Words About Travel

Archive for the ‘Travel Industry’ Category

Getting more internet bookings to your website can be a challenge. Especially when you are juggling the day-to-day tasks for your small tourism business and working with limited resources. Often during the busy summer months you just don’t have the time to sit down and work out the nitty gritty of how to market your bed and breakfast. However, there are a few things I would recommend for you to consider if you want to increase online bookings.

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Airbnb Guinness Guestroom

The good thing about returning home after extensive travelling and not having a 9-5 job is that you have lots of free time to explore your own city. A lot has changed in the 2 years I’ve been away from Dublin and I’m enjoying getting to know her again.

For the first time, I have managed not to sink into a deep depression after returning from long-term travel. This possible has been to do with the fact we have had a string of visitors and have felt like I was ‘on holiday’ with them touring sights, going on day trips, road trips, eating out, having creamy pints of Guinness and listening to lots of traditional Irish music.

To get some extra cash while we are looking for work we have listed our spare room on Airbnb. The response has been phenomenal, with inquiries practically everyday. I think it has to do with the amount of hotels and accommodation providers closing in the past year and the amount of festivals & events at the moment so there is actually a shortfall.The Navy v Notre Dame football game alone drew 35,000 visitors to the city, the GAA football semi-finals and tall ships festival all gave a much-needed boost to the tourism sector here.

So far we’ve had a German and an American couple stay with us. It’s been a bit like an anthropological study. Some nationalities live up to their stereotype while others are polar opposite to what you would expect. It makes you stop and think and understand more about other cultures & countries through real conversation rather than through the media. Learning things that you would not otherwise be aware of. It is also interesting to learn about your country through the eyes of a stranger and their observations. Next up we have a couple from Hong Kong and a girl from Russia which I am really excited about.

Gadgetry set for world domination

It is no surprise that tablets, smart phones, e-readers and the like are now the mainstream. How the travel industry will embrace these technologies in 2012 will be interesting to witness.

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Tour guide Sexy Rexy beside his bar in Negril, Jamaica

I found some great travel industry blogs I thought you might be interested in. They include blogs on what it’s like to run a guesthouse, some provide the latest in travel industry trends, hotel marketing or other insightful resources. In particular, I found the on-the-ground industry blogs to be fascinating. You can get a snapshot into a day in a life of a person in the tourism industry.

It would be a great exercise for many executives detached from the day-to-day consumer facing roles to experience being on the front line. (I would love to see a blog about that – the CEO as a reservations agent for a week) It might even provide more useful knowledge than commissioning that fancy expensive agency to give you a report about ‘why we are losing market share’ or ‘how can improve the customer experience’.

This is a working  list. So please feel free to leave a comment/reply below to add your suggestions. Is there a blog that you constantly read? Please let me know? Do you disagree with any on the list? Just tell me.

I have included links to the RSS feeds and Twitter so you can add them directly.

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