New Media Travel - Blogs - Tripatini2024-03-28T12:22:34Zhttps://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/New+Media+TravelAre Social Media Travel Sites a Bust?https://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/are-social-media-travel-sites-a-bust2013-09-11T17:31:21.000Z2013-09-11T17:31:21.000ZKaleel Sakakeenyhttps://tripatini.com/members/KaleelSakakeeny<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008791075,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="308" class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008791075,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9008791075?profile=original" /></a>The header at <a href="http://hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/social_travel_sites_are_screaming_for_attention_but_users_and_suppliers_are" target="_blank">Hotelmarketing</a> was pretty blunt: s<strong>ocial media travel sites are screaming for attention-but users and suppliers are not impressed.</strong><br /> <br /> According to the latest PhoCusWright data, <strong>social media in general generates so little traffic to travel websites it makes anyone wonder if there really is a need for "dedicated social media sites for travel."</strong><br /> <br /> In an earlier post at <a href="http://newmediatravel.com/are-travel-marketers-wasting-time-on-facebook-and-twitter/" target="_blank">New Media Travel</a>, we argued that travel marketers were in fact wasting their time on Facebook and Twitter.<br /> <br /> Now this recent study says a scant 3.5% of traffic to online travel agents (OTA) and hotel websites comes from social networks like Facebook and Twitter. <strong>Hotelmarketing asks the unthinkable: how come so many travel start ups continue to get funding to solve problems that either don't exist or are not revenue producing, or both?</strong><br /> <br /> It boldly asks, " Where is the social media sweet spot?"<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.tnooz.com/2013/08/30/news/social-travel-sites-are-screaming-for-attention-but-industry-and-consumers-are-not-really-listening/" target="_blank">Tnooz</a> includes the PhoCusWright infographic that shows how little travel-related social media drives bookings and revenue.<br /> <br /> Tnooz article author, Stephen Joyce, makes it clear he is not referring to travel communities like <em>Bootsnall</em> or blogs (hopefully like this one and New Media Travel's) because they are content focused. But he gives pretty low grades to social trip planning sites and social trip sharing sites.<br /> <br /> Joyce's figures may be arguable, but they are impressive: 22% of travelers use social media for possible travel deals. Sixty-five % use social media for all kinds of deals.<br /> <br /> <strong>The takeaway seems to be that entrepreneurs seeking to create the next travel-related, cure-all website are wasting their time, because no one is listening.</strong><br /> <br /> Rather, to put it more kindly, travel social media sites are great for sharing photos and experiences, usually posted on the spot, not after returning from a trip.<br /> <br /> But they fail at making a business difference to companies looking to social media sites to improve their bottom lines.</p></div>Family Travel Marketing Strategies Fail Familieshttps://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/family-travel-marketing-strategies-fail-families2012-09-25T17:30:00.000Z2012-09-25T17:30:00.000ZKaleel Sakakeenyhttps://tripatini.com/members/KaleelSakakeeny<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008735662,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008735662,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="468" alt="9008735662?profile=original" /></a></p><p>In a previous post, <a href="http://newmediatravel.com/why-is-hotel-web-content-so-boring/" target="_blank">New Media Travel</a> asked “Why Is Hotel Content So Boring?”<br /> The point was that hotels, airlines, and often the entire travel industry, are inclined to present images of the perfect family: a leggy blonde mother, two gorgeous light-haired kids and a handsome, fit dad playing in the blue water.<br /> <br /> Or, lest they offend anyone, their glossies and web images are full of empty hotel pools, empty dining rooms and empty lobbies.<br /> <br /> Why?<br /> <br /> Hotels report that showing a racially mixed family or a same-sex family or whatever might offend potential visitors to a hotel or destination. In fact, one hotel exec said that even showing families might offend childless couples, and deter them from becoming guests of the property.<br /> <br /> But the USA is nothing if not a fascinating blend of mixed marriages, races, families, and sexual preferences. In truth, says HotelNewsNow, in 2010, traditional families made up only 20% of “married family” households.<br /> <br /> <em>The Brady Bunch</em> has given way to <em>The Modern Family</em>.<br /> <br /> The report from <a href="http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/8940/Marketing-to-the-modern-family" target="_blank">HotelNewsNow</a>, also says mixed-race families, same-sex parents, single parent and other non-traditional households “are among the fastest growing family segments.”<br /> <br /> But regardless of their growth and financial clout, these new families feel alienated and discriminated against and ignored, especially by the travel industry.<br /> <br /> <a href="%28http%3A//www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/data-points-modern-families-142950" target="_blank">AdWeek</a> has a very interestting infographic that breaks down the preferences and makeup of these non-traditional families.<br /> <br /> <strong>Highlights</strong>:<br /> <br /> • Seventy-six 76% of these new families opt to buy brands and travel services from companies that support causes the families believe in<br /> • But a huge 71% report that advertising they see does not show families like theirs<br /> • <strong>And 46% are “turned off” by advertising that “depicts the ideal family.”</strong><br /> <br /> John Fareed of <a href="http://www.johnfareed.com" target="_blank">Fareed Hospitality and Consulting</a> goes so far as to ask whether the travel industry in general and hotels in particular are aware of the dramatic change in the family segment.<br /> He argues, as did NewMediaTravel, that the travel industry, in its images, brochures, language and especially its videos must create a true emotional representation of what the hotel or destination is like.<br /> <br /> Most importantly, the travel industry has to find the courage to present the American Family as it is: a complex mosaic of non-traditional connections, and not as the idealized pictures in their brochures.<br /> <br /> Why it’s taking travel so long to adapt to the new demographic reality is puzzling. Perhaps the report will be a wake up call.</p></div>Book Review: 'The Globetrotter's Get-Gorgeous Guide: Diet and Beauty Secrets of Travel Pros'https://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/book-review-the-globetrotters-get-gorgeous-guide-diet-and-beauty2012-09-18T16:22:43.000Z2012-09-18T16:22:43.000ZKaleel Sakakeenyhttps://tripatini.com/members/KaleelSakakeeny<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008734053,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008734053,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="300" alt="9008734053?profile=original" /></a></p><p>Or what every frequently-flying woman, and bride going on her honeymoon, needs to know about staying healthy and fit in the air.<br /> <br /> If travel had a diva....someone who embodied the talent of looking great while facing the challenges, exhaustion, fun and frustration of Travel, it'd have to be Debbi Kickham.<br /> <br /> Known to us in the travel world as Debbi Karpowicz, her most recent book <a href="http://www.GorgeousGlobetrotter.com" target="_blank">The Globetrotters Get-Gorgeous Guide</a> is pure Debbi: sassy, irreverent, helpful, fun to read and full of personality.<br /> <br /> The 349 page book features Debbi, a former editor of <em>The Robb Report</em> and media expert, on fhe cover applying lipstick and checking herself out, not with a mirror, but with a globe of the world in her hand. And that, for someone who travels extensively while taking care of herself, is an apt image<br /> <br /> Her book is all about health and beauty tips gleaned from extensive discussions and interviews with women road warriors.<br /> We learn, for example, how flight attendants keep fit and stay healthy as they share their insights and practices, from a certain <a href="http://www.gypsyglobalchic.com/" target="_blank">cream</a> found on the streets of Paris, to applying cold yogurt to the face as a moisturizer.<br /> <br /> But, men, the book is for you too. Kickham drives home the truth that anyone’s diet and exercise routine takes a big hit when traveling.<br /> <br /> She talks to broadcasters and TV personalities; she chats with women executives, models and hard-working women CEO’s who travel constantly.<br /> <a href="http://www.travelchannel.com" target="_blank">The Travel Channel's</a> former anchor, Samantha Brown (she wrote the foreword to the book), for example, and Joan Lunden, formerly of Good Morning America, tell Debbi what they eat in the air or while rushing to get there. String cheese, almonds, fruit seem to be favorites.<br /> And they tell us how they exercise on the road: water bottles as weights seem popular, as does jumping rope, without the rope in the hotel room.<br /> <br /> Kickham actually got the idea for her book in Thailand when, to her dismay, the gym was closed, and she ended up doing step aerobics in her hotel room’s bathroom, which fortunately had stairs.<br /> And the book has clearly addressed a need: It climbed to the top spot on Amazon.com in the Honeymoon Travel Guide category, and was featured in USA Today’s travel magazine.<br /> <br /> She manages to suss out the travel wisdom of women from all kinds of careers (all frequent flyers, of course) in a kind of “beauty without borders” approach, all the while filling her pages with helpful tips including what luggage is the best; what websites work for women travelers <a href="http://www.womenontheirway.com" target="_blank">Wyndham's Women on Their Way</a>; and what hotels, spas and airlines women should choose to help stay fit and healthy while traveling. She herself travels with eyeshades, <a href="http://www.oscillo.com" target="_blank">Oscillococninum</a>, a homeopathic remedy for flu symptoms, a satin pillowcase and lots of dried fruit and puffed rice cereal.<br /> <br /> And she provides helpful hints from specific countries. So now we know that in Greece, Apivita makes the Melina Mercouri of Greek beauty products, while Honduras has an oil unique to the rainforest that does wonders for the hair. It’s called <a href="http://www.ojon.com" target="_blank">Ojon</a>.<br /> <br /> Nothing escapes the authors attention when it comes to savvy traveling, so it's no exaggeration to suggest that hers may be the World's First Beauty Book for Traveling Women.<br /> <br /> And if one isn't a super frequent flyer, The Globetrotter's Get-Gorgeous Guide is a fun read, loaded with real-world information, anecdotes, and tips from celebs who are pretty much down to earth, even though they live up in the air most of the time.<br /> <br /> As Diane Sukiennik, Editor of <a href="http://www.foodandwineaccess.com" target="_blank">Food and Wine Acces</a>s says, "At last! A practical how- to beauty book that comes from the trenches."<br /> <br /> Globetrotter is available through <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Globetrotters-Get-Gorgeous-Guide-Executives/dp/1432759825" target="_blank">Amazon</a> for $24.95 .<br /></p></div>Fertility Tourism: Selling Women’s Eggs for Big Bucks and Travelhttps://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/fertility-tourism-selling-women-s-eggs-for-big-bucks-and-travel2013-09-06T12:57:54.000Z2013-09-06T12:57:54.000ZKaleel Sakakeenyhttps://tripatini.com/members/KaleelSakakeeny<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008785471,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008785471,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="308" alt="9008785471?profile=original" /></a><strong>“Female Eggs For Sale” may not be a sign you’ll see any time soon, but for all intents and purposes that’s what the global market for harvesting and selling women’s eggs is all about.</strong><br /> <br /> The in vitro fertilization market is a billion dollar industry that touches almost every country in the world. It touches the wealthy neighborhoods of London and reaches into the Americas, Asia and the IVF capital of the world, Cyprus, which has more fertility clinics than any other country in the world, and attracts people from all over the world: shorter waits and perhaps great beaches.<br /> <br /> While most of the 250,000 test-tube babies born each year come from their biological mother’s eggs, many poor and uneducated women are altogether very eager to get pumped up with hormones and sell their eggs for a few hundred dollars.<br /> <br /> Ho<strong>wever, as Fast Company reported, an American women can get an average of $8,000 per batch of eggs, but if she’s an Ivy League graduate with a high SAT score, her eggs can fetch upwards of $50,000 “while the uneducated Ukrainian gets flown to Cyprus, picks up a few hundred dollars for the extraction, and a couple of days on the beach.</strong>”<br /> <br /> There is, says the magazine, a desperation on both sides: the seller for money and the buyer, eager for children, creating a vast network of IVF-related travel tourism.<br /> <br /> The bioethics of the sale of eggs is murky, as are the rules governing the process.<br /> <br /> For example, Spain reported 7,080 egg donations in 2007 accounting for half of all of Europe. British law, on the other hand, banned payments to egg donors but allowed “compensation” not to exceed $375.00 (240 pounds). So the embryo in the gleaming Barcelona clinic will likely be a child growing up in London.<br /> <br /> Turkey banned citizens from traveling abroad for egg or sperm donation, as did Israel, but Israel permits compensation to keep the women there.<br /> <br /> The trade is brisk, with Russian women rumored to be in high demand because of their bone structure and complexion, and the technology permitting instant, global fertility services is already available.<br /> <br /> There is no question fertility travel with its promise of children is an answer for older women, homosexual couples, infertile couples...anyone eager for a child, a family,<br /> <br /> But if supermodels or athletes or brainy college graduates can be paid big bucks for their eggs, and the offspring sold for a million bucks or more , then the day of designer babies will have come. Or rather it’s already here.<br /> <br /> How great can a beach be?<br /> <br /> Is this an ethical issue or a private transaction?<br /> <br /> <br /></p></div>Making Business Travelers Happyhttps://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/making-business-travelers-happy2013-07-17T21:09:21.000Z2013-07-17T21:09:21.000ZKaleel Sakakeenyhttps://tripatini.com/members/KaleelSakakeeny<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9296577253,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9296577253,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="425" alt="9296577253?profile=original" /></a></p><p>Business road warriors have at least this much in common with ET: Calling home while away is their top priority.<br /> <br /> But it seems in the 21st century, just hearing a voice on the telephone no longer suffices.<br /> <br /> And that means they expect free Internet connections.</p><p>The <a href="http://www.ihgplc.com/" target="_blank">InterContinental Hotels Group</a> (IHG) says it very clearly: "being able to connect online with family and friends is now the top priority for travelers." Conversely, not being able to do so, says <a href="http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/staying_in_touch_with_home_is_top_priority_for_business_travelers/" target="_blank">Hotelmarketing.com</a> (which reported on the report), is the biggest stress factor for 40% of travelers, second to transportation issues.<br /> <br /> Of course the results of the IHG study play nicely into their new program of free Internet service, first for elite members and, next year, to all members of the IHG loyalty program.<br /> <br /> <strong>Self promotion aside, the results provide some interesting insights :</strong><br /> <br /> • Sixty-one percent of the 1000 or so travelers queried said that after Internet service, the next important in-room amenities were TV (17%), bath (5%), fridge (3%) and minibar (1%). (<strong>We do hear, by the way, persistent rumors that the minibar is on its way out.)</strong><br /> <br /> • Interestingly, 64% of travelers say they prefer to communicate with people back home via Internet, and not phone.<br /> <br /> • Sixty-five percent added that they would be very unhappy traveling "if they had no way of connecting with loved ones."<br /> <br /> <strong>One relationship expert says in today's world of travel, travelers need more than a voice at the end of a phone line. They want to see their kids' smiles, to see their faces and maybe read a bedtime story via Skype.</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>Seems they also want to look their loved ones in the eyes and connect with them.</strong><br /> <br /> Makes sense from a business perspective since we assume happy travelers are productive ones.</p><p></p></div>Collaborative Consumption: Where Travel Access Trumps Ownershiphttps://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/collaborative-consumption-where-travel-access-trumps-ownership2013-06-26T18:48:49.000Z2013-06-26T18:48:49.000ZKaleel Sakakeenyhttps://tripatini.com/members/KaleelSakakeeny<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008773287,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008773287,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="103" alt="9008773287?profile=original" /></a></p><p>In a very compelling article somewhere on Lonely Planet's blog, Vivek Wagle, head of content and marketing at <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/" target="_blank">Airbnb</a>, makes the compelling argument for "collaborative consumption," the basic business and ethical underpinning of his widly successful "places to stay" service and website.<br /> <br /> <strong>Basically, he points, we are living in a world of "social accommodation services," where "being able to benefit from the good (a tangible or intangible good) is better than actually possessing that good."</strong><br /> <br /> Or a world where access trumps ownership...and "the social context that allows for cross-border interaction is now available on a global scale" because of the Internet.<br /> <br /> What this means, whether it's Airbnb or <a href="http://www.zipcar.com/" target="_blank">Zipcar</a>, where "sharing is an alternative to ownership" is huge. Economically, in the case of Airbnb, <strong>money is not spent just in the hotel or tourist areas of a destination, It's spread throughout a region.</strong><br /> <br /> <strong>Environmentally, Zipcar says that every time someone rents from them, that's 20 personally-owned vehicles taken off the road, multiplied by the 9000 cars in their fleet.</strong><br /> <strong>More, after joining Zipcar, 90% of its members drove 5,500 miles...or less per year, leaving 32 million gallons of crude oil left in the ground,</strong> and if 10% of the people buy into "collaborative consumption" via Zipcar, that's millions of people saving billions of dollars of oil and gas.<br /> <br /> Lance Salemo, music director for the Family Music Stage at the famed <a href="http://www.newportfolkfest.net/" target="_blank">Newport Folk Festival</a> points out that in music, "collaborative consumption" has impacted the environment (and saved serious bucks) by reducing the number of plastic DVD's and CD's that used to be made, bought and discarded by music lovers. Now they can access content via Spotify, Pandora , Google and other streaming services. Reduce the clutter, save the community.<br /> Why own?<br /> <br /> And of course the proliferation of bike-rental companies from Boston's Hubway, Toronto's Bixi, and Chicago's B-Cycle.<br /> <br /> But here's the rub.<br /> <br /> According to Neal Gorenflo writing in <a href="http://pandodaily.com/2013/03/19/collaborative-consumption-is-dead-long-live-the-real-sharing-economy/" target="_blank">PandoDaily</a>, collaborative consumption has peaked and has basically been corrupted.<br /> <br /> Zipcar is now owned by Avis. Airbnb, he says, is less of a personal experience than it was when it started. Why? Because, Gorenflo says, the company is adding "new properties at the fastest rate possible, through every channel, including the fount of mediocre customers, Google Adwords."<br /> <br /> It's not that Gorenflo thinks that "collaborative consumption" doesn't work and isn't good for society, <strong>it's that he thinks they ought not to be functions of VC-backed Internet startups.</strong> What he thinks will radically change the world economy from owning to accessing are member-financed, member-owned, democratically-managed cooperative businesses.<br /> <br /> But we think Airbnb, Zipcar and companies like them have shwn the way and still have lots to teach us.<br /> <br /> image/courtesy dailyperk.perkstreet.com<br /></p></div>New Brunswick's Grand Manan: One of Canada’s Top Ten Islandshttps://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/grand-manan-one-of-canada-s-top-ten-islands2012-10-10T12:30:00.000Z2012-10-10T12:30:00.000ZKaleel Sakakeenyhttps://tripatini.com/members/KaleelSakakeeny<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008732474,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008732474,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="400" alt="9008732474?profile=original" /></a></p><p> </p><p><em>(please watch the 1-minute <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx-vyqzRfnQ&list=UUIbPdkNRfmweCNnYOons1vg&index=1&feature=plcp" target="_blank">Grand Manan Video PostCard</a> at the end of the post)</em><br /> <br />It’s certainly tempting to think of <strong>Grand Manan</strong> as God's shrug of land surrounded by a vast, changing and beautiful sea.<br /><br />There is something about small fishing villages on islands that holds my heart tightly, especially those snuggled against rocky coasts with mists hovering like shifting shrouds.<br /><br />Partly it's the pitched, jarring sound of gulls or the air heavy with the scent of salt and fish.<br /><br />But I think it's the deep quiet, a stillness surrounding the colored, paint-pealing fishing boats at tether, waiting patiently to be called again to the sea.<br /><br />So it is with <a href="http://www.GrandMananNB.com" target="_blank">Grand Manan Island</a>, on the Bay of Fundy at the very tip of <a href="http://www.TourismNewBrunswick.ca" target="_blank">New Brunswick, Canada</a>, part of the province's maritime archipelago.<br /><br />One could describe this 21 x 11 mile island with fewer than 3,000 people as a huge fishery. Fishing in one form or another is the backbone of the island's economy. There are big wooden herring pens everywhere in the sea. There are lobster traps or buoys on front yards. There are lobster boats and lobster meals and the business of fishing everywhere. Then again, it's tempting to think of the island as one delightful, big field of lupin, those ramrod-straight, deep violet or pink flowers that fill the spaces along the roads and in the yards of simple homes.<br /><br />What’s especially compelling of the island is the complete lack of attitude. I think I might call it, “the innocent island.” One woman said she cried the first time she had to leave Grand Manan. I too felt that pang of separation, a missing of a deeply quiet, inner solitude that the island calls forth. And we were only there for a few days.<br /><br />It's not a beautiful place, in the obvious sense of memorable architecture. But when you’re surrounded by so much sea and moody weather and dramatic views, you just overlook the need for man-made aesthetics.<br /><br />The sea is everywhere and everywhere accessible on Grand Manan. There’s no place from which you can’t see it, hear it, smell it, or go down to it. But what’s striking is the juxtaposition of the sea with the hills and heaths, covered with quiet, unassuming wild flowers of many colors.<br /><br />One afternoon, we found a cradle of land on a cliff full of clover and yellow flowers and at eye level with the circling gulls. We lay down. The waves a hundred or so feet at the base of the rugged cliff just below us, we felt protected, cradled, and fell asleep.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rd.com/" target="_blank">Readers Digest</a> called Grand Manan one of the ten best islands, and said the <strong>Swallow Tail Lighthouse</strong> high on a bluff, was among the most attractive in Canada. Take the hike up to SwallowTail. There are, by the way, many fine hiking trails of the island and dramatic camping spots. But the walk to SwallowTail brings one breathtakingly close to the edge of steep gorges one moment and the next, lost among the waving grasses, actually above the circling gulls.<br /><br />The island is divided into several coves: North Head in the north, Southwest Head at the southern tip, Grand Harbour. Some harbors like <strong>Dark Harbour</strong> are little more than nets and small homes perched precariously, and fishermen working hard and talking trade.<br /><br />But the whole of the island is more or less like that. Empty roads. No billboards or traffic lights. Maybe there are two or three stop signs. And again, none of the attitudes one finds on other islands. No rich and famous come here to see and be seen...although the Pulitzer Prize winning American author, <strong>Willa Cather</strong>, lived on Grand Manan, and owned the only house she ever owned.<br /><br />That’s not to say there aren’t places for a great meal or cup of coffee or caring places to stay, like the <a href="http://www.compassroseinn.com" target="_blank">Compass Rose</a>, a light, airy and lovingly kept B and B a few feet from the sea. Then there’s dinner at the <a href="http://www.whalecovecottages.ca/" target="_blank">Whale Cove Cottages</a> where the best thing is to sit on an Adirondack chair with a pre-dinner drink, overlooking the sea and setting sun, looking forward to a fresh salmon meal in their restaurant.<br /><br />Thoroughly modern and well-equipped ferries run from Blacks Harbour at the southern tip of New Brunswick and make the crossing in about an hour in a half. It costs about $55.00 with a car and two passengers.<br /><br />There’s lots to be said about this small island. But the people say it best: “Close enough for a visit...far enough to make a difference.” To which we add, “enough of a place to miss when you have to leave.”<br /></p><p>image: Wendie Hansen<br /> <object width="560" height="315" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/Yx-vyqzRfnQ?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="never" ></param><param name="allowNetworking" value="internal" ></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Yx-vyqzRfnQ?version=3&hl=en_US" ></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="false" ></param><embed wmode="opaque" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Yx-vyqzRfnQ?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="never" width="560" height="315" allownetworking="internal"></embed> <param name="wmode" value="opaque" ></param></object></p></div>Never Sit Next To Boring People Againhttps://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/never-sit-next-to-boring-people-again2012-06-10T13:49:29.000Z2012-06-10T13:49:29.000ZKaleel Sakakeenyhttps://tripatini.com/members/KaleelSakakeeny<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008705853,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008705853,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="432" alt="9008705853?profile=original" /></a></p><p>One of the dreads of air travel is sitting next to someone who is either crazy or can drive you crazy with annoying habits, non-stop chatter or just plain old boorishness, resulting in impulses to jump out of the plane or slowly throttle your seatmate.</p><p>So, <a href="http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/social_media_start_ups_bring_compatible_travelers_together/" target="_blank">Hotel Marketing.com</a> states the obvious when it says air travel has gone from “glam to glum.” But as in so many cases, social media is being touted as the panacea for air travel doldrums. It seems some travel-media web sites are engaging in what Hotel Marketing calls the Match.com of travel.<br /> <br /> But the opposite can be true, too, says <a href="http://travel.usatoday.com/news/story/2012-05-28/Socal-media-start-ups-bring-compatible-travelers-together/55250688/1" target="_blank">USA Travel.<br /></a><br /> It’s possible, the article says, to “luck out” and be seated next to someone really cool, as in the case of one passenger who sat next to a French pastry chef, or in my case when I sat next to a detective novel writer, who had me at the edge of my seat with plot ideas and characters.<br /> <br /> But all this good stuff is the stuff of luck. Kismet.</p><p>Now social media sites like Copenhagen-based <a href="http://www.planely.com/info/about/" target="_blank">Planely.com</a> are designed to connect travelers with other Planely travelers who are on the same flight, or at the same arrival or departure airports, making sharing a cab, a cup of coffee or just meeting a new friend a real plus in the frenetic and impersonal world of air travel.</p><p><a href="http://www.satisfly.com/" target="_blank">Satisfly’s</a> web site asks if you want your seat neighbor to be “like-minded; to share your hobbies or speak a specific language...or would you rather chat and rest? They can arrange it.</p><p>USA Travel quotes Asaf Engel of <a href="http://www.imguest.com/" target="_blank">IMGuest</a>, a social networking company that arranges face-toface meetings for travelers, as saying that it’s about being engaged. “We push people to get along and meet up,” he says.<br /> <br /> Worried about privacy? Satisfly’s privacy policy is pretty well spelled out and rather airtight, but of course there’s a certain risk whenever two people meet up. But at 32,000 feet, it’s probably not a big concern.<br /> The Dutch airline, KLM already has a <em>“Meet and Seat”</em> program in place that lets people chose their seatmates based on Linkedin and Facebook profiles.<br /><br /> And Malaysia Airlines has a <em>“MHBuddy”</em> application that allows passengers to share their itineraries on Facebook and chose a seat buddy from their Facebook friends.<br /> <br />The airline says about 20% of their Web check-ins are through MHBuddy, a remarkable number considering the program is only a year or so old. <br /> <br /> Whether this new social media tool will work for the airlines and their passengers remains to be seen.<br /> But you can’t fault them for trying to make the skies a bit friendlier.</p></div>Naked We Go!https://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/naked-we-go2012-05-22T16:25:48.000Z2012-05-22T16:25:48.000ZKaleel Sakakeenyhttps://tripatini.com/members/KaleelSakakeeny<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9008704095,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9008704095,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="467" alt="9008704095?profile=original" /></a> What Do You Really Do On a Nude Vacation?<br /> <br /> Apparently the same things you’d do if you were on a fully-clothed holiday, except, we assume, horseback ride. <br /> <br /> But, you ask, how likely is anyone to go to a nude beach or clothes optional one, and strip? <br /><br /> For a country settled by humorless and uptight Puritans, a surprising 49% of Americans said they would do it.<br /> Another 19% were undecided, and 32% gave an unqualified "no" to the idea of beaching "au natural."<br /> Courtesy of TripAdvisor's <a href="(http%3A//www.tripadvisor.com/InfoCenter-a_ctr.NudeBeachResults" target="_blank">Nude Beach Survey </a>results, we also learn our European cousins are, not surprisingly, more willing to go nude.<br /><br /> Fifty-five percent said "Oui" or " Si" to the idea, and only 19% said no.<br /> <br /> The truth is, Nude Travel or “clothes-free vacations” is big business. And apparently a lot of fun. <br /> <br />The <a href="http://www.aanr.com" target="_blank">American Association for Nude Recreation’s</a> 60,000 members spend more than 400 million bucks on nude travel, and there are 270 clubs and resorts in the United States, Canada, Mexico offering all kinds of “Nakations.” The association also offers advice on nude events, nude etiquette, and a club locator<br /> <br /> But who really does this kind of thing?<br /> <br />A spokesperson for the association, say that they draw folks from all walks of life: “ We have doctors, lawyers, people who drive buses and everything in between….but you can’t know the difference when you’re all nude.” <br /> And what do people do on a Nude or Clothes-optional holiday? <br /> While horseback riding may be out, the association says they sail, swim, build sand castles. “Whatever people do on their vacations, we do too.” <br /> <br /> Of course first-timers inevitably feel awkward, but one nude vacationer wrote us saying, “ Everyone was nude and comfortable, so it was not hard to join in. We brought our snacks to share, our towel, the people were friendly…and the water felt good without a suit on.”<br /> <br />Best place to find a list of nude or clothes-optional beaches is at the association’s web site. <br /> Each beach is thoroughly explained and vetted by the group.<br /> <br /> The <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/22/best-nude-beaches-in-the_n_652087.html" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a> posted a poll on the best nude beaches in the world, including photos (very tasteful) and comments.<br /> <br /> The <em>Saline Beach in St. Barths</em> seems to have won top honors, followed by <em>South Beach in Florida</em> (as one observer said, “who knew playing volley ball on a nude beach would be such a spectator sport), <em>Black’s Beach in San Diego</em>, California, and of course the <em>Plage de Tahiti, in St. Tropez, France</em>. <br /> <br /> No cameras allowed. <br /> <br /> Regardless, as the American Association for Nude Recreation likes to point out, “Nude travelers tell us that when they take off their clothes, they put on a smile.”<br /> <br />And we would guess insect repellent. <br /></p></div>Travel’s Problem With Pinteresthttps://tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/travel-s-problem-with-pinterest2012-04-04T14:44:20.000Z2012-04-04T14:44:20.000ZKaleel Sakakeenyhttps://tripatini.com/members/KaleelSakakeeny<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9296562287,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="450" class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9296562287,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9296562287?profile=original" /></a></p><p>First, we’re glad <a href="http://www.pinterest.com" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> backtracked. Pinterest’s pinmeister and co-founder, Ben Silberman, is no longer asking followers to " avoid self promotion."<br /> <br /> The CEO and his fellow pinners are saying that the Pinterest etiquette that frowned on pinning ones own content, is dead.<br /> <br /> Originally, the fast-growing site wanted its members, as <a href="http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/in_shift_pinterest_says_to_pin_your_own_stuff/" target="_blank">Hotelmarketing.com</a> put it, “to share all the beautiful things they find on the web,” and eschew pinning their own content, thus the advice against “self promotion.”<br /> <br /> But what followed was predictable: big questions about the copyright violations by enthusiastic Pinterest users who were pinning other people’s content and images, with no license to do so.<br /> So, in a recently unveiled set of new Terms of Services, the site reversed itself, and asked its followers to go ahead, forget the previous rules of etiquette, and pin their own stuff.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304177104577305832731077746.html?mod=dist_smartbrief" target="_blank">The Wall Street Journal</a> noted that the shift in policy from posting curated content to members’ own content reflects a maturing company which, in February, became the third, fastest-growing major U.S web site when its unique users jumped 52% to 17.8 million.<br /> <br /> But here’s problem one.<br /> <br /> Social Technographic Profiles across the board (Alpha Moms, men and women, Asian and European users, etc.), show that social media Creators - those who actually publish a blog, upload a photo or video, Tweet regularly- are a significantly smaller population than Joiners, Spectators or Inactives.<br /> <br /> Will the shift to pinning one’s own work, rather than those of others, be too challenging to Pinterest members?<br /> Was it less stressful, easier “to share the things you love,” which meant other people’s (better?) stuff, and not one’s own?<br /> And could this shift to posting original content reduce member growth?<br /> <br /> From the perspective of travel, there’s another problem.<br /> <br /> In a recent post, <a href="http://newmediatravel.com/2011/11/04/why-is-hotel-web-content-so-boring/" target="_blank">Why Hotel Content is So Boring</a>, we argued that hotels play it safe by posting images of empty hotel rooms, empty pools, impossibly gorgeous but fake families on the beach, and smiling photos of reception desk staff, who are very likely paid models.<br /> <br /> Hotels want to play it safe. Why, as one observer noted, show a happy family in the dining room when a potential childless couple could be turned off by the image and not chose that hotel.<br /> <br /> Pinterest encourages beautiful photographs, lovely images. Hotels and destinations will populate their Pinterest boards with such glossy, but empty images.<br /> <br /> Furthermore, <a href="http://twitter.com/EricLeist" target="_blank">Eric Leist</a>, an emerging technologies specialist with ad agency allen and gerristen, says that travel industry professionals should be paying attention to what Pinterest users in their target market are pinning. Doing so will give them a better sense of what that members in that target market want, what styles and colors appeal to them.<br /> Basically, he says, “Pinterest is a free focus group for the travel industry, and professionals should tap into it.”<br /> <br /> Pinterest has the potential to surpass Faceboook and even Amazon in terms of helping people discover what they want and what they may want to buy...instead of just talking to each other<br /> <br /> While the site may give travel brands a great opportunity to show off their beauty and promote their brands, they must also bring the user/traveler closer to sharing the real-life, emotional travel experience of being at a destination or property.<br /></p></div>