Guide Lines

THERE’S always something frustrating about a campaign with untapped potential. But what often makes matters worse is that the campaign isn’t bad. It’s just that it could have been so much more.

Case in point: Travel & Leisure Custom Publishing’s program for The Sabre Group of Fort Worth, TX.

Sabre claims to have the world’s largest computer reservation system and that it’s a leader in travel information technology. According to managing director of traveler marketing Andrea Spica, it is the supermarket of travel products and services. Some 45% of travel agents (over 17,000 in the United States alone) use Sabre’s system to book more than 40% of airplane tickets and better than 50% of car rentals.

However, travel agents, and hence Sabre, have felt the pressure of more and more travelers using the Internet to arrange their own trips directly with the airlines. Sabre decided to come up with a program to help strengthen the relationship between travel agents and their customers.

Since Sabre knows where travelers are planning to go, and when, thanks to its reservation system, it came up with the idea of a series of city guides to get information to customers before they arrive at their destination.

As Sabre was investigating the concept, it looked for a partner, Spica explains. It chose Travel & Leisure Custom Publishing, New York. Sabre felt that the cachet and reputation of an established publisher would lend credibility to the product in customer’s minds.

The result is a city-guide series called Virtually There. The inaugural destinations are New York and San Francisco. One hundred thousand copies of the May/June edition of each will go to those individuals who booked their trip to those cities through a travel agent at least two weeks before departure. Virtually There is sent on behalf of the travel agency to the customer’s home or office before he or she leaves on the trip.

Each edition will include listings for dining, shopping, entertainment and sightseeing as well as features and advertising that might be of interest to those visiting the city. It’s like the copies of Where or Panorama you find in your hotel room, except you get to see Virtually There before you arrive.

Although American Express is Travel & Leisure’s parent company, listings will not be based on whether the card is accepted. Spica adds playfully that AmEx is welcome to advertise.

Big Plans Virtually There editions are planned for Chicago, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities. Eventually there will be international guides too, first for destinations in Canada and then for Latin America and Europe. Also possible are specialized guides keyed to a certain event. The Olympics, the Super Bowl and Comdex were cited as examples of what Sabre and Travel & Leisure have in mind.

Bernadette Mahlmann, general manager of Travel & Leisure Custom Publishing, says: “Virtually There benefits three constituencies: the traveler, the travel agency and the advertiser.”

Indeed, a test of the concept bears her out.

Some 400 recipients of a 17,000-copy trial mailing were called. About 80% remembered receiving the guide; of those, three out of four used the guide while making travel plans and 45% took the guide along on the trip. Just under 40% said they were more than satisfied with their travel agent. One can well see why advertisers might adore the guides, which go to a pre-qualified and highly motivated audience.

Small Problem Virtually There certainly sounds promising. So, as the old Jewish joke goes, what’s not to like? A lot, actually, and most of it comes straight out of Customer Relationship Marketing 101.

Essentially, Virtually There is a classic value-added program, a free benefit that will help to retain old customers and perhaps even attract new ones. And Virtually There does have value. As a former travel writer, I was impressed with the range and suitability of the listings. One could easily imagine a “typical” tourist being able to plan his or her entire visit with Virtually There.

But the marketing problem Virtually There is supposed to address is competition from the Internet-that is, the increasing number of people using Web sites to plan and book their trips (instead of travel agents, and hence, Sabre).

While Virtually There has such classic guidebooks as Fodor’s or Frommer’s beat on timeliness-the demands of production schedules mean that even books which have just been published are often up to two years out of date when they hit bookstores-it also loses out to the Net.

Particularly with such popular cities as New York and San Francisco, there are plenty of Web sites around, many updated frequently and some geared to such specific niches as shopping sprees or gay and lesbian interests. In short, the customer who would be drawn to the Internet for booking would likely be drawn online for destination information, and Virtually There, no matter how charming, will not deter such a person.

More significant, perhaps, is that this same Internet surfer is likely looking for information specific to his or her particular needs, quirks or interests. Virtually There could provide that more efficiently than most Web sites, yet seems to shy away from that potential.

American Express has a wealth of transactional data that could be used to customize, if not personalize, the product. The technology has existed for years for such customized cover wraps or inserts. The customer has lots of restaurant charges?…How about a list of San Francisco’s top five tables? Lots of museum shops?…A list of special exhibitions open at the time of the visit, perhaps?

Yet the companies involved seem reluctant to use such data because it’s confidential. And with privacy much in the minds of consumers, perhaps not tapping into American Express is understandable.

But even within Sabre itself, data exists to determine whether the traveler is male or female, the trip is for business or pleasure, or whether the traveler is alone or with a companion or kids. Yet even that data pool will not be tapped for Virtually There.

There is no question that Travel & Leisure Custom Publishing gave Sabre just what it asked for. The question is whether Sabre asked for the right thing.