If you’ve been reading the business news lately, you know that the airlines are back to making serious profits in the past two years. Several factors have led to that financial bonanza.
One reason is that airfares have increased, after adjusting for inflation, according to an analysis by Associated Press of data from the Airlines Reporting Corp. They have experienced a 10.7% increase over the past 5 years.
One of the questions we always get is “aren’t you getting tired of going to Alaska?”. After getting back last week from our 20th trip to our 49th state, I can honestly say that we do not get tired of going to that beautiful, clean-aired state. . . .primarily because we always see something we haven’t ever seen before, even though in some cases it has been there for quite some time. And, you might be surprised to know that almost every year, we have had some folks who make a second trip with us, in fact, this year we had some friends who had been to Alaska three times!!!
Being associated with athletics from my teens through my 30’s, I became aware that most of the activities we do in training and offensive and defensive strategies are the result of copying some other programs that have had success. . .and maybe calling it a different name to make it your own. Travel business is really no different.
Last week we had a little primer on packing and luggage for your vacation. This week, taking some information from an article in TravelSense, and from my own personal experience, I thought a good follow-up to last weeks information would be to suggest some essential items to take with you on vacation.
We are already past the first month of summer vacation, so my suggestions about packing today might be too late for some. However, I do know of several folks who still have vacations coming in July and August, and on into the fall, so I thought I would pass on some packing tips we’ve discovered over the years.
Politicians do it all the time. Often we hear of some individual in some sport who says that they are the best. Advertisers are always saying that their product will beat another competitors. Travel vendors like the hotels, airlines, cruise lines, and tour operators are not unlike them.. . . . everyone likes to think they are vital and important.
We’re often asked where to go for a good beach vacation for a family of (whatever), and our response is, “do you want to fly or drive? Most of those requests come from folks who are on a limited budget, so they say “drive”.
A while back I was reading an article suggesting some reasons for having a river cruise on your bucket list. . . if not at the top, real close to the top of that list.
Now that I have been on one, I can certainly endorse some of the reasons they mentioned and have some of my own reasons. One of the main differences between an ocean-going cruise and a river cruise is the pace. The river cruises move at a slower, more relaxed pace, and you have the ability to disembark and return at your leisure throughout the trip. Dress is casual with open seating in the dining areas resulting in a friendlier, open opportunity to meet other travelers. Instead of the entertainment venues of the ocean-going ships, the river cruises do have locations on the ships that provide local entertainment as well as lecturers imparting information about the locales to be visited as well as music that reflect the local culture and traditions.
Several weeks ago my Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines sales representative suggested that I try another group promotion with them, other than the Rudy Cruise we have scheduled in September out of Galveston. I told him I would be interested if we could get a good one with a good rate that would draw some attention. We looked around and found what I think is a good one at a really good price. You tell me!!!
Naturally we get questions about the all-inclusive vacation packages to our neighbor to the South. . .. Mexico. Most of those questions regard security and safety of travel to that destination.
Those are words coveted by just about everyone I know. I’m always being asked if I have any free trips to give away. I smile, knowingly, and let them know that there is nothing in travel free. . .somebody, somewhere, had to purchase those travel products. A lot of folks get telephone calls telling them that they have won a “free” trip, but to be able to claim it, it will cost them $99.98. Then they will tell them they need their credit card to hold the “free” ticket. Then if you fall for this ruse, you’ll find that there will be certain restrictions and conditions which will make the trip more expensive, or even impossible to take your “free” trip. The best thing to do when you receive one of these calls is just to hang up. . .they are invading YOUR “free” space!!!
We started about 20 years ago planning and escorting groups to some great vacation locations every year, and we continue to do that this year. Already this year we’ve been to London and Ireland, we’ve planned our 20th group to Alaska in July, and we’ll enjoy the Rudy Cruise group in the Western Caribbean in September.
In the last year or two, we have been seeing a change in the booking windows. Back in 2010 and 2011, space to just about any vacation destination was available a month to 6 weeks out. But now, for most destinations and cruises, we are seeing at least 5-7 months out, and for some cruises, even 12 months is not out of the question.
I hate to beat a good horse to death, but if you haven’t been to Las Vegas in a couple of years. . .she’s changing again!!! They re-invent or re-invest themselves about every 2-3 years with new hotels, rehabbed hotels, new restaurants, new feature attractions, bigger and better casinos, and almost 24-hour shopping.
I was reading about a destination I had never heard of, described in the April 7 issue of the magazine for travel agents, “Travel Agent”. They were talking about an island near St. Thomas named Water Island. I had never heard of it, but the description sounded really interesting, so I thought I would share some facts about it.
Quite often we get the question of “where can our family go here in the United States instead of DisneyWorld and DisneyLand?”. So our mind goes whirring and we suggest maybe a beach vacation in Destin, Florida, or a visit to the nation’s capital, or maybe a visit to some of the National Parks in the western United States. One place though that I had never even thought about until around 3-4 years ago was Nashville, Tennessee.
If you’ve done much traveling in the past couple of years, you no doubt have noticed that just about every aspect of the travel industry has a base rate, but oftentimes by the time you total up the final bill, you’ve paid almost as much in fees and taxes as the base rate. I’m thinking this started with the airlines, but then the car rental companies joined in the fee business, and now, the hotel and resort industry is quickly falling into the same pattern.
There was some interesting dialog going on recently at the Cruise Line’s International Association’s Cruise360 show. The general consensus among the CEOs was that “to keep up with ship growth and attract new passengers, the cruise industry had to focus on destinations and innovation.”
Just today I heard another announcement about the Academy of Country Music Awards show taking place today through Monday. . . talk about a rocking place getting more rocking. . .that’ll be this weekend in Vegas!!! There will be performances all over the Strip and more, as well as the live broadcast of the awards show on CBS from the MGM Grand on Sunday.
Travel Weekly, a magazine devoted to the travel industry, came out last month with the winners of their annual “Readers Choice Awards”.
