The infamous JetBlue. Are they the best of the worst?
We want to know: what has been your worst experience with an airline?

JetBlue is one of those carriers that you always read about in the paper but usually for the wrong reasons. The stories sound unbelievable and have the makings of a bad Seinfeld episode. Read more »

I was recently very lucky to go through a Business Boot Camp with a colleague Nolan Burris. I really liked what he had to say about the various social media types and how to help you differentiate them in your mind and therefore target your social media efforts to the kind of “fish” you want to attract. Read more »

So if you are going to go to the trouble of shooting a video, adding some commentary or music and then uploading the video to YouTube – you want it to be seen – right?  What exactly do you need to do to achieve this goal? Read more »

Dear Friends in Travel,

In many parts of the world the efforts of the workforce are celebrated on the 1st of May which is referred to as either Labour Day or May Day, though in Canada we acknowledge this significant event  at the end of each summer.  This is a day when workforces across the globe take the opportunity to make their voices heard.  Being key to the functioning of world economies, perhaps a more realistic term  for the ‘workforce’ should be ‘Human Capital’; combining the knowledge, creativity, attributes and abilities that we look for daily from our employees, as it directly relates to the successes of our companies. So I would like to salute all who perform their daily interactions with integrity and dedication.

A while ago, I had came across an interesting article by Dave Levinsky titled “Help You Grow – what 80% of winners have in common”.  The author’s research shows that three-quarters of the world’s successful men and women did not inherit their wealth or get lucky, and his article outlines  paths that we can take to achieve sustainable and successful business growth, some of  which I would like to share with you.  As with any business, travel or otherwise, inflation and costs increase whether you grow your business or not, and with no growth one is quickly left behind.  Levinsky states that the most critical path towards growing a business is acquiring intelligence by paying attention to, and collecting feedback from your existing customers.  Also, by applying the right marketing techniques, your target market will expand to include more customers in a wider geographical area. Equally important is diversification and product expansion, adding more variety to existing product and going after additional market segments.  Diversifying your product is like spreading the net; offering more choices to appeal to the same group of people with the likelihood of increased sales. And finally, a crucial element to successful growth is when you manage concentrated, and later diversified, lead generation activity, meaning advertising, to reach a higher percentage of the market more frequently. This increases response through maximizing a greater variety of channels with which to reach prospective customers.  The article ends with some words of wisdom: “Do your best to plan and execute on a small scale and once you are farther along, choose one or more of these growth strategies and focus on implementing them. ”

I mention this article  to show you how closely we have followed these ideas in growing MyEscapades.com.  We have listened very carefully to your suggestions, thus acquiring important  intelligence resulting in our beautiful Africa brochure arriving on your doorstep.  For lead generation, we are marketing in various ways, electronically and in the print media to reach you all the time.  Both Huntington and MyEscapades.com have been firmly dedicated to the Africa market, but with a hugely expanded customer base,  we have diversified quickly, introducing our Europe & the Mediterranean product of premier escorted touring programs.  We  are also  expanding to include such destinations as  Costa Rica, India and the Orient, and South Pacific.  Plus,  we know how important it is to  pay attention to generated leads, for as someone once wisely said:  “Timely response to your customer is one of the five keys of successful marketing.  And if you have that, the other four don’t matter.”

A little food for thought as you start enjoying the summer.

Until next time

Well here I am in YVR airport getting ready for my flight to Shanghai.  As with every overseas trip, I have a set ritual before boarding my 10 hour plus flight.
1. Peruse the duty free merchandise hoping to find a deal and then walking out empty handed because I know I can find it for cheaper 2. Order a burger and fries and admire the larger than life Native Art in the terminal. Read more »

I was curious to understand YouTube more and how I could incorporate it into my own business. It would seem that adding video content in the form of testimonials, training videos, or unique travel experiences would be a perfect add-on to what many of us are doing in the travel industry.  Read more »

My four years with Insight Vacations I have had the opportunity to experience many remarkable destinations but I have also learned to travel safe and worry free! I am going to share some of my favorite memories and travel tips with you! Read more »

Word-of-mouth recommendations still have the greatest influence on travel purchasing decisions.  Online forums, blogs and tweets play a huge role in spreading these recommendations by fellow travellers from around the globe.  And while we know that comments are not always true they still have a lasting influence on buyer choices according to a new survey from Ivy Worldwide. Read more »

So here I am, getting ready for another trip to Asia with a bit of anxiety bubbling underneath.  This time the destination is Shanghai!  I have been there lots of times and it is a cool city.  It has ultra futuristic architecture with traces of the older European influence. There are plenty of shopping options from the one time use Fauxlex to über-nice Rolex. Read more »

The great thing about social media is there is always something new happening or growing by leaps and bounds. The bad part about it is it makes it hard to keep up with.  But I think how you need to think about options is that, just like not every client is a Marriott preferred – isn’t it great we have choices and a variety to select from so that we can make a social media platform that fits us as unique individuals instead of cookie cutters. Read more »