I find that actually doing what I preach really gives me a great understanding of how this internet thing really works.
So, I have decided to take the family on a European “safari” next week.
Not having been to Europe on holiday before, I actually had to do some homework on places to see, things to do and most importantly hotels to stay at. In my bachelor days, I would never have thought of booking ahead. Things have changed, as the say, and now I at least need the security of a room at the end of a long day of meeting with Mickey and Goofy, eating frog’s legs and drinking champagne in that province of France. My wife, being a big believer in the “travel book” got the Let’s Go Europe. A nice chunky block of paper with adequate descriptions of the little towns and villages in France, Belgium and Germany we are keen on visiting.
It however only lists 2 or 3 accommodation establishments per town and no photos of the hotels or rooms, no idea of what food they serve there or a map to see where in that town they are situated. I guess one cant expect that from a single guide on Europe, unless you want to walk around with a guide the size of the Encyclopedia Britannica. ( 32 volumes, R 10 000 later)
Enter…Google
I just booked the last of my hotels and was trying to see a pattern in my bookings to try and understand why I have done what I’ve done.
A hotel in Disneyland, then Paris, Reims, Bruges, Houffalize.
The Disneyland hotel I got from the Disneyland web site: conclusion; there is nothing like a direct link to a business from a credible web site to ensure quality traffic.
The hotel in Houffalize( Belgium) I got from the official town of Houffalize’s web site: another link from a credible web site.
The other 3, places I have never been to I got from Google searches and then clicking on the adwords. In every case I went to a portal/aggregator web site to choose my hotel. Once I found what I liked, I searched for that specific hotel on Google to learn more about it.
I however returned to the portal/booking site to make my reservation.
I guess I just felt that they were better equipped to deal with the reservation and online credit card payment than the hotels themselves. None of the hotels I booked were actually listed in the Let’s Go.

So, there I have it: my own online behavioral pattern for international hotel bookings. Now, if I can just find out exactly what every other South African do online when they travel internationally, I can either start my own booking site or sell the information to some-one like Travelstart…

So, we all know about Hellopeter and how it offers the consumer the opportunity to report bad service. Peter Cheales is the owner of the site and also a motivational speaker and author of the book, I was your customer, and 10 other titles. He also has a weekly show on SAFM.
Now I am a big believer in Citizen’s media and giving the consumer a voice. I have also often told my current and potential clients to see what is being said about them on that site (as well as many others). It is important for any company to manage their reputation online.
Reading an article on Reporter.co.za today, I for the first time learned that a company has to pay at least R 13 500 to register in order to respond to complaints, be they true or not. In fact, it seems that if the company wishes to respond regularly, it will cost them R 60 000 per year.
Sure, what is that for one of the big 3 cellphone companies, one of the 4 big banks or other larger corporates.
For my new business, just the R 13500 is totally out of my reach. So, if anyone wishes to badmouth me, Hellopeter is the place for you because I just aint gonna respond…not there, anyway!