The Innkeeping Blog

Marti Mayne of Maynely Marketing today sent me a link to a CNN interview with Pauline Frommer that covers what changes might be in store for the travel industry under an Obama administration. Click on the link below to be directed to the video.

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Nearly 300 innkeepers submitted their stories of hardship, grievance and praise for TripAdvisor when I asked the industry to share thoughts and opinions of how this site impacts the businesses and lives of innkeepers. Innkeepers spoke up and continue to send me emails almost daily on the subject. There is no doubt of the need for PAII to facilitate a conversation between our industry and TripAdvisor. The conversation began just a couple of weeks ago, when I visited with TripAdvisor CEO, Stephen Kaufer, and some of his top staff.

Distilling 300 different stories and perspectives into a succinct message was a difficult task (and I read every single one of them), yet some patterns emerged. With only an afternoon with TripAdvisor, I had to pick some of the most pressing matters to bring to the table.

My meeting with Kaufer and others (Brian Payea, Director of Trade Relations, and Tricia Oliveira, Manager of Hotel Relations and Fraud) was 3 hours of rapid-fire questioning. It must have felt like a deposition to them. I found their team to be very reasonable and willing to listen and respond to the issues we are bringing to the table. I was pleased to leave the meeting with what seemed to be some agreement for certain changes and a commitment to keep discussing other matters that couldn’t be solved in one afternoon. As expected, there were some requests and ideas I brought to the table on behalf of innkeepers, which were not met with agreement.

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