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Chris Zagorski Posts Tagged ‘travel’
Royal Caribbean and DreamWorks Pair Up
I received an email recently from Royal Caribbean’s Crown & Anchor loyalty program informing me that Royal Caribbean has teamed up with DreamWorks to create a “once-upon-a-time” cruising experience for families.
Image how the kids (and kids at heart) will feel about a sail away party with Shrek, or a photo op with Kung Fu Panda while on vacation. Being termed The DreamWorks experience, travelers will get to enjoy features such as meals, parades and photo opportunities with their favorite DreamWorks characters
Other highlights include passengers being able to enjoy movies on the ship’s 3-D movie theater, the pleasure of watching first-run DreamWorks films on board and the opportunity to watch an ice show featuring characters from How to Train your Dragon.
The program will first start on the Allure of the Seas, set to sail in December 2010. The DreamWorks experience will then be expanded to the Oasis of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas in 2011. Who’s ready to join Royal Caribbean and its new DreamWorks experience?
Oil spill hurting travel industry on Gulf Coast
As the oil spill continues to wreak havoc on the Gulf Coast and BP’s reputation, business owners along the gulf coast are already seeing business drop dramatically as travelers determine different vacation plans to avoid a leisurely beach stroll over globs of oil and tar.
With the Memorial Day past us, and children about to be out of school for summer, businesses are struggling with how to deal with an issue they can’t control: the oil spill.
A recent article on CNN discussed how hotels, rental, resorts and motels have seen a decline in inquiries and bookings over the last few weeks, as individuals anticipate the worst case scenario from the spill. Businesses fear that travelers assume the oil spill has hit land and created an unpleasant environment for vacationing. Because of this, many hotel owners are encouraging families to post pictures of their trip to show family and friends that the oil has not hit land yet, and some are hoping to put live video feeds of the beach so individuals can see for themselves how the area looks.
What approaches have you seen businesses take to try and encourage travel to the area? What would you recommend be done to salvage travel to the gulf coast?
I’ll keep you posted if we see any direct mail or email in the Comperemedia database pertaining to travel, the oil spill and the Gulf Coast.
Fees are not the answer to profitability
Nothing annoys consumers more than paying for things that used to be free or feeling that they are being nickel and dimed. As the banking industry struggles with how to recoup money lost to overdraft fee income, they are wise to take some lessons from the airline industry.
The airline industry attempted to stem huge financial losses by charging a wide variety of fees. Flyers now pay to book the ticket, redeem frequent flyer miles, make a particular seat choice, change a ticket, check bags, obtain a pillow or blanket, and for food and drinks.
Unfortunately, added fees haven’t propelled the travel industry into profitability. AMR, parent of American Airlines, posted a $1.5 billion loss. US Air, Continental, United and Delta also posted losses. Combined, the industry lost $3.4 billion in 2009.
Southwest, however, was one airline to post a sizeable profit. The company heavily advertised “Bags Fly Free,” and that strategy may have paid off. The company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Kelly attributes the success, in part, to the fees that its competitors are assessing. In a January conference call with Wall Street analysts, he was quoted as saying, “I hope they charge $100 a bag. That would be terrific. We’ll have 100 percent load factors.”
Going beyond the fee
With customer satisfaction, loyalty, and brand image on the decline over the past few years, banks can hardly afford to alienate customers. Rather than focusing on what fees to charge, the industry should focus instead on innovating services and products that give people confidence. It’s not that fees are never justified – it just might not be wise to assess fees on previously free services. In fact, a recent JD Power study indicates that high customer satisfaction rates are possible to maintain as long as consumers perceive that they are receiving sufficient value in exchange.
At the end of the day, customers know that it’s their deposits that fund the banks other, more profitable, activities. So while consumers need a place to bank, the banks need consumers just as much. Shouldn’t there be recognition of the mutual need from both parties?