Travel Weekly Blog

We would expect the exclusive Mile High Club to be deluged by new members with the arrival of suites on the new Airbus A380. But not so, according to the Times. Singapore Airlines says that couples engaged in inapproprate behaviour will 'be asked to desisit'.

Can't help feeling they will have their work cut out. The A380 is a flying loving pad - it features 12 suites.

Here's what the Travel Weekly blog said about the A380 launch.

Martib Couzins, online editor

This week Travel Weekly has reported that the over-50s are taking more holidays and that hoteliers need to cash in on the older generation. As the population ages and remains healthier for longer, increasing numbers of older people are becoming more adventuruous with their spare time.

The news that Saga has launched a social networking service should therefore come as no surprise. The Times reports that the over-50s account for nearly one third of the total time spent on the internet in Britain.

13,000 people have signed up in four months and the forums look well used. Check out the travel forum to see what's being talked about.

Martin Couzins, online editor

Thanks to Hotelchatter.com for its selection of favourite haunted hotels - just to get you in the mood for Halloween.

To find haunted hotels in the UK check out hauntedhotelguide.com

Thanks to about.com for these:

The Black Swan Hotel, Devizes

Dale Head Hall, the Lake District

Dalston Hall, the Lake District

Martin Couzins, online editor

UK tourism to the US is going through a funny phase at the moment. On the one hand we're put off by stories of overzealous border guards turning away ex-LSD users and detaining our MPs.

On the other, the pound is strong against the dollar and Christmas is just eight weeks away. This morning the pound briefly hit $2.066, its highest level against the dollar in 26 years.

I've got a week off at the end of November and a US city break is starting to look like just the thing...

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Disney has produced a seven minute film for the US departments of state and homeland security to encourage visitors to the US. The film, entitled Welcome: Portraits of America and which you can view on the Discover America homepage, will be shown in airports and embassies.

However,the Guardian reports a glitch - the water falls pictured are none other than the Horseshoe Falls, which mostly lie inside Canada.

Martin Couzins, online editor

Psst... wanna see five acres of advertising?

Of course you don't. Here it is anyway...

Based in Dubai, this Guinness-certified giant covers 20,000 square metres (five acres) and is the work of UK-based Ad Air, which specialises in placing these near airports.

Hat-tips: Thanks to Kev at Travolution, who pointed me to a post on Happy Dude.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Medical tourism has just taken a distinctly domestic flavour. According to the Observer, the Grange Dental Practice in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, will shortly be offereing visitors to the Lake District the opportunity to mix a leisure trip with a trip to the dentist. And when it is so difficult to get to see a dentist in other parts of the country, who can blame them? The practice is now a member of Cumbria Tourism and will be offering weekend breaks on its website in the next two months.
Martin Couzins, online editor

Oh dear - some more bad PR for US Homeland Security. And it's potentially unsettling news for bloggers and social network users.

It seems a Canadian psychotherapist has been barred from entering the US after a border guard Googled the man's name and found an article of his about some LSD trips he took in the 1960s and 70s.

According to a story in independent Canadian paper The Tyee:

The official said that under the Homeland Security Act, Andrew Feldmar was being denied entry due to "narcotics" use. ... The border guard then escorted him to his car and made sure he did a U-turn and went back to Canada.

Not knowing the specifics of the case, TW Blog isn't going to default to the assumption that Homeland Security was wrong to turn Feldmar away.

But the story has been picked up by several blogs and magazines including Gadling and Wired, and will do little to sway potential vistors who are put off by the idea of heavy security.

Any fast-living TW readers - and having seen some of the 'related groups' on our Facebook page, I have my suspicions about you lot - may want to clean up their profile before heading across the pond.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

From Travel Weekly's Kelly Ranson, just back from an InterContinental Hotels Group conference in Dallas...

Arriving back from a long-haul flight to a gloomy and damp Sutton really wasn’t a great start to yesterday.

By the end of the day the jet lag had kicked in and I was in need of matchsticks to keep my eyes open.

However just before leaving the office I was brightened up hugely with a massive bunch of roses and a marriage proposal (!) from Princess Cruises.

Ok, so I won’t actually be walking down the aisle with a 3000 passenger cruise ship - it was actually a plug for the company’s Weddings and Honeymoon brochure.

Three other ladies in the office also received flowers, so TW Towers was a happy place to be yesterday.

Very nice touch.

Kelly Ranson, reporter

Here, inevitably, is some YouTube footage of the first commercial Airbus A380 flight landing at Sydney. You can't put a price on the coverage Singapore Airlines has got out of being the first to operate one of these, can you?

Don't even think about commenting "$300 million". You know what I mean.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

The House of Commons heard a brief exchange on Heathrow's security woes on Tuesday.

Several members ganged up on Secretary of State for transport Ruth Kelly. Among the complaints:

Intolerable third-world queues at immigration ... Seeing the businessmen of the world queuing up to enter Britain, as if they were in some third-world country, is shaming
Denis McShane, Labour

We [travellers from Scotland] have to wait for up to three quarters of an hour to go through security
Brian H Donohoe, Labour

The CBI has warned that Heathrow hassle is an increasing threat to inward investment in the UK. When is the Secretary of State going to start knocking heads together to get something done to improve the quality of service at an airport that is rapidly becoming a national embarrassment?
Theresa Villiers, Conservative

Angrier than all of the above, however, was a member of the public who commented on the debate on theyworkforyou.com.

Incensed by Denis McShane's observation about queuing businessmen, she countered that "I would like to remind MPs that a business man and a poor man have all the same rights."

Nathan Midgley, web producer

We'll have the story on Travel Weekly shortly, but here is the Easyjet news release.

Update: We've now posted a more complete story on easyJet's purchase of GB Airways

Our front page poll this week is on mobile phone use on aircraft. Ofcom gave the technology the thumbs-up last week, though it will be up to airlines whether or not to implement it.

Either way, there is a lot of strong feeling about this - a Yougov poll found that the majority are opposed to it, and the Telegraph is running a petition against mobile use in the air.

Those in favour are making less noise (isn't it always the way?) but I'm sure they're out there.

It'd be interesting to know how opinion is divided among Travel Weekly readers, so cast your vote on the homepage...

Nathan Midgley, web producer

The wildfires in southern California are swiftly becoming a disaster. Latest reports on the BBC say 500,000 have been evacuated (19:00 - the figure is now closer to one million). Here's the view from NASA's satellites:

Image: NASA’s Earth Observatory

As we reported yesterday, tourists heading to the region are advised to keep up with media reports and check with their tour operator where relevant.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

This is from TW's Kelly Ranson at the InterContinental Hotels Groups Americas Investors and Leaderships conference in Dallas, Texas...

You know that you are in America when there is Starbucks on every corner and when you finish your meal it looks like you haven’t even touched it.

But I definitely realised I was in across the pond when I entered the ‘Holiday Inn Experience’ at the Dallas Convention Centre this week.

Only in America can they put together a massive mock up of its re-branded hotels (complete with beds, baths and exteriors and even the new smell of the hotels) to show to delegates.

Throughout the 40 minute ‘journey’ you are guided through what can only be described as a museum of Holiday Inn.

Kevin, editor of our sister title Travolution, predicted in his current editorial that Travo's 'Power Edition' - listing the 50 most powerful people in online travel - would attract some controversy.

Guess what?

An open thread on the topic attracted over 20 comments in one day - some by the dreaded 'anonymous'. Worth a read.

Darren from Travel Rants has left a comment on our photos from the Suites Class of Singapore Airlines' Airbus A380 'Superjumbo'. How much, he wonders, will a 'seat' on this service cost?

(They're actually more like diddy hotel rooms with fold-out beds - go to one minute 40 in the vid below to see more.)

Anyway, a quick flight search on Singapore Airlines' website reveals how much you can expect to pay.

Based on flights from Singapore to Sydney departing November 22 and returning November 28, Singapore Airlines charges...

• £2519.28 inc taxes and fees for First Class (on a B747-300)
• £3622.47 inc taxes and fees for Suites Class (on the A380)

Still: if you were prepared to pay two and a half grand in the first place, money may not be an object.

Those based in the UK will have to wait a while before they can step aboard the aircraft at all. SA won't start flying the Airbus A380 from Heathrow until spring 2008.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Our first agent reporter assignment is currently under way.

Audrey Singh, a Hays Travel homeworker, is currently in Puerto Rico at the 30th Annual Caribbean Tourism Conference. We'll be hearing from Audrey on her return.

(Regular readers will know that Agent Reporter has attracted some controversy - read TW Blog's response.)

Martin Couzins, online editor

According to the BBC, a quarter of a million people have been evacuated from California as fierce winds fan wildfires in the Los Angeles region from San Diego up to Santa Barbara.

Thanks to Royal Caribbean International for this footage of Independence of the Seas, the last of the cruiseline's three Freedom Class ships to be built, in production at Aker Yards' Turku site in Finland.

Expect to see IotS cruising into Southampton in May 2008.

Today's Daily Mirror has a story from the British Model Flying Association show which took place at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, Somerset, at the weekend. Visitors saw Chris Gold fly and crash his 9ft model of Concorde.

I've taken a picture of the story as I can't find it on the Mirror's web site.

The Global Language Monitor has published the top 10 Most Confusing (yet widely used) High Tech Buzzwords for 2007.

And here they are:

iPOD
Flash (as in Flash Memory)
Nano
Cookie
Kernel
Megahertz
Cell (as in Cell Phone)
Plasma (as in Plasma Television)De-duplication
De-duplication
Blu-Ray

Martin Couzins, online editor

The Travelocity gnome has been OMG KIDNAPPED while on a visit to Northwestern University, in what is either a careless prank by students or a carefully constructed narrative by marketers.

Don't you long for the days when you could tell the two apart by sight?

Trendhunter speculates that "the Roaming Gnome may travel the world and return safely to Travelocity with photos and travel stories from around the world."

TW Blog speculates that the gnome has gone into hiding after competition from Roaming Travolution got too much for him.

Any other theories?

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Don't worry: travel media hasn't succumbed to mergermania. I mean Travel Weekly Blog is now one year old...

In a week or so it'll also be a year since Travel Weekly redesigned.

Back then TW Blog posted photos of the production team putting the first new issue to bed; and of media legend Trevor Harding handing out copies in the TW Towers foyer the following morning.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Is your drinks trolley dull and tired?

Have you ever looked at one of the refreshment trolleys on an aircraft and thought, "Now if that was pink with flowers on..."?

Then you're weird in luck. Springwise reports that German company bordbar is selling customised - pimped, to readers of a youthful disposition - trolleys for home use.

It's all genuine ex-airline stock, complete with dents and scratches. Bordbar offers a range of existing designs, but can also use a logo or pattern of your choice.

Now you know what Travel Weekly wants for Christmas...

Nathan Midgley, web producer

This morning Radio 4's Today ran an item on the UK's poor visitor figures for August (down 13% year-on-year) and VisitBritain's desire for more Government funding.

"It wants more money to make advertising like this," began business reporter Greg Wood, sounding as if he was holding something malodorous at arm's length.

Cue a VisitBritain promo. "Next stop, Liverpool!" it announced jauntily. "European Capital of Culture for 2008. No need to tell you who these lads are: The Beatles are definitely Liverpool's biggest export..."

VisitBritain chairman Christopher Rodrigues came on to discuss visitor numbers, and fairly pointed out that 1) performance for the rest of 2007 has not been as bad as August's figures suggest; and 2) the weak dollar and competitors with bigger marketing budgets are both major factors.

"Americans are still travelling," he said, "but they're travelling to other places. If you look at the amount of money spent on marketing in America top of the list are places like Mexico, Puerto Rico and Bahamas, which are close by."

But Wood hadn't finished with the advert.

Wood: So you want to spend more on advertising... I hesitate to say it, but from the clip we played there, you obviously need to spend a bit more.

Rodrigues: [Laughs] the interesting thing is, I was talking to the people in Italy [and] the Liverpool Captial of Culture thing has really caught on overseas-

Wood:That was hardly a cutting-edge ad for the city of Liverpool, though, was it?

Rodrigues: Well...it got the basic message over about what things attract people to Liverpool.

Rodrigues wisely steered the conversation on to more solid ground, namely the importance of the tourism industry making them most of London 2012.

Entertaining stuff. So should the Government dig deep? And does VisitBritain need to improve its advertising, or did Wood just get up on the wrong side of the bed?

Listen to the encounter on this audio stream - it's about 15 minutes in.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

TW Blog is in the process of failing to buy a house, and £150,000 would be no end of help.

So good on Travelodge for offering big cash rewards to anyone who finds the company a new hotel site.

If the company builds on the land you suggest, you'll get £500 for every room in the finished property.

As well as being generous, this ticks some very modern boxes: inviting consumers into the decision-making process, using local knowledge and so forth.

Travelodge is very vocal about being the fastest-growing UK hotel company of its kind, and aims to build 500 new properties by 2020. So there's plenty of scope to cash in.

Perhaps if we knocked down part of TW Towers...

Shorter-term goals include 200 new hotels and a refit of existing properties in preparation for the 2012 Olympics.

Our stablemate Flight International has been out at the delivery of the first of Airbus's A380 'Superjumbos' to Singapore Airlines in Toulouse - and they've got pictures from the 'Suites' class.

Says Flight:

The Suites class consists of 10 private cabins behind sliding doors. Inside each private cabin are 35in-wide leather seats that convert into 1.98m-long single beds and, in two cases, double beds

Very swish...

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Some sceptical responses to Travel Weekly's Agent Reporter scheme have come in. I think it's worth dealing with each of the objections raised in turn…

- Travel agents don’t have journalism skills

To be accepted as an Agent Reporter, agents will have to show specialist training, knowledge and experience, as well as reasonable writing ability.

We - like all comparable media - have long commissioned industry columnists on the same criteria. If an agent fulfils them too, why shouldn’t he or she produce the odd bit of content?

- Travel Weekly's content will suffer

ARs will be reporting back from trade events and fam trips, not covering news beats. We won’t cut back on professional content.

As for quality of writing, AR work will go through the editorial process (sub-editors, desk heads and the rest) like any other article.

- Agents have nothing to say

There are more than 10,000 agent reviews on Travel Weekly's sister online service Gazetteers.com.

Not every one of those reviewers is an expert. But many agents know their stuff. All we are doing is giving a few talented individuals the chance to demonstrate their product knowledge to clients and colleagues.

- Agent Reporters will neglect their jobs

It’s up to managers whether or not they allow their staff to apply. While the scheme will not suit every business, we think some managers will see AR work as potentially beneficial to both agent and agency.

Not only will published work prove an agent’s knowledge of their specialism, it will also earn them points on the ABTA/ITT Accredited Travel Professional scheme.

I hope that clears a few things up. Comments?