Tourism Matters

This should now signal the end of VS. Its easy to ...

2012-01-13T11:57:58.756Z

This should now signal the end of VS. Its easy to blame the staff and the "gongs" (like that anon) but we have had so many politicians involved over the past 10 years who prove that their only concern is soundbites. Lets see their likes start to distance themsleves if the press do get involved.

"While this will result in a loss of revenue,...

2012-01-13T11:54:31.467Z

"While this will result in a loss of revenue, it is envisaged that this will be replaced with new revenue streams from the new website"
When will they learn??? The people at the top of the VS tree are just a bunch of jokers. One thing for certain is that they are very good at spending our money without ever having to justify or account for it.

I hope the newspapers pick up on this. Not only we...

2012-01-13T11:49:03.311Z

I hope the newspapers pick up on this. Not only were huge amounts of public (tourism) money spent on VS.com and its various iterations but the cynical side of me remembers that Gongs were awarded to VS staff based on services to Marketing.
Nothing short of a full public enquiry is needed.

From one Anon to another. A real laugh that Fife w...

2011-12-02T14:58:01.109Z

From one Anon to another. A real laugh that Fife wins some international golf award recently when all it is known for overseas is rip off centre of the golfing universe. £2100 per golfer for three nights and 3 rounds of golf (Old, New, Kingsbarns). In this economic climate nothing showcases extravagance more than this. I thought £700 a room per night in London during the Olympics was bad but this is doing Scotland no favours at all.

And I've got a very good idea who anonymous is...

2011-12-02T14:48:59.189Z

And I've got a very good idea who anonymous is too... You need another discount?

tell me where it is so I can book

2011-12-02T14:46:46.165Z

tell me where it is so I can book

Spare beds = low cost for the consumer. Nothing ne...

2011-11-29T11:23:24.078Z

Spare beds = low cost for the consumer. Nothing new here. Any sympathy for other St Andrews Hotels? Absolutely none. They all make hteir money in the summer when they have nothing better to do than charge top £ $ € for sub standard rooms which carry the excuse when met with complaints that "there is nothing we can do about the size of the room because of the age of the building".

Lets hope a travel lodge opens up soon;that will sort out the B%Bs owners who think £100 per room per night is acceptable.

I have had a business listing for 6 months and hav...

2011-11-03T18:26:25.997Z

I have had a business listing for 6 months and haven't had any business at all via it.

What is really worrying about Trip Advisor is they haven't responded to any emails to cancel the listing and refund the balance as they promise to do.

Trip Advisor are the worst company I have ever dealt with. Just don't get involved with them on a business footing.

Really disappointed that Ryanair are no longer fly...

2011-10-22T16:06:40.571+01:00

Really disappointed that Ryanair are no longer flying from Prestwick to Stansted in the winter. I can't understand the business decision behind this and it leaves me with having to make my way to the difficult to access Glasgow airport instead.

Tend to forget about all the reports that have bee...

2011-10-10T13:06:30.617+01:00

Tend to forget about all the reports that have been commissioned over the years to do with golf. Can TM produce a listing so the industry can go back and review some of these. Prob with the public agencies is that staff turnover is quite high so each new graduate that comes in think they have had a eureka moment when they think up something else to work on. Fact is that it was more than likely thought up 20 years ago and nothing was ever followed through.

Define self interest? Doesn't everyone have a ...

2011-10-06T14:09:23.768+01:00

Define self interest? Doesn't everyone have a self interest just sometimes common interest outweighs it. Have a read at the copy below today from HotelMarketing.com and then tell us what guidance you'd like!

The self-serving arguments put forward by the OTAs are just that. Rightfully so, these OTAs are businesses designed to build their own corporate revenue, like any other well-oiled organization. The power of their marketing programs can outgun even the largest hotel chain.

Let's call it what it is:

- OTA customers are NOT your customers. You do not have them on your database for repeat marketing opportunities, and they are not a part of your loyalty marketing program. The motivation and drive for customers to choose your property through an OTA may not be the same as those for someone who came directly through your website, a traditional travel agency recommendation, or word of mouth referral. OTA consumers most probably have less loyalty to you and a different set of expectations.

- OTA commissions are high. Traditional travel agents are generally 10%, while OTAs are often 25-30%. In days where every dollar is precious, this commission level is an important consideration, especially for independent hotels where there's no corporate backbone to lean against. As well, you cannot equate marketing fees levied by a chain/flag to this, as chains give back to the individual property through extensive branding campaigns, compounded over years of marketing activities.

- OTAs level the playing field. More than that, they scorch the earth! All that work you did in branding and creating points of differentiation for your property go by the wayside. Your hotel's display within the OTA site is compressed into the exact same physical space as everyone else on the site. Our brains don't process text the same way we do color photography and themed menu displays (like what appears on a hotel's own website). As such, there's not enough visual distinction for customers to remember or differentiate your property versus the next one on the list.

- OTAs' primary goal is to secure reservations. The hotel a consumer selects is not really their primary concern. It's a large-scale volume business, whether your boutique property is selling or not. They want your inventory - even at a higher price - so that they can sell rooms and hotel-air packages. That's how they make their money. Anytime a consumer clicks through and books through a hotel website, it counts as a loss to them. In fact, everything about the OTAs' websites is designed to motivate you to book through them.

- OTAs are still all about price. Despite what might be stated to the contrary, the OTAs generate customers primarily on the basis of providing the broadest distribution at the lowest price. Just look at most OTAs advertising strategies: they focus on offering the customer the best price, not necessarily the best travel experience, which is what should be touted by your property.

Lets have some real guidance offered to the indust...

2011-10-06T12:20:29.974+01:00

Lets have some real guidance offered to the industry on this, not just from people with self interest.

What ever happened to the "drive it home"...

2011-10-06T12:18:16.583+01:00

What ever happened to the "drive it home" promotion. There must have been 000's of contacts who signed up for this....or did they?? How about some stats showing the effectiveness of this. How many of the free rounds of golf given away by courses were actually taken up? How much did the project cost. Let the industry work out the ROI of this.

Does TM have any update on this?

2011-10-03T11:04:02.112+01:00

Does TM have any update on this?

Just except Google controls the way people search,...

2011-10-03T10:57:00.657+01:00

Just except Google controls the way people search, NOT PEOPLE.

Sounds very "big brother" but the reality is very close. Google is now working on presenting search results based on your own search history. This would mean that two people sitting in the same office searching for the same thing could be given different answers to their search request.

Facinating reading and thanks for posting this. Ta...

2011-10-03T10:50:41.964+01:00

Facinating reading and thanks for posting this. Target 5 was to increse the value of golf tourism by 50% by 2012. Has this been achieved - I think not. I also think that this was a classic case of self interest in teh the SGU should never have been allowed to take control of this. Nor should they have any input in golf tourism in the future. They are about members and memberships and no doubt they used their influence at that time to try and reverse the trend of golf clubs losing member numbers.

Things like Ryder Cup legacy and "leverage" are soundbites that have no substance in any work that has been carried out since these two reports were issued in 2007/08.

Call these people to account to explain what they have achieved over the past 4 years. An absolute farce.

Can TM confirm (or otherwise) that Mike Cantly wil...

2011-09-22T12:33:31.072+01:00

Can TM confirm (or otherwise) that Mike Cantly will be entering a VS team in this event.I understand that contracts have been awarded to numerous consultants to 1)determne a short list of 2 more runners to make up his team; 2) develop new web portal and booking engine so the 3 of them can book their accommodation; 3) a match funding application to cover the costs of the entry fee; 4) showcase the woprk of the team so that they can be awarded "gongs" in teh next honours list; 5) identify overseas trades shows they can visit to show off their new team kit; 6) work up proposals on a "homecoming" application for their Iphones for when they actualy get lost; 7)trial Sean Connery soudalikes for the voice over of the STV advertising campaign;

Interesting stats from booking.com. Very difficult...

2011-09-22T12:21:41.239+01:00

Interesting stats from booking.com. Very difficult to try and break out %sales for Scotland but I hope visitscotland have at least tried to establish the value of business coming to Scotland via this and many similar sales sites. With over 1200 accommodation providers shown on booking.com, and 53 filter options covering star rating; type, facilities, theme, chains it is difficult to see, if not impossilbe, why hard earned tax £s should be spent trying to breath life into the dead duck that is/was VS.com.

...my secret identity revealed at last.........:)

2011-09-08T16:31:10.944+01:00

...my secret identity revealed at last.........:)

It's really great that they are promoting visi...

2011-09-05T10:02:29.142+01:00

It's really great that they are promoting visitor safety.
bed bug extermination

Quote [there is no doubt that Prestwick needs supp...

2011-07-31T12:17:33.196+01:00

Quote [there is no doubt that Prestwick needs support from both local and national politicians and from Ayrshire and the wider business communities across Scotland. Certainly the market will out and if new airlines, charters or scheduled routes cannot be attracted the airport will once again have to reinvent itself all over again as it has done in the past. There seems little desire from the Scottish Government to intervene at Prestwick in the way that they have certainly intervened in other "important" tourism areas and it looks as though it's down to the airport management to pretty much fight their own corner.]
Kenneth Gibson's Motion S4M-00109: Rename Glasgow Prestwick Robert Burns International Airport.
[That the Parliament supports the campaign to rename Glasgow Prestwick International Airport, as Robert Burns International Airport in honour and memory of Scotland’s national bard; etc] may be one way of reinventing Prestwick Airport.

I had a business listing on TA last year, briefly…...

2011-07-27T14:09:08.117+01:00

I had a business listing on TA last year, briefly…

At the time, and now, we were also listed on booking.com and Laterooms.

Our listing page on TA also had boxes you could tick and at the time, a big ‘Book Now’ button which of course took you to either booking.com or Laterooms, to which obviously, we pay commission.

So, we ordered the business listing and was horrified when it appeared.

TA had put a single small line of standard text on our listing page which referred to our website, but left the big ‘Book Now’ button in place. So was this value for money? No. Which button is a browsing potential guest going to push? Go figure!!

When I confronted them on this, it was my fault apparantly, as it was I who had the relationship with booking.com etc. and that it was I that should leave booking.com and Laterooms if I wanted the big book now buttons taken away.

I could not understand their logic then or now. It is not I that controls their website! Therefore I had the business listing taken away and a refund was duly paid. Business Listing? Waste of time & Money.

Book your place by calling 01292 678666

2011-05-10T12:01:09.060+01:00

Book your place by calling
01292 678666

Geoff, I think you've been down this track bef...

2011-05-03T10:36:12.545+01:00

Geoff, I think you've been down this track before have you not? Could you possibly post the figures that tell us exactly how changing the name to Robert Burns International Airport Prestwick is going to make the slightest bit of a difference to Ryanair (or any other carrier)'s decision to fly into Prestwick? You clearly have an online campaign going that is trying to build momentum on an issue that simply has no resonance with the current issues and state of tourism in and into Ayrshire. What else is going to transform our hospitality sector? How about renaming the M77 the Alloway Freeway? Or how about Ayr Railway Station? You are absolutely right that transport netwrowks and infrastructure are key and that finding a mathod of increasing "inbound" flights from key target markets is of real importance to Ayrshire (and indeed the rest of Scotland) but banging on about such a narrow single issue really won't help. (In my opinion of course....)

Tourism and tourist transportation go together and...

2011-05-02T14:06:58.681+01:00

Tourism and tourist transportation go together and Ayrshire has a fantastic structure to build upon.
Roads and rail could be tweeked to cater more for tourists and if we can change the name of the Ayrshire airport to The Robert Burns International Airport, Prestwick, then we're "on the right track".