Every Little Helps with Direct Bookings

How do you increase direct bookings  Well our series of articles has highlighted just some of the small things you can do to "reduce friction". Add all of these small things together and you WILL see a difference in conversion.

What do we mean? Well simply put, it means accommodation providers must remove anything that disincentivises the visitor to book on their site.

Don't say phone for late availability. Don't offer better prices and availability on OTA's and use all the graphical tools in your control to get the guest to click where they want to go.

Gailes Hotel today have ticked another box with the dropping in of clear calls to action on their booking page. You're in little doubt where to go here are you? They have created their own buttons making navigation easier but also reinforced their brand identity at the same time.

Great job again by the team at Simpsinns.

Check out how the Bookassist powered booking engine looks for yourself - or better just Book Direct

Highland Tourism Workshop - Mountain Biking

This new workshop can help your tourism business or cycling business to grow your business and attract more visitors.

Mountain biking is already worth £119 million to the Scottish economy, and it's set to grow by 30% in the next 5 years.

This workshop will explain the market opportunity, allow you to hear from those who are already succeeding in the niche, and stimulate your thinking as to what this means for your business in an innovation session.

What you will find out

• Insights on the key visitor markets and how to make the most of this intelligence
• Information on the new trail at Glenlivet and other local trails and centres
• Inspiration - a local business shares its success secrets
• Top Tips and practical steps for you to take
• Tools and intelligence available on the DMBinS website such as photography and trails that can be downloaded by business to use in their marketing material
• A 'So What?' creative session helping you to come up with innovative ideas for you to make the most of the opportunities in mountain biking tourism
• Test the new e-learning guide developed by Borders College
• A short, optional mountain biking taster session

Date: Tuesday 30th April 2013
Venue: The Lecht Ski Centre
Time: 9.30 am to 1.15 pm, followed by a one-hour mountain biking taster session.
Price: £20 per person. Includes lunch, light refreshments and all equipment for taster session.

For more information, and to register, please visit Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland

Ryder Cup Opening Concert to cost up to £1.2 million

You may have picked up the triumphal announcement by the Scottish Government VisitScotland that they were planning a major concert to mark the start of the Ryder Cup. (We have not missed out an adjunct between Scottish Government and VisitScotland - we accept that some in the tourism business can't tell the difference between the two bodies anymore as they become more homogeneous and referendum focused!)

What may have skipped everyone's attention and indeed ours was that the Scottish Government VisitScotland have allocated up to £1.2 million for aforementioned opening concert for the Ryder Cup!

Yup £1.2 million pounds of public money on a pre-event event that makes the private sector organisers buckets and buckets. Nothing of course to do with the referendum immedaitely before it. Nope that would be cynical and churlish.

The tender document described the goods and services to be provided as thus:

"This is a contract to engage a promoter to devise and deliver a once in a lifetime concert to mark the beginning of the Ryder Cup week, delivered on behalf of the Scottish Government." (sic the tender was issued by VisitScotland - as mentioned one and the same really)
It is intended that the support for this event will be in the range of £800,000 to £1,200,000 depending on the funding requirements tendered for the Services."

What added value? What additional visitor numbers? What direct revenues? What return on investment? What opportunity cost? What an ego trip...

The Ryder Cup is a private event (if you ask Scotland's golf tourism operators a VERY private event) with massive profitability from the sale of rights, merchandising, tickets, packages and licencing.

Yet here we have a cash strapped country paying £1.2 million of public funds for a bloody concert. And we just stand around and applaud and say "Well the profile will be good for tourism." Yeah a bit like the £6 mill spent on Brave?

Once the BBC have run out of Rangers stories (accepted that may take a while!) wouldn't it be great if they could just go through the list of tender documents under VisitScotland over the past three years and maybe just ask the occasional pertinent question to those in charge?

Dream on.

Santa Claus Land - Twenty Years On

We've been fortunate to be doing some work recently with Ayrshire based Kirsty Innes Marketing for one of their clients in Glasgow and one of the many ideas that was bounced around the table was the development of a character or characters to front the client business for some of their family, leisure and online markets.

It made me think of some of the previous jobs we'd worked on in the past and in delving deep into the filing cabinet archives we found a couple of folders with some of the materials and background to the project we managed nearly twenty years ago in Aviemore.

It was possibly Plan B's very first client and came through an old Stakis Aviemore colleague who was after a bit of affordable consultancy. He sure got it!

Santa Claus Land was one of those iconic memories from the Aviemore trial of the seventies and if you'd been in the Cairngorms area with kids then the chances are you'd recall the old attraction.

The "theme park" was arguably one of Scotland's first way back in the day when Aviemore was first built as Scotland's tourism playground. The 1990's owners - the Craig Whyte and Charles Green of their day - saw Santa Claus Land as a bit of a PR exercise in their plans to redevelop the whole centre and they subsequently refurbished and reopened SCL. Plan B was playing a small part with the local management team and Edinburgh based architects in trying to build a coherent business plan for the overall redevelopment strategy but had been specifically tasked to develop a short term tactical plan for the relaunch of Santa Claus Land. 

The branding was looked at (long before we had even heard of a Brand Wheel!!) and as well as work on the logo and the basic promotional print materials we had had the idea to support Santa with his helpers and created a range of characters each with their own personalities all with a view to creating a wider revenues stream from associated merchandising. Okay it was hardly a novel premise but for Scotland at that time at least had some unique elements in it! Well we thoughts so at the time!

Anyway, the project evolved into full costumed park characters, T-shirts, badges, marketing materials and family friendly collateral such as the colouring book and small boxed figurines. Twenty years ago nearly. Wow. What could we have done with them with all that online technology and retail?

Anyway, we thought it was worth sharing some of that old work as a piece of affordable retro marketing at its best/worst!

Santa Claus Land Colouring Book

Developed from scratch, we created the characters, their profiles and personas - essence and personality if you wish! - and one of the first things we developed was the old faithful colouring in book.

There is no digital version of this anywhere and the scans in the PDF version below are showing the age (and coffee stains!) of the original which we found in the old files. Still I'm sure there'll be some old Aviemore employees from the day who will download it and get their kids to colour them in! There may even be a competition there!

Images and Print

We've found some of the old brochures. Strange how print is print even two decades on. Okay no QR codes, join us on Facebook or website addresses but content is still content.

Further Reading

Want to reflect further on the old Aviemore? Here's some articles from the archives:

• Strathspey Herald looks back at the original opening
• Memories of Aviemore from The Herald - Rebirth of Aviemore
• Derelict Places - Link to pictures of Santa Claus Land 2012
• Santa Claus Land 1994 Glasgow Herald Review

Ayrshire and Arran Tourism Gathering

Got an invite to an industry gathering in Irvine from Ayrshire and Arran Tourism and VisitScotland. We did think it may have been on their industry facing communications website by now right enough...

Download the PDF here.

"Ayrshire & Arran Tourism Team in partnership with VisitScotland would like to invite you to take part in a Tourism Gathering to explore how we can best work together to drive tourism growth in Ayrshire & Arran.

The event will allow businesses to collaborate, network and discuss opportunities and priorities for their individual business and for Ayrshire & Arran as a destination.

We would be delighted if you could join us at Menzies Irvine Hotel, 46 Annick Rd, Irvine, KA11 4LD on Tuesday 30 April 2013 between 10am and 4:30pm - a networking lunch will be provided.

During the day there will be presentations on the Ayrshire & Arran Tourism Strategy and insights into the Ayrshire & Arran visitor. Delegates will have the opportunity to participate in two of four workshops which will focus on Using Themed Itineraries, Watersports, The Ayrshire & Arran Tourism Industry Online Portal and Working with the Media.

There will also be a question and answer session during the day which will give you the opportunity to pose any questions you may have.

You can register online now at: http://aatourismconference.eventbrite.com/ Registration closes on at 12 noon on Friday 26 April 2013.

For those travelling from Arran transport will be provided to and from the ferry port at Ardrossan and Menzies Irvine Hotel. Please ensure you select this option when registering.

Partner stands

A number of exhibitor tables are available to industry partners free of charge. Delegates will have the chance to network with industry partners during breaks and dedicated networking time on the agenda.

If you would like to take one of the exhibitor tables please contact Laura Cree, Ayrshire & Arran Tourism Team by emailing laura.cree@ayrshire-arran.org"

Say Si to Irvine’s stunning new venue

The waiting is over. Si! Café:Bar:Restaurant, Irvine’s brand new venue of choice,  opened its doors to the public last week and has been greatly received by customers who have already dropped in to see us.

The latest SimpsInns development on the Kilwinning Road is a stunning piece of architecture and design where “two great restaurants, one great SimpsInns venue” will raise the bar on the all day dining and night out experience in Irvine and beyond.

Owners Malcolm and Karen Simpson are delighted with the outcome of Si!, the latest addition in their ever expanding portfolio of Ayrshire venues.

“In many ways it’s a relief to open to the public and the positive feedback Si! has already received has been overwhelming,” explained Malcolm Simpson.

“We have a great team in place and through help from the likes of Irvine Bay Development we were able to bring our latest vision to market. With two restaurants and vibrant bar Si! has 60 employees on the books and has quickly become a new source of sustainable employment for the Irvine area.”

Si! Café:Bar:Restaurant enjoys a distinctive Mediterranean theme where carefully created menus provide a range of mouth watering European dishes with a local Ayrshire twist and all at affordable prices – not to mention promotional drinks offers through the week and wide selection of cocktails.

This dynamic new SimpsInns venue transforms into a late night bar with a collection of themed music and entertainment nights through the week such as our interactive quiz with rollover cash prizes on Tuesday nights (starting March 12th).

Join us for the “cheesy” disco classics on Thursday night before we ramp things up on Friday and Saturday with our resident DJ playing current chart and dance tunes with a late 1am license. And the fun doesn’t stop there for we close the weekend out with a more relaxed R&B set on Sunday evening.

The final touches are being added to Si! Italia on the upper floor, which is due to open later this month. With its palatial finish and break out balcony area, Si! Italia will add another new dimension to the overall Si! experience.

“Si! it, Say it, Live it!”
“Si! – the place to see, the place to be seen”

For further information please contact:

Paul Gallagher at Simpsinns: paul.gallagher@simpsinns.com of visit Si! Website

Plan B and Simpsinns

Plan B have been long term partners of Simpsinns providing web booking engine services through Bookassist for both Gailes Hotel in Irvine and Old Loans Inn near Troon. In addition we have been providing web design and development solutions for the company and for the opening of Si! we have produced one of our "postcard websites" which have been created specifically for restaurants, bars and independent hospitality providers.

St Andrews - Your Final Bid Is?

The couple of you who read this blog can often be forgiven for thinking that we only tilt at the windmilll of VisitScotland but that's really not true. We're really just pretty much anti-establishment full stop!!

So here's Friday's rant... and the target is the much loved custodians of the Links golf courses in St Andrews known as the Links Trust St Andrews.

There are many in the golf industry who think that their management of prime times at Scotland's golfing jewel has been less than fair and open and indeed detrimental to the local and national economy but it's not the selling of extortionately priced Old Course tee times through exclusive distributors that we're hitting on today.

We've been sent an email linking to te publication of the following trademark request.

Yes that's right. St. Andrews Links Ltd have applied to trademark the name of ST ANDREWS and you can view the full application here

Now if I was a business in St Andrews, or the council, or involved in golf, or tourism or lived in Scotland or ever had a sniff of whisky I would be looking at this link with incredulity and asking how can anyone take intellectual property rights and trademark over the name of our bloody patron saint!!!

They have applied to trademark the name across almost every imagineable activity!! Here's the list of areas they wish to protect for their own use:

Prerecorded CDs, CD-ROMs relating to golf; computer games software; computer and video game cartridges; computer game software for hand-held units for playing video games; video tapes, laser discs and DVDs featuring golfing activities, the sport of golf and the history of golf. Jewellery; watches; cases for watches.Class Publications, namely, books and magazines relating to golf and sport; calendars; photographs, mounted and unmounted; stationery; printed score cards; printed instructional and teaching material on the subject of golf; printed golf course guides, posters; maps; prints; pictorial prints; photographic prints. Golf umbrellas; luggage. Drinking glasses; decanters; coasters not of paper.Golf towels. Golf balls; golf clubs; divot repair tools; head covers for golf clubs; golf bags. Advertising; business management; business administration; office functions.Arranging and conducting tours and trips; Arranging, organizing, and conducting tours and trips in the field of golf. Hotel and restaurant reservation services; Hotel, restaurant and bar services; Hotels; Resort hotels; Resort lodging service. Health spa services for health and wellness of the body and spirit offered at a health resort; Health spa services, namely, cosmetic body care services.

WOW!

Now once again, just so we're clear they wish to TRADEMARK the name St Andrews!

Dare I be so bold to suggest St Andrews Links Trust that you should have NO CHANCE. 

To those of us unsure of copyrights issues and trademark law it just seems completely Unbloodylievable and stinks of complete and utter organisational arrogance.

So what should you do? Well we could publish the email address of the Links Trust and it would probably take down their servers so we wont! 

In our humble opinion St Andrews Links Ltd should just do the decentt thing and withdraw their application but I guess that is not likely. So here's how it goes and the rules of engagement set out on the IPO website where the application has been published and if anyone wishes to oppose it please get in touch.

Opposition Proceedings

What is opposition? 

When a trade mark application has successfully completed the examination process it is accepted and published in the on-line Trade Marks Journal. It is then open to any third party (an opponent) to oppose its registration on either absolute and/or relative grounds. It is possible to oppose the entire application or the registration of the mark for only some of the goods and services.

What are absolute grounds?

The absolute grounds cover defects in the trade mark itself. The most common reasons for opposing a trade mark application is that the trade mark is descriptive of the goods and/or services for which it is to be registered, or that it is generic for those goods/services, or otherwise non-distinctive and should therefore be free for everyone in that line of trade to use.

What are relative grounds?

Relative grounds means that there exists an earlier trade mark or earlier right (which does not have to be registered) owned by the opponent with which the applicant‟s trade mark would conflict if it were used. Who can oppose a trade mark application?

Anyone can oppose the application on absolute grounds but only the proprietor of an earlier trade mark or earlier right may oppose on relative grounds. 

When can opposition be filed? 

There is an initial two month opposition period beginning with the date of the publication of the trade mark in the Trade Marks Journal.

How can I oppose a trade mark application and what does it cost? 

If you want to oppose the registration of a trade mark then you must file a TM7
Notice of opposition and statement of grounds' accompanied by a £200 fee.
Guidance notes on how to fill in the form are available from the web site at:

In our opinion it would