May 31, 2011

Don’t forget important lessons!

Motel 6 taught us long time ago how to plan a campaign, you can learn about its process here “The lesson of this campaign is to use a disciplined process that begins with research to learn about consumers' behavior, responds unwaveringly to those insights, and the follows through with consistent creativity and measurement. Marketers working in any product or service category can benefit from these lessons.”
They practiced a marketing research and found different segments visiting their motels. In summary, the empty nest, the salesman, the young couple and the family with small kids. They discovered the problem: There was a hesitancy to admit to stay at Motel 6. They were afraid to be tagged as people who couldn’t afford to a decent accommodation.

So, they developed “The Smart Choice” campaign
“Motel 6 met minimal, though acceptable, standards to the loyal guest: decent overnight lodging that enabled the traveler to save a few dollars. Typical anecdotes revealed that this savings was not hoarded but, instead, was spent (1) by grandparents on their grandchildren (among the empty nesters), (2) on additional vacation activities (among the young family travelers), and (3) on better meals or extra tanks of gas (among the commercial guests).”
Thanks to marketing research you know what it’s important to each one of your segments so, use the power of Internet to customize and syndicate relevant content, commerce and community (what it was called the 3 C’s long time ago!). We can make special alliances (that is to create a chain of value) which help us to add value and get the trust of the customer.
Instead of focusing on low prices we can focus on add value, that means to develop a website with different C’s for each one of the segments and a Facebook page also customize for each segment.
I mean specific website and Facebook pages for empty nest customers, young families, young couples, salesman…with customize information about things really important to them, with commerce of desire services and community with other people with similar or complementary opinions.
At the core of this post we have a simple but powerful idea.
Touristology laws apply off-line and on-line otherwise won’t be Touristology laws!
1) To mark down the price is the last thing that you have to do. It’s not forbidden but it’s the last resort. This law has been forbidden in Barcelona city in the last few years!
Please check out www.hospitalitynet.org (another must to have in the toolbox of any touristologists!) to see the revpar evolution. I attached a summary of my own:
2) To look for specific segments with specific needs and then add value (because you provide something value to them NOT because you provide more!!!) it’s the path to follow. 
Are we or not the leaders on tourism companies?

May 24, 2011

SME can compete with big ones!!!

What's all the fuss about cloud computing? Does it have something to do with tourism companies and destinations or can we ignore it?
First, we are talking about cloud that it is not a fuzzy idea it’s a reality with clear implications for tourism organizations though.
Granted that small and middle size enterprises are majority in the tourism sector these implications are far more important. Cloud computing allows small and medium size enterprises to be as productive as big enterprises, because it brings to them...
1) The possibility to pass from strong investment and fix cost to a variable cost.
2) The possibility to increase the number of users to its web application from 1,000 to 1,000,000 in just minutes not months.
We can get these features from a public provider of cloud computing (Amazon for instance) or a tourism destination can create a private cloud for itself and offer this service to their tourism companies allowing them to create their own chain of value connecting HIS customers with HIS services. Which, as you already know, it’s a fundamental idea in Touristology.
Let’s see a clear explanation of the tree fundamental ideas of cloud computing: IAAS, PAAS and SAAS

Paraphrasing Thomas Friedman in his book “The world is flat” - “XV-XVIII centuries it was the era of countries, XIX and XX centuries it was the era of big multinationals. In XXI century individuals and small and medium size enterprises are also part of the game!”
At the core of this post we have a simple but powerful idea.
SME can compete with big ones!!!
With Hardware thanks to Cloud computing
With Software thanks to Open Source
With Organization thanks to Chain of Value.
A fundamental part of this chain of value will be the ideas of:
A) PRO-AM (thanks Charles Leadbeater!!)
B) Long Tail (thanks Chris Anderson!!)
but these will be the matter of other post!
Treballem, treballem que la Turistologia guanyarem!!!!

May 16, 2011

In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king

Any Touristologists need to have a full toolbox, contacts and good attitude. Talking about toolbox you need sources of information reliable and updated. For example, eyefortravel. You can subscribe to its newsletters it’s free and worthy.
This video is an excellent case in point!

A customer asks the airline company to advance one week the beginning of the new route Amsterdam-to-Miami. Yes -reply the airline company- but only if you fill the flight!
Then making the 9 hours trip an experience thanks to the help of Guinness world records the use of Social Networking Sites and the collaboration of bloggers and journalist, the company gets free publicity around the world!
What are tourism companies waiting for…
… to integrate customers in the servuction process?
…to help customers to create, communicate and commercialize tourism products?
…to use new technologies to improve its operations and processes?
Luckily for the future of our sector more and more Touristologists are experts in the field of new technologies… the art and the science of webengineering! But this is part of another post!

May 3, 2011

What can a Touristologist (a good one!) bring to any enterprises?

Touristologists are experts in several issues /subjects that nowadays are important to any companies.
1) Internationalization: All companies, no matter its size, have to look for new markets, customers, providers, distributors… from around the world. At the end of the day, as Friedman quotes, “The world is flat”
2) Multiculturality: The first brings the second, in a flat world you have to deal with customers, partners and employees from different cultures and backgrounds.
Touristologists know about that because their core business is to bring and to send tourist around the world!


3) How to integrate the customers in the organization which is one of the drivers of web 2.0?
Touristologists know about that because they are good at in Servuction (P. Eiglier et E. Langeard) to them to integrate the customer in a service is not an option is a fact!
4) Dealing with Infoglut. I mean getting information, transform it into knowledge, share through your chain of value… Touristologists know that information is very important because their customers are in a different country (SPACE) and they have to do actions before, during and after the travel (TIME).
5) Web 2.0? Infoglut? YES, Touristologists are also expert in Web Engineering but this is another POST!!!!!
So, a question… Why Touristologists study Business Economics ( “Empresariales”) when they are already expert in the most important topics that concern any companies??????