Bloggers turn to blackmail

 By Aisling Lawless

HOTELS are being blackmailed by an unscrupulous new type of traveller - the blogger demanding freebies and discounts under the threat of publishing damaging poisonous reviews on highly influential travel websites. 

 

The growing practice is causing heartache in the struggling sector, with hotels left with little recourse against scathing anonymous reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor.

The Sunday Times can reveal the industry has demanded action from widely read and respected social media sites dedicated to travel tips.

But hapless hotel operators have almost no way of countering the cyber attacks.
Research by the Accommodation Association of Australia has found that 60 per cent of its 2000 members have been threatened by guests.

"It's blackmail, no two ways about it, but I refuse to give in to blackmail," Discover West Holidays executive director Marlene Harding said. "If you give in to one, then it's easier to give in to unfair demands the next time."

Ms Harding said her WA-based booking company had been battling a customer for months who threatened she would post a negative comment unless her hotel upgrade was complimentary. The upgrade request was made 21 days after the original booking and was worth hundreds of dollars.

"We have one of the most technically advanced travel booking systems in the world  everything is online, on screen, right in front of you as you are making the booking, so there is no excuse for people who claim they have been misled," Ms Harding said.

She said the problem with sites such as TripAdvisor was the anonymity of reviewers allowing individuals to post whatever they liked without fear of consequences.

Accommodation Association of Australia chief executive Richard Munro said his group had raised the issue directly with TripAdvisor, which has promised to dedicate more resources to moderating reviews.

 "The time frame of responses to these threats needs to be improved," Mr Munro said.

"If they are found to be malicious they need to be taken down, which already happens, but the aim is to take them down as quickly as possible. Some are left up there for months, which is obviously too long."

Australian Hotels Association WA chief executive Bradley Woods said the lack of regulation on sites such as TripAdvisor and Facebook meant the industry was helpless to stop the increasingly common practice.

"It is a practice that the industry is very aware of and it causes many issues for hotel owners and travel operators," Mr Woods said.

"(Guests) are looking for free accommodation and benefits, and if they don't get it then they turn to the internet as a means to an end."
Mountway Holiday Apartments general manager John Bergin said he tried to respond to negative comments on TripAdvisor in a constructive way, but some were "vexatious and unreasonable".

Mr Bergin said most problems arose when people didn't look properly at what they were booking.

 They booked budget accommodation expecting something else.

"It all depends on people's expectations," he said. "We are a 2.5-star budget apartment property, not a hotel, and we don't claim to be.

"Some people come expecting The Ritz, but they aren't going to get it unless they also pay Ritz prices at an upmarket hotel."

Source: Herald Sun

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Hotels are being blackmailed by a new kind of traveller demanding freebies and upgrades under threat of publishing damaging negative responses to the establishment online through websites such as trip advisor or Facebook. This is terrible behaviour by the consumer abusing the power of sites that are meant to help travellers but more importantly hotels and resort operators will be stuck in a sticky situation on the one hand just let them do their worst and risk getting a bad reputation or give into threats and don’t risk it. An important point to take out of this is to not take peoples reviews of hotels all too seriously you never know what their experience was really like or the real motives behind a good review or a bad one.

 

Lonely Planet's Maldives guide

UNRIVALLED luxury, stunning white-sand beaches and an amazing underwater world make the Maldives an obvious choice for a true holiday of a lifetime. 

 

The Maldives is infamous for its luxury accomodation. Picture: Lonely Planet 

 

Unbelievable beaches

The Maldives is home to perhaps the best beaches in the world; they're on almost every one of the country's nearly 1200 islands and are so consistently perfect that it's hard not to become blase about them.

While some beaches may boast softer granules than others, the basic fact remains: you'll find this whiter-than-white powder sand and luminous cyan-blue water almost nowhere else on Earth.

This fact alone is enough to bring nearly a million people a year to this tiny and otherwise little-known Indian Ocean paradise. 

Resorts for everyone

Every resort in the Maldives is its own private island and, with more than 100 from which to choose, the only problem is selecting where to stay. At the top end, the world's most exclusive hotel brands compete with each other to attain ever-greater heights of luxury, from personal butlers and private lap pools to in-room massages and pillow menus.

It's not surprising that honeymooners and those seeking a glamorous tropical getaway have long had the country at the top of their wish lists. But there's choice beyond the 5 and 6-star resorts.

Other islands cater for families, for divers, for those on a (relative) budget, and anyone wanting a tranquil back-to-nature experience.

Underwater world

With some of the best diving and snorkelling in the world, the clear waters of the Maldives are a magnet for anyone with an interest in marine life. The richness and variety is astonishing -  baby sharks can be spotted in any lagoon in the country, while dazzling spectacles such as huge coral walls, magnificent caves and schools of brightly coloured tropical fish await you when you get down to the reef.

Try the Maldives for diving, sailing and a lot of relaxing. Picture: Lonely Planet

Manta rays, turtles, friendly sharks and even the world's largest fish, the whale shark, can be seen all over the country and  - amazingly  - most of the life on the reef is not dangerous. The best bit? The water is so warm many people don't even wear a wetsuit.

Independent travel

What's more, these incredible islands are finally open to independent travellers, meaning you no longer have to stay in resorts and be kept separate from the local population, something that kept backpackers away for decades. Intrepid individuals can now choose their own itineraries and travel from island to island, living among the devout but extremely friendly local population.

With a national ferry network in place and a growing number of privately run guesthouses on inhabited islands, the Maldives and its people are now more accessible than ever. 

Source: Lonely Planet

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Maldives has the best beaches in the world well that’s the claim but we all heard it before I think that the beaches are great and the view breathtaking however many other beaches have these same qualities. It all comes down to the fact that everyone can say this worst best pie best coffee but the Maldives cuts it pretty close and with 7 star hotels around now days you can’t really tell who is judging these things. With many resorts operating in the area this is defiantly the summer beach holiday people dream about. 

Hospitality sector weathers the storm

AAP

The Australian tourism and hospitality sector has weathered the recent global economic storm and come out the other side in growth mode, a new report shows.

The industry was benefitting from high hotel occupancy rates and emerging Chinese and Indian tourist markets, according to the Hospitality Report 2015 published by business advisory and research firm Deloitte.

"Occupancies had been at a record high in 2007 when the financial crisis hit," said Rutger Smits, national head of tourism, hospitality and leisure at Deliotte.

"We had a fairly modest setback and right now we're back at a situation where most of the key cities are running absolute record occupancy levels,"

According to Mr Smits, Australian tourism had been through a slump but already was "back in growth mode".

China and India were the new, key hospitality markets and by 2015 were projected to see absolute growth greater than the UK, France or Japan.

Chinese tour groups, in particular, are making up some of the visitor numbers lost due to a decline in Japanese tourists to Australia.

"Initially they used to be Chinese bus tourists, shepherded around, (but) they will increasingly become more independent travellers with more money to spend," said Mr Smits.

But Mr Smits also noted the Australian dollar wasn't very "favourable" to local operators at the moment.

The high dollar was encouraging domestic tourists to go overseas because it was cheaper, while international tourists were viewing Australia as an expensive destination.

He also added that the family holiday was under pressure from rising interest rates, rising mortgages and energy prices.

Source: The Age

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The article is based on a report in which findings state that the tourism and hospitality sector has rebounded from the global financial crisis particularly well, with hotel occupancies at an all time high since the financial crisis hit in 2007. The rise in Australia dollar was partly to blame as many tourists from overseas now saw Australia as a classy expensive tourist destination. This source of tourism was largely from china.
It is wonderful that the report shows the tourism and hospitality sector is back in full swing creating revenue again. The economic prosperity is vital to tourism and hospitality as it is a luxury for most people.

 

CasAnus - Stay In An Human Intestine

About CasAnus

Giant Intestine Sculpture that you can sleep in

This is one of those indescribable properties that leaves people stunned when you say that you slept in a giant model of a human intestine. From the initial Why? to the usual How and Where, and of course eventually, What was it like??

It's an Art Sculpture - created by Joep Van Lieshout and there's a normal double bed inside. There is an electric point, heater, as well as a shower and toilet at the other end of the room, with hot water.

When UHOTW visited the curtains weren't fitted, but even so, we slept ok. Breakfast was taken in the nearby main building.

“Our exhibition space does not aim to be an oasis. Our presentation is unfinished, in motion, unpolished, contradictory, untidy, complex, inharmonious, living and unmonumental, like the world outside of the museum walls. You will find no flamboyant sensational buildings here, but rather, a refreshing, unpretentious place to look at art and a subtle criticism of the art world”. Geert Verbeke

 

 

 

 
 

Source: Unusual Hotels of The World
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There are a lot of bed and breakfast around the world each of them with their own unique look and feel but are any of them shaped like a digestive system. That’s what caught my attention about a Dutch B&B were you spend the night literally in a intestine created by Joep van Lieshout its very unusual concept. The place isn’t very roomy though you would probably wouldn’t want to be Closter phobic in a hotel like this. There are so many places around the world that truly offer a unique experience this one of them.    

 

Room Service Isn't Usually A Laughing Matter...Until A Comedian Shows Up At Your Door

By ASchechter

Room service is usually a solitary affair for us—either we don't know anyone in the city to go out to dinner with, or we're just feeling a bit low-key and prefer an in-room meal in front of the TV to going out and talking to people. 

But the newly opened Hotel Indigo Edinburgh is the first place we've heard of to let guests have it both ways. In other words, you get the comfort of eating in your own room and the added bonus of a live comedian, who shows up with your meal and does a 10-minute stand-up act right in front of you. Yes, the potential for awkwardness is pretty high, but we'll let that go, for the sake of sheer novelty. The setup is by nature a little ridiculous, but since hotel rooms are often ripe subjects for joke-making, there's bound to be at least a few laughs in there. 

Janey Godley (pictured) is a Scottish comedian who used to be a pub landlady, and this week is being employed by the hotel for a three-day promotion, which, sadly, ends tomorrow. So if you or someone you know happens to be visiting Edinburgh, and could use a few laughs (or just wants something to look at while eating), then head over to the Indigo with an empty stomach!

The Guardian interviewed two men who were on the receiving end of Godley's room service shtick, and both seemed to thoroughly enjoy the performance:

"'It's the total novelty value. It's very strange but absolutely on the button. I arrived last night and I heard people talking about how if you order room service you get a comedian with it.'
Graydidge, 26, says he initially struggled with the concept. 'I thought comedian was a type of garnish. I really didn't get it but it sounds fun.'"

For now, the hotel only has vague plans to revive the room service comedian during this summer's Fringe Festival in August, though judging from the overwhelmingly positive response they've gotten, we wouldn't be surprised if another comedian shows up sooner than that.

Until then, guests will just have to rely on the new DirecTV feature coming to hotels to watch their favorite sitcoms. Which, unlike humans, come with a fast-forward button. 

Source: HotelChatter

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Room service - Check. Room service plus a comedian - Check check!! I'm always interested in the creativity of the hoteliers in the the way they try to attract their customers, and this is absolutely a brilliant idea. When I said like that I'm thinking of the business traveler, they're usually one-person traveler and they don't travel for fun, they go for work so enjoying a meal with a comedy show is good to not make everything to tight, keep their trip a little bit loose and enjoy the staying at the hotel. And laughing can never be risky, in opposite, laugh brings back a bunch of benefits for your health. Hence, laugh it up and enjoy your time at Hotel Indigo Edinburgh.