Travel Industry Jargon

I was meeting a friend for coffee and he was planning a vacation.  I was providing some suggestions when he asked me for clarification when he didn’t understand some of the terms / acronyms I used.  I thought I would take this opportunity to explain some commonly used jargon in the travel industry.

Charter Flight - A non scheduled flight.  A single flight that is chartered by a company for a specific trip in order to transport a group, usually as part of a vacation package.

Direct Flight - A flight with one or more intermediary stops but passengers remain on the air craft during the stop.

Fuel Surcharge – A fee added to the ticket by the airline to recover the increased fuel cost.

Lowest Available Fare – The lowest price available at a specific point in time.  Availability is limited and is sold out quickly.

Open Jaw - A term for the sitatuion where a person flies into one airport but departs from another.   

Pax – An abbreviation for passengers.

Rack Rate – The official rate offered by a hotel to the public before any discounts.

If there are others you have seen but don’t understand, leave a comment below.

In my next post I’ll describe some commonly used acronyms.

Bed Warming Service at Holiday Inn

I couldn’t believe it when I first saw the headline…”Bedwarming Service at Holiday Inn”. This is available on a trial basis at 3 locations in the UK, 2 in London and 1 in Manchester.  The basic idea is that instead of placing a hot water bottle to warm up the bed before going to sleep, a staff person wearing a 1 piece fleece outfit (hair will be covered) will warm up the bed to 20 degrees celsius.  The bedwarmer will leave the room and get in the bed before the guest occupies it. Click here for the original report.

New trend for hotels?

Came across a couple of  articles in a travel journal recently about a “pay what you want”  experiments. 

The Rancho Bernardo Inn Golf Resort and Spa is offering a promotion called the “Survivior Package“.  Basically, you decide your price by deciding what amenities you can do without.  For $219  per night you get deluxe accommodations plus breakfast for two.  However, if you can do without breakfast, it’s $199; without honor bar, it’s $179; without heat or air condition, it’s $159; etc. It’s a great way to attract budget conscious travellers.  Contact them for more details. 

A village in Austria’s Alps, Langenfeld, is offering tourists to test their hotels, restaurants, and leisure facilities in return for completing a survey paying what they think their stay was worth.  They are accepting up to 200 people to participate in this event.  The local tourism organization is looking to find out their strengths and weaknesses so they can improve for the future.

This actually reminds of me of another hotel that also offered a “Pay What You Want” promotion. In March 2009, the Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen Hotel allowed guests to choose the rate they wanted to pay. For a designated number of hours each day during the promotion, potential guests could bid on a price they would like to pay.  If they were one of the first to bid, they could win a night at the hotel for the price they bid.

Not sure if this could be a new trend but it definitely provides insightful information for the companies involved on the quality of their services and their current pricing strategy during these challenging economic times.