We met these three excellent and very polite volunteers at the Greek stand.
Manolis was very impressed by their smiling attitude and their obvious desire to help and find the information people wanted.
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Read all our blog posts from World Travel Market 2010
We give you the excellent Mr. David Whitley (@mrdavidwhitley and on his blog Grumpy Traveller) answers Manolis’ question on what he would write if a hotel was not offering free wi-fi.
He says in a marvellous way two very simple things
This is just a tiny segment from the excellent Travel Blogs Camp which took place on November 9. We are trully indebted to Darren Cronian (@travelrants and on his blog Travel Rants) for organising the event.
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Read all our blog posts from World Travel Market 2010
Our first video from the World Travel Market deliciousness.
Watch out for
We promise more and Manolis offers his heartfelt apologies for his shaky takes.
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Read all our blog posts from World Travel Market 2010
Here’s the Greek Deputy Minister of Culture & Tourism, Giorgos Nikitiadis, giving his opening speech at the Greek stand.
This English version of his welcome is a bit perplexing as he seems to be giving undue attention to past strikes and disruptions in Greece. He also seems to be saying that one cannot find tourists who faced any problems due to the disruptions (though in that case the reason for the Ministry’s suggested policy of compensation is a bit confusing)
Nevertheless he rallies up admirably in the end with great optimism about the future and Greece’s new strategy for tourism.
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Read all our blog posts from World Travel Market 2010
The first day of the World Travel Market was again this year by invitation only. This might sound a bit exclusive but in actual fact it gives an opportunity to trade visitors and exhibitors to do all the work that they won’t have time to do during the rest of the exhibition. Talk on an industry level, network with other traders, see what the competition has to offer.
Starting off
I started off early in the horrible London weather. It was pretty obvious from twitter as well (see the #wtm2010 and #wtm hashtags) that everyone was having a pretty hard time getting to ExCeL. Having said that there were signs everywhere – literally – and people were extremely helpful to visitors, especially those from abroad. I don’t look particularly local (it’s the Greek gene) so I got extra help all the way. (more…)
It’s true. Frappé coffee is a Greek thing and you cannot find it in London (that is, you cannot easily find it. But we can give you a tip or two).
What you can get is aromatic hot coffee (and tea).
Sofia and Manolis will be at the World Travel Market in London from 8 November to 11 November to catch up with clients and negotiate prices and contracts on their behalf with tour operators.
How about dropping us a line so we can share a few moments over some steaming coffee? We’re buying.
See you there?
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Read all our blog posts from World Travel Market 2010
It feels like ages since I last updated but I hope you will forgive me. Work has been a bit overwhelming lately.
End of the summer season is a busy time for us. Final policy and performance reports are prepared for our clients in the hospitality sector. Seasonal hotels need this reporting system in order to analyse and balance the season’s performance. It’s a great time for us as well as we get to show in one concise document our activities. From these reports we are able to sit down and discuss the next steps and preparation work that we will need to do with the hotel for the next year. And the next year starts now!
Here is a short video – in Greek – with Panos from Aegean Sky where he explains the value of being online.
We made this video as part of our “I want you… online” campaign. You will recall that the cheekily titled “I want you… online” encourages travellers to leave feedback to hotels regarding their digital needs using a little card we created.
Even though Greece boasts some lovely small and medium sized hotels, the vast majority is not online. Travellers cannot find them and they cannot book online.
Panos is a SoMaFusion client and he recognises the value of being online and understanding his guests’ needs. In this short video he explains that by creating a website, analysing booking trends and his guests feedback he has managed to turn things around.
Here is a little video we put together following our recent interview with the BBC correspondent, Malcolm Brabant about tourism and hospitality in Greece (read the relevant blog post).
We hope you’ll enjoy.
Since we’re on the subject, the Press Release on the BBC report (English and Greek) went out today.
The excellent podsafe track is ‘Your face is not enough’ by 3 Blind Mice.
Since we have been asked by online friends to write some of our thoughts on hotel pricing policies and differences in prices from one sales channel to the next, I wrote the other day about some fundamentals of Computer Reservation Systems.
I noted in that blog post that prices for the same hotels might be different from system to system for a variety of reasons such as contracting obligations, seasonal offers etc.
| How competition affects hotel room prices |
A hotelier will have a different ‘at the door’ price than the one offered via an Internet booking service due to basic competition. If the price is not competitive the Internet booking service has no incentive to include the hotel. This is why one might find a room cheaper on a web booking service and more expensive when calling the hotel. This is not always the case, but when it is the difference should normally be minimal. (more…)
Read the SoMaFusion white paper on Policy and Crisis Communications for the Hospitality Sector