This weeks blog deals with a question I was asked earlier this week and that is: “how do I see the industry changing and how we are adapting to this change.”

The most noticeable change is our customers are getting younger and younger every year if not in age then in spirit.  I have met many people who are old at 70 and many people who are young at 80. A person’s physical age is not really relevant, but the mental age curiosity, and physical ability is most important. Our vacation packages are designed for the free spirit and the concept that the motor coach is used for transportation not for exploring a destination.  Our customers are telling us that anything longer then 2.5 hours on a coach is too long and five hours is the absolute limit for a days travel.  I had the unpleasant experience of being shifted from Amtrak to Grayhound last month because of New England flooding. We ended up going to DC by bus one way and returning by train the other way. All I can say about riding all day on a Grayhound bus was it got me where I wanted to go, but was uncomfortable and I was stiff. My backside was sore and I was miserable cramped with no leg room. This made me evaluate the coaches we are using and I can assure you I am looking for coaches that have less seats and more legroom. We will never go more then 2.5 hours with out a stretch stop, rest stop, and food stop and will not spend more then five hours riding on a coach if we can avoid it.  We are committed to using only hotels that offer free Wi- Fi as our customers don’t have to be connected but desire to be connected. If a hotel is not offering Free Wi-Fi  we are dropping these hotels like a hot potato. We will not subject our customers to the hotel that think they are offering the customer a service at $9.95 a day for Internet connectivity. In 2010 I have pulled series contracts from 23 hotels that refused to offer our guests free Internet access. This is a non-negotiable point on all future contracts. If a hotel does not offer free Internet Access then our guests will be staying in other hotels. The herding of our guests to group dinners is a thing of the past along with the three choice menus. On the majority of our overnight tours our guests will receive prepaid credit cards where they can choose how they spend the money for a meal. They may choose to eat Gourmet one night and a burger the next. Our tour director will always have suggested restaurants and will always invite those that would like the social aspects of a group meal to dine together. We have also taken out much of the structure of a tour so our guests can explore the places that interest them at there own pace. This means in most cities we will have hop on hop off passes included. This last week I was asked why we are using so few step on guides and the answer is our customers don’t want to ride on a bus for three hours and listen to blah blah blah. They would rather use the coach to get to an area and then explore. Boring museums are gone, inter active, and living history museums are in. Our customers from overseas now want wine included in meals and coffee tea and water are no longer acceptable. We are finding that many of our customers prefer small tours and will spend the money to have their own driver guide. The most important change is our customers understand the difference between value and price. They will spend a little more to have greater value. The industry evolves every year and we are changing to meet the needs of our customers.

Mel Tye