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Are hotels being stupid? Are travel agents?
Sunday, 9th October 2011
Source : Timothy O Neil-Dunne ~ T2Impact.com
When will the ever learn? When will they ever learn - lines from that old Pete Seeger song we all learned in school.

When it comes to hotels and indeed a large number of other location owners such as convention halls and meeting rooms - it seems never. The number of companies who STILL charge for WiFi is appalling.

I know many organizations who are now insisting on it as a condition of a convention space and meeting hotels. At the ABTA conference this week this message was delivered loud and clear. In a post in e-Tid,  David Rowan, editor of Wired UK, told the ABTA Travel Convention that it was like charging for bath water to ask for basic wi-fi, then akin to charging more for hot water if the customer wanted to upgrade to a faster rate of wi-fi access.

‘It is foolish for a hotel to charge for basic wi-fi. It looks like a rip-off especially when you can get it for free in Starbucks or McDonalds,' he told the event in Palma.

‘I have called for a boycott of hotels doing this. We expect to be online, we expect wi-fi.'We know that Gen Y people dont waste time complaining - they just move on elsewhere. In a post in  US Travel Weekly - the Luddites seem to be seizing on a DECLINE in internet usage.

Richard Turen thought it was one of the most interesting trends. However I think he is missing something. That the pool of conventional users of brick and mortar agents is shrinking and those that are left are now those who are less and less likely to use the web for Travel Planning.

I divide those who dont use the web for Travel planning and/or buying into two camps. Those that refuse and those that are (still) scared or unable to. The deciding factor is whether the behaviour is wilful or not.

For those who are waiting and holding onto this notion - please get over it. Sure there will be a niche for these people. But they (and those who depend on them) will die out.

Then we will be asking - where have all the Travel Agents gone? I sincerely hope this doesnt happen. But every year the number of agents falls.

Sadly

Thanks for reading - private comments please to professorsabena@gmail.com

T2Impact is a business development, technology and strategic consulting group focused on helping firms to accelerate their growth either in new geographies or with new products and services. Our name derives from the companys focus; accelerating time and getting from idea to impact quickly for its clients.

We provide a full line of strategic planning services, including marketing plan development, joint venture opportunity evaluation, market and competitive research, process re-engineering, business plan validation and execution. 

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