The 21st Century ATM – The Credit Union Exchange http://bit.ly/2wMzTm9 My reporting

Credit unions and new tech – my reporting: http://www.nxtbook.com/ygsreprints/NAFCU/G80296_nafcu_septoct2017/index.php?startid=18#/20

 

By Robert McGarvey

 

Suddenly there’s an avalanche of tools designed to coax business travelers into saving money on their trips – there’s Rocketrip, TripActions, Upside, probably more.  

Will you use them?

Do you care about saving your employer’s money?

An astonishing amount of money is in play. Global business travel spend is $1.2 trillion, per GBTA.  US share of that is around $290 billion.  

Question: how cost effective are we in our travels?

Can we be motivated to help our employers save?

A lot of the present innovation traces back to Google which, for some time, has presented a traveling employee with a budget for an upcoming trip.  Come in under budget and the employee can claim up to half the savings, redeemable on future travel upgrades.

Would that motivate you to cut costs?

My sense is that when my travel is managed by a client, a third party agency selects a flight and a hotel in keeping with its view of my status in the organization. I have stayed everywhere from a Ritz Carlton to a Hilton accordingly.

Generally, by the way, I accept the hotel assignment without a grumble. I can recall refusing only once in the past 10 years because the hotel was in a wildly inconvenient Las Vegas location that would have required long, expensive cab rides to get to/from the convention center, a reality apparently not understood by the booker.

When I pointed that out the rez was changed to the Vdara in City Center which quickly became my favorite Las Vegas hotel.  

As regards flights, as long as the times sync with my needs, I accept them without a grumble too.  I long ago gave up loyalty to a particular carrier and that eliminates a lot of potential friction.  Personally I won’t fly the ultra low cost carriers, or accept similar fares on legacy carriers, but I haven’t been asked to do either so no problems.

When the client selects the travel, usually I am not much asked for input or for suggestions about where to save.

My other reality is that I do all my own travel planning for many trips and, frankly, that happens more often than not these days.  I may get broad instructions from the client – “keep the costs under $1500.”  In some cases, the client also directly books a portion of the travel – often a hotel.

But the norm is that I make most or all of the choices.

Am I incentivized to save money?

Does the client care if I do?

The answer to both question is, not so much.

Maybe it’s because I am by habit a frugal travel.  I am cheap on my own vacations and I am cheap on business travel.

In that latter regard my most common dinner spot on a business trip is Subway.  Yep, under $10. I may eat dinner as a guest of the client at a fancier place but that won’t be billed by me.

My most common breakfast spot is Starbucks. Yep, also under $10.  

Usually lunch is with the client or at a meeting/convention, that is, that is not billed by me.

I prefer mass transit – BART in San Francisco, the subway in NY – and that’s cheap too.  

Would I save the client still more money if half the savings accrued to my benefit on future trips and, yes, I’d welcome a kitty for buying flight upgrades (to business class)?  The answer, definitely, is yes.

Do it the Google way and tell me I have $1500 for a three night stay in Tampa and I am sure I can bring in my total at $1200 or under.

Probably I can deliver similar savings on many trips, mainly by downgrading hotel accommodations.  In Phoenix , for instance, I could skip the Westin, stay at the Sheraton Grand and save $11/night in early September.  

Would you do likewise?

Are you offered half the savings?

Would your behavior change if you were?

Right now, a lot of players believe we will change our behaviors – and cut our travel costs – if we get to share in the savings.

I think that’s a win-win move.

 

 

By Robert McGarvey

 

More analysis about the bottomline costs to travelers of the new 48 hour cancellation policies at Marriott, Starwood and Hilton hotels continues to emerge – and the outlook is not good for us.

I’ve been consistently opposed to the new rules and still believe that, generally, we can duck them without inconvenience.  

I also snicker at the hotelier claim that somehow we are to blame for the new rules – when the reality, plainly, is that hoteliers are jealous of the mammoth fee income pulled in by airlines and they want their share.  

Their problem is that they don’t have the consolidation that marks the airline business.  From Phoenix where I live I have maybe three or four convenient ways to fly commercial to New York.  I have literally hundreds of hotels to choose among once there.  And many of those hotels are active on Hotel Tonight which means I have choice even for last minute bookings.

I also have new choices on Airbnb et. al.  

Airlines, pretty clearly, don’t give a hoot what I think about them. Hotels, on the other hand, want their guests to like them and hoteliers also actively seek to create loyalties.  

Punitive cancellation policies are a fast way to alienate guests.  Duh.

HRS, a hotel booking service, has looked closely at how the new policies will impact their corporate customers. HRS is saying “companies will have to budget for additional charges totalling millions.”

HRS further noted: “For business travelers, flexibility is one of the most important criteria when booking a hotel, as business appointments change frequently.”  

HRS said that 17% – one in six — of hotel reservations are cancelled.  It added: “But short-term cancellations are less frequent. Five percent of bookings are canceled up to 48 hours before arrival.”

Even so, per HRS, “In many cases, the late cancellation charge equals one overnight stay. Factoring in these potential costs across actual cancellation patterns over the past year, the companies surveyed would incur two percent additional lodging cost.”

HRS pointed to hard data: “One proof of this is provided by a key HRS client with total hotel spend of more than $82 million USD. If all cancellations made by this company within 48 hours of arrival were subject to this charge, the budget impact would be $600,000 USD a year.”

What to do about it? HRS is advising companies that as they negotiate corporate rates for 2018, they need to put cancellation policies on the table.

Understand: the big hotel operators will blink if a large enough corporate booker insists on greater cancellation flexibility.

What about smaller companies and individuals?

We need a more clever approach.

HRS offers pointers: “As part of its hotel procurement service for corporate programs, HRS casts its eye over the overall market. This includes independent hotels as well as hotel chain organizations that may offer more flexible cancellation policies for business travelers. Free-of-charge cancellation up to 6 pm on the day of arrival is a ‘must’ for almost all companies – correspondingly, hotels stand to gain more corporate room nights if they offer guests this flexibility.”

Read that again: it is saying book only at hotels that allow cancellation without charge up to 6 p.m. of the day of arrival. And always read the fine print in any reservation. Usually that’s where onerous cancellation clauses hide.

Incidentally, Bjorn Hanson, a hotel industry guru at NYU, told Skift why company wide cancellation policies make no sense: “A single, national cancellation policy is unwise,” he said. “In New York City, where occupancy is going to be, on average, 86 percent, cancellation policies are more important than they are in markets that run relatively low occupancy, for example. To implement a uniform cancellation policy with those two extremes is unwise and might cause guests to feel like they’re being treated unfairly.”

Absolutely right.  

My guess:  if enough of us hold tough, I would be surprised if we don’t see a broad retreat from the 48 hour rule, at least in many markets.  But it’s up to us to continue to make our dissatisfaction known.  Book at properties with kinder, gentler cancellation rules and don’t be shy about making your choices known on Twitter and Facebook.

That’s how to help hoteliers get this right.

 

What the public gets wrong about #creditunion matters – CUInsight http://bit.ly/2vGy4oO My reporting

Is Now the Time for Videoconferencing at #CreditUnions? – The Credit Union Exchange http://bit.ly/2vlttZ2 My reporting

 

By Robert McGarvey

 

Read the recent Skift story about the Marriott and Hilton 48 hour cancellation policies – which we are on record blasting – and a quote jumps out. Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta put the blame for the policies squarely on our shoulders: “customers, many of them, ultimately have been trained to do multiple bookings and do things that have created a scenario where cancellations have, in some markets, skyrocketed. They’ve got, they’ve gone way up.”

Have you made multiple bookings on business trips?

On vacations, yes, sometimes we all do this – and maybe we also monitor price fluctuations and will cancel a rez to re-book at a lower price.

I don’t recall ever doing this on a business trip though.

I have asked frequent fliers in my circle if they are guilty as charged and to a person they say no, at least as regards business travel.

I am not disputing that what Nassetta said may be true in some holiday markets. I’d say it’s true because hoteliers have trained us to expect price fluctuations. You know the Trivago ad claim – that different sites show different prices for the same room – and probably, like me, you think it’s true. Probably like me again you don’t know why that should be but we have come to accept that there is the appearance of irrationality and arbitrariness in much hotel pricing.

The hoteliers have in fact trained us to shop around. In assigning blame for a spike in cancellations- assuming there is such – then hoteliers needs to look at themselves and their own erratic pricing policies.  Just watch the Trivago ad again. 

But, frankly, I am lazy when it comes to business travel. I will look for a good price on a room that works for me and falls within the client’s budget and when it’s booked, that chapter is closed. I don’t keep shopping.

So again I ask, do you often make multiple hotel bookings for business travel and why? I just don’t get it.

Look, I accept that many, many resorts have long cancellation clauses – a week isn’t uncommon, 72 hours may seem downright kind. And, yes, I think those policies are bad for guests, who typically get whacked with a penalty of a night or two when cancelling outside the permitted window. But I also know that, generally, resort reservations, once made, will be honored, certainly among the people I’ve asked. It’s hard enough to get agreement on a vacation date and once made, nobody wants to break it.

I know I have never paid a resort cancellation fee if only because I stick with my reservations.

Business travel is different. Often my travel involves a meeting with a very senior executive and stuff happens in their world. I have found them as a group to resist changing meetings for frivolous reasons but I also have had many meetings shifted at the last minute – same day of travel – because something big came up for my guy.

Sure, I’d bill the cancellation fee through, just as I bill airline change fees, but I don’t want to. I want hotels in particular to accept that occasionally I have to cancel late and they give me a pass because usually I honor my reservations.

Is that asking too much?

Apparently at Marriott and Hilton it is. Ditto Intercontinental, although it has imposed a 24 hour clock which is significantly more reasonable for business travelers.

Still, I say: book elsewhere or wait until the last minute and book the room you want (and always look for a discount because that last minute room would be empty without you).  

The numbers are on your side. Nationally, occupancy in 2016 came in at 65% and that means your chances of getting the room you want are good.  Sell outs are rare for most hotels.  Many never sell out, not even once a year.

There are plenty of rooms for last minute bookers.

I am looking at Hotel Tonight for rooms in San Francisco. JDV’s “The Marker” in Union Square is $189. The Petite Auberge on Nob Hill is $155. Hotel Zoe on Fisherman’s Wharf is $189. All same day bookings.

In Manhattan the Michelangelo is $179, Gild Hall is $179, the Tuscany in Murray Hill is $299. Same day bookings.

Hoteliers are playing a game of chicken with business travelers but the reality is that the math is against them. Know that and you know you can win this duel – especially when you understand this is all their own making.

 

 

By Robert McGarvey

The statement from security firm FireEye has to put a chill in you: “FireEye has moderate confidence that a campaign targeting the hospitality sector is attributed to Russian actor APT28. We believe this activity, which dates back to at least July 2017, was intended to target travelers to hotels throughout Europe and the Middle East.”

There’s no doubt that there has been a hacking campaign. The “moderate confidence” applies only to attribution to the Russian hackers.

FireEye continued: “FireEye has uncovered a malicious document sent in spear phishing emails to multiple companies in the hospitality industry, including hotels in at least seven European countries and one Middle Eastern country in early July. Successful execution of the macro within the malicious document results in the installation of APT28’s signature GAMEFISH malware.”

Then the news turned awful: “Once inside the network of a hospitality company, APT28 sought out machines that controlled both guest and internal Wi-Fi networks.”

WIRED Magazine fanned the anxieties: “APPROPRIATELY PARANOID TRAVELERS have always been wary of hotel Wi-Fi. Now they have a fresh justification of their worst wireless networking fears: A Russian espionage campaign has used those Wi-Fi networks to spy on high-value hotel guests, and recently started using a leaked NSA hacking tool to upgrade their attacks.”

This is not fretting about kiddie hackers. According to Reuters, “Several governments and security research firms have linked APT 28 to the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence directorate. ”

That’s significant. That means we all need to be just a bit worried. This is a slick, professional attack. Nobody denies that, even though some aren’t convinced Russians are the actors.

The attacks have been slick. That’s the issue.

Remember, the biggest worries involve hotels outside the US.

In the US, many of know to use hotel WiFi sparingly if at all.  Domestic hotels have been under assault by hackers for some years and good advice is just don’t use the WiFi for anything meaningful that involves a password. That means corporate email, banking, even frequent flier accounts.  

That’s because the odds are high that criminals are sniffing the data stream over any public WiFi network and are seeking to pull out usernames and passwords.

But here’s the kicker: ignoring public WiFi domestically is easy.  I just create a personal hotspot, either on my TMobile iPhone or Google Fi Pixel, and I am good to go – often at speeds that rival hotel WiFi anyway.  That communication over the cellular network is significantly more secure than a public WiFi network so my advice is use it.

Abroad our choices are more complicated.  That’s because data abroad either is very slow or it comes at a price or both.

Set up a hotspot for data in Paris and very likely you will pay.

But now that is emerging as the better solution.

AT&T offers a calculator to help guide how much data to buy.  

Personally I will keep it simple by using T-Mobile, which offers free data – at slower speeds – in some 140 countries.  

Google Project Fi – in 135 countries – costs $10 per gigabyte for whatever speed Google can deliver.  

You want to know how you will create your own hotspot before your next foreign trip.

That’s because you – not the hotel – apparently are the target of the hackers.

FireEye elaborated: “Cyber espionage activity against the hospitality industry is typically focused on collecting information on or from hotel guests of interest rather than on the hotel industry itself, though actors may also collect information on the hotel as a means of facilitating operations. Business and government personnel who are traveling, especially in a foreign country, often rely on systems to conduct business other than those at their home office, and may be unfamiliar with threats posed while abroad.”

What kinds of hotel are the Russian hackers targeting? Here’s Fire Eye’s info: “FireEye says that the hacked networks were those of moderately high-end hotels, the kind that attract presumably valuable targets. ‘These were not super expensive places, but also not the Holiday Inn,’ FireEye’s [Ben] Read says. “They’re the type of hotel a distinguished visitor would stay in when they’re on corporate travel or diplomatic business.”

Sound like the kind of place you’d stay in?

Definitely it is my profile.

Note: FireEye is adamant that using a VPN may not provide complete protection against the tools the Russian are deploying.  Definitely, use a VPN when traveling abroad – just don’t be certain it is protecting against sophisticated intercepts.

So create your own hotspot.  Right now, that looks to be safe, abroad just as it is domestically.

 

Technology Your #CreditUnion Can Ignore for Now – The Credit Union Exchange http://bit.ly/2uHrjTa

Today’s Essential Credit Union Technology Upgrades – The #CreditUnion Exchange http://bit.ly/2ugp60z My reporting