Lehigh Valley Tourism Tournament

Lehigh Valley Tourism Top 64 Attractions March Madness Style
I got to thinking about how many great places we have to see and things to do in our region and before you know it, I was up to 64 different events, museums, festivals, waterparks,zoos, etc. So I placed them in geographical regions, Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and Lehigh Valley. Ranked them 1-16 in each region and now hope to get some feedback as to who gets to the sweet 16 and beyond. Some interesting matchups early on...I posted the bracket at http://tinyurl.com/y9dxlqd.

New AirTran Routes To Put Lehigh Valley On The Map

Local Lehigh Valley Tourism To Benefit From New AirTran Routes.

When I first saw the press release from Lehigh Valley International Airport’s business development director Susan Kittle about the new AirTran routes to Atlanta it did not make a major impression with me. It seemed like the usual slow growth strategies we have grown accustom to when it comes to major airline announcements here in the Lehigh Valley. But thanks to another snow day, I had time to review the announcement in more detail. Daily service to Atlanta, leaving at 6AM and arriving in Atlanta by 8:00AM, makes the rest of the world’s travel destinations a reality leaving from our convenient, easy to navigate, security friendly, affordable parking home airport!

Imagine this: I can leave Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE) at 6:00AM, and be in Los Angeles by 12:15PM for an afternoon meeting for $251 one way. The return trip of $190.40 brings me back to LVIA at 12:15AM the next day. Not that I would suggest this whirlwind travel trip, but hey for $441.80 (tax inc.) round trip this could make a lot of business travelers and their CFO’s very happy!

The flip side to this equation is how it opens up the Lehigh Valley and Poconos tourism markets! In the past this same flight into ABE would cost you $600+ (tax inc.) These higher prices would drive meeting business into Newark or Philadelphia airports and often cause meeting planners to choose a hotel or conference center closer to that airport for obvious reasons. Now if Olympus decides to bring all their sales associates into Center Valley, they can conveniently and affordably fly them into ABE.

If it keeps snowing, I will check out some other hot spots for a Spring Break!

28% of Group Sales Inquiries are Lost, Ignored or Abandoned

28% of Group Sales Inquiries Are Lost, Ignored or Abandoned

The same could be said about Group Sales Managers. In today's tough business climate do you find your sales ppl Lost, Ignored or Abandoned? Just popped into my head after reading this alarming statistic on group sales lost.
Might want to shop your phone inquiry, electronic rfp systems etc.

Enjoy -



Ft. Lauderdale – May 12, 2009: An independent test conducted on 750 hotels found that even in this time of declining hotel revenues, 28% of new group sales inquiries are lost, ignored or abandoned. The test was conducted by Quality Track International in April 2009.
Don Bundock, CEO of Quality Track International, says “This result was surprising when you consider the revenue challenges hotels are currently facing. These results did not vary significantly from the first time we conducted this test in 2007 even though the economy is much more difficult now.”
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“Frankly, under the current conditions, we expected to see an increase in effective and efficient inquiry handling. These results reflect the national average. There are many properties that are missing out on as much as 50% of their demand” continued Bundock.
All properties tested were from major brands. Each of the 750 properties tested received four individual group sales inquiry calls. The immediate availability of a Sales Manager was documented but if no one was available, a message was left and the time lapsed to the return call was calculated.
The test was conducted using the Quality Track SMART Call program. Sales Manager Access and Response Time (SMART) Calls maximize the effectiveness and responsiveness of a sales team. Quality Track clients on the SMART Call program are proven to respond to 95% of all sales inquiries in 4 hours or less.

Hotels representing 15 brands from all tiers were included in the current test. Quality Track does not publish individual brand results publicly. Brand and property reports are available to verifiable brand managers on request.

About Quality Track International, Inc.: Quality Track International is an innovative provider of a full range of mystery shopping and performance development tools to the hospitality industry.

For more information or to request brand reports contact: Mr. Donald Bundock, CEO, Quality Track International, Inc., at (416) 693-5426 or by e-mail at Don.Bundock@QualityTrack.com

Smokey and the Bandit & Social Media

Was the CB radio the start of Social Media? I had the pleasure of catching Smokey and The Bandit with Burt Reynolds and Sally Field on TNT HD or one of the 150 channels this weekend and could not stop thinking that we had social media decades ago, and it died! Why did it fade away? Was it a fad, will Facebook, Twitter and all my other widgets at the bottom of the page fade away like the CB radio? I would like to hear what you think, before I buy the next generation of SMART phones only to have them sitting at someone's yard sale in 10 years.

Lehigh Valley Zoo Penguins enjoy Spring like temperatures

Flickr: BlikArt's Photostream

The South African Penguins at the Lehigh Valley Zoo enjoyed the nice weather this past weekend.

Stretching your marketing budget

Every business should be looking to find new ways to stretch their marketing budgets in this economy. Social media has transformed marketing from a monologue about your organization to a dialogue, between your organization and your customers. Today's Morning Call article in regards to the social media success of the Lehigh Valley Zoo and its grass roots facebook page, offers a tesimony to how social media can offer you not only exposure in the tech/virtual world, but also some free PR in the traditional media outlets.

Ten Strangest Jobs in the Travel Industry

The Ten Strangest Jobs in the Travel Industry
By Ann Tatko-Peterson, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.McClatchy-Tribune Regional News
January 30, 2009 -
Not your everyday job
Top 10 Strangest Jobs in the Travel Industry, according to Travel + Leisure.
--Hotel Falconer, Biltmore Four Seasons, Santa Barbara -- walks falcon around pool to shoo away seagulls.
--Airport Hunters, Zurich Airport, Switzerland -- chase off wild animals near runways.
--Coconut Safety Engineer, Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas -- picks ripened coconuts before they fall.
--Karaoke Taxi Drivers, Helsinki, Finland -- drive karaoke-singing riders.
--Duckmaster, Peabody Hotel, Memphis -- cares for five mallard ducks who live and perform at hotel.
--Tourism Ambassador, Japan -- role currently held by anime character Hello Kitty (pictured).
--Sewer Guide, Paris -- boat tourists through Museum of the Sewer under Paris' streets.
--Lego Professional Gluer, Legoland California, Carlsbad -- glues toy bricks based on designers' plans.
--Monkey Men, Amanbagh Resort, Rajasthan, India -- keep native monkeys from stealing guests' cookies.
--Manners Police, Venice, Italy -- keep unruly tourists in check.

Can facebook Save the Lehigh Valley Zoo?

It worked for President Barack Obama, now it seems the powerful social media group facebook, may save the Lehigh Valley Zoo. When I first received an email from the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce that it had a facebook page, I giggled and thought who has time for that? Next, the Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau said they were launching InSite, their new Blog. Again, I said who has time for that? Then on January 7th an old fashion email came across my computer from Tracey Werner, the Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau Director of Public Relations and everything technology manager, said there is a group discussion on Linkedin about the Lehigh Valley Zoo, you should check it out. Now, I had time for that!

Saving the Lehigh Valley Zoo, has been my cause, since its threat of closure in 2004. Concerned about the loss of the quality of life benefits derived from having a zoo in our community several concerned citizen’s developed the Lehigh Valley Zoological Society and hired professional zoo management to operate the Zoo in Lehigh County.

As I stumbled my way through the social media maze of networks, groups, friends, etc. I stumbled on the Save the Lehigh Valley Zoo facebook page. Here was a grass roots effort to again save the Lehigh Valley Zoo. Just like the old days (2004), when Diane Stein, aka the Zoo lady, passed around a notepad at the Lehigh County Commissioner’s meeting, for concerned citizen’s to submit their email address. Four year’s later email is yesterday’s news. The Save the Lehigh Valley Zoo facebook page on January 16th had approximately 150 members. I joined the group and challenged them for 5000 members by the year’s end. In 12 days, the group passed 700 members, 5000 by year’s end seems conservative.

January 30th, Lehigh County Commissioner Bill Leiner Jr. posted a “come out and see you local government in action, support the Lehigh Valley Zoo at the February 11th commissioners meeting” This is when legislation to fund the Lehigh Valley Zoo will be voted on. Commissioners Dean Browning and Glen Eckhart have a facebook page, along with County Executive Don Cunningham. This event may need to be moved to Lehigh University’s Stabler Arena, if all the Save the Lehigh Valley Zoo facebook members show up.

Joanna Hansen the creator of the Save the Lehigh Valley Zoo facebook page has organized a couple of days to meet face to face at the Zoo, Friday February 13th and Saturday February 28th at 10:30AM. How many ppl show up will be dependent on the weather and how powerful this social media culture can be. Are these fans of the Lehigh Valley Zoo, truly engaged, or are they merely trying to add contacts, to beat some social network Guinness Book of world record? I hope they donate their time and money to saving the Zoo!

Today, many marketers are debating the power and usefulness of social media for the promotion and delivery of information for small businesses, big business, political campaigns, and mainstream media. In the past 2 weeks, I have become a believer and look forward to celebrating 5000 members on the future We Saved the Lehigh Valley Zoo facebook page.