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GO News>
GO News
September 23, 2004
GO Conference
We will be holding our first GO conference on Sep. 16-18,
2005, at Indian Lakes Resort in suburban Chicagoland. We
anticipate a great lineup of educational seminars, speakers
and networking opportunities. We will have the
registration form to you shortly. Mark your calendars now
and plan to be there!
Hotel Trends
We had the opportunity to attend the Eye for Travel “Travel
Distribution Summit” yesterday. This conference brings
together the marketing executives from all the large travel
firms in the country. The emphasis is primarily on
Internet and electronic distribution of travel product.
What did we learn? Probably a very big message was that
hotel chains that had formerly offered low merchant
(wholesale) prices to many Internet companies are cutting
way back. We always have thought that they were hurting
their brands by these low prices that have been offered
over the past few years. Well, they’re now forcing pricing
to be consistent across all channels. And they’re
significantly reducing the number of companies they’re
working with, in order to achieve this consistency and
control. This is because business is better, of course.
Many marketing experts and even some trade associations
have urged tour operators to offer individual packages, as
well as their existing group offers. We question the
wisdom of that advice, as you’ll be competing against the
largest on-line agencies, (Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz),
the competition will be only the largest on-line agencies
once this situation shakes down in a price-driven
marketplace.
Tomorrow’s Teleconference
Tomorrow’s session will be held at 1PM Eastern time. The
session will be led by Mike Marchev from GO and he will be
joined by travel veteran Dan McManus. Dan will share 9
Low-cost Marketing Tips, some of which are actually
no-cost. There is no charge, but you must register at
www.goexperience.com/page/page/900055.htm. If you are
unable to attend, the CD will be available for sale in the
GO Books and CDs section for $12.
GO On the Road
This is the first of our GO member study trips. It will be
to Greece on March 2-8 and visits Athens, Corinth, Olympia,
Patras and includes a one-day cruise to three small Greek
islands. The price is only $899 per person double for
members and includes air from Chicago or New York. The
suppliers hosting the trip require that you qualify to go.
Basically, they’re looking for members who would be
inclined to actually book their group to Greece. Drop me
an email at johnk@premiertourismmarketing.com and I’ll
forward the application to you.
GO Forum
A member has posted the suggestion on the forum to list any
trips you have to share. We would encourage you to do so.
We’ve seen many groups over the years successfully share
departures. This may give you the opportunity to operate a
trip you otherwise couldn’t, either due to the cost, length
or even special interest nature of the trip. Go to
www.goexperience.com, click on “GO Community,” then on “GO
Forum.”
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