Google Panda and the Travel Industry.… a hoteliers thoughts

Steve Lowy, Founder of the award-winning budget hotel group, Umi Hotels shares his views with us below on Google and the Panda Update.

"I am not one to be controversial but I wanted to let you know my thoughts on some things that have been happening with good old Google recently.

There have been some major changes in the way Google ranks websites within its index and it’s fair to say there has been a definite loss of confidence in the travel market due to these changes, a sector in which Google has made some inroads in recent years, indicating the travel market as being a key vertical for them.

Many people in the industry have been arguing recently that the new search system is inaccurate and unpredictable.  It’s not just the travel sector either; many in the search marketing community have been up in arms about the changes.

The Panda Update as it is known was designed to reduce the amount of spam and content built purely for the benefit of the search engines. The aim is to reward the highest quality websites and mark down those sites that are considered to be content farms.  When Google first launched the Panda update it completely wiped out about 12% of the rankings – which is massive anyway but considering how websites are often interconnected, it had a really big impact. Google then spent a month or so improving the Panda update, but it’s still not quite right.

What’s worse is that Google has also said that the Panda update isn’t like other parts of their algorithm in that it’s a separate entity that’s designed to tidy up the rankings and it’s run on an “every now and then basis” whereas its other algorithm factors run at the same time. If Google run the factors every month then you can safely assume that it could be weeks before you know the impact of some of the SEO work you’ve been doing. This approach just isn’t cutting edge enough – when the rest of the world is going real-time Google seem to be taking a backward step!

The biggest problem is that the effects of this update are unpredictable (because they happen on an ad hoc basis) and they aren’t massively accurate. We have been publishing content on our sites for years (news and events from around the area) to provide more information for our customers, not to rank on the search engines. In our line of business it’s essential that you give visitors a good idea of what’s happening locally.

I’ve been at quite a few travel events since the update and as soon as I start talking about Google this update comes up over and over again. People in the travel industry just aren’t happy about it – as much as anything they seem to feel targeted by Google, which is especially sad as Google has suggested this is one of their key markets for future development.

There has been a move towards social media since its inception around 6/7 years ago and this is something we’re likely to see more of in the coming weeks.  Experian’s Internet Research Division Hitwise recently estimated that around 10% of all internet visitors are arriving at websites from Facebook - roughly 14% of all traffic received from websites is from a social media site – this is an increasing trend and something that we in the travel industry ignore at our peril.

The way we consume media on the world wide web is changing and Google is starting to look antiquated both in terms of the mode of our consumption but also in the way it moves its model further from its founding values to greater commercialism.

As more and more people use social media channels it becomes more important and it has never been more apparent in the area of travel and especially youth travel, where individuals often use social media sites to plan their travels in conjunction with their contacts.

Google needs to be very careful about making these kinds of changes and alienating a significant chunk of the market, especially one that targets the audience of its biggest rival.

I hope this doesn’t come across as waffle but the whole team who work on web and SEO at umi Hotels have been scratching our heads in regards what was going on, and I wanted to share our thoughts. If you have any ideas please let me know as the more we work together in the industry, the more we will be able to understand it all".

Please feel free to comment below and let us know your thoughts on this article.

Linguaphobia! Why us?

Below is an excerpt from Breaking the Language Barrier, a book by Georgina Howard, from Pyrenean Experience, which discusses the importance of learning a language to get the most out of our travelling experiences.

Linguaphobia! Why us?

On my travels I meet a stream of intrepid Brits. They trek the Himalayas in thunder storms and raft the Zambezi with the crocodiles and yet,  no matter how extrovert and gregarious they are by nature, one obstacle seems always to obstruct their path – the language barrier.  Lame excuses such as 'my memory is terrible'  or  'I just don't have the ear',  crop up time and time again. To some extent we can blame our colonial past. Rather than adapting to foreign cultures we have forced them to adapt to ours, and suffered the consequences: a national apathy towards the learning of foreign languages.

Yet it is never the apathetic who suffer from phobias. It is those who struggle valiantly to remedy the problem, braving a few phrases of a new language and bracing themselves for the reply which finally comes - broken and faltering perhaps - but almost inevitably in English.   One morning, at a bakers in Copenhagen, I remember asking, in Danish, for a couple of  wienerbrød.[1]  The woman replied in English, I battled on in Danish, she asserted herself in English, I gritted my teeth and pursued the Danish, she gritted hers and pursued the English and so we went on until I finally left the shop. 

One of the great barriers we have to overcome is that most other Europeans are, by necessity,  streets ahead of us in learning foreign languages, and in particular English. Many look for any opportunity to try out their English skills and we - demoralised and deflated – understandably give in.

However, this is not the whole picture. Another reason for our linguaphobia is the simple fact that we know so little about our own language.  Most of us have little idea of how English is made up, we know nothing of  pronouns and prepositions, and the word  grammar strikes a note of horror, recalling images of clinical classrooms and military verb drills. Usually, it is only when we come to learn a foreign language that we gain our first real insight into our mother tongue.  This seems to me a little like putting the cart before the horse or - as they say in Spanish - before the ox  (poner el carro delante de los bueyes)!

Unfortunately, from the point of view of the non-native English speaker our general ignorance of foreign languages is frequently interpreted as arrogance. In learning a few phrases of the local language we offer other cultures an important token of respect and show people that we are prepared to meet them on their terms rather than expect them to surrender to our own. From our perspective, no matter how well other people speak English, the ability to speak their native tongue allows us a far deeper insight into the nuances of their culture and the nature of their values. It enables those wonderful, impromptu conversations with locals in shops, on trains and walks around town, and inevitably enhances our ability to build solid friendships and business relationships.

So brave yourselves for the adventures of learning a foreign language, it can be a fun process (honest) and add a whole new dimension to your travel experiences.

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[1] (What we term Danish pastries, the Danes call Wienerbrød  which translates literally to "Viennese bread" !?)

TRIPLE WHAMMY FOR UK TOURISM

The UK tourism industry is in pretty bad shape and suffering from a triple whammy according to the European Tour Operators Association, (ETOA).

The problems highlighted are:

·         A visa regime which deters people visiting the UK

·         Massive slump in overseas visitors is on the cards next year as a direct result of the Olympics being held in London, with the potential for long term damage

·         Punitive tax regime which is causing long-term damage to the UK’s tourism industry

With the dynamic growth of the Chinese economy and its increasingly affluent society you would have thought the UK would be falling over backwards to attract its growing middle class to spend its increasing wealth here – but no.

According to ETOA anyone in China wanting to visit the UK has to make an appointment at a visa processing centre which can be up to 500 miles away. That person then has to complete a form in English, be both photographed and fingerprinted, before being interviewed and then charged £70 - without the guarantee of a visa at the end! How would we Brits feel about being photographed and finger printed before heading off on holiday?

Not a great example of customer relations! It is claimed this attitude is deterring up to 500,000 visitors a year with the resultant loss of their spending power to the detriment of the UK economy.

Despite all the hype which will soon no doubt reach fever pitch, ETOA is predicting the 2012 Olympics in London have the potential to decimate the UK’s inbound tourism industry. It seems unless you want to come to specifically watch the Olympics then you will give the UK a very, very wide berth.

Tour operators in the US are finding it impossible to secure rooms at viable rates in London next summer. As London tends to be the gateway for most Americans to the UK and Europe this is a big, big problem. The result is many US based operators are dropping London/UK as a tourism destination for 2012.

The prediction is demand for 2012 will slump to 20-50 per cent of 2011 levels and may mean London will cease to be the default gateway to Europe for long haul overseas visitors.

Also remember the last two time the Olympics were held in Europe they were in Barcelona – 12,00 hotel rooms, and Athens – 15,000 hotel rooms, both were able to adequately cope with the demand. London currently has 125,000 hotel rooms with a whole lot more scheduled to be on stream by summer 2012! So while room rates now may be sky high just wait for the panic to set in when greedy hoteliers realise they may be facing masses of empty rooms. Then they may just think that 50 per cent of something is always better than 100 per cent of nothing!

The third problem highlighted is that of taxation. In particular this relates to the Tour Operator’s Margin Scheme or TOMS. This is quite a complex system but according to the ETOA it is putting UK based operators at a financial disadvantage.

So not the news many in the tourism industry wanted to hear – especially those not based in London who may really feel the pinch next year as the UK is shunned by up to 80 per cent of potential overseas visitors.

Five Ways NOT to Speak Spanish in Spain!

Welcome to our first guest blogger post, by Georgina Howard, from Pyrenean Experience, Spanish Language & Walking Holidays in the Pyrenees 

Five Ways NOT  to Speak Spanish in Spain!

We often embark on our holidays with the illusion of picking up a few words in the local lingo .. here, at least, are 5 ways NOT to do it!

One:    Make a bee line for Spanish resorts full of other British people.  Here, you will often find impatient English-speaking shopkeepers and waiters who find nothing amusing in waiting half-an-hour for you to mumble your order in broken Spanish, when a two-minute conversation in English would suffice.

Two:    Head for the large metropolises full of busy people of all nationalities with little time to stop and chat. Over-zealous female Spanish students are in particular danger of being misunderstood; try convincing the taxi driver that you weren’t really after his telephone number and that all you were really interested in was practising your irregular verbs!

Three:  Bury your head in a phrase book. Nothing kills spontaneous, friendly interactions with the locals more than a ten-minute flurry of page-turning in a desperate attempt to find a phrase which almost certainly doesn’t exist (for such is the fame of phrase books). Smile, gesticulate, keep the conversation going in whatever way you can and then, once rapport is created, you can nail them for language practice! 

Four:   Visit Spain with a friend who speaks much better Spanish than you do. It is far too easy to take a back seat and let them do all the talking. And, if you are finally encouraged to speak out alone, the thrill of buying a glass of wine on your own in a Spanish bodega looses its punch with your partner gazing scholarly over your shoulder.

Five:    Spend invaluable holiday time inside a language school with 20 other foreigners and one Spanish teacher.  There is nothing less motivating than studying Spanish grammar inside a sterile classroom in Spain while the bustle of real Spain; sunshine and laughter, cerveza and tapas, pass by mutely on the other side of the window pane.

HAS THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL BEEN SWITCHED OFF?

In my local there used to be a sign which said: ‘We regret to inform customers the light at the end of the tunnel has now been switched off – we apologise for any inconvenience’.

Could the same be said about the UK tourism industry?  We have just found out the economy slipped back into negative growth in the final quarter of last year, no doubt due to the ‘wrong kind of snow’. With unemployment rising and those in work probably having to endure six years of falling incomes what is there to be optimistic about?

‘The Royal Wedding’ I hear you all cry. No doubt all eyes will be on the Royal Couple on 29 April as it has been declared a ‘public holiday’ note not a ‘bank holiday’. Therefore employers are under no obligation to let their staff have time off, or to pay those that work on the day other than normal time.

The great occasion is all set against an increasingly worsening industrial background and it is not beyond the realms of possibility there will be a strike on London Underground which will include 29 April. Being so close to Easter combine that then with British Airways Cabin crew having another go at industrial suicide while they ruin people’s holiday plans.

So a trip to the Costas with a low cost carrier might be an attractive proposition – assuming an ash cloud free year!

As we go through this year no doubt the media will whip up a frenzy of Olympic fever as we get ever closer to 27 July 2012 when the waiting will be finally over – and of course it’s the year of the Queens Diamond Jubilee and the next London Mayoral election. So again all eyes on London.

While there is no doubt the Olympics will be a huge boost to the worldwide profile of London the question many are asking is  - if you are not actually going to the Olympics then won’t you steer well clear of London? With a massive security operation likely to be in place, a large traffic exclusion zone around East London, sky high prices for everything why would any normal person want to go?

With election for London Mayor in May, perhaps even Boris Johnson won’t get a ticket if Red Ken has his way!

THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE

While completely unthinkable only a few months ago there has been much media speculation over the possible demise of the Euro. In fact just before Christmas the Centre for Economics and Business Research said there was, at best, only a one in five chance of the Euro surviving in its current form.

The reason given was the cuts required in consumer spending in some of the countries with weaker currencies would have to be at least 15 per cent. In other words greater than the fall in consumer spending faced by the UK in World War Two and therefore politically unacceptable.

The CEBR also points out that one of the conditions for the Euro to survive would be for the EU to directly control the economic policies of some of the member countries. In other words places such as Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy would hand their economic policy making over to Brussels - again likely to be politically unacceptable.

Historically when countries like Greece, Spain or Italy faced economic hard times they were able to devalue their currency. Their exports became cheaper while the country also became a more financially attractive destination for overseas tourists.

Since joining the single currency they have been unable to devalue and we all know what the results have been. So say many experts pressure will mount in 2011 to such an extent that the Euro will cease to exist as we know it, and some countries may be forced to leave. One possible scenario doing the rounds is there will shortly be a Greek Euro, Irish Euro and Italian Euro etc. They would be launched at parity with the ‘old Euro’ but would quickly devalue – so one ‘old Euro’ might be worth two Greek or Irish Euros.

What would this mean for the UK’s travel & leisure industry? In recent years the rocketing Euro has been good news as it encouraged people to holiday at home rather than hit the Costa’s. It also made the UK a financially attractive place for people from the Euro zone to visit.

However if Spain for example decided to leave then instead of a pound being worth 1.16 old Euros it might be worth two ‘Spanish Euros’. Overnight Spain or Italy or Portugal might once again become the cheap holiday with guaranteed sun destination that the once were. It could potentially be a cash bonanza for holiday firms who had priced at the old Euro rate and charged customers accordingly well in advance. But when they came to pay the local hotels several months later it might be at the Portuguese Euro rate!

With unemployment at 20 per cent there is little doubt such a move could be seen as good news for Spain. The crash in its construction industry combined with falling tourist numbers has been a double whammy.

But it could be bad news in the UK as cash strapped holidaymakers tend to go where the bargains are. Suddenly £900 for a week in a static caravan or £1500 for a boat on the Norfolk Broads might not seem like too much of a bargain especially if that Spanish Hotel right on the beach is half the price it was last year!

ANOTHER PR DISASTER FOR HEATHROW AND UK PLC!

The site of the UK’s, if not the world’s, premier airport grinding to a halt combined with images of stranded passengers left to their own devices in freezing cold terminals for days being broadcast all over the world has further dented the already tarnished image of Heathrow and the reputation of the country.

With the farce that was the opening of Terminal Five still fresh in people’s memories; now a few inches of the white stuff brought misery to thousands and thousands of travellers hoping to get away for Christmas. While airlines were faced with yet another financial disaster.

With Northern European airports remaining fully operational their bosses must have been so grateful just to have the right kind of snow fall on them!

Not so for the British Airport’s Authority as its flagship remained dead in the water while its hapless management seemed to be as frozen as the weather, inactivity was the order of the day. So thousands of travellers were given no information as to what their fate was.

The question on everyone’s lips, including the PM and Mayor of London was simply – WHY? Yet again BAA demonstrated its totally incapable of dealing with something likely to happen each and every year. There were even reports the company refused help from the Army to get Heathrow up and running again.

The media were universal in heralding it as another in a long line of PR disasters for BAA. With questions being asked as to how much longer airlines will use Heathrow, continuingly stumbling from one crisis to another, as a major hub when other countries are desperate for their business and where airports are run efficiently.

BAA’s critics, and there are many, talked about a company still stuck in the 1950s; chronic underinvestment, poor management and Heathrow being run more like a shopping mall which happens to have parking spaces for aircraft -  rather than the world’s number one airline hub!

But what can be done? Very little as BAA is in private hands and can do as it pleases. Government and the media can apply pressure and airlines, to an extent, can vote with their feet. But the ultimate decision as to whether travellers using Heathrow can look forward to continued misery rests firmly round BAA’s board table.

Given past performance it does not look too hopeful.