Thursday - tweeting about Stayz, Fairfax, Occupancy and Vacation rentals in OZ

Tomorrow (Thursday 21 July) I will be at a press event for the Stayz Group (called a holiday rental summit). That is the collectioPublish Postn of companies that Fairfax (media coy) have put together that allow booking of vacation rentals, holiday homes and short lets. Will be tweeting from 830am-1030 or so (Australian eastern time) under the hastag #stayz

For background on the sector check out these posts. More on this interesting sector soon

• Fairfax buys Occupancy.com - owns online vacation rental market in Australia
• Australian Online Market for Short-Lets and Holiday Rentals: Interview with Occupancy.com joint-CEO Justin Butterworth Part 1
• Australian Online Market for Short-Lets and Holiday Rentals: Interview with Occupancy.com joint-CEO Justin Butterworth Part 2

BOOT speaking at Pricing For Growth conference Sheraton on the Park Sydney 25 July

I will be at the Pricing For Growth conference at the Sheraton on the Park on July 25. My session is at 945am on the Monday. Topic is:

Case study Competing effectively in an online world

• Keeping up with the changing business models that are being borne out of the growing online world
• Tailoring and strengthening your online pricing strategy to withstand both local and global competition
• Having an agile pricing strategy in place that can quickly respond to market changes when time is of the essence
• Transparency, opacity, flash sales, closed loops, geo targeting and the complexities of selling in a world where everything can be discovered

Let me know if you are attending and want to meet up.

WebInTravel 2011: WITovation Awards and Nominations

The deservedly popular WebInTravel conference is schedule for October 18-19 in Singapore. As part of this year's conference organiser Yeoh Siew Hoon is running a series of Awards called the WITovation Awards. These award will "recognize companies or individuals which have made a difference in a chosen field, either through a specific marketing campaign or an overall strategy, in the digital travel space in 2011.". Four cateogories - social media, mobile, niche/specialist and customer focus. Details here and nominations through this PDF form.

Seat Review - Pacific Blue International Economy Class (Virgin Australia)

Virgin Australia (nee Blue) may have rebranded and retargeted itself in a flurry of fancy press events and well crafted media releases, but when it comes to the product there is nothing fancy or well crafted about Virgin Australia’s Pacific Blue international economy class. It is a flight that gets you where you are going with a smile but the bare minimum of extras. It is low cost seat, nothing more. The BOOT rating for Virgin Australia / Blue International Economy is 1.5 stars out of 6 or "Bad Seat". Here is the detailed (other reviews and scoring system for airline seat reviews here)
Getting on board	Score 0
I am Velocity Gold (Virgin’s frequent flyer program), Qantas Gold, United Gold and Singapore Airlines Gold. But none of that matters or means anything when flying Pac Blue. There is no lounge access for anyone in any status or any class no matter what. I put a post on Australian frequent flyer hoping that someone knew a trick or twist…but had nothing but crickets in response. On the Virgin website under the lounge section they mention how for every other international flight they do on V Australia, Virgin Atlantic, Etihad etc. Velocity Gold is enough to get lounge access. If flying from NZ there was mention of some lounge with names I'd never heard of. But in ex-Sydney on Pac Blue nothing. This is a significant weakness in this product. Lounge access is a critical value to a top tier flyer. The absence of it is felt and sets the tone for this product. I did get access to a priority check in queue which saved about half an hour on the land side (but then without lounge access what am I actually going to do with that extra time airside). Pac Blue is pure low cost carrier in approach but does have assigned seats. However, they have not initiated online check-in for international departures. By phone they will not set aside seats for groups/families sitting together. I asked over the phone “can you guarantee that all four of us will be seated together.” The useless reply was “we cant guarantee but you will probably be able to sit together.” This means we had to be at the airport 2 hours ahead of time to guarantee being together which mean 1.5 hours in the airport with no lounge access. Pure LCC. Note - DJ have announced a tie up with Singapore Airlines which may deliver lounge access but press releases of future luxury do not remove the sting of having to pay $5 for a luke-warm coffee on a hard bench in an overpriced airport.
The Seat	Score 0
It is a economy seat on a low cost carrier so you expect it to be small and narrow. It meets that expectation. To be fair, the seat is a reasonable size for a economy class seat. The tray table is a fair size and adjustable. The arm rests lift, allowing children to easily sleep on the laps of parents. The seats are leather and pleasant on the eye. All acceptable stuff. What is not acceptable is how dirty the area is in and around the seats. Carpets stained with what I hope is food. Seats covered in what I hope is dust and seat back pouches filled with tissues, dirt, wrappings and what I hope is not human waste. Filthy and unacceptable. If is fine for low cost seat to mean small but it is unacceptable for it to mean unhygienic. What is also not acceptable is the slant. For some reason the head rest slants forward not back. It is understandable that the LCC economy class seat does not recline much but it is unacceptable that the headrest pushes forward - not lean backward. By pushing forward it makes sleeping impossible. If it could lean back just a few inches it would go from impossible to bearable.
Entertainment	Score 0
Virgin’s live2air service combines a live feed from Australian cable television companies Foxtel and Austar. Means 24 cable channels covering sport, comedy, drama and kids programs. There is also a movie channel with 3 movies running on a loop (set start times). Cost is $9.90. That is fair and reasonable for a low cost carrier but I am not sure why they chose live TV vs on demand TV. For live TV to be attractive there has to be something on at the time you are on. Taking a day-time flight means the TV channels are full of...well…day time television. Hardly appealing stuff. The decision to use live TV goes from strange to ridiculous on the return trip starting in international waters. Clearly Virgin or Foxtel have not secured rights to broadcasts starting in non-Australian waters. As a result return trips to Australia involve a number of hours of "service not available" until Australian territorial waters appear. Virgin should replace this as soon as possible with an on demand service
Food	Score 0.5
There is lots of food on board provided you are happy to pay. Again -completely acceptable on a low cost carrier. But it is completely unacceptable that there is no free water option. The only water available is $3 for 330ml. It is well accepted that you should drink a lot of water on planes. The official recommendation is to drink two litres per day. For a flight you should increase this 50%. Means for each hour of flying time you need to drink between 125-200ml of water. To do this on DJ long haul adds a minimum $12-13 to the price of the price of each ticket. It should be a regulatory requirement that airlines provide water. Regulations aside Virgin must immediately change this position and make water available for free. Another peculiarity of the food is the timing of the hot food service. My flight was a day flight lasting 7 hours. The first cart came passed a few moments after take off (ie in the morning Sydney time). It was only made clear to me later (maybe I missed it) that this was the only time hot food would be served. This does not work for me (and probably for most people) to get on a plane first thing and have to eat the only hot meal. As Sydney dinner time approached all that was available was day old wraps and cheese and crackers That all said, the quality of the food on offer is better than low cost carriers I have flown in Europe through the sourcing of snacks from higher quality providers.
Service	Score 1.0
The staff were fantastic. They out-shined all other elements of the product. The staff were pleasant and lively despite a flight at horror hours and children running everywhere. A tribute to air crew. The plane was full of children running everywhere yet the staff dealt with all with a smile, a sense of encouragement and filled with great humour
BOOT Factor	Score 0
The flight is factor-less. There is not a bell or a whistle or a twist.
Final Score	1.5

BOOT and Getaway Lounge profile piece on WebInTravel

Over at the WebInTravel site there is a profile piece on me and my new venture - Getaway Lounge. Title of the post is "Give me a deal, and I will give you brand, sales and customers"

Tnooz: why the Baidu / Qunar deal is a moment in Chinese economic history

New post now live on Tnooz titled "Unhappy Fourth of July – Why summer 2011 is a big moment in Chinese online travel". In it I analyse the $306mm investment by Chinese search giant Baidu in Chinese meta-search giant Qunar. Check out the full story and analysis here.