres and website is the Holy Grail everyone is chasing to make best use of existing shops and their related overheads and the more cost effective online distribution - if you can get consumers to convert.



Advances in technology now enable consultants to see which customers are online, where they came from and where they are in the booking journey.

Thomas Cook unveiled something similar with its live web chat service for a predetermined set of customers.

Rival Thomson talked about diverting online customers to its shop staff during quieter trading periods.

What's interesting about Coop Travel's approach is its customer service ethos - borrowing the principles of Fred Reichheld's Ultimate Question for its reward programme.

But the issues remain the same - can the connection between online and offline be bridged with clever technology, will online customers be tempted into a high-tech shop design and coffee shop environment and will there always be customers who want the hand-holding experience?

Coop Travel will spend the next couple of months evaluating the concept - we watch with interest!

One suspects this will not work for too long, but it's rather amusing.

360travelguide.com alerted us to a little money-making routine passengers can try the next time they fly with everyone's favourite low-cost carrier, Ryanair.

This is how it works:

The airline is currently charging the same prices whether in Euro or British Pounds for its in-flight beverages.

Nothing wrong with that - the two currencies have hovered close to another for a while now.

However, cabin crew will also give the change back in any currency - if you ask.

So, for example, buy a £3/Euro 3 coffee and then pay for it with a Euro 50 note.

Then request that the change of Euro 47 in British Pounds.

£47 currently converts to around Euro 54 - so that's a free coffee AND 4 Euro in your pocket.

Our contact at 360travelguide.com said:

"One of 360TravelGuide.com's roving reporters checked it out in practice on a flight from Carcassonne a few days ago.

"Result? Exactly as planned (even the coffee wasn't bad) plus the great satisfaction of knocking a Ryanair charge straight back where it came from."

Whoops. Trebles all round... ;-)

'Mike, London' emailed today, pointing us to a discussion thread on the Bales Worldwide website.

He wrote:

"Did you see this humorous exchange on Bales Worldwide's website? It made me wonder about the logic of pursuing a publish all comments policy, it can quickly lead to a public row,"

Here is the background:

Bales Worldwide managing director Mandy Nickerson started blogging in a dedicated area of the operator's website in July 2008.

She used it as a platform to talk about issues as diverse as politics, HR, industry bodies, Twitter and, err, her ability to switch off (or not).

All well and good. Putting a company face in front of the public is a positive thing in this day and age of greater transparency.

But in May this year, Nickerson wrote a post titled 'What Recession?'.

After some rather fluffy comments about taking family members to airports and the like, Nickerson said:

"At the weekend, I am not saying my conversation is limited or anything but seems that everyone does want to talk about holidays so a lot of talk about different trips that are being planned or have happened.

"Certainly more than one person said to me that they were glad they had booked their holiday as it becomes more a reality it almost gives some people a new lease of life and energy."

Nickerson then went on to talk about "challenges" this year, and then continued:

"I suppose that we can all miss some good fortunes by not realising them as they pass you by, but I do think that we, at Bales, capture the greater amount of good fortune, together with a wonderfully positive spirit of optimism - always ready to take on whatever we can.

"All of us here have a well founded belief in their ability to capture every opportunity and be confident that they can deliver to you, our clients. Of which I am extremely proud off! [SIC]"

And with a relaxed "Speak to you again soon...", she signed off.

What followed a few days later, in a comment by 'John Johnson', was probably not expected.

"What recession? You tell us if you feel there is no recession why you choose earlier in the year to make 20% of your staff redundant.

"Please answer as it will help prove to your customers why you feel there is no recession.

"Interestingly, if you can't answer (or don't allow this post to be public) it probably says far more than any any answer you could give."

[He was referring to this story, published in January this year regarding 12 staff who were in consultation over their jobs]

Now, one suspects that at this point, many top execs would have done exactly what 'John' anticipated would happen - the thread would have been pulled quicker than you could say "2.38 million unemployed".

But to her enormous credit, Nickerson came back with a straight response.

"I was not trying to be flippant and no, we are not in denial of the challenges we are facing this year.

"Sir, you don't say what line of business you are in but I know that most commercial companies - travel and beyond that I have a dialogue with, all share the same view- that this a very tough period- (something I have not denied and have mentioned in previous blogs ).

"When a company is riding on success it is easy to enjoy and not look at reigning in and keeping a tighter ship but in these tougher times you do have to do a check list and run a leaner business."

Now was the dark hand of PR behind this? Probably not... The response comes across as incredibly honest, if ever so slightly defensive.

But this is actually a textbook way to respond to criticism in the transparent world of corporate forums and blogs.

There is almost nothing in marketingland that gets the latte froth frothing more than the annual debate many have over the Superbrands list.

[The 2009/2010 list is here - PDF]

This yearly release of the top 500 consumer brands in the UK is put together in conjunction with The Centre for Brand Analysis and has a mildly controversial methodology.

TCBA researchers compile a list of the UK's leading brands from sources such as diverse as sector reports to blogs.

The 1,400 shortlisted brands are then put forward to an Expert Council, which ranks each on a scale of one to ten.

The next stage sees around 40% of the worst ranked companies in the 1,400 removed from the shortlist, leaving the remaining 900 for 2,100 members of the public to determine the position of the final 500 brands.

Sounds simple, huh?

Simple - but controversial.

First of all, Superbrands has had a problem for a number of years in that some believe inclusion in the Superbrands book (companies pay to be featured) is a determining factor over selection in the overall list.

Chief executive Stephen Cheliotis is probably fed up with continually having to deny any link. "There is absolutely no connection or influence between the Superbands book and the list," he told us earlier today.

End of story?

Well, TUI Travel PLC seems to think not, and has once again come out against the Superbrands concept.

"Thomson and First Choice are two of the best known travel brands in the UK, and are focused on offering the best holidays in the market place, in terms of value and differentiated product.

"As per previous years, we don't see any value in becoming a member of the Superbrand programme, which charges for membership once a brand is short listed for its 'Superbrand 500' list.

"We would rather spend the money on customer insight and making our holidays even better for customers."

Forgetting the ongoing and (intriguing for us, surprising for others) public spat between TUI and Superbrands, listing the 500 strongest brands in the UK is essentially a pain for marketers elsewhere not featured - not least because it probably passes across the desk of the CEO who wants to know why.

Now some might argue TUI's ire is a result of its arch rival Thomas Cook's continued high position in the list (26 in 2009/2010, a jump of 45 positions on the previous year).

If this is the case, some might say that TUI does have a point.

It would seem odd to some that two high profile brands in Thomson and First Choice fail to appear anywhere in the top 500 - although Cheliotis confirms that they did feature in the list put before the public.

The other travel brands include: Kuoni (348), British Airways (5), Virgin Atlantic (11), Eurostar (52), National Express (78), Cunard (41), P&O Ferries (176), Royal Caribbean International (271), Hilton (27), Marriott (110), Sheraton Hotels & Resorts (186), Champneys (306), Radisson Hotels & Resorts (313), Sandals (336), Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts (402) and Holiday Inn (460).

Spot the problem?

The 2009/2010 list includes just 17 travel and hospitality brands. Yes, you read that correctly - just 3.5% of the 500 companies listed are travel-related.

For such an inspirational lifestyle product, this is a poor showing for something which providers would hope would leave a lasting impact with consumers.

Cheliotis is brutally honest with his assessment of the industry: "As a sector it [travel] does appallingly badly."

So, the question is this: why does travel perform so weakly when it comes to lists such as Superbrands?

Is it because the products have become throwaway items, where loyalty counts for increasingly little?

And why, therefore, do companies such as BA and Thomas Cook continue to do well?

So it's been a week of The Man apparently getting his comeuppance from Joe Public.

First of all there was the case of the United Guitars scandal - Alex Bainbridge has plenty to say on it - and now it appears that Simonseeks founder Simon Nixon has found himself in hot water in The Sun for comments he made on Twitter.

Back in May, Nixon - co-founder of the Moneysupermarket brand, which later spawned the Travelsupermarket meta search giant) - Tweeted some comments during a visit to Marbella.

The Tweet has since been removed from his Twitter stream (as Nixon confirmed to us today), but they apparently went something like this:

"The crowds are a mix of tattooed cockneys, drunken golfers and bucket-and-spade families."

He also went on to make reference [this time, not deleted] to the age range of some of the holidaymakers in-resort, likening them to "fossils". He even posted a Twitpic of the moment.

Six weeks later and The Sun runs with this typically provocative story...

The piece quotes a "city expert" who says Nixon's comments could be a Gerald Ratner moment - the infamous case when the proprietor mocked his own products, a gaffe of such epic proportions that the jewellery empire he ran at the time imploded.

In Nixon's case, it would be amazing to think that the comments would ruin Moneysupermarket (there is, interestingly, no mention of Simonseeks in the piece).

First of all, The Sun's story is about a Twitter comment six weeks beforehand. In other words, very old (in Tweetland) and low penetration.

And secondly, the world has moved on a fair bit since the Ratner incident 1991 and, frankly, people say daft things all the time in social media.

This is not to say that Nixon should be ignored, but there is probably a far greater degree of taking the comments with 'a pinch of salt' than previously.

Twitter, in other words, lends itself to that laissez-faire attitude to public comments.

Nevertheless, Nixon to his credit has apologised both in the original story in The Sun and via Twitter and the story will probably end there. Moneysupermarket/Simonseeks will not suffer and hordes of tattooed cockneys, drunken golfers and bucket-and-spade families will probably not be offended.

In contrast, the United Guitars saga is getting the knickers of the Twit and Blogerati in a right twist.

But the reality is that the 'complaint' has probably done more to boost the profile of Canadian rockers Sons of Maxwell than it has impacted on the ticket sales of United Airlines.

We would surmise that neither of the incidents are own goals at all. Just temporary blips at most and/or unintended (possibly!) PR opportunities.

So with the first half of 2009 now a semi-distant memory, how did the travel and hospitality firms listed on the Travolution Index performed during the six months to the end of June?

The Index as a whole was down 2.34% between 2 January and 30 June.

The aggregated unit value of the 20 leading shares on the London Stock Exchange reached its lowest point of 1107.338 on 2 February (15% lower than the end of June figure) and a high of 1610,547 on 5 May (23% higher).

The performance of individual companies are listed as follows:

All Leisure Group - down 33.8%

Anite - up 7.2%

Avis Europe -  up 445.1%

British Airways - down 31%

Carnival - up 0.9%

Daily Mail and General Trust - up 2.2%

Dart Group - up 75.8%

EasyJet -  down 5.5%

Holidaybreak - up 41.9%

InterContinental Hotels Group  - up 0.4%

Moneysupermarket.com - down 9.3%

National Express Group - down 37%

Park Plaza Hotels Limited - up 18%

Peel Hotels - down 5.2%

Stagecoach Group - down 0.7%

Thomas Cook Group - up 12.6%

Travelzest - down 37.3%

TUI Travel - no change [remarkable!]

Western & Oriental - down 27.6%

Whitbread - down 12.1%

Much better than last week's 'viral' effort.

And cute...

[We hope they've all got Equity Cards ;-)  ]

Here we go again - Travelport has partnered with PSP International to form a joint venture on an "innovative and integrated", payment system.

Ooops, sorry, forget to mention the "state-of-the-art" bit.

The JV will be branded eNett and Travelport has the majority stake.

But hasn't this been done before?

The memory cogs may not be as well oiled as they used to be but buried somewhere in the archive is something about Money Direct - a joint venture between Sabre and Amadeus formed in 2007.

Anyone remember it? When we last spoke to them in March 08, they were months away from a UK launch - hmmm!

And, wasn't that supposed to be the industry standard for automated payment schemes?

Anyway, eNett will automate payments, settlement and reporting....and here's an interesting bit "enable non traditiotravelport, amadeus, sabre, galileo, worldspan, gds, nal players in the travel industry, such as low cost carriers, who desire to distribute their products through the travel trade". Who would that be then?

Of course we wish the venture well in what is probably a vital piece of the automated travel jigsaw but excuse us for being just a little bit cynical.

We'll be back with an update...

This is a nice little idea - and a bit of a travel first as far as we can tell.

When the idea of clever mash-ups first starting appearing on the web a few years back, many people were wowed at the technical prowess (which was actually rather simple once APIs came into vogue) and cooed over the often utterly random things many sites were creating.

In other words: some were often rather pointless once you got over the 'Oh, that's interesting' nature of it.

Crime rates from a local police department on a Google Map? Okay, thanks. Fly-drive routes on Google Earth? Interesting for a little while longer.

So imagine you're a online hotel brand which has the design of its establishments as its raison d'être - providing hotels where Metropolitan arty types like to say they stayed and then fawn about the decor to their Metropolitan arty type friends.

It would then make perfect sense to try and capture some of that groovy enthusiasm, right?

Step forward high-end European boutique brand Design Hotels, which has teamed up with MyDeco - lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman's latest wheeze - for a neat little tool to tap into this post-trip desire to remember the asthetics of the establishment.

[MyDeco is a community site for budding - leaning towards luxury, to be fair - DIYers]

Paricpating hotel pages on the Design Hotels website - Hotel Sezz in Paris, for example - now carry a button "Buy The Look at MyDeco.com".

Users are then directed to a landing page on the MyDeco site which displays various items of furniture from the hotel which are commercially available - with links out to the re-seller.

Okay, so this is probably not a partnership that is going to blow the socks off the likes of Mashable et al, but it's a clever and no doubt far more valuable collaboration between two parties almost destined to share their USP.