Ask nearly anyone who travels for business and they will probably tell you that business travel sucks. Traveling for business is not at all as fun as it sounds. No matter the how large the expense account and no matter how great it may sound to eat out at nice restaurants every night, the hassles and inconveniences constantly levied by the airlines, your grill being four inches from the back of some dude's head in United Economy, crazy taxi drivers, distant car rental lots, and dirty hotels can cancel out those aforementioned perceived benefits. I'm not generally a complainer- I just lower my expectations and take one for the team, as it were. The funny thing is, when I started traveling on business 12 years ago I really looked forward to getting on the road. Some romantic notion of flying on airplanes and hotel room service seemed to have clouded my thinking.
This week I've stayed at two hotels which claim to have been awareded the 4-Diamond distinction. Both hotels lost my reservation, didn't have my frequent guest rewards card number on my reservation and both checked me into rooms that were allegedly "clean" but were much dirtier than my own bedroom (which isn't THAT clean). Above all else, I felt like a stranger in both of the cities I've visited this week and I couldn't seem to get good directions or recommendations from the bell stand.
Speaking of dirty hotels, the Huffington Post released this expose yesterday...
The home based lodging movement aims to make travel much more accessible and authentic by empowering homeowners and property managers with the ability to compete with hotels for paying guests. For those people that question why would anyone want to allow a stranger to stay in their home, you need look no further than the fact that businesses such as HomeAway.com and even free classifieds and accommodations sites like Craigslist and Couchsurfing.org have become exceptionally popular. One of our competitors is even launching an integrated marketing campaign that includes a 30 second Super Bowl commercial. This demonstrates that there's a lot of growth potential in this space and will prove to be a viable and growing alternative to hotels in the future.
Until next time... Travel safe.
Russ
Russ Hearl
Head Sherpa & Co-Founder
Sherpa Travel Exchange, LLC
601 Van Ness Ave, Suite E-208
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-997-9925 Google Voice
[email protected]
http://www.staysherpa.com/
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