Boy, time sure does fly when you are having fun! I don’t know where the time went but November is fast approaching and we have been getting ready for World Travel Market 2011 in London. It is after all THE place to be.
Manolis will be doing the rounds as ever, with a huge backpack and his vast repository of knowledge.
This year it’s all about the meetups and boy do we have a busy schedule! We ‘d love to meet up with everyone if at all possible so please drop me a line and I’ll arrange an appointment or quick coffee. We are taking some meetings in central London too but it’s best if we catch up on the exhibition floor really.
We will also be going to the Travel Blog Camp once again. It was just such a great experience last year, we loved meeting all the bloggers and taking part in the lively debate. We are expecting great things again this year.
I receive newsletters from my favorite retail outlets each and every single day with some clever little pun and some not-really-relevant-but-close products. Little pillows, the Union Jack on absolutely everything and crazy ideas about parties and events.
This Sunday some great ladies, our selves with Sofia AND our client (and Sofia’s mum) Mama Despoina hit the news stands with an article by Ms. Elli Ismailidou on female entrepreneurship online – you can find the article here in Greek.
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?
—– 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.
A few days ago we had a chat with the excellent BBC correspondent, Malcolm Brabant about tourism and hospitality in Greece which was broadcast on BBC World today.
Having read our whitepaper, Malcolm Brabant’s question was simple: What went wrong and how do you fix it. In the subsequent discussion we maintained – as we always do – that the solutions are there, if only hospitality professionals are willing to look deeply into their policies and what travellers actually need – instead of what we may think they do.
For us, it’s all about the long term solutions, the policy, the investment of time and good work that can show travellers, travel agents and the market that the Greek hospitality professionals are in it for the long run.
Take a look at the video which Mr. Brabant has uploaded on his YouTube channel.
Our heartfelt thanks – it is great to be given an opportunity to add a note of optimism in all the doom and gloom.
We are delighted to announce the next step of our Greek campaign.
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.
Good hoteliers want to move forward but in most cases they are not certain that their customers consider things like a good website and an online booking facility as neccessities.
In the normal SoMaFusion spirit of working together we are launching an action today cheekily titled “I want you… online”
Travellers are encouraged to leave feedback to hotels regarding their digital needs using a little card we created.
Boy, time sure does fly when you are having fun! I don’t know where the time went but November is fast approaching and we have been getting ready for World Travel Market 2011 in London. It is after all THE place to be.
