Travel and Common Sense

Cristopher Elliot with USA Today wrote an interesting article called Is Common Sense in Travel Dead? that sheds light on the average worldly traveler.  Elliot found the necessity to write the article because a reader sent him a photograph of a hotel door sitting ajar.  The man who sent the photograph was Robert Welch, who works for security in a major New Orleans hotel.  Welch also told Elliot that on any given night he would see 25 to 30 doors ajar which accounts for 6% of the hotels rooms.  Whenever he has had to investigate it, doors being ajar have been the number one reason a theft has occurred, Welch said.

So has the common traveler lost their common sense?  Elliot says maybe.

Elliot has investigated more and asked many people in the travel and hospitality business to back up his claims.  He brings up that it doesn’t stop with doors ajar in the hotel hallways.  Many hotel patrons leave expensive electronics by pools and common areas as if they have lost their sense of responsibility once they are in vacation mode. 

After getting in touch with someone who works at a major airline, Elliot discovered that many people who fly have asked where the window seats are on the plane diagram or if they can take hair dryers and flat irons on board.  Many people also appear to have an issue with information kiosks saying that they don’t understand them.

Travelers to exotic landscapes have been known trying to pick up snakes and feeding alligators or crocodiles by hand.

Elliot also spoke from personal experience with such instances as someone asking for a refund for a non-refundable ticket or getting upset that they can’t get their expired frequent flier miles back.

So why are we getting worse at the common sense travel thing?  Elliot believes it is because we have become to reliant upon technology to guide us every step of the way.  Many people Google a destination and believe that they know how to travel in it.  Elliot also goes so far as to claim a “lack of adversity” from our ancestors claiming that this adversity gave our ancestors a wealth of common sense to pass on or killed them off because they didn’t have it either.

So is the common sense traveler dead?  Maybe just dwindling.

Five New Apps Attempt to Make Travel Easier

As new apps continue to roll out, everyone is looking for the next “disruptive” technology.  Almost every industry has changed in some way due to the era of smartphones, but some have changed more than others.

The travel industry for example is almost unrecognizable from 20 or even 10 years ago.  Explaining the concept of a travel agent to a 20 year-old would probably prove difficult and traveling with a hard copy of a travel itinerary sounds almost ludicrous.  

Skift.com recently published an article about five of the newest travel technologies and their merits in the crowded world of travel apps.

Spottible is a new app that allows users to create virtual itineraries complete with collections of places they would like to visit in a given city.  It helps travelers decide which landmarks they most want to visit before arriving in a new city.  The interactive itineraries can either be used privately or shared publicly with your friends.  Spottible sounds like it may have potential but seems suspiciously like Pinterest’s new feature that allows you to create collaborative travel boards with friends to help you plan trips.  

TripSource is a new release from BCD, one of the larger corporate travel companies in the United States.  The app allows you to track your flight status, gate changes, get directions and more.  While it could be useful, it may be too little too late.  Corporate travel continues to be behind the eight ball and odds are apps that have been doing this for years for independent travelers are probably smoother to use.

MetroMile is the one app on the list that could potentially gain some traction.  MetroMile offers a flash drive-sized device that plugs directly into your car.  It then pulls data about your cars performance and helps you make money and gas saving decisions based on your driving patterns.  It shows you how one route to work affects fuel usage and time spent in the car and can make recommendations based on that data.  It can also recommend the best times to leave for work or a road trip.  It may turn out that sticking around the office for an extra fifteen minutes might actually get you home faster.  An added feature never forgetting where you parked your car.  The device allows you to track your car’s location using your smartphone.