Interesting article by Siew Hoon about the times we live in:

http://ehotelier.com/hospitality-news/item.php?id=15845_0_11_0_C

Tough Love. We’re all in this together

Tough times call for tough love and Yeoh Siew Hoon is struck anew by the dedication and sacrifices of the working masses to help their companies through tough times. Now if only tough love was evenly spread …
 
One of the things that strike me when I attend an event like ITB Berlin is the amount of dedication and hard work that is evident on the shop floor.

Most outsiders view travel as a fun, glamorous business. We jet here and there, we stay in interesting hotels in exotic places and we meet different people from different cultures all the time.

And we do our best to portray that image to those who would buy into the myth.

At shows like ITB, you can see half-naked tribal warriors serving tea in the Malaysian stand although you would be half-pressed to find a warrior, let alone, a half-naked one if you visited the country as a tourist. I also saw gay, blonde hunks doing the samba at the Colombia stand and I wonder if I will meet them if I visit the country which I am told has great coffee and other kinds of beans.

Perception is half the battle won in marketing, they say.

What ordinary folks don’t see however is the grind of a day at ITB.

First, to get there, most folks from Asia have to fly 12 hours or more at the back of the plane. I met many executives who ordinarily would have flown business but in today’s tough times, are having to trade down like their customers.

Some chief executives are still flying in front - these are the ones clinging to their entitlements - but the rest of travel humanity is currently parked in the wasteland of economy, like the aircraft out in Mojave Desert.

I asked some senior executives how they felt about flying economy and they shrugged their shoulders and said, it was okay, times were tough and everyone had to do their bit for the company.

When I hear remarks like this, I am reminded anew by how lucky some companies are to have such loyal and dedicated staff and I wonder if they (the companies) appreciate it.

Some companies do, I am sure, and these are the ones that will come out of this stronger. These are the ones for whom staff will make sacrifices and work doubly hard because they know when the upside comes, they will be looked after.

Then they have to stay in accommodation that’s ridiculously over-priced for the size of the room and services they provide. The small business owners hunt for cheap apartments. Every dollar has to be counted these days.

Then once the event starts, it’s a full day of meetings, discussions and negotiations. The veterans stuff themselves on breakfast because they know they will have to work through lunch. By the third day, most people would have lost their voices to two factors - the weather outdoors and indoors, and the constant talking.

Outside ITB hours, they have to take conference calls, answer emails and deal with matters back at the office. The work clock is global these days. On top of that, there’s jetlag to deal with.

Why do they do it? Because it’s their job? I suspect it’s more than that. I call it tough love. When you love what you do and you love the business you are in, you are prepared to be tough on yourself and others because you know it’s for the greater good.

In the last five months, I have travelled from North America to Australia to Europe and it is clear how global this crisis is. No one is being spared. During SARS, I remember going on a cruise in Europe and was told that because I came from Asia, they’d only allow me to sail if I went for medical checks every morning. I didn’t mind. The doctor was a handsome South American.

This time, I went on a river cruise in Paris and was told by the photographer who takes photos of tourists that he’s halved the price of his photos from 10 Euros to 5. “Crisis,” he says.

But it’s not only individuals that have to practise tough love. I think all organisations, be they hotel companies or tourism boards, have to rethink what they do.

If you look at everything through the prism of the current financial crisis, the worst recession the world has known since World War 2, the things companies and tourism boards do at a show like ITB take on a different light and you have to ask some fundamental questions.

Is building up a giant, beautiful booth with decorative props that cost thousands of dollars and that have to be destroyed worth it? Is hosting a dinner for 300 buyers or media worth it, just because it’s been done every year? Are these buyers/media serious or are they looking for a free party?

I have often found that the really serious ones rarely have time for night functions during ITB. If they had, they’d rather have more individual business discussions and not be at parties where they have to shout at people and watch cultural dances? And what about the costs of flying in dancers and models for a three-hour event?

Do these old ways have a place in the new reality? You tell me. Tough love, that’s what’s needed.

Note: Tough Love is the theme for WIT-Web in Travel 2009.

Article by Yeoh Siew Hoon and The Transit Cafe (www.thetransitcafe.com)