Here’s a quick introduction video to EasyBusRental.com from Charles de Gaspe Beaubien the President
**EasyBusRental.com is in Beta at the moment but will be officially released at UMA Motorcoach Expo 2010.
Here’s a quick introduction video to EasyBusRental.com from Charles de Gaspe Beaubien the President
**EasyBusRental.com is in Beta at the moment but will be officially released at UMA Motorcoach Expo 2010.
Internet technology is changing the world and today Apple release their vision of the future of Internet access. The iPad Tablet is the starting point for an even more connected customer, but do your staff have the right tools?
TravelManager Lauching App for iPad Tablet
If you’re not online, you don’t exist to a growing customer base. This customer wants to work with you on their terms, when and where they want. Is your business ready for the future?
**TravelManager are leading the group travel and transport industry, why don’t you join us when we launch next month at UMA in Las Vegas.
Regards,
Eamonn Hughes
The new EasyBusRental.com website powered by TravelManager has been extremely well received at the ABA Marketplace event in Gaylord National Hotel & Conference Center . All the Tour Operators and Group Transport buyers we’ve met over the last few days are really excited about using the service. The common message we’re hearing is the difficulty they have finding good companies in different areas and that the typical quote response times are in days rather than hours.
EasyBusRental Beta Website - Launched at ABA Marketplace
There’s a huge opportunity for Bus Operators to get more business from National buyers if they provide quality information on their profiles. Our focus over the next few weeks is improve the quality of our existing Bus Operators profile information to move the site from Beta to version 1.0 at the next major event (UMA Motorcoach Expo).
**Version 2.0 will include real-time online booking later in the year.
This is a common discussion I’ve been having with operators over the last few years. The typical reaction is that’s too hard to generate an accurate price in real-time and also there’s a fear that online booking will facilitate shopping around for the cheapest price.
The reality is the Motorcoach is not seen as a viable alternative for a large percentage of the population. In fact the figure of 7-9% is quoted regularly at conferences about the percentage of North Americas that use Motorcoaches. So why is it that the remaining at worst 81% don’t ever use your services?
1) Lack of Awareness
2) Unfashionable image of a “Motorcoach” (an old Bus)
3) Not marketing to new markets / customers (too much focus on older/traditional audience)
4) Inability to get a fast quote/price
5) All of the above and more…
I see the Motorcoach Council are trying to coordinate an industry wide campaign with their “Motorcoachified” message which is a step in the right direction on the awareness front but….
Internet Sales coming soon
It’s not enough the industry needs to change how it sells to the new customers who will what the convenience of real-time booking before they see the Motorcoach as a real alternative to taking a car, train or flight.
It can happen but does the industry what this? – We think at TravelManager that 2010 is the year for it happen 
Regards,
Eamonn
**Not convinced of the benefits? Here’s a good article from the LCT (Limousine, Charter & Tour) website: http://www.lctmag.com/features/features-story.cfm?id=1537
With the increasing number of ways for customers to express their opinion about your product or service there’s a new trend to monitor sentiment on the Internet. Basically it’s about tracking whether the crowds opinion is positive or negative in blogs, social networks, news articles, online forums etc.
Good and Bad Sentiment Online
What does this mean for the Motorcoach industry? Well not a whole lot at the moment, but there’s an opportunity here to get and stay ahead of your competitors by starting to invest in your online reputation.
This is more than optimizing your website for search engines and more about really listening to what’s being said about your company good and bad. In fact as often is the case with dealing with traditional customer complaints, dealing with the negative effectively can often turn into a positive experience for the disgruntled customer.
Over the next few weeks I’m going to share my experiences about Twitter and similar tools you can use to manage your online reputation.
Regards,
Eamonn
*Data mining and connecting with services like Facebook and Twitter will be part of TravelManager in 2010 to help our users connect with new customers and retain existing ones.
Don’t just take my word for it! Recent Article in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/technology/internet/24emotion.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all
TravelManager is providing the software solution for Arrow Stage Lines to handle their ticket sales on the new Shuttle Service launched yesterday for the Kansas City Chiefs Fans. By offering Motorcoaches rather than transit buses the fans are going to be upgrading their transportation to the Arrowhead Stadium for their teams home games.
Arrow Stage Lines Shuttle Service for Kansas City Chiefs
We’re excited to be part of this growing area for private motorcoach companies to cater for fans left out in the cold by cuts in public transit services. The fans are in for a pleasant surprise with the quality of the vehicles they’ll be riding, Arrow Stage Lines have one of the best fleets in the industry.
For more information about the new service we recommend you watch the Kansas City Chiefs press release yesterday:
Kansas City Chiefs - Press Conference
Or better still if you’re a fan why not book your ticket online:
www.arrowstagelines.com/kansas-chiefs
Best of luck to Arrow Stage Lines.
Regards,
Eamonn
It’s very easy to setup an online advertisement campaign but unfortunately it’s not so easy to manage and insure you’re getting value for money.
They’re are a lot of companies paying too much per click and not enough time tracking the value of the clicks. Remember Google only started Adwords in Oct 2000 with about 350 customers, but by 2007 they had over 1m advertisers. Worse still the benefit of an level playing field Adwords brought to advertising is being eroded with large national brokers massively out spending local operators (often paying too much themselves!!!).
Wasting dollars by not tracking online advertisement conversions?
The industry needs to get back to connecting with their customers and leveraging the Internet as a more than a just a lead generator to a customer service and relationship management tool.
The Internet is maturing and so should our attitude to how we use it to grow revenues.
Regards,
Eamonn
Just when you thought that you’d figured out search engines and pay-per-click advertisement the market is starting to change. Yep, you’ve heard it here 1st, all things that worked well in the past are not going to provide the same ROI into the future.
Like the smart companies that starting using Google Adwords ahead of their competition it’s time to another step forward by using social media to get in on the conversation with you potential customers.
Social Media Conversations
**It’s no coincidence that Facebook has hit 300m+ users and a profit.
Regards,
Eamonn
**Here’s a great article that while applies to the Hotel industry is quite applicable with the Motor coach and tours industry: Future Trends
When presenting at industry conventions I have great conversations with Sales & Marketing managers looking to use services like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube to promote their businesses.
They’re seeing a decreasing ROI on their traditional marketing media such as mailing Catalogues, Print Media and Television, which inevitably leads to questions like:
1) How can we market ourselves more effectively with these new tools (Social Networks, Micro blogs etc)?
2) How can we generate more sales?
The reality is they should be asking:
1) How can we get our customers and prospective customers to talk and tell others about us?
2) How can we be more responsive to our customers needs into the future?
Over the coming months I’ve decided the best way forward is to create a real-time case study with weekly updates posted on the TravelManager Blog. The company we’ve decided to use is Irish Coaches, watch out for my post next week.
Regards,
Eamonn