Haiti

Obviously this week's earthquake in Haiti is on our minds. The folks at Google Earth worked hard to quickly push out new images and a layer where you can compare before and after photos.  These images make it clear just how devasting this is.

If you're inspired to do anything to help, InterAction has a nice collection of agencies spelling out their goals and needs.

The State Department has also collected resources including how to find information on US citizens traveling in Haiti and the latest travel alerts.

Resolutions

It's not too late to  make (and keep) your resolutions for 2010 - here are 5 good online marketing resolutions.

On the run

The Washington Post talks about fugitives taunting their pursuers on Facebook - and I thought that only happened on Lost

It's a hotel's worst nightmare: an unhappy guest has complained about the property online and now their review is popping up in Google search results.

What is a manager or director of sales to do?

At CDG Interactive, we help our hotel clients manage their reputations online. Based on that experience, we suggest you start by understanding--then implementing--these 3 Tips for Managing Your Hotel's Reputation Online.

Continue reading "Can They Really Say That About My Hotel?" »

I'm just back from vacation and catching up on what I've missed, and I found some gems that I wanted to share:

Seven Skills to Look for in a Web Analytics Manager from Avinash Kaushik - as always, he goes beyond the obvious and it's a great self-check to see where you are.

From Conde Nast Traveler, The Autobiography of a Tip - in case you were wondering what happens to those dollars you hand out in other countries and what it means to the people who get them.

Seth Godin explains The Problem with Positive Thinking - iwhy don't we do it all the time?

5 SEO Pitfalls to Avoid from the Online Marketing Blog. Fall is a great time to go back and review tactics.

Search Engine Watch talks about Measuring Social Media  and suggests a few metrics.

What are you reading that's inspired you to do something differently?

A lot has been written about Twitter's usefulness for business and promotion and marketing; Mashable alone has a library's worth of information on all things Twitter.

As an agency with hospitality clients -- including two hotels right here in DC, the Churchill and the Hamilton Crowne Plaza -- and a travel-focused Twitter account (@travelrama), we're especially interested in learning new ways of using Twitter for travel and tourism promotion.

One of our favorite examples is Travel Portland, the Oregon city's visitor information center.

Continue reading "Twitter Case Study: Portland's Virtual Visitor Bureau" »

When Conde Nast is writing about Ritz-Carlton Hotels offering Give-Back Getaways, then voluntourism has become a bona fide trend. It may be an outgrowth of the president’s initiative for community service – United We Serve  or it may just be a general trend toward altruism combined with some really great travel deals. Either way, I'm all for it.

The Ritz Carlton program includes opportunities to assist with the greening of Beijing by planting trees, participate in a music therapy session for disabled children in Istanbul, protect the Everglades in South Florida, and help the National Park Service preserve and protect the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Voluntourism can also be a way for hotels to fill rooms – either during traditionally slow times or after a specific event that impacts tourism in the area. After Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, our client, the 4-star Hotel Maison de Ville offered a special volunteer rate to those coming to help rebuild. The offer jump-started their reservations and allowed them to re-open much more quickly than they would have otherwise.  And knowing they would have a great place to stay in the heart of the French Quarter probably reassured and encouraged some volunteers to go.

Concern about facilities is a frequent concern for voluntourists, according to Tara Cavanagh, program manager of InterExchange’s Working Abroad. [Full disclosure: InterExchange is a CDG client.]  “You always want to ask what’s included in the fees,” Tara said when we asked how potential participants should evaluate programs. “Does it include just the participation in the activity or does it include house and food? And if it doesn’t include food, how remote a location will you be in? Will you easily be able to fend for yourself?”

Other questions Tara suggested asking:

• Is there 24/7 in-country support if you have trouble?
• Is there an orientation before you get started?
• How do they screen the participant organizations?
• Where do the fees go?
• How structured is the program?

This last is important, according to Tara. “The only horror stories I’ve heard from other programs are when people who need a structured environment are put in a situation where volunteers have to take the initiative – like orphanages that are so over-run they just need the volunteers to pitch in wherever they see a need. But if you need a more structured program then make sure you choose one that offers that experience.”

If you’re looking for a volunteer experience of your own, InterExchange offers volunteer programs that run from 2 to 12 weeks. The shortest programs are available in Australia, South Africa and Namibia working with wildlife and conservation projects.

And of course, I’m always a fan of Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village trips (I just returned from my fourth trip – this time to Egypt). If you’re looking for a trip closer to home, they also currently have trips listed to Mississippi and Hawaii.

Are there any projects that tempt you? Where would you want to go to volunteer?

I just returned from two weeks out of the office, and like my fellow author Heidi, I went through a social media detox while I was away. However, while hers was voluntary, mine was more imposed – I was in the countryside of Egypt volunteering with Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village program.

While our first hotel in Cairo had a business center, the cost of Internet access prohibited more than a brief Facebook status update to let friends and family know that I was on the ground safely.

My cell phone plan doesn’t have international access (some others did), but everyone tried to avoid using them after the initial arrival messages were delivered. Particularly outside the main cities, everyone in Egypt carries cell phones as their main form of communication since home phones aren’t the norm. (Imagine stringing phone lines across the desert!)

Since I wouldn’t be able to upload my pictures during the trip, at the end of each day I reviewed the pictures I’d taken and  deleted any that didn’t make the cut since I didn’t want to find myself with a suddenly full memory card at the Pyramids or while taking my one and only camel ride.

About halfway through our trip, one of the group members asked, “How are we going to share pictures with each other?”

Immediately I suggested Flickr, saying that as long as we all used an agreed-upon tag, it would be very easy to find all the photos. The difference between me and some of my fellow volunteers quickly became apparent as I was immediately designated as being in charge of the photos, some even deciding it would be easier to send me their cameras. (I’m still hoping they were joking.)

It was a reminder that what’s become a matter of course for me, along with regularTwitter updates and automatically reaching for Google, IMDB or iTunes to answer a question isn’t everyone’s first reflex. And that's something we need to keep in mind every day  - where is our audience, and what's a normal place to find them? It might not always be a Facebook ad or a Twitter post - it could be that time, energy and money is better spent on a flyer campaign or perhaps an event sponsorship that's meaningful to your core audience.

On the other hand, Sharif, our local team leader, happily showed me pictures of his wedding and his six-month old son on his camera phone, so in some ways, it was just like home.