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			    <title>Hospitality | JLC Travel &amp; Tourism News Source</title> 
				<link>http://www.jlctraveltourism.com/rss/hospitality</link> 
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			<title>Retailers Underutilize Customer Data New Study Reports</title>
			<link>http://www.jlctraveltourism.com/rss/news/retailers-underutilize-customer-data-new-study-reports</link>
			<description><![CDATA[A new study has found that retailers that most actively engaged their employees and customers were the most successful.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 13:20:01 PDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Travel News from Croatia – From Cycling to Game of Thrones</title>
			<link>http://www.jlctraveltourism.com/rss/news/travel-news-from-croatia-from-cycling-to-game-of-thrones</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Dubrovnik tops Post Office Travel Monkey survey: According to Great Britain’s Post Office survey, Dubrovnik topped a list of 12 ‘emerging’ city destinations that tourists would most like to visit in 2013, beating Moscow, Krakow and Abu Dhabi. The UNESCO World Heritage site also came sixth for value out of the 25 cities surveyed by the Post Office.

Hvar’s Gariful restaurant launches mobile app
Restaurant Gariful on Hvar has launched the island’s first restaurant mobile app. Customers of this luxury fish restaurant include Prince Harry, Roman Abramovich and Bill Gates. Restaurant Gariful has always been at the forefront of new initiatives to promote the island, and is also involved in the release of a new free app for the whole island called 5 Star Hvar.
Ryanair opens new Croatian base
 
Ryanair has opened its new base in the Croatian city of Zadar – its first in the country. The base, which opened early this month, will serve 17 routes across Ryanair’s network and serve around three million passengers annually. The airline has said it will invest around £56 million in Zadar Airport, creating up to 300 jobs.
Zadar is the perfect base for some of Croatia’s best music festivals this summer; The Garden Festival, Electric Elephant, Suncebeat Festival and Soundwave in The Garden Tisno, near Zadar – see events and festivals below.
‘Golden Pen’ award for promotion of Croatian Tourism
 
The Croatian National Tourist Board has awarded Slovenian TV reporter Verica Marusic and The Irish Times Magazine reporter Mary-Claire Digby with the 2012 ‘Golden Pen’ award at a ceremony in Zadar end of April 2013. The annual ‘Golden Pen’ Award was given to foreign journalists for outstanding contributions to the promotion of Croatian tourism in the world. Marusic, who works for television station Vas Kanal, was awarded for her regular 30 minute episodes about towns in Croatia, whilst Digby caught the Croatian Tourist Board’s attention with a piece for The Irish Times Magazine about Istrian cuisine.
Split becomes the European centre of University sport
Along with the now world renowned University regatta of eights, International championship and the only event in the world where the best university teams of Oxford and Cambridge have the chance for the famous river Themes race rematch, Split will be the host of the 12 European universities basketball championship. The sportiest city in the world, as we like to call it, is fast becoming the Europe’s centre of University sports and judging by the increasing number of teams and applicants each year, students seem to enjoy both the competitions and the surrounding events, excursions and parties organized by their hosts.
150 km of new cycling tracks in Senj
Nature lovers and cycling aficionados will be thrilled to learn Croatia’s ever growing offer of high quality cycling tracks has been enriched with 150 km of fantastic panoramic tracks passing through the National park of North Velebit, Velebit park of nature and the historic sights of Senj. New tracks range from easy to medium in difficulty and will be a great addition to the expanding tourist offer in the city of Senj.
Kantinon Restaurant in Rovinj
Croatia’s leading sommelier Emil Perdec and Hotel Monte Mulini’s Executive Chef Tomislav Gretic have joined efforts to reinvent a traditional tavern in historic quarter of Rovinj. Now using regional products only, Kantinon has been revamped throughout to offer affordable, authentic and good-quality dishes, reflective of its coastal setting in the gourmet food region of Istria. Executive Chef Tom Gretic commented: “Kitchen of Kantinon is best described as a fisherman’s old kitchen, rich with hidden old recipes that have slowly been forgotten. Here, the offer is unique and differs from other taverns and restaurants in the region in that all our food is local of Rovinj or Istria. “
Fourth season of Game of Thrones to be filmed in Dubrovnik
The fourth season of the epic fantasy drama series Game of Thrones will again be filmed in Dubrovnik, Croatia. With the shooting expected to start in August, the producers are looking for locations in the area. HBO’s medieval fantasy actors and crew have set up base in Dubrovnik, where the second and third series was also filmed.
31 May – 6 June – Cest is d’ Best, Zagreb
The 16th annual international street festival Cest is d’ Best is a celebration of street entertainment in the streets and squares of Zagreb city centre. The event was initiated by two popular buskers, Pajo and Hadži, and the festival now involves more than 300 hours of programme performed by artists from across the world.
24 – 26 June – INmusic Festival, Zagreb
This June get ready to party in one of the world’s top three open air festivals according to NatGeo Traveller INmusic festival at lake Jarun in Zagreb. This accolade comes in time for the 7th edition which will take place from June 24-26, 2013 with such fantastic acts as Arctic Monkeys, Iggy and the Stooges, Basement Jaxx, Bloc Party, Editors, NOFX, Airbourne, Stealing Sheep, Team Ghost, Atheist Rap, Dikta, A Toys Orchestra, Mile Me Deaf, Rangleklods, Dosh Lee, She Loves Pablo and Radio Aktiv.
10 – 13 July – Fresh Island Festival, Zrce Beach, Pag Island
In its second year, the Fresh Island Festival is the only hip-hop festival in the southeast of Europe. Hip hop superstar Snoop Dogg aka Snoop Lion will perform live on the first day and the festival will present the best of hip-hop at four turbo stages in clubs Aquarius and Papaya, during its nonstop day and night program. The festival also offers accommodation packages.
18 – 22 July 2013 – Seasplash Festival, Fort Punta Christo
In its eleventh year, the Seasplash festival will take place over five days. This ‘dance and lifestyle’ festival is unique in the mixture of acts and genres it brings together – reggae, ska, jungle, drum ‘n’ bass, dubstep and electro, to name just a few!]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 13:10:12 PDT</pubDate>
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			<title>United Airlines Returns Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Service With Houston Flight</title>
			<link>http://www.jlctraveltourism.com/rss/news/united-airlines-returns-boeing-787-dreamliner-to-service-with-houston-flight</link>
			<description><![CDATA[This summer United plans to inaugurate 787 service on existing domestic and international routes.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 13:10:12 PDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Spotlight on the Thai Paradise Island of Koh Samui</title>
			<link>http://www.jlctraveltourism.com/rss/news/spotlight-on-the-thai-paradise-island-of-koh-samui</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Koh Samui is the premier island destination in the Gulf of Thailand. Easily accessible via Koh Samui Airport, which features service from Bangkok Airways and Thai Airways, among others, the island is home to beautiful beaches and a variety of activities which allows it to cater to visitors on any budget. As Thailand’s second most popular island destination, Koh Samui is located roughly 50 miles from Thailand’s southern coast. Koh Samui is the third largest island in Thailand and the largest in an archipelago of more than 80 islands that includes the Ang Thong National Marine Park, a kayaking paradise and short day trip from Koh Samui.

While Koh Samui is small enough to be circumnavigated in just a couple of hours by motorbike or car, the island features such a variety of beaches and activities that it would be impossible to experience everything in a single visit; however, this was not always the case. Until the late 20th century, Koh Samui was home to a small community engaged primarily in fishing and harvesting coconuts, and was absent of roads until the early 1970s. Once foreign visitors discovered this island gem, lush with tropical forest, fringed with palm tree lined stretches of golden sand, and surrounded by aquamarine water, development quickly followed.
Today, the beaches of Chaweng and Lamai feature bustling towns with fabulous beach resorts, internationally acclaimed restaurants and world-class nightclubs. Activities around Koh Samui include cooking courses, yoga instruction, Muay Thai training, scuba diving and golf. Koh Samui has converted to a lively, exciting place with its own style of island paradise. The island continues to retain much of its natural beauty while offering nearly every imaginable activity or service for the ultimate beach holiday.
For more information on Koh Samui, visit
http://tourismthailand.org/Where-to-Go/Koh-Samui]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 12:50:02 PDT</pubDate>
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			<title>United Airlines welcomes back Boeing 787 Dreamliner</title>
			<link>http://www.jlctraveltourism.com/rss/news/united-airlines-welcomes-back-boeing-787-dreamliner</link>
			<description><![CDATA[CHICAGO, Ill. - United Airlines today welcomed back its Boeing 787 with the re-launch of commercial service from the airline&#039;s hub in Houston.


read more]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 12:50:02 PDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Big Data and the hospitality, travel and tourism industry</title>
			<link>http://www.jlctraveltourism.com/rss/news/big-data-and-the-hospitality-travel-and-tourism-industry</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In a position paper, the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals shows how vital it is for the travel industry to effectively manage the millions of records about travel behavior that the industry generates each day.

Defining Big Data
Context is always murky when it comes to the nebulous concept of Big Data – it doesn’t always mean the same thing to different people.
SOCAP defines Big Data as “the productive use of data in units of measure that far exceed megabytes and gigabytes.” While this is a broad definition, the idea behind Big Data is crystal clear: use the information that customers are already generating to provide them with better, more targeted – and ultimately more profitable – services and products.
Travel is ripe for that sort of use. Startups and incumbents alike are attempting to leverage this data into a useful, consumer-centric stream.
However, beyond simply managing and leveraging owned data streams, travel brands need to consider how to use other indications of consumer preferences and lifestyles:
If intelligent networks hold the key to next generation travel, Internet companies enjoy a bounty of data pouring in from cookies, log files, and other sources.
Take the photos being posted on Facebook or Instagram. Would the traveler sharing snaps from a trip to Ireland be interested in information about Scotland? If shown on a mountain bike, would that individual want to know more about local biking destinations or biking clubs? If shown standing in front of a car with a bicycle roof rack, wouldn’t a trunk rack be easier to use and avoid back problems down the road?
Big data and data analytics suggest that the future may belong to those firms best able to shape and deliver the consumer travel experience.
Personalization
In a series of interviews within the travel industry, the study authors are intent to show how Big Data can be used to increase impact and reduce friction across disciplines, both within a company and the industry.
Personalization is a key tenant of Big Data. With so much available information about a particular consumer, transaction or destination, the reality is one of detailed, accurate personalization.
In order to most effectively win at true personalization, large travel companies must work across silos to gather the myriad data points created by a consumer at different points, as the study emphasizes:
Information systems can be quite fragmented and even territorial, with records pertaining to a single customer showing up in reservation, post sales complaint, survey, loyalty and other systems, with little or no ability to weave together and form a complete customer profile.
Combining data from different in-house systems can help companies achieve new insights.
Call centers must interface with online consumer reviews; loyalty programs must link with booking histories; on-property preferences need to be combined with social media chatter. It’s a giant firehose that first must be segmented and then packaged in a useful way for employees at each stage of the consumer lifecycle.
Michelle Mitchell, the Operations Manager for Customer Care at InterContinental Hotels Group, identifies just how vital some of this “lost” information can be. The company is working to combine survey data with actual call center metrics:
It will let us more specifically see if a particular agent is receiving negative guest comments and if there’s the possibility of a trend. Maybe that agent is in a bad mood after lunch. Are the calls coming in on a Saturday versus Friday? What time do they occur? What’s the takeaway?
By combining data clusters, organizations can actually deliver on Big Data’s big promises by extracting business intelligence ripe for action.
Customer-centric experience
The customer should be at the center of all Big Data efforts. If the data gathering is seen as creepy or invasive, the consumer will not be pleased and loyalty will be lost. However, all signs point to consumers willing to accept vast intrusions into their behaviors if the resulting product is more targeted and able to anticipate their needs throughout.
SOCAP names the following distinct areas that companies need to master in order to succeed at a Big Data-fueled consumer experience:

Align company offerings and customer needs.
Build internal consensus.
Collapse data silos.
Create unified, logical data views.
Elevate the customer care role in customer experiences.
Collect and use data responsibly.


Internal buy-in comes not only from active consensus building, but also by ensuring that the company’s offerings are addressing customer needs. This makes it easier to train employees to be active in solving these needs, and to clearly understand the value that they are providing.
Aligning the company with customers also makes it much easier to eliminate silos and fiefdoms, and more easily integrate an open sharing of data and information company-wide. This also helps foster a collaborative environment focused externally on the customer and not internally on politics.
Finally, privacy is a paramount concern when it comes to Big Data. Avoiding privacy snafus is an essential component of successful Big Data implementation, and also ensures a significant level of trust on the consumer side.
Focus relentlessly on the useful implementation of the data as far as the customer’s experience is concerned, and the majority will embrace a better product that more fully addresses their individual needs.
NB: Data eyes image courtesy Shutterstock.
 


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			<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 12:40:01 PDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Palm Springs: Moguls, Mobsters and Movie Stars Launched California’s Desert Playland</title>
			<link>http://www.jlctraveltourism.com/rss/news/palm-springs-moguls-mobsters-and-movie-stars-launched-california’s-desert-playland</link>
			<description><![CDATA[by Bob Schulman
Dry air, year-round sunshine and healing mineral waters have been drawing the glitterati to Southern California’s desert playland ever since the first hotel opened here in 1886. Word soon got out that this spot — called la palma de la mano de Dios (palm of God’s hand) by the Cahuilla Indians’ local Aqua Caliente Band – was a great place to bat little balls around, tan up at the pool and hoist some cold ones (and maybe dry out after hoisting too many). In 1936, a reputed wiseguy from Detroit named Al Wertheimer added another big thing to do here: tossing dotted ivory cubes on green felt tables. Sure, it was illegal, but the country was in the Great Depression, and gambling could draw more visitors to the area, especially fun-loving movie stars, corporate moguls, railroad tycoons and oil barons. So local officials winked at Wertheimer’s casino and gave it a hearty thumbs-up (as long as he put it in neighboring Cathedral City). And so what if Wertheimer used to belong to Detroit’s notorious Purple Gang.

Photo: Al Wertheimer’s Dunes Club, circa 1936. Photo courtesy of the Palm Springs Historical Society.
Two years later, what had morphed from la palma into “the Springs” incorporated to officially become Palm Springs — although insiders continued to call it the Springs — and Wertheimer’s casino, the Dunes Club, was packed with elite rollers and shakers. It wasn’t unusual to see the likes of Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Marlene Dietrich, Robert Montgomery, the Ritz Brothers and studio exec Darryl Zanuck at the tables, wheels and slots of Wertheimer’s posh, Spanish-style stucco palace.
Former Palm Springs Mayor Frank Bogert reportedly described the scene at the Dunes this way: “There was gambling every night, beautiful women and more money than you could shake a stick at. And the best thing was that there was never any trouble… no shootouts or any of that crap you see in the movies.”
Photo from the Dunes Club showing Wertheimer (second from left) and friends. Photo courtesy of the Palm Springs Historical Society.
Some of the Springs’ top hotels, it’s said, had special phone lines to the Dunes so that guests could place bets on races at Santa Anita in Los Angeles and at the Aqueduct track in Queens, N.Y.
More Clubs Spring Up
Business was so good out in Cathedral City that two more gambling spots opened up there. One newcomer, the Cove Club, was built by Frank Portnoy, a chum of Wertheimer’s. Considerably less classier than the Dunes, it was described as “a knockdown, gangsterish place” where customers first encountered “a panel in the door that slid open to reveal a disembodied pair of glaring eyes.”
The other, Earl Sausser’s 139 Club, was said to be “a honky-tonk sawdust joint.” Here, patrons reportedly were first eyed by “a washed-out boxer cradling a Tommy gun in a guard turret.” But what the 139 Club lacked in class, the place more than made up for it in the quality of its chili. What’s more, the chili was free.
Still another place owned by Wertheimer, the Colonial House, opened up right in Palm Springs. This one masqueraded as a “private hotel,” but just about everyone in town knew there was a secret staircase hidden behind a cupboard in the pantry that led to an underground casino, bar and bawdy house.
As Palm Springs grew in the 30s and 40s, so did the gambling clubs. By the time Uncle Sam got into World War II, limos were showing up at the Springs’ ritziest night clubs to shuttle customers to the casinos to try their luck at the tables — and perhaps rub elbows with mobsters, moguls and movie stars.
End of an Era
What happened to the casinos? First to pass into history was the Dunes, which after a number of brushes with the law mysteriously burned down in 1943. The 139 Club (so-named because it debuted in 1939) managed to stay afloat until 1947, after which it became a thrift shop for the Humane Society. The Cove, opened in 1941, is said to have somehow stayed in business through the early 60s. The building later became an Elks Lodge.
Legal gaming (people in the business no longer say “gambling”) came to the Springs around 1980 with the opening of the Fantasy Springs Casino Resort and Spa, promoted as the first U.S. casino on a Native American reservation. A half-dozen or so more casino-resorts have since popped up in the area, all on tribal lands in Palm Springs and in eight surrounding cities, collectively called Greater Palm Springs.
Besides rolling the cubes, a good number of the area’s 5.1 million overnight visitors are still batting little balls around (on Greater Palm Springs’ 110 golf courses and 600-plus tennis courts) and tanning up around the area’s 50,000 swimming pools.
The nine cities in the Greater Palm Springs area together offer some 210 hotels (including a little over 100 in Palm Springs) with a total of 15,200 rooms. Visitors can find everything from sprawling resort-hotels such as the 512-room Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage to boutiques in Palm Springs like the 35-room Willows Historic Inn, once a favorite hideaway of New York’s playboy mayor Jimmy Walker, Albert Einstein and film stars Shirley Temple, Marion Davies and Mary Pickford.
Al Wertheimer cashed in his last chips 60 years ago, but his memory is still on a roll in at least one popular spot in the Springs. His old-time Colonial House is still there, except after passing through several owners it’s now a 58-room luxury boutique hotel, the Colony Palms. The casino and bawdy house are long gone, but a featured attraction on the three-acre property is the Purple Palm Restaurant — billed as “a tip of the hat” to Wertheimer’s infamous Purple Gang.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 12:30:03 PDT</pubDate>
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			<title>lowcostbeds.com Attends Pow Wow in Las Vegas as First Time Exhibitor</title>
			<link>http://www.jlctraveltourism.com/rss/news/lowcostbedscom-attends-pow-wow-in-las-vegas-as-first-time-exhibitor</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Travel agents, tour operators and hotel companies will meet with lowcostbeds.com as a representatives attends Pow Wow in Las Vegas as a first time exhibitor.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 12:20:02 PDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Viceroy Hotel Group Plans Dubai Property</title>
			<link>http://www.jlctraveltourism.com/rss/news/viceroy-hotel-group-plans-dubai-property</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Viceroy Hotel Group will open its first hotel in Dubai in 2017.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 12:20:02 PDT</pubDate>
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			<title>T Magazine: Checking In | Escape to Provence</title>
			<link>http://www.jlctraveltourism.com/rss/news/t-magazine-checking-in-escape-to-provence</link>
			<description><![CDATA[An 18th-century manor in the South of France has transformed into a luxurious 15-room hotel.    ]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 11:30:02 PDT</pubDate>
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