Travel Trends :: Groupon-esque Travel

[trip style = budget conscious]

Coupons are making a comeback. But in 2010 and via web 2.0, they look a little different. They are virtual (until you print them out), viral and group-buying focused, as in, if a deal gets shared enough and people buy it, everyone gets to indulge.

The Groupon Craze We all know Groupon is hot right now, businesses from cooking schools to Fairmont Hotels have been jumping on board to entice consumers with savings, which they hope will bring them regular customers. Playing off the coupon and social networking trend, there's a groupon-like travel website launching next week. My prediction, it's going to be BIG.

New Kid in Town TripAlertz is an online travel community where prices go down as bookings go up. Not a bad formula. This US-based website is free to use and takes seconds to join. Unlike Groupon, you don't have to unlock a deal, rather you can purchase it for a limited time. The more people purchase, the greater the savings. In the website's launch phase, most of the deals appear to be Florida-based, but as the site expands, they plan on expanding worldwide.

Travel Sharing = Travel Savings This social-buying travel site puts a whole new spin on group travel. Yes, it offers the same type of discounts as the Pricelines and Hotwires of the world, but it does so transparently, in a way that depends upon social sharing. Therefore, if you see a hotel deal you like, you can a) indulge on your own, or b) share it with your friends, likely get greater savings and plan a group trip!

Bon voyage!

Sweet & Saucy Travel Videos

When we featured Air New Zealand's Sassy Flight Safety Videos with a streaking grandma and body-painted flight attendants, it was a hit. The entertainment doesn't stop there. Kim Kardashian reading quantum physics, dancing flight attendants and a handsy animal make up this week's travel videos, sure to make you laugh your way through 'hump' day.

[If you're viewing this via email and can't see the videos posted below, please click on the web version.]

The Truth About California As if I needed any prompting to visit California. My love of the Cali aside, anything featuring Betty White means I'm in! That's why I love Tourism California's newest ad campaign playing up people's misconceptions of the sunny Westcoast state. In Betty's words, they'll show you "how we roll" (in California).

Air New Zealand Spaceseats To introduce their new premium economy spaceseats (which I'd like to book sometime soon), Air New Zealand is once again tangoing with the inappropriate---albeit hilarious.

Touchscreens In the same vein as the last video, the semi-risque airline is also making another introduction. Using Rico, their furry spokesperson animal, the wonders of their upcoming on-demand consoles are explained.

Dancing Flight Attendants Cebu Airlines, the Philippines second-largest carrier decided to spice-up their safety demonstration with a little Lady Gaga-inspired moves. Mimicking a jr. high dance, the gals and guys dance separately and each have different routines. Although this was apparently only a stunt, it was so well-received they are thinking of rolling it out on all flights because people actually payed attention to safety.

The Gals

The Guys

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Master of Flight (Re)Search

I'm a KAYAK girl. I've spent more time KAYAK-ing online than I have on water; in other words, my go-to search engine for flights (and sometimes hotels) is kayak.com. BUT, I recently found out that the software powering the travel search giant is available for public use AND Google just acquired them, much to Expedia's dismay.

Behind the Scenes ITA Software powers some of the biggest names in Travel: Bing, Air Canada, Hotwire, Virgin Atlantic, Orbitz, etc...  and the software behind these online search giants is also available to you, me and your grandma, through their Flight Matrix (pictured above). The matrix, not to be confused with the movie, provides a snazzy, simple and robust way to search for flights using the same tools you'd have access to if you were snooping around the back room at Bing Travel!

The Research Master Although using the site makes you feel travel agent-esque, it should be noted that the flight search capabilities ITA offers the public are research-driven versus transaction-driven. With ITA, you can only research the flight you want, after that, you must book it directly with the airline that best suits your needs (ie - price, airline alliance, times, direct vs multi-stop, etc...). When you find the flight you like, there's no direct link to the fare, so you need to make a note of the info, navigate to your airline of choice and go through the booking process until you find the flight ITA found for you. Even though this sounds cumbersome, some DIY travel aficionados never veer from searching with ITA first before booking their flight. You be the judge.

Trip Styler Tips Here are some best practices for using ITA combined with other travel tricks to book the best fare with the most points:

• I like and will use this site for research purposes
• When I've narrowed down my results: I'll opt for a carrier within the airline alliance where I collect miles
• Once I know the flight I want: I'll book the flight on my Travel Credit Card's site to get extra travel points over and above the miles I'll get with my preferred airline alliance

Sassy Flight Safety Videos

Bet you didn't think sassy and flight safety videos went together!  Well, if you're Air New Zealand, they do!  The below videos are laugh-out-loud funny and a welcome departure from boring pre-flight safety announcements.

{Travel Beauty Month contest--->win some fab travel-sized Tarte cosmetics by engaging with our Facebook group.  Details Here. Contest ends TODAY.}

An Ode to Air New Zealand Some background: although I've never flown Air New Zealand, I'm obsessed and impressed with their branding. Having started my career in Advertising, my inner marketer is always pleasantly surprised, entertained and convinced by all of their campaigns---and I just might fly with them when I go to Australia this fall/winter.

Back on Task For good reason, there's a lot of seriousness around pre-flight announcements and airline safety.  Incidentally, I pay greater attention and retain more info from these fun videos, than I do the run-of-the-mill airline safety videos---and it's not just because there's body paint and a streaking grandma, although that does help. Even though I've seen these videos many times, as I re-watch them for this post, I have tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.  Enjoy.

The Bare Essentials Body-painted flight attendants and a pilot talk airline safety for the in-flight video.

Crazy About Rugby New Zealand's famous All Blacks Rugby Team (and a streaking grandma) assist Air New Zealand's flight attendants and pilots with their newest safety video.

Trip Styler Tip ~ Spooning There's a new way to ride in Economy! Did you know you could spoon on an Air New Zealand's Skycouch? Their economy seats have an extra fold-out, so two people can lie down over 3 seats. It's true. See the pic below and the viral video they released to introduce the idea, which is of course, funny.

Spooning

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Alaska Air to Fly from BLI to HNL

[trip style = sun + beach]

Not that I need convincing to go to Hawaii, but........

Normally I don't do two posts in one day, but this news is way too exciting to wait and share!  It was just announced that Alaska Airlines will fly out of Bellingham Airport to Honolulu with service starting January 7th.

What about Allegiant? Originally I suspected that Allegiant would make this annoucement first, but Alaska's seen the light and knows that people from both Vancouver and Seattle will travel to my fave border town in search of lower fares and sunnier horizons!  I was almost certain the Bellingham airport was undertaking MAJOR renovations to the terminal and runway for Allegiant's planned service to Honolulu, but we'll have to wait and see if this low-cost carrier decides to launch their service out of Bellingham or elsewhere.

Tickets Ticket prices will be announced tomorrow. According to a Vancouver Sun article, Alaska's VP Marketing notes "I can tell you the fares will be very, very attractive. It will be among the lowest fares you can find to get from the West Coast to Hawaii. We'll have some terrific prices."