Travel plan idea blog

Have you ever shipped luggage instead of checking it when you fly?

A few business are doing pretty well for themselves by delivering luggage for flyers. Apparently people are willing to pay what seems like fairly big money to me in order to avoid the hassle of flying with their luggage:

Rates vary depending on the weight, distance and speed of the delivery. For example, sending a large bag (65 pounds) from New York City to San Francisco with a pickup date in five days would cost $149 through Luggage Forward.

To expand its services among everyday travelers, Luggage Forward last year introduced a seven-day "economy" option that typically costs less than $100 for a bag one way.

New resort / water park business strategy

I start classes tomorrow and have to make sure syllabuses are ready and everything so let me leave you with a short one for now.

This article is interesting because they talk to the owner of a new water park about business strategy. It's a 100 million dollar plus deal so no direct benefit to most of us, but since some of our readers have or are interested in starting a travel business I thought it was interesting.

It's also a resort / water park I may want to visit...

Punishing article about YTB and other "card mills"

This article levels some heavy duty criticism at YTB and other "card mills" or travel related MLMs.

First they criticize the YTB line encouraging people to sign up and get their little slice of the 7 trillion dollar travel industry. When asked where the $7 trillion number came from, J. Kim Sorensen (president and CEO of YTB Travel Network) said it may have come from Forrester, a Cambridge, Mass-based travel research company. Forrester says they never did.

So is this a case of false advertising? Why doesn't YTB's president know where that number comes from? Did he make it up?

The next critical comment comes in the form of statistics:

In 2006, YTB made 72 percent of its revenue from the sale of online travel stores and monthly fees and 15 percent from travel commissions. Another 11 percent comes from the sale of training programs and marketing materials and the rest (less than 2 percent) comes from franchise fees and "other."

Now the article implies that this means most people who try YTB will lose money by quoting something from the FTC on MLMs in general inevitably collapsing. I've said it before and will say it again: most MLMs don't require a big investment. When my wife started her NuSkin business I think we paid nothing to sign up, and then around $250 + $15/month or something for a website (which was optional). So we weren't really investing our life savings.

Now YTB charges $500 + $50/month so that's expensive for an MLM. And the criticism is valid. With NuSkin, you can make more money by recruiting people into the business but you can make a living just selling the products. I really wish I knew what percentage of NuSkin's profit came from product sales because YTB's 15% from travel sales seems extremely low.

The third criticism refers to travel perks. YTB advertises that their agents are eligible for them though in truth most don't deserve any. One person who quit YTB said that in his experience people laughed at him when he showed his YTB card and asked for a travel agent rate. That's probably because of my own criticism that anyone can join so you get a lot of bad people.

The fourth criticism explains why most YTB agents don't deserve discounted travel: the average YTB agent makes $82/year in travel commissions. Now when you're paying $500 + $600/year, that $82 is pretty crappy.

The fifth criticism is that 97% of YTB agents last less than one year. Ouch. 97% of them wasted their $500 sign up fee. I don't remember exactly, but I think with Nuskin the number is about 85%. Of course with no $500 sign up fee it hurts a bit less...

The sixth criticism is that it takes YTB forever to issue a refund. The article doesn't explain what kind of refund the person who quit was eligible for. My guess is that the $500 sign up fee was lost but that if you pay the $50/month fees in advance you should be able to get them back. You just might have to wait a year and file a BBB complain to get the refund...

All in all it's a pretty damning article.

Has anyone flown WestJet?

Calgary-based WestJet has seen its business expand and its stock go up nicely. Apparently while they expand into new routes they are still able to keep plance relatively full. Does anyone know if that's due to service, price, or both?

Qantas in the news

Qantas is in trouble for price fixing just like British Airways and Korean Air Lines had been in August. Qantas cooperated and received a much lesser fine.

Qantas is also in trouble for threatening travel agents.

But at least they have a big new plane to show off.

Investing in a Chinese travel company: Ctrip

I'm not investing in Ctrip, but the author of this article probably is. He mentions outstanding customer service and a strong presence leading to brand awareness and loyalty. I don't have too much to say about investing in Chinese stocks but somehow I ended up with this business category so I figured I'd fill it up a bit. Now I'll go find some more travel articles...

Travel agents booking most cruises and tours

Did you know that "travel agents book 87 percent of all cruises and 81 percent of all tours and packages"? I thought that was an interesting stat from this article on travel agents and the return of some of their business.

Speaking of booking cruises here's a list of things might make you want to book way in advance or wait until the last minute.

Curacao Caribbean holiday for those with kidney disease requiring dialysis treatments

I thought this article was very interesting. We were speaking about travel business concepts not too long ago. Here's another pefect example of an underserved niche market:

Those who live with kidney disease often require dialysis treatments that last as long as three hours, three times a week. It's a gruelling schedule that tethers patients to their clinics, making travel virtually impossible.

That's all changed – at least in Curacao – thanks to Jacob Gelt Dekker. An entrepreneur who has not only developed two of the finest hotels on the island, as well as the Museum Kura Hulanda, a world-renowned display of black history, Dekker saw a need and filled it.

Building the centre beside his luxury resort made it possible for travellers with kidney disease to enjoy all the amenities of a five-star hotel without missing a treatment.

Marriott International Inc.stock and business outlook

I don't usually write about stocks here, but I thought this article on Marriott International Inc. was worth a mention.

It might be a case of good for shareholders but bad for customers though:

While Marriott used to rely on third-party sites such as Expedia.com to sell rooms online, the lodging company discovered that by pitching the rooms itself, it could save money, raise prices and increase earnings.

Earnings will climb to $1.93 per share this year and $2.32 in 2008, Donnelly estimates.

To attract guests, Marriott created incentives to book through its Web site, awarding points that can be redeemed for free rooms. The points can't be earned on third-party sites like Hotels.com and Orbitz Worldwide Inc.'s Orbitz.com.

Now if Marriott prefers selling on its own website because it gets to raise prices, what's in it for consumers? Nothing more than rewards points?

Anyway, if you're an investor the article is bullish:

The shares will climb an average of 27 percent over the next year, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Profit this year is predicted to surge 29 percent, the biggest increase in four years, to a record $781 million.

I guess someone has to benefit from Marriott raising their prices when they sell rooms via their own website...