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 Everyone who has ever read ‘Don’t Stop the Carnival’ should understand Travel & Tourism Merchandising. Herman Wouk didn’t present generic scenes that could take place anywhere – he created a unique and fabulous Caribbean that has made generations of readers say ‘I’ve got to go there!”. Traditional marketing campaigns create awareness and build excitement for a brand. Online marketing can benefit from merchandising concepts to help maximize impact and convert ‘lookers to [...]  Carnival in Rio: 90,000 tickets sold and no signs from the Metro to the Sambadromo? I’ve been ranting for years about the lack of signage on Caribbean Islands to help tourists. I can understand this on many small islands. Locals are so used to the roads and know exactly where to go, that they can’t seem to appreciate that tourists get completely lost and confused trying to find their way around. It took me over an hour to find Mahogany Run Golf Course on St. Thomas. I had given up and decided to head back to my hotel when I just happened to stumble on it by accident (our host explained that everyone has that problem and that we did pretty well considering…). On St. Croix, it took over an hour to find our hotel since the one sign was now blocked by a tree (our hotel explained ‘everyone has that problem’). In Puerto Rico, they advertise ‘Explore beyond the Shore’ – so I decided to take the ‘Ruta Panoramica’ across the central mountain range. Starting in Mayaguez, I couldn’t find any signs – so I used by boy scout skills reading a map, only to find myself right back where I started after an hour. Since I was traveling with a Puerto Rican, he started to stop and ask locals – this got us even more lost until we found someone who told us the ‘trick’. Since the signs had been placed for tourists traveling from San Juan heading west – anyone (like us) traveling in the opposite direction had to guess which fork in a road to take… and then look backward to see if there was a sign pointing in the opposite direction. This worked pretty well, turning back when no signs were found… until no corners had any signs at [...] I just got back from 4 nights in Boston and stayed at a very nice flagged 3 star hotel. My room was large, furnishing a bit dated – but a very good location and a stunning view of the sun setting over the Charles River. The best hotel web rate I could book was $136.00 per night plus tax. Booking through Priceline – I paid $55.oo per night plus tax/fee. I knew approximately how much to bid by checking some of the websites dedicated to ‘breaking the code’ at Priceline where this hotel was well known as a consistent Priceline opportunity. If I had gone to the website and found a reasonable website instant purchase of $99 or $79 or $69 – I probably would have booked direct and the hotel would have received significantly higher revenue then the net rate Priceline paid (which has to be less than $55/night). Part of Merchandising a hotel property is to develop a pricing strategy that sets competitive rates and communicates the value of the property to potential guests. Instead of converting this ‘looker to booker’, this hotel’s website pricing sent me running to Priceline instead of even considering a direct booking. Priceline and Hotwire are still important distribution channels – but when there is such a large difference in rates, hotels often have an opportunity to increase revpar by offering value directly to their guests. This also builds repeat client loyalty and avoids the ‘dumb sucker’ syndrome where loyal guests who paid full rack rates feel stupid when they meet someone in the elevator or lobby bar who is more than happy to brag about the great rate they found.  Far too many hotel websites look more like the local furniture warehouse than a unique travel experience. You decide which photo would make you say ‘I’ve got to go [...]  Can you tell what tourism site is promoting their destination with this photo? If you go to their website, the logo and title will tell you… but if you’ve scrolled down the page, you may be inspired to go to any tropical [...]  The easiest way to understand how Merchandising can help a tourism destination is to blank out the name of the destination and see if you can still pick up enough information from the home page to guess where in the world this page is promoting. Although there are a few small photos that might give you a clue, its hard to place this destination. [...]  The easiest way to understand how Merchandising can help a tourism destination is to blank out the name of the destination and see if you can still pick up enough information from the home page to guess where in the world this page is promoting. This destination obviously has looked at the Las Vegas site – but does it promote their destination or make you want to jump on the next cheap flight to ‘The [...]  The easiest way to understand how Merchandising can help a tourism destination is to blank out the name of the destination and see if you can still pick up enough information from the home page to guess where in the world this page is promoting. If you’re a local and familiar with government tourism programs, you’ll do fine – but tourists looking for a unique destination may be more confused than [...]  The easiest way to understand how Merchandising can help a tourism destination is to blank out the name of the destination and see if you can still pick up enough information from the home page to guess where in the world this page is promoting. Unless you’ve been to the ultra-exclusive resort that sits atop the cliff in the distance, you may have a hard time identifying this [...]  The easiest way to understand how Merchandising can help a tourism destination is to blank out the name of the destination and see if you can still pick up enough information from the home page to guess where in the world this page is promoting.  The easiest way to understand how Merchandising can help a tourism destination is to blank out the name of the destination and see if you can still pick up enough information from the home page to guess where in the world this page is promoting.  The easiest way to understand how Merchandising can help a tourism destination is to blank out the name of the destination and see if you can still pick up enough information from the home page to guess where in the world this page is promoting. This destination has given you a few clues if you’re familiar with their logo or style of architecture. [...]  The easiest way to understand how Merchandising can help a tourism destination is to blank out the name of the destination and see if you can still pick up enough information from the home page to guess where in the world this page is promoting. I love a tree frog… but this one is lost since I don’t know any of the sites [...]  The easiest way to understand how Merchandising can help a tourism destination is to blank out the name of the destination and see if you can still pick up enough information from the home page to guess where in the world this page is promoting. This destination has given you a clue if you’re familiar with the pink flamingo in their logo and the unique language in their greeting. [...]  The easiest way to understand how Merchandising can help a tourism destination is to blank out the name of the destination and see if you can still pick up enough information from the home page to guess where in the world this page is promoting. Don’t let the Google Ads for Qatar fool you – this isn’t in the Middle [...]  The easiest way to understand how Merchandising can help a tourism destination is to blank out the name of the destination and see if you can still pick up enough information from the home page to guess where in the world this page is promoting. Spice is your clue here – and the photo rotation on the actual site won’t help [...] |
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