Travel Trends - Blogging While Traveling, Forms, yatt'it

Have Blog, Will Travel - One of the ways I keep up with the Arizona Office of Tourism's social footprint is by subscribing to several Google Alerts on the subject. FYI, you will see some interesting things written about your state / city / attraction. But I digress. The other day, I came across a blog currently being written by an Irish family who decided to take 3 kids and a RV across the U.S. for 6 (count 'em, 6!) months. Aside from the fact that it is amazing that technology allows them to share the entire trip with relatives and friends thousands of miles away, in near real-time, the blog is a fascinating read as well as an interesting look at how travelers perceive your destination. One of many, I am sure, but really, 6 months...you owe them a quick look. We can only hope they make it to Wally World.
http://freerangetravels.blogspot.com/

Did you fill out a form for that? - A lot people don't like forms, count Luke Wroblewski as one of those people. Website blog A List Apart brings us an excerpt from Luke's upcoming book that discusses why forms are bad and how you can start to get rid of them. Of course, for a DMO or attraction or airline that needs a physical address to fulfill that brochure you ordered, getting rid of forms is going to be tough...okay, impossible...but Luke does provide some pointers to at least make the process less painful.
http://www.alistapart.com/

Join our Social Network too! - You mean you are not part of your favorite hotel's social network? Well stop writing posts on your GE Microwave / Blender social network (those blendies are so last year) and point all of your free time at yattit.com. Hyatt launched into the social networking world last year with this travel tip / recommendation site which combines Gold Passport members, concierge advice and Frommer's information. I think the idea of including tips from the on site concierge staff is great, same with subsidizing the content offering via Frommers, but the site seems to be coming up a bit short. So far this year there have been a grand total of 2 tips in the Phoenix / Scottsdale section...2 tips in 3 months...not exactly the up-to-date insider information I am looking for. Again, it all goes back to critical mass. If you don't have enough people populating your UGC site with content it will slowly fade away. Perhaps Hyatt should have focused more energy into providing (for example) text message alerts during your stay...the concierge could send you a text if they have show tickets or a great dinner reservation or a tee time. Anything besides another social network. I already belong to 489 of them...one more is just too much.
http://www.yattit.com/

Hyatt Rolls Out Ultimate Adventure Challenge

The latest installment of Hyatt Resorts' "Ultimate Adventure Challenge" goes live today. Curium Studios developed the Web-based reality series for Global Hyatt, a project aimed at building brand awareness and affinity for the Hyatt Resorts group of family-focused "adventure" vacation properties.

Hosted at www.HyattAdventureChallenge.com, the Webisodes follow five families as they compete in activities like kayak races, scavenger hunts and jungle safaris during a two-week stint across three US Hyatt Resorts locations. >>Full Story

Thoughts// An interesting promotion and concept from Hyatt, a sort of take-off from The Amazing Race television show. As Jim Forni, executive producer, says in the article, the one of the reasons behind the promotion was to jump into the YouTube craze, but still maintain brand control of the product ("Like many other brands, Hyatt wanted to leverage the participatory energy that's frequently attached to sites like YouTube,but in a thoughtful manner that would integrate the brand without completely turning it over.") Another good quote in the piece explains that the promotion was looked upon as a way to 'nudge' consumers down the purchase funnel without making a typical commercial. An obvious move to use 3 (spectacular) Hyatt resorts as the backdrops for the series completes the commercial within a show concept. With somewhat limited advertising (the article did not go into detail), it will be interesting to see how much participation this promotion, and the Delta SiteSeer Challenge, generate without the easy-to-find, hard-to-target, 'YouTube' audience.