Travel Weekly Blog

This is what our weekly polls told us about you this year...

Two thirds of you are looking for another job, with a third of jobseekers looking outside travel. That’s not surprising given 64% of you didn’t even get a salary increase this year.

Oh well, at least 73% of you can console yourselves at your work Christmas party – toast the 27% of readers whose Scrooge-like company didn’t throw a bash.

But don’t drink too much, as 31% of you told us you drink more than 15 units per week. Still, there seems to a large sensible contingent among you – 83% said ‘yes, yes, yes’ to Amy Winehouse going back to rehab.

And when a great white shark was spotted in Cornwall, two thirds of you put it down to the traditional summer silly season. Still, you’re not all work, work, work – just over half of you love going on Facebook and you’d rather take a UK break to Cornwall over Blackpool, Wales and Norfolk.

So what’s in store for 2008? Keep on answering the polls on travelweekly.co.uk...

Merry Christmas!

Emily Ashwell, business and community editor

As the end of the year approaches, I thought it might be interesting to see which travel industry news stories have pulled in the punters on travelweekly.co.uk.

1. Aircraft collide at Heathrow
2. DfT decides in favour of £1 ATOL levy
3. Airline deal could leave two low-cost carriers, say analysts
4. Flight delays expected as airports increase security measures
5. Travel agents in £500m money laundering scam
6. Stella Group buys Global Travel Group
7. Thomas Cook Group to get Peterborough HQ
8. Government lifts cabin-bag restriction
9. Talks continue on fate of Libra Holidays
10. First Choice shareholders approve TUI merger

It's an interesting mix. Top of the list is an accident, but our readers are no sensationalists: at number two is a solid, need-to-know industry story on the DfT and the £1 ATOL levy.

Disproportionate mainstream media coverage and the potential for more disruption at Heathrow - something of a leitmotif in 2007 - probably helped the collision to number one.

Aviation as a whole looms large. Airport security stories are in fourth and eighth place, while a story about low-costs is at three.

Trade stories reflect consolidation, with TUI/First Choice at 10, Thomas Cook/MyTravel represented at seven and the Stella/Global deal at six.

For the Stella/Global story to be 2007's sixth most read after only a month on the site gives you a good sense of its importance.

There’s also one company-in-trouble story (Libra Holidays, which was eventually rescued) and a crime story at five.

So that’s what our readers have been calling up online this year. Any comments? Or let us know which of this year’s stories were most important for you…

Nathan Midgley, web producer

A brief break from all the WTM madness to congratulate Travel Weekly's Emily Ashwell, who has won the award for Best Travel Trade Feature at The Caribbean Travel Writer Awards (UK) for her piece on boutique hotels in Jamaica, published last summer.

Three blog cheers for Emily...

:-D
:-D
:-D

It's a big week for the travel industry - World Travel Market kicks off at ExCel London this morning. There's also the PhocusWright conference in Florida for online travel types - Travolution will be out there blogging, of course.

Here's the scene outside ExCel this morning:

And here's the newsroom, which will be centre of operations for Travel Weekly.

As well as journos and photographers we have video cameras out at the event, so keep an eye out for footage - you can find everything at travelweekly.co.uk/wtm2007.

Travel Weekly has got itself indexed on Google News, but not without a short and surprising to-and-fro with the omnipotent brand.

Its first response read:

We reviewed travelweekly.co.uk and are unable to include it in Google News. We don't include sites that are purely news aggregators, and we weren't able to find any stories on your site that weren't from outside sources.

And there I was thinking the news team that sits not ten feet away was writing articles for us. Heaven knows what they were really up to.

So back came TW:

We are not a news aggregator...I suspect Google may have based its assessment on one of the daily round-ups of travel news that we publish...there are less than ten of them on the site against over 18,000 original articles...

This did the trick.

Thank you for your reply and for providing us with this additional information about your site. We've reviewed your site again and will be adding it to our index for Google News.

Ultimately, Google's service was pretty good when you take into account how much it must have to process - I know Travolution had a far worse time with the Digg customer service team. But as anyone with a stake in a website will know, being unfairly assessed by the big G is scary stuff...

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

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

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?

Kevin @ Travolution has picked up on a nice idea from ProBlogger - post a photo of the place from which you (normally) blog.

But isn't that just a me-me-meme that guarantees ProBlogger thousands of links?

Yes, but it's Friday. Anyway, we can adapt it for travel. Travel bloggers:

• What's the farthest from home you've been when posting?

Got a pic/link? I'll start it off: Rotorua, NZ. Leave yours in the comments.

So here's TW Blog HQ...

Key

• Computer: Standard-issue. Ever seen that Fawlty Towers clip with the Morris Minor? Enough said.
• Animals: TW Blog's neighbour has an enthusiasm for beasts of the field that cannot be contained by her own workspace.
• Tea: Tea and Google Reader = the world's most popular blogging platform.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

This weekend sees the last bank holiday of summer - so why not ignore the weather and make the most of it? There could be a swanky Mr and Mrs Smith hotel guide in it for you.

To win, just submit a photo of you getting out and about in Britain on Monday - whether you're at a local festival, taking a walk in the country or on a shopping trip.

The three best pictures will win a guide.

Mr and Mrs Smith guides feature some of the most luxurious and original properties in the world.

Beautifully illustrated and penned by some of the best writers in the business, they're just the thing to pick up when you have a bank holiday to spare.

All books come with a Smith membership card entitling you to various goodies at featured hotels.

There are three ways to enter:

• Send your picture to twblog@rbi.co.uk as an attachment
• Upload your picture to a photo-sharing website such us flickr and send a link to twblog@rbi.co.uk
• Join the Travel Weekly group on Facebook and upload your photo there

Get your pics in by September 10. If you're entering by email, please put 'bank holiday competition' in the subject line.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

I have just spent 30 minutes trying to get a number for the Virgin Travel Insurance press office.

I was trying to find out more about a survey that apperared in the Guardian today and so far have had no joy.

I have been passed around various press offices representing different parts of the Virgin brand and finally got a number from Virgin Media (although I am still awaiting a call back).

The survey featured most disappointing attractions in the UK and beyond - with Stonehenge taking first place. Maybe it is time to start a list of the most disappointing (or hard to find) press offices for travel insurance brands?

Martin Couzins, online editor

Readers of the TW letters spread may have spotted a prominent mistake last week.

That's right: the tiny orange ghetto set aside for TW Blog content was titled 'From the Travel Weekly Bog'.

Yes, yes. Laugh it up.

TW Blog reflects that such an indignity would never be visited on peers such as Travel Pants or Travolootion.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Little bit of housekeeping. We came to three realisations recently:

1) Everybody loves competitions

...and...

2) TW has competitions

...but...

3) TW's competitions aren't always easy to find online

...so...

We thought we'd post everything you can win on one page - travelweekly.co.uk/competitions.

Current prizes are tickets to the Lord of the Rings stage show, a Gharani Strok dress, a Turkish meal in London and a Tokyo Chic guidebook. Check back regularly for more.

(Quick word of warning to consumer readers - most of our competitions are for travel and tourism professionals only.)

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Aloha. What’s going on here then? Lunch courtesy of Princess Cruises who dropped by Travel Weekly’s offices with a plate of sushi to promote their Exotic Cruises Worldwide 2008/9 brochure.

PR Hannah Burden and Len Delfino, a Hawaiian dancer from London-based Lei Aloha Dancers, had just come from Going Places in Epsom.

Not sure my Hawaiian dancing was up to much, but the sushi was good, so thanks for the visit.

Martin Couzins, online editor

Zounds! The Daily Star's take on Tony Blair's last day in power - see page four today - starts with the ex-PM reading none other than...

An old-style, pre-Esterson Travel Weekly.

Okay, he isn't a regular reader. That we know of. The shot comes from an interview with Blair back in November 2005, in which he pledged his support for a national tourism training academy.

Here's one of the originals as it appeared on our cover that week - click on it to launch the archived digital edition and read what he had to say.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Let’s hope the weather is boosting takings right now. If the clouds are getting you down then check out my selection of top holiday pop videos from Youtube. They put a smile on my face...

1. Holiday Rap, MC Miker G & DJ Sven
2. Holiday, Madonna
3. Summer Holiday, Cliff Richard
4. Summertime, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
5. Dreadlock Holiday, 10cc

What do you think? Put together your own top five (here's a Truveo search for music videos on Youtube tagged 'holiday') and post them in the comments section.

UPDATE: Vote for which of Martin's choices is the worst on the Travel Weekly homepage. The poll will be up until Wednesday June 4...

Martin Couzins, online editor

Quick bit of housekeeping: there are two new things I'm trying out. Firstly an automated feed from Travel Weekly's del.icio.us, which will dump any useful links I've found into a blog post like this one at the end of each day.

Secondly Twitter, a 'micro-blogging' service that lets me share what I'm currently up to. (Within reason.) You can find it about halfway down the sidebar.

On a related matter, Travolution Blog has started a 'Twit List' (very apt) of travel blogs which are currently twittering. Here it is - works just like the T List, of which Kev also posted a definitive version recently.

• Travolution [Twitter.com/travolution]
• Hotel-Blogs [Twitter.com/hotelblogs]
• BlogOnTravel [Twitter.com/blogontravel]
• Albert Barra [Twitter.com/albertbarra]
• Abel Gonzalez [Twitter.com/abelgv]
• MapMyName [Twitter.com/Cortomaltese]
• Explore Blogs [Twitter.com/explore]
• Blog de Viajes [Twitter.com/morrissey]
• Trivop.com [Twitter.com/trivop]
• Select World Travel [Twitter.com/selectworld]
• Travel Weekly Blog [Twitter.com/twblog]

The Institute of Travel and Tourism Conference begins in Gran Canaria today. Travolution's Kevin May is hosting an event blog, so keep an eye on it for live analysis, gossip and commentary from delegates.

There'll be more from the conference in next week's Travel Weekly, plus news and video on the website.

Quick bit of admin - an attempt to stop spam appearing on site has led to a few of your comments getting junked. Apologies (and links to their now-unjunked comments) to Paul Goodison, Karen Bryan and Jamie Webster.

We've just had word that our Club Tropicana video, which we entered into a Youtube competition at our publisher RBI in an attempt to raise money for Comic Relief, has swept the board.

We won most views, most linked to, most ratings, most comments (read them here) and highest rated, taking the whole £1,000 prize pot.

First Choice pledged to match our winnings up to £500, and we raised about £50 round the office, so we have a grand total in the region of £1,550.

Many thanks to everyone who watched, commented, rated and linked, and a special tip of the hat to Darren at Travel Rants for giving us his 'travel vid of the week' slot.

One bit of unfinished business: the mysterious 'Deckchair Man' was of course our acting editor Martin Couzins.

Today is your last chance to help us raise money for comic relief by watching us sing Club Tropicana. Here's an added incentive: it turns that out we slipped up when transcribing the first line, and there's a bottle of something nice for the first person who spots it.

To the left is a pic of our 'hymn sheet' with the error blurred out. Take another look at the vid and email us at twblog@rbi.co.uk with the line we sang; what it should have been; and your contact details.

Remember, the more views, ratings and comments we get the better, and First Choice has agreed to match whatever we make up to £500.

Anyone wishing to get a bit more coverage in Travel Weekly should tear a leaf out of bmi's book.

To celebrate today's launch of its new business-traveller focused initiative, they sent a couple of sweet girls to our office dressed in air hostess' outfits and, more importantly, wielding gigantic plates of free food.

Needless to say the breakfast kebabs, fruit kebabs, muffins and mini quiche type things lasted all of five minutes once they'd been unwrapped.

And the promotion? It's being made available to diamond club members who will now be privy to complimentary food and drink onboard, complimentary seats at the front of the aircraft on top of the usual frequent flyer privileges.

The new scheme is open to people once they have flown 3,000 miles in a 12 month period and if the new free food is as good as the scran served up in the office this morning, then customers are in for a treat!

Pictured, l-r: deputy features ed Emily Ashwell; a lovely bmi stewardess with half of our breakfast; another with the rest; acting skills zone ed Juliet Dennis; and me.

Ed Robertson, reporter

Two April Fools gags on the travel blogosphere yesterday, and both in their own way riffs on the growing power of blogs. Travel Rants claimed to have merged with Expedia; Travolution claimed to be launching a GDS with start-up Lirp@loof.com (TW Blog notes the sad effect that new media's fetish for silly names has had on the anagram-writer's craft).

Any others that readers saw and enjoyed?

As promised below, here's Travel Weekly singing Wham!'s Club Tropicana in aid of Comic Relief. Hence the red noses. Or is that faces?

There's also a photoset of us in the studio on the Travel Weekly flickr pages.

A burst of charity activity from the travel industry - James Allen at the McCluskey Blog emails to say he and colleague Patrick North Coombes are taking part in a London to Paris Bike Ride to raise money for Medecins du Monde.

Starting at Tower Bridge at 7am on 12th July, they'll finish at the Eiffel Tower on the 15th. It's for a great cause, so be generous and follow the sponsorship link.

Nothing so strenuous for Travel Weekly. We popped down to RBI's media studio to sing along to Club Tropicana in aid of Red Nose Day.

...and that's what it looked like. If we get enough clicks to beat rival RBI videos we win an extra £1,000 to donate, so look out for the vid - coming soon to these pages and our website.

As is its wont, our sister title Travolution is blogging its socks off from the PhoCusWright at ITB conference in Berlin, with much interesting gossip on Google's rumoured move towards a travel search engine (nicknamed 'Troogle'). New posts are popping up at a rate of two or three an hour, so Kevin and Tricia deserve to be read for their work rate alone...

Kevin at Travolution has added us to The T List, a memetag -

[quick pause for those who have only just got their heads around memes and tagging, and must now splice the two, to regain consciousness]

- that is designed to raise awareness of all the other good travel blogs out there. Basically a travel and tourism twist on a generic original idea called Z List.

Here's how it works:

• Write a post.
• Copy/paste the link list from the post where you discovered the T-List into it.
• Make sure the links are active and correct.
• If your blog is on the list, remove it.
• Add your favorite tourism and travel blogs.
• Add the url of the blog where you discovered the T-List.
• Publish the post.
• People will notice the T-List and continue it.

And here's the list:

• Hotel Blogs
• Radar
• Social Media on the Fly
• Les Explorers
• Chrispitality Media Blog
• A Luxury Travel Blog
• Travel Rants
• BootBlog
• Erin Julian
• My Travel Backpack
• Happy Hotelier
• The Travel PR Blog
• Boot - Business of Online Travel
• Travolution Blog
• The McCluskey Blog
• Lonely Planet Blog
• Destination Essentials

Travel Weekly's Dynamic Packaging Month starts today, and one of our lead stories concerns the impact of so-called Web 2.0 services on the quality of dynamically packaged product.

On Holiday Group's Steve Endacott has predicted that websites such as TripAdvisor and VirtualTourist, which are driven by user-generated content, will gradually force up standards as consumer reviews expose the industry's 'cowboys'.

Let's hope so, since the travel industry faces quite enough ill will without unscrupulous suppliers damaging its reputation further.

The problem is that such improvements are very difficult to quantify. Consumer review sites have been around for some time, and there is little hard evidence of service or product quality rising in any of the markets in which they exist.

You may also remember the Sunday Times investigation we covered last year, which called into question whether user-driven travel sites can be relied on to deliver authentic opinion (though some of the sites issued a robust defence of their product).

Still, it would be wrong to be wholly cynical - review sites do give consumers a more powerful voice, and Endacott is right to hope suppliers will sit up and listen.

It would be interesting to get some discussion going over what Web 2.0 can and can't deliver in the dynamic packaging space - your thoughts, please, in the comments or on our spanking new dynamic packaging forum.

Nathan Midgley, Travelweekly.co.uk

Almost the weekend, and time for our inaugural caption competition - a semi-regular feature on the Travolution Blog.

The honour goes to First Choice boss Dermot Blastland, for whom this week can presumably not end soon enough (Special report: Thomas Cook and MyTravel, Travelweekly.co.uk).

Leave your ideas in the comments and remember to enter your email address. We'll try to dig out a prize for the best. And remember that the Thomas Cook / MyTravel nickname competition is still open. Travel needs its 'GooTube'...

Originally uploaded on Flickr.com as part of the Travel Weekly Gallery.

It’s not every day you walk out of your hotel to discover a sight like this but then New York is not your everyday city.

Feeling a little worse for wear following one Wild Turkey too many the night before, I had just wandered out first thing in the morning looking for a spot of breakfast when the plumes of smoke barrelling down the road alerted my journalistic senses that something might be up.

Sure enough, just 20 yards away on 57th street by Lexington Avenue was this cab, utterly engulfed in flames.

While the sight was impressive enough, what amazed me even more was the local reaction to the event.

A line of traffic sat behind the cab beeping away while drivers who made it past the inferno actually slowed down to shout and wave their fists at the offending vehicle.

Needless to say my actions weren’t any more commendable – running over to snap some shots for the Weekly, I then beetled off before the coppers arrived (they’re a little tasty with their batons) and enjoyed a breakfast worthy of a true Manhattanite while regaling fellow diners of my morning’s adventures.

Ed Robertson, reporter

When a big story like the Thomas Cook - MyTravel merger breaks, it's common for the mainstream media to contact the likes of Travel Weekly for some specialist insight.

And so it was that Hugh Pym from the BBC came to TW Towers to interview reporter Paul Nelson for the Six O'Clock News.

Here's Paul and the BBC team gamely staging an interview for us to snap. (Flash photography tends to rather disrupt the real thing.)

You can watch the report on the BBC website - hit the 'How the internet has changed the travel market' link to the right of the story.

Travel Weekly's acting editor Martin Couzins approached me a few weeks ago with the idea of guest editing a technology special edition to coincide with next week’s Travel Technology Show.

The issue is out today, and while there is a focus on what you all might call ‘technology issues’, what you will read about in its pages is actually something broader.

This week’s Mystery Shopper, for example, puts the leading online travel agency websites to the test; while the lead feature looks at the changing role of agents and operators in the ‘brave new world’ of the Internet.

The Big Interview features arguably one of online travel’s most important men – Google head of travel in Europe Esteban Walther.

But why is it so important to suddenly home in on these issues?

Travolution has spent the last 15 months focusing on the profound changes sweeping the industry, triggered primarily by the power the Internet now has over the lives of consumers.

Take-up rates of broadband are now so high that the Internet is almost a constant presence in the home and workplace, meaning consumers are just seconds away from researching and ultimately booking a holiday.

It’s a controversial statement to make, but there are large parts of the industry that are still dismissive of this fundamental shift in the way people now interact with each other and travel companies.

To ignore these changes, or fail to recognise how to meet the challenges ahead, could be a truly fatal mistake.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Over at the Travolution blog Kevin has noticed certain similarities between the newly-launched Guardian and Times travel sites.

While some commenters simply damned him for a cynic ("That's not very kind!" cried an aghast John Franks) others opted for bare-faced cheek...

A bit like the new Travel Weekly and the New Statesman, perchance?
Erica Settle

Why, Madam! Naturally, Kev and Travel Weekly's acting ed Martin were duty-bound to respond...

Being a professional kind of place, TW Towers is not prone to general rejoicing. But we were delighted to hear our features reporter Jo Gardner had been honoured at the Portugal / Association of Tour Operators to Portugal 2007 Media Awards.

Jo deservedly picked up the prize for best travel trade article for 'An untouched hideaway'. You can - and should - read over on the website, where, to keep Google happy, it's called 'Get away from it all in Alentejo'.

Pic: Jo receiving the award from ATOP president Mary Anne Popoff.

Our post on Ryanair's Greedy Gordon ads has opened up a can of worms - Simon Robinson of the Big Biofuels blog weighed in with:

How can the considerable da