SPECIALIZED TOURISM. Why is it so difficult to understand?

When Touristologists talk about specialized tourism, we are talking about the highest level of specialization… the best one! 

In the first tier, you have generic/mass tourism. No segmentation whatsoever and with price as the main demand driver!

In the second tier, you have specialized offer: Adventures Tourism, Sports Tourism, Family tourism, Sky Tourism, Cultural Tourism… Leisure Tourism, Business Tourism… No clear identification of the segment is provided. Their users/evangelists still believe we live in FORD Model T times!!!! "You can have any color as long as it's black.“ 1909

Finally, in the last tier, you have specialized Tourism focuses ON PEOPLE!!! ON TOURISTS NOT tourism typologies! We are TOURISTOLOGISTS! We focus on seducing tourists conveying the benefits that travelling brings to human beings!!!  We find segments around the world. Segments with necessities that will be better satisfied during a trip (international contacts/experiences, a boost of creativity, bonding experiences for professional or family groups…). SEGMENTS! NOT Dr. Frankensteins experiments!!!!

1) Going to this tourism destination, Hotel... is like an ego shower (Chip Conley called it Identity refreshment) 

“We are not boutique hoteliers; we are in the business of identity refreshment.” This is why people fall in love with our hotels – it refreshes their identity. In that space, they are the best version of themselves.

2) Community power/Easy group creation: Plenty of things to talk about with people like me or complementary to me OR the ones that can help me…

Nothing wrong with tourism destination or services focused on price. Nothing wrong with tourism destination or services focused on tourism typologies BUT, if you really want to specialize… choose the top tier!

Revenue Management helping you to deal with the sharing economy.

As you know, I like to define Revenue Management as a way to manage hotels focusing on PROFITS and coordinating all the departments of the hotel and all the members of the chain of value. I, strongly, believe that the last part of the definition “ALL members of the chain of value” is very important and sometimes misunderstood.

If you want to transform a threat into an opportunity you have to analyze it with a holistic vision/approach. In Tourism this means finding ways to gain the trust of the tourists and add value to him/her from the beginning to the end of the trip. Otherwise, others will do this for you and you will become a commodity. Let’s apply this approach in the sharing economy, shall we?

There are apartments near to my hotel that have become competitors. Ok, I agree you have more suppliers! In 1,2,3 theory this is number 2.

There are some tourists that prefer going to apartments because it’s cheaper. Others because they like the possibility to live together with a resident of the city and in this way have a different tourism experience. Others because they want to enjoy the freedom of not having schedules or selecting and creating their own food (for instance, think about families with small children or vegans…). Others, because they prefer to have a bigger sharing space. Do you think a group of friends, a big family or a start-up developing a new product could be good examples? Others, because... Ok, I agree you have different segments with different necessities to satisfy! In 1, 2, 3 theory this is number 1.

Plenty of new intermediaries have appeared offering this kind of offer: airbnb, homeaway, niumba, windu, housetrip….. even booking, tripadvisor and Expedia are running this race! As usual, data aggregators or metasearch engines have appeared: tripping, hometogo, hundredrooms… Ok, I agree this is part of number 3!

If you analyze tourism market structure (suppliers, demand, intermediaries…) as independent parts, you usually will propose/create partial solutions. For instance, the chain of hotels Hyatt offers complementary services to onefinestay’customer as you can read here.

That initiative is OK, BUT… You run a hotel! You are an expert in Tourism! You manage an enterprise and have the contacts of an enterprise (Contacts to offer complementary services, to do marketing campaigns, to get finance, to get human resources…) Are you unable to compete with the unprofessional owner of a flat?

If this happens, it is because you compete basically on price, offering a place to stay and food and beverage. You have to compete in the high value league! It is NOT about offering more and then looking for customers. Take the Canary Islands, for instance, they are thinking on ““encouraging tourists on all-inclusive package trips to 'leave the hotel' and spend money”. This idea makes me tweet “this is a good example of Oxymoron”. It is NOT about offering more for less. Those are partial solution focusing on the supply (number 2). You have to discover new segments, even create new ones conveying to people the necessities that they have and that thanks to Tourism will be fulfilled. Then customize and aggregate a supply. Then build a chain of value…. This is a holistic/complete solution!!!

So, you can provide a partial solution OR you can create a complete/holistic solution. Do you want to be and remain competitive? Follow the complete/holistic approach! Become a Touristologists!!!

BeMate the community/central reservation created by the chain of hotels RoomMate is a case in point: 

They define a segment (tourists desiring the freedom of an apartment but also the services of a hotel), then they define the offer (go to theses apartment near to my hotel and you will have what you are looking for) then they create a meeting place and a central reservation system. A good example of 1,2,3 theory!

Can you go further on? Of course, you can! You can follow the example of the hoteliers (Vail Resorts) who targeting international customers, create a chain of value: An incoming travel agency (snow.com) and a specialized social networking site (epicmix.com) as we saw here.

Or you can go deeper in the segmentation process (forgetting about Dr. Frankensteins) and looking for international communities desiring to travel for any of the benefits that Tourism can provide: International contacts/experience, a boost of creativity, bonding experiences for professional or family groups… 

Ummmm, this seems a kind of study case to me! If you are a Touristologists you can’t help it… your mind is already finding solutions! Do you want to share it with your brothers in arms?

- But Jordi, I just want to sell my rooms, my food and beverage, my meeting space….

Well, It is your choice… but from my point of view… Your business is NOT selling rooms or F&B… Your business is to satisfy your customers, providing what they need, when they need it, in the way they need it!  Anything able to provide the highest value for the customer and the highest margin to your business!

- But Jordi, I don’t want to create on-line travel agencies or social networking sites!

Why not? Are the owners of RoomMate out of their mind? Is ACCOR also crazy for opening their central reservation system to other hotels? It was also crazy  Wyndham when they created womenontheirway.com as we explained here.

I repeat… Do you want to be and remain competitive? Follow the complete/holistic approach! Enjoy the benefits that modern Revenue Management can bring you…Become a Touristologists!!!

Sharing? Yes! But keeping control of the chain of value!

The other day, I was lucky enough to participate in a debate about my favorite subject… Touristology!

It was an interesting experience! You can listen to it here…

Be aware, the podcast is in Catalan (My beautiful mother tongue!!!).

We talked about sharing economy in tourism. As you know, the sharing economy is the flavor of the month and it’s a very interesting topic BUT… I expressed my doubts about the viability of their business model:

I can summarize my doubts with the following Touristology’s questions:

1) Is your enterprise a good example of Dr. Frankenstein’s segmentation? Do your members feel a part of this community? Do you have the capacity to create groups?

2) Do you have the control of the chain of value or at any time (especially, when the business will become profitable) other members of the chain of value can buy or destroy you?

3) How many sales (experiences) you have to sell in order to get the breakeven point?

Anyway, after the debate I began to think from the point of view of the owners that share their belongings (House, car, you-name-it…) and knowledge through an intermediary.

Some of them offer a very specialized product and I began to feel Touristology’s voice in my head, first whispering then screaming…"Sharing? Yes! But keeping control of the chain of value! "

Let me sum up, we have the owners of the capital (as economists like to say, capital is the things we use in production) and they want to share it with other people for a profit or for the experience, and… Are you willing to put this in the hands of some new intermedary/infomediary that has a high probability of not surviving? Don’t make more sense to create a cooperative? We are talking about sharing economy, right? Let’s use the right sort of enterprise!

What about from the point of view of the tourism destination? It is not clear enough that the most important tourism resources that we have is our people, our culture, our way of living?

You want to keep our culture, right? You want to create richness and employment for your country, right?

Pssst , pssst.. I began to listen to Touristology’s voice again… “I think that we have a good definition for this…

Touristology is the art and science of travel motivation promising improvements in quality of life, international contacts and broader perspectives for the tourist AND a way to take care of culture and create richness and employment for the tourist destination.”

You want tourists talking about you  (in a positive way, of course) and  to return…. In order to achieve that you need to offer support from the beginning to the end of the trip. Help this cooperative to create communicate and commercialize their products. Help them to make partnerships with your tourism enterprises (hotels, incoming travel agencies…) begin to think about how YOU can bring tourists here! We are leaders in Tourism… Time to prove it!!!

As is said here…

Welcome to Bottom-up Touristology!

Tourism destinations of earth! The time has come to change the way you create, communicate and commercialize your tourism products or, at least, to reorganize the way you spend your budget…

Spend less on mass-media ads saying that you are the best, less on tradeshows, less on … and more on Touristology! More on your people, the most important tourism resource in any destination!!!

I Feel Like I’m 20 Years Old!!!

When My Touristologists give Wonderful presentations… I Feel Like I’m 20 Years Old!!! They get the framework, they transform it… it is not my framework anymore (never was!!!) now it’s their framework! Touristology’s one!

They take a real enterprise or they make up a new one then, they follow the specialization path (they are intelligent enough to know that it’s my favorite one!) but, they also know that is not the only one!

At the end of the day, all enterprises want to grow and Touristology provides the tools to allow that. Let’s review those paths. Shall we?

1) Your business can grow getting more customers. Touristology teaches you to keep your customers and get new ones using customization, syndication and pro-am as magnets and community builders!

2) Your business can grow “eating” (I mean acquiring or creating) members of the chain of value. Touristology teaches you to define and manage the chain of value (remember the one create FOR and BY the customer)

Finally, your business can also grow creating new chains of value. This is the specialization path. Touristology teaches you how to do the right segmentation process, how to build an international community, how to extract groups from there, how to increase margins and profits…

I love Touristology’s games!!!

I love to see that My Touristologists are the perfect guide for any of those paths that allow enterprises to grow!

They have the vision, the knowledge, the business model, the technological scheme, the contacts, the kind of attitude that push them to do whatever it takes to be successful.

When they finish their presentation, I encourage them to make a call to the enterprise that they talked about (or any of its competitors) in their project. To ask for a meeting and introduce themselves, to show that they know what is important for the company and furthermore how to get it!… That is much better than sending thousands of CV, Touristologists!!!

Then you will get a high quality job (I mean with a good salary, responsibilities, promotion opportunities…) … a consultancy project… or create a new disruptive startup!!!

Making me the proudest men on earth! Becoming yourself in the best minds working in the best sector ever… Making Touristology a science!!!

Where are the future of Touristology?

Are you there?
Waiting to learn Touristology’s framework…
Ready to change the way we enjoy, manage and define Tourism…
Ready to do whatever it takes…
Loving web-engineering as a member of the family…
Focusing on high level segmentation...
Desiring to create and manage social networking sites....
Seeing the potential of groups creation in an international environment!
Smiling even (and especially) during tough times...
Dreaming even when your world falls apart…

Hoping as only a Puccini’s character is able to do!

Are you there?...

I know you are there! I can feel your energy! It’s the most powerful force of the Universe. It’s the force of a dream burning inside… Touristology’s dream!!!

Why is segmentation so important in Touristology?

Not so long ago, I wrote a post about Dr. Frankenstein’s segmentation. It is a compulsory reading for the future of Touristology (I mean, My Touristologists!) .
Some of them get the idea at the first glance, others need time to get used to the idea, others never stop complaining…
Jordi, why do I have to learn about segmentation… When you segment you are losing part of the market. If you specialize and specialize… you can end up with just a single customer… I am against specialization!!!
When it happens, I start to pray silently “Schumpeter, Carnegie (Dale) and Maslow give me strength, wisdom and PATIENCE!!!!!” I repeat this three times and then, calmly, I always reply:
Why is segmentation so important in Touristology? 
We have several reasons which backup this idea! 
1) If you created and gain the trust of a community you control the chain of value (remember the one create FOR and BY the customer).
2) If you created a community NOT based on Dr. Frankenstein… you will have an international community desiring to be together. So, sooner or later, they will want to meet!
When you organize the trip (or any sale!) for a group… For sure, you will increase your productivity, margins and profits.
When you organize the trip for a group… The rest of the member of the chain of value  (Hotels, Service Suppliers, transport companies…) are willing to serve you (Because YOU are the community!)
3) Different segments means different ways to create and run the processes FOR ANY OPERATION (Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Servuction, Yield Management, you-name-it) They also means different members of the chain of value, different business model, different technological schemes…
So, YES! I, definitely, believe that to segment properly is important from Touristology’s point of view! What about you, Touristologists???

Fast Data = Big Data + Real-Time Web + Human Interaction!

Jordi, Can you give us a seminar about Fast Data?

Of course! - I reply!

First, because I know that nowadays it is very usual that some people use different words to describe the same /old thing.

Second, because as Richard Branson say “If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!”

I like this kind of attitude! Basically, because it is carved in my mind…

My father every time that we have to deal with a new adventure / difficulty /tough time / you-name-it!, say to me: “Pit, barra i collons” that I, gently, can translate as:

1)    Step forward… Yes, I volunteer!

2)    Self-confidence…. Yes, I can do it!

3)    Perseverance and whatever-it-takes kind of attitude in order to deliver what you promise!

So, here I’m… saying yes to a Fast Data seminar! After the proper research, I confirmed my assumptions… Fast Data is a new name for the holy grail of business intelligence…

We can get a lot of data from different chain of value’s members. This is Big Data in nowadays terms (intelligent systems, when I was writing my doctoral thesis!)

We are getting data NOW and we need to provide customized answers, comments, offers, 3 C’s (Content, commerce and community)  in the fastest possible way. You can call it Real-Time web .

But before the organization replies… maybe it is a good idea to use the best software on earth: The human brain! 

From my point of view, any seminar related to Fast Data is incomplete if it doesn’t deal with the two breakthroughs in Web-Engineering in this decade that I try to summarize in this slide:

1) Server-Side RESTful web APIs that allows you to get and send the 3 C’s NOT ONLY of your enterprise BUT ALSO of the chain of value (remember the one created FOR and BY your customer!)
2) Client-Side MV* that allows to the customer to work even without internet connection and to provide them a fast service… faster… the fastest!
 

I find this video enlightening...

Do you think you can apply Fast Data to Touristology?
Fast Data? Fast answer, fast reaction…as fast as the wind! Touristology’s wind!